So what with so many deadline day deals falling flat at the death, we look a bit short in the middle of the park. Who do we think can do a job for us there, who is also a free agent? We were linked with him at the beginning of the Summer, and I was against signing him, but Nigel Reo-Coker is still unattached now and I think we could do with him to pad out the squad. Maybe offer him a short-term deal? Any other suggestions? Also, as a side question, why do we think Spurs left it so long to sign Dembele? Was it hanging on the Modric move? Did they see his performance at Man Utd and think "ooh hello, he's good isn't he!"? I only ask because we couldn't do anything but accept the bid so the only stumbling block would've been personal terms, and him going so close to the end of the window didn't do us any favours at all.
Jol knew Dembels contract clause,and we would also loose Dempsey,he should have got his arse in gear much sooner.
That's a bit harsh, roscafre. For all we know (and I suspect this was the case), he wasn't allowed to spend until money came in. As soon as Dembele went, we started doing stuff, so deals were clearly being prepared in the meantime. There's nothing Jol can do to make Spurs (or Liverpool, or anyone else) come in with a bid for a player we didn't want to sell. What should he have done - started touting Dembele to potential buyers? We'd have crucified him if we ever found out that he was doing that.
I think that's the way Levy does business to be honest Bidley. I don't know if you saw but he was castigated by the President of Lyon for the Lloris move. He said he, or one of his players, had ever been put under such pressure or seen such tactics used in his 25 years in the role. I know that Levy is not well liked in football circles for the way he conducts business but, to be fair to him, he makes huge profits for the club. Last night on MOTD 'arry said he had been watching Dembele for some time so I think it was inevitable that they would bid for him - and last minute buys hamstringing your opposition is a favoured tactic of Levy.
I still stand by what i said ,we were told on the club website earlier that money was available. When Murphy left we should have been bidding then,we all knew our defense and attacking midfield needed bolstering last season.
I watched MOTD too, and I've never shouted "****ING SHUT UP" so much at a television as I did whenever 'Arry opened his gob. I think he said he was watching nearly every player that played well, so I wouldn't read too much into that. They moved pretty quickly for Sigurdsson, and Man Uutd were after Dembele at one point too, so I still don't get why they waited so long. ros, I don't think defence and midfield were high on the list at all last season - forwards was by a long way. It's easy to say what we should've done with 20:20 hindsight, but it's a self-fulfilling prophecy in reverse and utterly pointless. The amount of centre mids we were in for on deadline day was more than enough, but it wasn't to be. As if all this moaning wasn't enough, England have two competitive games coming up so it's only going to get worse on a grander scale!
This site might help anyone hoping to have a browse for out of contract players: http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/premier-league/vertragslos/wettbewerb_GB1.html
Surely Royston Drenthe would be a great signing for most clubs? Can't believe he's a free agent, or am I just remembering him wrong?
Disciplinary problems at Everton apparently, Bidley. West Ham and Man City, bizarrely, have been linked, but nothing solid yet.
There were plenty of loan signings to be had out there, so i don't buy into the 'Jol had no money so no options' Huddlestone was available on a loan deal, sure some more Spurs players were going to be forced out the door too such as Jenas and Kane. Even Benayoun would have been a decent signing on loan. Jol is not to blame as much as that ****er Daniel Levy but he is not blameless. Dembele has been scouted all summer by top teams and should have had a possible replacement in place.
Huddlestone failed a medical at Stoke, so that'll be why we didn't go for him - in fact, I think we did go for him at the death. And Jenas? Really? We did have replacements in place, but none got signed in time. I don't think it's entirely fair to expect replacements to get signed before the player they're replacing is gone. The clause in MD's contract was there, and it wasn't triggered until 48 hours before the window, so up until that point you'd expect Dembele to stay with us - for ****s sake, we all did! But then I'm wasting my breath (fingertips?) on this pointless argument. This was supposed to be a thread about what our best options are NOW, not a massive bitch-fest about everything involving Fulham FC because we lost on Saturday. I heard Ruiz told all the centre mids we were in for not to sign for us, maybe we should blame him for this as well.
Quite a contradiction there Bids. You say 48 hours isn't long enough to sign someone we could have been tracking all summer, yet we managed to sign three players who as far as I was aware were brand spanking new targets in 24 hours? This is an area that should have been addressed even if Dembele stayed. We sold Etuhu and Murphy, and Dempsey was always going to leave, Dembele staying or not is irrelevant.
Jol wanted Berba in January - hardly recent. We had a fee agreed for Richardson before Dembele was in talks with Spurs, and Dejagah has most likely been on Jol's radar since he was at Hamburg. On deadline day, we were in for: Derek Boateng - Dnipro Jol has kept tabs on him since we played them last year Michel Bastos - (Lyon) Hardly a lesser-known player Chris David - (Twente) Probably known from his time at Ajax Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe - Club Brugge No idea Nacer Chadli - (FC Twente) See Chris David Tom Huddlestone - (Tottenham) Known from his time at Tottenham Wilson Palacios - (Stoke) As above (thanks to SuperBri for the list) So few new targets there, then, and that's deadline day alone. If you want to believe Jol and the board were chilling out until Wednesday/Thursday before they started trying to get players in, be my guest, but I think it's a foolish notion.
Have to say I agree 100%. We lost Murphy and Dixon 6 weeks or so ago and you didn’t need a masters degree to realise we would loose at least one of the Ds most lightly both. Richardson comes in to add weight the midfield but it leaves us lacking in depth and quality in midfield. You don’t need to have money in the bank to speculate at the end of the transfer window and know who is lightly to be the subject of a late bid. We would have been expecting the Ds to leave and if Big Maart though he needed to replace them (or was told he could reinvest the money) then you sound clubs out to see if they player you want are available. Liverpool sold Tores on the winter deadline day 2011 and signed Carol on the same day. Do you think they waited for Chelsea’s cheque to clear before they approached Newcastle? No that new a bid was expected and they made the necessary to get a replacement as a precaution.
I’d take Nigel Reo-Coker as I think he could do a decent job for us. Royston Drenthe I’m not as sure on as others have mentioned he has disciplinary issues. He has one hell of a left foot though. I remember a cracking goal he scored against us last season. Provided it was on a play-as-you-play deal I wouldn’t be against taking a punt on Hargreaves either.
Apparently we approached Reo-Coker earlier in the window and he turned us down. That doesn't mean he wouldn't come now, as the better offer he was waiting for might have not materialised, but it could be that he just doesn't wan't to play for us. If that's the case, we're better off looking elsewhere.
