Lee Johnson discusses if Bristol City want another striker and would pay a record fee Head coach says if Messi was available for £5.4m then the club would pay it Bristol City are still in the transfer market and might look to bring in one last player this January transfer window. And head coach Lee Johnson was asked outright at the pre-Derby press conference whether the Robins are interested in buying another striker. Johnson says it remains an 'option'. “I suppose you have to look at the short term and the long term. As far as the long term we’re happy with the strikers that we’ve got. “It changes game to game – you might get another injury so you have to be flexible. You have to have done your work and know the availability of players because it could be an option that we bring in a player. “But we like the players that we’ve already got. So unless there’s something wrong with the players we’ve already got, you have to make a decision: do you patch up for the short term and wait for your players to come back for the long term? “Or do you make a permanent signing that is correct for the long term future of the football club?” “And of course that has a ripple effect along the squad. And that’s the bit that I’m always conscious of. Not messing up the squad, if you like, mentally. “Because I think players want to know that they’ve got a pathway and that if they perform well that they’ll keep the shirt in the first team,” he explained. The head coach also discussed – should there be another permanent signing – whether a club record fee could be shelled out, or whether it would be a value signing. “It's case by case. And it has to be. If Lionel Messi becomes available for £5.4m then I'm sure we'll find it because Lionel Messi would make the difference and would give us a chance, wouldn't he?" said Johnson. please log in to view this image Jordan Hugill in action against Bristol City "But the consistency of approach is important. I've seen so many clubs chase it and blow it by the effect that signing a particular player can have on the squad. "What are we about? Our identity is about the hunger, the desire, the players that are trying to achieve great things for themselves and the football club. "Because I need to demand that work rate when they play, and they need to produce that work rate. What stops a player working hard? Well, multimillionaires might decide that they don't need to run as hard as they do. "If you sign the wrong player that is a prisoner of his past, effectively, that can be an issue for the current squad. Sometimes you can have an experienced player with a great attitude that can give everybody a boost and that could be important as well. "It's all on a case by case basis and any decision we make will be the right one for Bristol City. If you get seven out of 10 right you've done very, very well. "We all know that it's not easy to recruit absolutely perfectly or everyone would be doing it," explained Johnson. Bristol City will hope to end their losing run at Derby County on Friday night. http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/lee-johnson-discusses-bristol-city-1075797
We are desperate for a quality striker, I'd go for it, spend the money, commit, be ambitous and go for promotion, Wolves did it, Derby are doing it, Cardiff are talking about it, we will never get a better chance. Strike while the iron is hot and let's get back on track.
This will cost us big time,your right wiz this will be our downfall,not having the right players up top.
I get what he's saying though, the unrest with the other players we have...what's made it a problem is the injuries we've had to key positions. No guarantees the player you bring in will improve what you have, unless it's Messi like he says. Strikers or shall I say decent strikers are hard to come by.....has to be quality or it's spending for the sake of.
I was careful to state 'quality' striker, there is no doubt in my mind we need a fresh, strong leader up front, Bobby works like a madman,Flinty and Matt have been used but we have lacked consistentcy in attack, I agree about injuries but every other club has to carry that problem and cope, we create well, our defence is strong, we struggle to finish, even players coming back need time to get match fit. If we don't close the gap now our chances evaporate and we're in the chasing pack, it's only 20 weeks until the seasons end, surely we can cope with getting in a couple of proven names that 'sparkle' in that short period, it could propel us into the promised land and then everybody would be happy. That will be the time to move some on, move some out and get some in but let's get there first.
I think LJ's answer was spot on - if the right target is available then sure, let's go for it. It's easy for people like RR to say 'go spend £12m+ on Jordan Hugill', but I'd want the club to be confident it was the right decision before doing so - we have a chance to earn promotion and should be ambitious, but not reckless. How's Ross McCormack doing nowadays for example? If both Diedhiou and Djuric had been fit this whole time, I think this conversation wouldn't be happening - however, it does seem as though Djuric has had recurring injury issues since he joined us, so I'm not convinced he can be relied on as an option. You can have the finest sports car around, but it's no good to anyone if it spends all it's time in the garage. Grabban might be a good option, but at 30 he won't have much resale value, would command a not insignificant fee and probably tidy wages, particularly as there are quite a number of suitors. Warnock isn't likely to be looking beyond next season at most, so will probably twist Tan's arm to sign off on it, knowing he won't suffer any consequences if they miss out and he becomes an expensive squad player within 2-3 years. A loan would probably make the most sense, except, who's going to part with a striker who's good enough to front a Championship side aiming for promotion? It might be worth considering who might be hungry for game time ahead of the World Cup to secure their place on the plane to Russia for their particular country. If there's anyone suitable who would otherwise be warming the bench, you can bet they'll give their all...
