Transfer thread for 2016-17 season

Thanks for the insight, Le Tiss

Don't you just love Wikipedia.....
"On the field, Wanyama is known for his sportsmanship and leadership qualities.[3]"
and then goes on to list him getting find for a nasty violent foul and then banned for elbowing!!

Here's hoping he turns out to be more consistent than described above - as his 'best' sounds just the player we are looking for.
But at the supposed £11m for a decent young PL quality midfielder already well known to Poch, it's a bit of a no-brainer.

 

Some rationale for Wanyama would be to play him in "fair weather" games where
the MF is not going to explode in aggro, and Dier for those games where there are more
antics (the WBAs etc) or more restraint is necessary (CL etc) .

 

The Beeb now confirming that an £11m fee has been agreed. Excellent piece of business to bring in a player who ticks far more boxes than most DM's you'd find at that price. Considering we were being quoted around £28m for Witsel it's a bargain. I honestly don't think we need to sign another centre back with a player of Wanyama's quality able to cover for Dier. Supposedly undergoing a medical today but I'll hold my breath until he's in a photo holding up a shirt. Now, onwards to a top striker and this window can be seen as an unmitigated success as early as July.

 

This is where I first saw him.

 

It's those bloody Scousers. Blue ones, red ones. Nicking everything, as usual....

 

I'm not *inspired* by the wanyama signing (if it happens), but I think it's shrewd. No signing is guaranteed to be successful, but he's the right kind of player in a position we need to strengthen, at a good price, young enough that his best days should still be ahead of him, experienced in the PL, and liked by the manager. Up until about a year ago you couldn't say that about many of our signings

 

He's not dirty. Just sometimes his lack of first touch will get him in trouble, and he'll lunge in to try and rectify it. His agent is a twat too, but that's no surprise.

 

He's very good at covering for centre backs when they go on a wander as well, which Poch likes. If Toby meanders upfield (or the FBs are out of position) you'll find him back there doing a job.

 

Agree with all of that, but he turns 25 on 25th June. Don't think you can call that young in football terms.

 

Ah apologies. I thought he'd just turned 24. Not an old goat though.

 

Young enough for the money - although makes him virtually a Pensioner in our squad!!

 

Despite not being his biggest fan due to being a liability in terms of collecting red cards, £11m for a proven defensive midfielder of Premier League quality is very decent business on our part, plus he knows the manager and what'll be expected of him so that's a bonus.

He'll add good cover for Dier and seeing as Mousa is suspended for the first four games, it's an ideal player to have alongside Dier, granted the playmaking and ball-moving ability won't be anywhere near as good as Mousa but **** being an attacker/ midfielder and seeing Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama shielding a formidable defence! Will give the supporting trio and Kane a lot more freedom too, I'd say.

Now onto Vincent Janssen/ Michy Batshuayi/ Any half decent striker please.

 

Given various sources are arguing about which player Poch was scouting at the recent Ireland/Holland friendly (one of Janssen, Bazoer, Long, Promes or Strootman) I have one question - why not the other 26 that featured in the match?

 

Sky are now claiming that Wanyama's medical was completed today.

 

The Express seem to have it in for us today, judging by the Spurs-related headlines on their site...
* Now that Miralem Pjanic has joined Juventus, Roma are looking to sign Eriksen as his replacement
* Marseilles club president Vincent Labrune would prefer that Batshuayi signed for Wet Spam
* Inter have sent scouts to watch Lamela at the Copa America

If that wasn't biased enough, here's the headline for the England/Wales match report: Drop Kane, win the game! - although, strangely, the England/Slovakia match isn't headlined Pick Wilshere, get nowhere!

 

No surprise in that really West Ham are desperate to spend a fortune on a striker and have made no secret of that fact, whereas negotiations with Daniel are likely to be difficult

 

Unless it was for Juventus, I'd be amazed if Eriksen, Lamela or anyone other key player for the matter left us for Serie A anytime soon, it's a massively depleted league nowadays in which Juventus are the only powerhouse left after the falls of Inter, AC and the stagnation of Roma.

Makes sense for Marseille to prefer dealing with West Ham, as TCM mentioned they're desperate to spend on a striker so any possible seller will be looking to fleece them for whatever they've got.

 

As I said a few posts ago, it's pretty obviously turning into another Martial situation - we get strung along to pique the interest of a club with more money to throw around than they know what to do with (and with French clubs having to operate within stricter financial measures, OM are playing the system just as much as Monaco did last year)

 

SSN reporting that Napoli have approached us about signing Pritchard on a permanent basis.

 

I've seen Newcastle being linked, which begs the question: are SSN journalists incapable of telling Newcastle and Naples apart?