Do you think we should follow Newcastle's example and trawl the French leagues for talent? They have been particularly successful with their signings and there could be more players available when the new top rate of tax is introduced at 85%
I think we probably look at the every country for talent. Isn't Situ french? If we can find a Ben Arfa or a Pappa Cisse (is he french?) out there I'd be very happy! I agree that there is a lot of upcoming French talent around these days though.
There is a lot of talent in West Africa,viz,Senegal;Mali;Guinea;Guinea Bissau;Sierra Leone;Liberia;Togo;Benin;Cote D'Ivoire,and onwards to Cameroon and Nigeria. Sorry for the geography lesson,I don't mean to suggest that no-one has heard of these countries.I just wanted to highlight the vast area that has top quality players who are just waiting to be the next George Weah;Yaya Toure,or Didier Drogba. Any Premier League Club who ignores this region is missing a big trick. What would a West African scout cost per annum? Could Swansea justify taking someone on,and can they afford not to?
Jax, no doubt the boss is beavering away as we speak. For me young talent is what we should be looking at wherever its from, part of the attraction at the Swans is that they will get game time, unearthing a classy striker would be a dream!
I find myself agreeing with you again Vetch. I think there are vast amounts of talented African players out there who haven't been discovered yet by clubs in the major leagues as Africa hasn't been scouted as well as other places like Brazil etc. People are realising how much talent there is out there and I think it would be foolish not to look into it.
Lets get that academy & new training facility up & running . Throw a bit more money toward spreading & revamping our scouting system & were on the right road IMO .
The problem with scouting those areas is the work permit problems faced when signing unrecognised talent, unless they have several caps for their country, which pushes the price up, it's hard to get a work permit
I'm sure the work permit problem could be overcome,va va, if the correct approaches,etc., were to be made,but you were spot on in raising it as a possible hurdle. With the right approach,and good people in charge,I think it could work.
you wont find better talent than on the continent,....France,Spain, Italy and Germany. but i wish we could find decent British players.
You don't think the talent is as good in Africa Dai? I wish we had more decent British players. Now the people in charge are realising we've been coaching our kids wrong for ages they may start taking on board the continental technical focus and we might see better British players in about 10 years at least.
You don't think the talent is as good in Africa Day? .yes i do but the hassle with work permits and language problems puts me off, we can find the right players closer to home where 9/10 they can speak english or there is someone at the club who do speak the language....Its always worth keeping an eye through the internet of all nationalities for players. ...but at the end of the day we want players that can play our system...
A lot of clubs are also put off by the fact that if your African players are any good you could lose them for a couple of months for the Cup of Nations.
I agree with what has been said regarding young talent and getting our accadamy up and running. However I do think that France could be a particularly fertile hunting ground with talented players looking to leave due to punitive tax rates. And if we could unearth the next Cisse then what would that be worth to us, not only in terms of on field survival but also financially?
I have a feeling that the starting XI for next season will be much the same as last season. Are we happy with Vorm in goal - absolutely. If we could get Caulker for another season on loan are we happy with Caulker/Williams in central defence - definately yes. Are we happy with Rangel & Taylor at full-back, by and large, yes. What about Britton, Allen & Sigurdsson in centre of midfield. Yes, don't want any changes there. Dyer & Sinclair out wide with Routledge as back-up - ok with me. Graham up front. He's done well but could be improved upon possibly. It's going to be hard for any new signings to dislodge our current line-up IMO. So are new signings are more likely to just strengthen the bench?
I think we will experiment with 3 at the back again and may bring in players with that in mind. I read this via our noisey neighbours site a few days ago and its not a bad read http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/05/16/wigan-stay-up-after-a-switch-to-3-4-3/
