thank you canary_max, i've been watching for a few weeks and thought it was about time to join in. It was taken out of a story on BBC sport today "Hughton Hopeful over new signings" posted today at 1pm, so it may have been from the weekend or in fact today, no date was given for that bit of information. I would assume that they would not have included it had these bids been rejected by now??
Sad to see Lappin leave. When I went to Ajax v Norwich, he was the only remaining player from my last visit to the fortress (yes, yes, I'm at uni in Stoke calm down). What would everyone think about going in for Yoan Gouffran? Available for £1-2m, although wages could be a problem. I saw us linked to Marlon King earlier, and I imagine it is just lazy Hughton journalism, we're supposedly the only interested prem team. Welcome to SuffolkCanary, I didn't realise you were a newbie as you jumped straight in! Good on you. As for the Wigan/scouting network thing, I'm under the impression Supers did used to work for the staff in some capacity so probably does know more about it than we do. We probably signed Tettey because Hughton and his backroom staff have a great knowledge of the French leagues, lets not forget all the French-Africans signed at Newcastle in the last few years! If that's all, I'm going to go and play FIFA until we confirm a signing or two.
Dont you think its interesting that Celtic are blurting about who they would replace Hooper with to the media? I wouldn't at all be suprised to see him leave but not to us, would be just our luck. Also, supposedly Newcastle are now in the running for Graham!
That really is, transfermarkt value him at £6.6m! His contract does run out in the summer though, so I'm assuming he's said he won't sign another. 12 goals in 27 games this season, 75 from 301 for his career. Wikipedia calls him pacey and able to finish with both feet. From what I can remember, Vaughan is on pretty hefty wages (by our standard), if we're paying them at the moment, for that money we could cut our losses and sell Vaughan to anyone for a pittance, and bring this guy in. I think more as competition/an improvement on Jackson than as a lone striker, but if it improves the squad for reasonable wages, I wouldn't mind him at all. He is allergic to grass though...
Birmingham have apparently confirmed that everyone is up for sale as their financially up **** creek. Davies for £1.5m to Reading was in the BBC Gossip column, I'd be interested in him for that kind of money. I wouldn't say no to Redmond either, he's good with either foot so would be decent competition for Pilks, and being as young as he is will definitely have resale value.
Just remembered that somewhere along the line someone asked for my opinion of Johnny Russell I've watched him a couple of times while bored last season and he was quick with flashes of brilliance. Not that reliable but certainly a much better option than, say, Jackson. Spoke to a couple of Dundee fans in summer when we were linked, and they don't want him to ever leave. They think he would cost £4-5m. Hope that helps.
Do you think were punching above our weight in the transfer market? In all honesty were not going to sign Hooper or Graham and realisticaly we never really had a chance, so why go for them? Yes, i know they would be an improvement on our side but there both in positions where we would be at the bottom of the list. In other words if another club came in, we would be pushed down the pile! I really hope CH hasn't put all his eggs in one basket for these 2 cause there will be a huge sense of dissapointment around come the end of the month. Mauro Zarete is being offloaded by Lazio on loan with a view to a permanent £6mil move in the summer, we have more chance in signing him than them 2... have no idea what his wages would be though, high i would expect!
The more I think about it, I would rather we got Danny Graham than Hooper. Would be cheaper and less of a risk.
Isn't graham a Geordie? If the toon are in for him - and they're getting desperate - that might turn his head
Compared to where we've been punching before, yes, but I'd say we're punching where we need to be punching in order to improve the squad and kick on. If you ignore our recent run of form, we're a club sat 13th in the Premier League, 7 points clear of relegation, with very good training facilities and in a nice part of the country, so we're relatively attractive to new signings, even if we can't compete for wages, or offer European football. In order to improve the squad, it's inevitable that our transfer outlay will increase, without a truly sublime scouting network, we're not going to progress into a top 10 PL side with signings of under £3.5m. With regards other clubs usurping us, it's a risk, but that's probably why we're making a lot of bids. We've not gone for Graham or Hooper, we've gone for both in the fear that if one turns us down, it'd be too late to arrange a bid for the second. It wouldn't surprise me if there's plenty more bids being made, that we've simply heard nothing about, and probably won't if they don't come off. Other clubs may well be interested in the same players as us, but in the example of Hooper, I've not heard of too many other clubs being linked.
FYI I would be thoroughly interested in a scouting position after leaving uni, if anyone from the club is reading this
Who would make way for Hooper if he signs? I don't believe he will be bought to chase balls all over the pitch. He is an out and out striker. It would have to be one of Johnson or Tettey wouldn't it? Hoolahan must still be part of the reckoning mustn't he? And if he is then does that mean the diamond would be back. Or 4-4-2 with maybe Howson back in the reckoning?
TBH redruth, its time for either Johnson or Tettey to give way anyway but hughton wont do it. I think Hughtons thinking is to have Hooper alongside Holt/Graham and i think that would quite a strikeforce but I just cannot see us signing either of them so i expect to see CMS in 5mins before the window closes
