I was just noticing that there are a few names cropping up and I'm saying to my wife, "he used to play for us. Oh, and him. Him too" and it got me thinking. Regardless of whether we could/would afford them. As long as they played for us. Regardless of whether that'd ever come back. Who is out there still playing that could do a job for us (either as a squad player or as a starting 11 player)? I saw... Fabio Borini Steven Caulker (yeah, I'd still have him) Joe Allen Ki Song Yeoung Gylfi Sigurdsson Some may even say Frank Lampard. I just thought its interesting to note that we've had a decent clutch of players that are still playing today.
Can't see Allen coming back just this yet, but Borini alongside Bony would be interesting. Gylfi yes, Caulker no - he's marked his card, Ki is still ours i believe.
I think Ki will be part of the squad next season, I would not mind Borini and Caulker to join the squad for next season also. Bony i hope will stay but that depends on who comes in for him with a big offer, Apart from them we still need a couple of defenders and another striker, Michu i hope will see a specialist and get his ankle properly sorted out once and for all and come back in the fold. We may also need a keeper depending on what happens to vorm on whether he still wants to go back home. Maybe now that laudrup is gone he may want to stay and play for monk but who knows yet....exciting times ahead...
I wasn't talking about who we need or want. Just recognising that there are good players out there who used to play for us. I'm not talking about what the squad requires for nest season.
Well if Michu's injury forces him into retirement then Gylfi would be a great replacement and would add much needed height and goals to our midfield I'd happily see Caulker, Allen, Gylfi and Ki back with us. Their quality would vastly improve our squad IMO.
There's Itay Shechter who plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv but has been on loan to Nantes What was the name of that kid from West Ham that Brendan brought in on loan? 'Played' up front. [edit: just remembered, it was Frank Nouble - now plays for Ipswich] Or there's Josh McEachran who is still technically a Chelsea player although he's been on loan to every man and his dog. And Stephen Dobbie...scored a belter a couple of weeks ago to help keep Blackpool up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIeltQw8jno Kemy Agustien & Andrea Orlandi both currently at Brighton. Jordi Gomez is currently the subject of another thread. Jason Scotland, now 35, is playing for Hamilton Academicals... Luke Moore (Toronto)......... Alan Tate (still our player) who has been on loan at Leeds, Yeovil & Aberdeen................ Of course there's Scott Sinclair. Still a Man City player on loan at West Brom. We could get Danny Graham back. Still a Sunderland player now on loan at Middlesbrough. Craig Beattie, now at Dundee Obviously not. Darren Pratley, still at Bolton, only 20 appearances this season.
Bayo still playing for Gillingham 10 goals in 33 appearances this season. Top geezer according to my boy. Andy "Pieman" Robertson still at Tranmere.
But we've not conceded as many as his current team and that's with the PL's stand out keeper of the season .
That's because he is playing with a bunch of pub team players, if Caulker was good enough for them to concede as much as we did he wouldn't have been playing outside of the Top 5 teams in the world.
Orlandi, Dobbie, Pratley, Ricketts, Painter, Bauza, De Vries, Gower, MacDonald, Serrán, Amankwaah, Scotland, Konstantopoulos, Tate, Matty Collins, Beattie, Jordi López, Bessone, Cotterill. All the above are still playing, though I'm not sure on Tommy Butler and Pintado!...................