WAS ? in Aussie land.. BUT DISCIPLINED ! Agree with someone on the fringes of world cup, but unless with a small country? ( outsiders) most of the favoured teams reserves likely to be in the mix with other clubs
it is balance, damned if you do damned if you don't type scenario ............. and also get stuck with a bill that is hard to swallow! do not sign a striker, miss out on top 6 by 1 point or more and it will always be " LEE OUT! .... SL OUT ETC ...you cost the chance by not doing so" sign a striker and miss out by a point or so, even worse miss out by a few points because the results were worse than the points gained pro rata so far because the squad were "unsettled" and the reaction by the fans might then be "well we gave it our best shot!" but the team and manager are despondent etc!
I bet the one position, clubs are dying to sign is a quality striker, just heard Neil Warnock saying just that......He also said that's not an easy task. I agree with you, if the right one came along...
I found it sad that we lost Tammy Abraham to a very poor Swansea side, my personal opinion he should have stayed for another season with us, I know it was out of our hands, but what do other posters think.
I get what he's saying. But it's my personal belief that what we have in certain departments, especially in terms of the current strikers at the club, will not get us to the promised land this year or indeed any year. Proof of the desire for a strong finish to the season will obviously depend on the right player(s) being available. But we've been down this road before, and we bought a couple of second hand Reliant Robins where a Bentley might have seen us promoted automatically. Any team in the Championship that can string a 10 game unbeaten run together soon will be hot favourites to join Wolves in the Premiership next year. So the right players being available is one thing and the desire to go for it might be another....
Go get him back,guaranteed a very strong chance of top two. Lose Friday night, and i think top six will be a pipe dream. We keep being feed the issues regards the cup games,but any club would rather be in the situation we are in, than not. Time to speculate,and bring the promised land to Ashton Gate i say. Where have we seen it disappear before our eyes in the past.
What is a quality striker? How would they play in Citys team? How much would they cost? Do City have much of a budget to pay for this player?
Not sure how getting an injured striker will help us break the top two? We have enough of those already.
City reporter's thoughts Our City reporter Gregor gives his thoughts on whether the Robins will bring in another striker this window. Lee Johnson seemed a little undecided yesterday when he was asked if he wanted a new striker. Either that or it was a smokescreen, which it could well be to dampen any headlines on the subject. It could be that City monitor the transfer window to see who becomes available late in January. Someone like Chris Martin could be an interesting name to keep an eye on, although I believe that Reading are favourites to bring in the front man currently. Jordan Hugill? Sorry, but no way are the Robins going to pay out a £10m+ fee for someone like Hugill currently. Simply wouldn’t spend that amount, unless there was a big outgoing to compensate. As Johnson said yesterday, he’s seen too many clubs ‘chase it and blow it’. Cough, Sheffield Wednesday and Jordan Rhodes, cough...
100%, there's a chance that might happen! Abraham's decision to go to a Premiership side was understandable (he has ambitions to reach the very top) and he ain't coming back to us any time soon, so best to move on. Just had a look at players whose contracts expire this summer - didn't realise Hugill was one of them! That being the case, you'd think Preston couldn't force his price too much, particularly since he handed in a transfer request in the summer. Could be a bidding war though... http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/cham...on_id=14&altersklasse=alle&land_id=0&yt0=Show ...Otherwise, only Diafro Sakho at West Ham stands out from the Premiership and he probably wouldn't move to us and certainly not for the wages we'd offer. There's a young chap called Jay Emmanuel-Thomas who might be interested though!
I might be wrong, but for what we are able to afford to what's out there I can only see us getting someone on a loan basis, if we are looking for established. Maybe someone that's been out injured looking to gain match fitness. Otherwise it will be someone from some French league 2 looking to do a Kodja!! Every club is looking for that prolific striker
I've always maintained we should pull out all the stops , being the flavour of the month so to speak may help also, but I can see Lee's point. It's easy to sit in our arm chairs saying he should do this or that , but what has got us where we are is team spirit and pulling together the last thing we want is a 'billy big b0ll0cks' to scupper all the hard work. Like others have said it's a difficult balance.
