Just seen this http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddbal...ng-friendly-against-bournemouth#ixzz1U4zPbBdX Nice cheeky work from the people at Palace! The interesting thing for me is the Bournemouth chairman's comments, and the figures connected with it. These are all a lot lower than I had heard. I had heard our first bid was £1mil, and we went back with a second bid when that was turned down. If something in the region of £1mil is likely to secure Ings, then we should go for him again. I was quite happy for us to leave it when I thought we were getting into the £2m territory, which is frankly too big a gamble for an unproven lower division striker, albeit one that I think has a great chance of making the step up. Someone talked on another thread about sometimes seeing something in a player almost instantly. It was like that for me with Ings. He did something breathtakingly, nonchalently, extraordinary to beat a defender and create a shooting chance just a few minutes after coming on as a sub in his 4th or 5th ever league game (and the first one that I saw him in). Since then I've always enjoyed watching him play and always kept a particular eye on him. The boy can play, and would - in time - fill the AJ role in our current formation. Go on Jolly, offer them £1m and see what happens.
Captain Quite agree,a fee of no more than 1.5mil,and a percentage to Bournemouth, if we got a substantial moving on fee,well worth a punt.
Touche! For the record, Ings doesn't particularly remind me of AJ, I just couldn't resist the cheap joke. He would fill AJ's role inasmuch as he would be a partner for Bobby rather than a back up for him.
Spend, spend, spend. Despite his rave reviews, AJ is at the root of Bobby's lack of impact. Consider also how many non-scoring shots we have had on goal in the last 4 games - a staggering 8. Just my opinion.
Just to add more all-but-baseless speculation to the mix, I notice that Ings didn't play and wasn't on the bench for Bournemouth's 5-0 win in the league cup last night. Other than that, they played pretty much the first choice in all positions, and Ings is definitely a regular starter. Could this be a sign that, for all their protestations, the club expect to sell him before the transfer window closes and don't want to get him cup-tied? Watch this space.
Has Captain tipped him the wink? Young Danny has said today on Sky Sports that he's 'disappointed at not having the opportunity to step up'.
There's a rumour going round that Reading are willing to pay the £1m that Bournemouth are looking for, bringing in Ings as a replacementfor Shane Long. That would make sense to me, but I'm still hoping that it's us who are about to bid for him.
Well spotted WDWW. It's a shame, but I think it may be a better move for Ings. I rate him, but I think he'll need time to adapt to the Premier League. He could be an instant success, but I suspect he'll have a longer learning curve than we are looking for at the moment. If he makes a success of things at Burnley and we were to go in for him in a couple of years, I'd be very happy with that. But right now we need a goalscorer.
