This saga is beginning to make the Gary Hooper transfer from Celtic look straightforward And, quite possibly, it ain't over yet! I know it's been mentioned on many a thread, but a specialist in his preferred role of CAM looks to be the missing piece in our jigsaw so far this season. http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/ola-toivonen-norwich-city
TBH Cromer I don't like his attitude, you know what they say "One bad apple .........." I think we should be looking elsewhere
I tend to be wary of him, too. I don't think it's fair to make assumptions about his attitude since we can never know for sure what has happened at PSV, but from this distance it doesn't look good.
When the loan window opens (if it hasn't already?) get him in and see what he can do as well as find out what kind of influence he has on the dressing room. If it works out buy him in the January transfer window. If it doesn't get rid. When he's match fit, which I'm guessing he isn't right now, and playing the kind of football he's capable of, I think he could turnout to be a really good player for our club playing in the hole behind the main striker.
Would a loan be possible? If so, sounds a good idea for both us and PSV (puts him in the shop window and they may still get a decent wodge of cash for him). Give Toivonen a chance to show the bigger club he seems to desire that he's the genuine article, too.
Nah I don't think PSV would want to loan him out, they want to get rid. Lot of bad feeling there, I suppose they could be getting desperate though, sounds like they're sick of him! I think for PSV with a loan there's no guarantee they will get rid of him.
Hmm... maybe. But if his contract runs out at the end of the season and he's likely to leave on a free anyway, why not loan him out to remove the bad influence (and his wages)?
Surely, then, getting him out of the way, whilst putting him in the shop window (which he isn't at the moment), and also getting his wages paid would be prudent, wouldn't it?
True but where's the guarantee the will get rid?, but I suppose he can go where he likes soon. When is he a free agent?, anyone know?
Premier League clubs cannot sign anyone other than an emergency keeper once the summer transfer window has closed (until the January window opens and the merry-go-round starts again). The only way he could come to us would be if PSV agreed to release him now from his contract and he became a free agent. I think it would then be possible for us to sign him on a short or long term contract.
If Elmander comes out and says that he rates him, that's good enough for me. However, if not, he is Di Canio Mk.2 (whose style was famously described as "management by hand grenade")
If we can sign him on a free transfer (which I'm pretty sure we won't be able to as by next summer he will surely have 'better' offers on the table) then in my opinion he would be an unbelievable signing!! Ok, he might be an arsehole, but every club has those and it's a skill of the manager to deal with that kind of personality in the right way. Craig Bellamy has always been considered an arsehole and high-maintenance player, but he's one of my all time favourite Canaries and in his pomp any club would have taken him.
As I see it, it is even now in his hands in the sense that he could have his PSV contract terminated by mutual consent, making him a free agent immediately. He could then sign for us until the end of the current season, with an option for us to negotiate a permanent deal, or not, as the case may be. I would have thought an arrangement like that would be in everyone's interest even if we can't offer him the terms he would like at this juncture. Of course, he could get his contract terminated and look elsewhere as well, but nobody apart from us has shown much interest, and with Elmander and Olsson here, we must have some attraction for him. Like Munky, I think he'd be an excellent addition and bring the experience we are so missing in forward midfield.
God, if only it were ^ that ^ easy. It may not turn into a permanent move, but would benefit both parties for now Just think, he could go from 'pariah' to 'messiah' in less than a month
your messiah comment made me think(rare I know), would signing Ola sort out our issues with service?, could signing one player do that?, I'm not so sure.
It would go a long way towards solving it IMO. If he came I could see us setting up very like Villa, i.e. 4:1:2:3, with Tettey or Johnson in front of the back 4, Fer (R) and Toivonen (L) in mid midfield, and two of Pilkington/Redmond and Snodgrass either side of one or other of RvW, Hooper, Elmander.
Given that we have already made a serious attempt to sign him, and he might well have been in our dressing room already, I presume our scouts and management are satisfied about that aspect of it. Trust the club (why do people find it so difficult?).
