Beat me to it, they will undoubtedly play Defoe & Fletcher/Wickham upfront now, if they don't then Poyet is an idiot, Defoe needs someone upfront to hold it up alongside him.
From what Gary Bowyer has been saying, they do not want to let Gestede go, but due to their financial situation they need to let him go and hope Rhodes returns to his former self. It seems like we're the only team that have a lodged a real interest in signing him, not sure why it has taken 16 days for this to spark up, he obviously can't of been our first target, which I suspect was Defoe, but Bruce has said for weeks he is just to expensive.
Forget the past - Good and bad- at the minute with cash tight, Campbell not getting games at Palace......if he had never played for us his name would surely have come up by now, works hard scores goals.
Jordan Ibe on loan from Liverpool anybody? He has just been recalled by Liverpool, and has looked amazing for Derby this season. http://www1.skysports.com/transfer/...don-ibe-recalled-from-derby-loan-by-liverpool
I suspect that Liverpool have recalled him to use him, and anyway do we really need yet another midfielder/winger?
I'm just thinking from Bruce's point of view, he likes to put square pegs in round holes, play him upfront with Ince, the dynamic duo.
No Gestede... Steve Bruce discusses Hull's transfer plans after ruling out Rudy Gestede bid The Tigers manager admits he made an approach to Rovers boss Gary Bowyer for the 26-year-old but the £4m asking price was too high. Bruce said: “I called Gary two or three days ago to clarify the situation and we talked briefly. It was a non-started before we got anywhere. “I enquired about him and the answer came back not at the sort of figures we’re talking about. It’s not going to happen.” Bruce is set to be without main strikers Abel Hernandez and Nikica Jelavic for up to six weeks. Sone Aluko and Gaston Ramirez will return to training today but Bruce says he needs more fire power up front. Bruce said: “It’s always a key end of the pitch and you’re only as good as your strikers. If they’re fit and everyone’s healthy, we’re in a good place but they’re not at the moment. “That’s one area we’ll look to do something. “There’s one or two things going on at the moment but it’s unlikely today or tomorrow so we’ll go with what we’ve got. “We have to make sure they can hit the ground running. It’s an important time. "It is going to be difficult. We’re working every hours God sends to persuade someone to join us.”
I dare say we could find £4m if needed; however Gestede is not worth that! Blackburn paid £200k for him Jan last year, he'd done okay but he's not worth £4m in Bruceys mind (and mine). We either need to buy in Div 1 or 2 for a few hundred grand, and develop (which would be no good to us now) or loan someone from the so called bigger clubs with a level proven ability in The Prem who can do a job now. I know what route I would be going down.
I think £4m for a Championship striker near the top of the scoring charts is decent value. How much again for Deeney/Rhodes et al?
The Daily Mail has linked City, Palace and WBA with 33 year old free signing Shola Ameobi. Freshly released from Gazianstep in Turkey - he must have made an impact there then. This is a distinctly underwhelming rumour, if true.
If we're looking at strikers currently plying their trade in the Turkish second division, we really are ****ed.
According to Wikipedia: "Ameobi left the club on 29 December 2014, citing family reasons for his departure. He made 11 appearences and scored 4 goals during his time there.[41]" Not a terrible record, albeit in the second tier of Turkish football.
