The Swans are also battling it out with Everton and Norwich for Peterborough's £3m rated striker Craig Mackail-Smith after the his 25 goals last season earned Posh promotion to the Championship. Full story: the Sun Have we dropped out of the running, were we ever in the running, is this report credible?
LOL, very true. I for one wouldnt be hugely dissapointed as i think the asking price is way to high anyway
Problem is, with the likes of Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City & Chelsea (not to mention the top European clubs) artificially inflating a players value, transfer fees are going to get more and more crazy. Clubs, on getting promoted to the PL, are hell bent on staying up and lower league clubs are going to join in with the inflated value that they see going on higher up in the football world and who can blame them. If Norwich, QPR or Swansea feel desperate enough to spend that kind of money on what is a gamble to stay in the top flight then the lower leagues sides would be fools to not get as much as they can.
Bloody good point, Thai. Let's face it, if either of our clubs hadn't made it up, we'd be fighting to get the most money for Tarrabt just as you'd be trying to get as much as you could for Holt et al....
I still don't see this guy as the answer to our striker requirement. He is 27, he is not going to improve and didn't score many in the Championship for Peterborough. Let him go somewhere else.
Too expensive AND I don't think he'll cut it in the Premiership. Trust in Neil, he knows what he's doing.
not proven in the championship never mind the prem. Even proven championship strikers can struggle with the step up - whatever happened to Ebanks-Blake?
I will give you an opposite example.............. Dean Ashton. We signed him from Crewe from League 1, mid season. We were in the PL at the time and I think he was 25. Before that transfer there was a lot of talk about this guy and how good he was at the L1 level but no one took a gamble on him until Norwich. He turned out to be our best player that season and gave PL defenses no end of problems. He eventually left us for West Ham and went on to become and England International and would have continued but for a career ending list of injuries. I must admit this is a rare example and the only other one I can recall taking a 2 league jump successfully was Kerry Dixon from Reading to Chelsea many years ago. In conclusion, it can be done but rarely which is why included the word 'gamble' in my earlier post.
That's true, our feathered friend. Some players can actually be BETTER in a higher division for various reasons I've covered in other posts. Its all a game of percentages. More often than not they will choke but with a good calculated gamble it can be great business. Still wouldn't touch Mackail-Smith, he's pony
Not sure if we would pay 3m for a league one striker, considering we didn't pay 3.5m for a championship front man. Still think we will get DJ Cambell who i think is better than both those and is proven in this league.
