SUNDERLANDâS summer transfer work has already begun, with the club set to compete for the best of the Bosmans on offer in the days ahead. Manager Martin OâNeill says the Black Cats cannot afford to hang around when it comes to courting the free agents available and the Wearsiders are fully aware that players such as Aston Villa defender Carlos Cuellar, Wigan midfielder Mohammed Diame and Bolton striker Kevin Davies are available for nothing in the close season, with their contracts expiring. Blackburn Rovers star Junior Hoilett can also leave this summer and Sunderland are interested in a player who came of age last season, but, although his contract will expire at the end of next month, Rovers can expect significant compensation for their former youth team player who is still only 21. Provisional talks have already taken place between OâNeill and owner Ellis Short over Sunderlandâs transfer policy and the two have agreed a strategy for the summer. But while the club appreciates the transfer window is a marathon, the pursuit of Bosman signings can be a sprint and Sunderland are hoping to be as successful as they were last season when Seb Larsson, David Vaughan and Keiren Westwood were all recruited. OâNeill has already been linked with Cuellar, who he took to Villa Park in 2008, Wiganâs Diame and Boltonâs Davies, who are all set to become available at the end of June â although the Sunderland manager has always been a cagey operator when it comes to transfers. âWe will be looking in every market,â he said. âBut I agree, that there might be one or two players available on Bosmans who are really worthwhile and can be an asset to the football club. âWe will have to be sharp and quick off the blocks though, because anyone who is half-decent will not be available for long. It has more than crossed my mind, already.â There will be no shortage of offers coming Sunderlandâs way â some they will be interested in, most they will not. And OâNeill is anticipating a busy time in the transfer window. âThe agents soon start getting on the phone,â he smiled. âAnd there are some agents who I havenât heard of for six or seven years who are, all of a sudden, back in touch again. âTheir numbers may have changed but the voices are still the same â and sometimes they are offering the same players they were six or seven years ago!â OâNeillâs six months in charge on Wearside have given him ample opportunity to assess his playing squad and now he is looking forward to reshaping it. âIâm very excited by that,â he said. âIt has been a very busy six months, but it has at least given me the chance to look at the squad and decide where we need to bring in reinforcements. âObviously, when you look at the fact that no-one reached double figures in terms of goals for us last season, that is one area we need to address. âBut there are other areas I would like to look at too.â
Cuellar figeroa diame rodellega id take those 4. There's this Aroune Kone been mentioned that I don't know much about, scored 16 or 17 goals in la liga Ivica Olic and Mladen Petric are two other strikers available on frees.
Personally I wouldn't want to see Davies, I do think we need someone who can hold the ball up but for me that man should be Fletcher at Wolves. As for the other free agents available I would like us to go and get... Carlos Cuellar Mohamad Diame Junior Hoilett Arouna Kone Hugo Rodallega
I don;t mind Davies but I know for certain he won't get away with anything at Sunderland like he did at bolton (11 fouls in our game and no yellow card - that included a 2 footer and one over the top of the ball!) he'd have been sent off in a Sunderland shirt - the thing about Davies is that I think Wickham will learn massively from him. He is undoubtedly talented as a centre forward - he plays a lot like Shearer did - dirty as **** but knows how to play it - he is also a great target man I'd have Hoilett, Diame (Although I think bigger clubs may be after these 2), possibly Cuellar - he hasn't been fantastic this season according to my Villa supporting mates (there again none of the Villa players have!) I like what Martin O'Neill is saying in the OP article - looks very positive. Hopefully not a summer of nearlys like the last few!! - Get us a striker in Martin please! (PLEEEEAAAASE!!)
Dont want hugo at all... also its interesting diame didnt get the send off wigan players always have when they leave (including hugo) so there might be a very small chance he is staying.... i hope...
Personally wouldn't touch Rodallego! Has a goal record of almost 1 in 5 (24 in 117) and last season 2 in 23 not good enough for a team wanting to posh top 8 - 6
Rodellega got 8 and 9 in the league the previous two seasons though. He's free and he's a million times better than wickham Ji and Campbell.
agreed, as a squad striker he would do well for us. I thought last season he and N'Zogbia linked up well. If we had Sess, McClean and hopefully Hoilett in our team I'm sure the lad would do a job for us with them 3 behind him
Just been watching videos of aroune Kone, i know they can be misleading but he looks very talented. Bit of a Djibril Cisse type
Although none of these may not have a transfer fee attached to them it would still cost between 45-50 million to bring them to the club.
no no and no!!! he has since the end of last year been suffering from injurys alot of injurys... he has also been overtaken in the roster by connor sammon does that tell you enough... he is better then ji but i whould have wickham ahead of him
Think MoN got it right ,when he said " quick off the blocks " a lot of decent players out there, and he will need to be sharp, to get the right players in, looking good though, so far.
Would love to see the maths behind that... Think you overestimate wages, agents fees, signing fees and lengths of contracts.
I'll have a go , read on a post from Cest last week about free transfers and he reckoned that about 2 million is a fee for a " free transfer" and as he is a knowledgeable guy I went along with his sums so for the 5 players mentioned we start with 10 million. First Cuellar would probably get 2 year contract ( no sell on fee) but would be on decent money so I guessed about 30,000 a week equates to about 3 million, next Kone don't know much about him but I reckon a 3 year contract on same money as Cuellar so that equates to 4.5 million after that Rodallego similar money and length of contract to Kone so another 4.5 million. Now onto the last 2 and this is where the big money comes in, Hoilett only 21 will be very sought after so first it would have to be a long contract ( because he will have a sell on factor ) so I would say 5 years and because they will be many after him the wages will have to reflect that so I am going to say 40,000 a week but if any of the big boys say they fancy him this could of course be more. So that equates to 10 million. Last we have Diame , this lad is only 25 and there will be a huge queue lining up to sign him so again this has to be reflected in contract and wages, but I will put it on par with Hoilett Eventhough I am pretty sure he will go for a lot more. So with a quick reckon up I make that around 42 million. So a bit out on my first guess of 45-50 but that not far off. But you may easily be able to argue 10-12 million off that and round it down to 30 million and I won't argue with that , the point I was making is that a bunch of " free transfers " puts a big dent into you spending .
You can't collate the wages into a lump like that though, as they are spread over 3-4 seasons. Signing on fees, maybe for Hoillett it's a bit, but they aren't millions, like people suggest, unless the player is top class and over 25 (so there is no tribunal fee, Hoillett, for example, is likely to cost £8million compensation) The likes of Cuellar, Rodellega & Kone will not command anything huge, Kone was once a £12million signing for Sevilla, but he's been at Levante, the club with the lowest operating budget in any top league. Would be nowhere near £30million, spread over 3-4 years.
Agreed. These are just wages like every other player in the squad has, we should only take into account, players and agents signing on fees.
