Ricky will be back with us next season. St Ettienne will not be taking up the option to buy, stating that the agreed price is more than they are planning to spend in their entire transfer dealing this summer. Or is this the first move to get the price reduced? I have no doubts that he would be a lot more effective under AN than he was under CH. I imagine that there will be some transfer activity this summer as Neil continues to put his stamp on the club, but the attack is likely to be the least affected I would have thought. And, of course, it will depend on which division we are in for next season.
He's hardly played for them recently after a decent start to the season and has been an unused sub more often than not so perhaps St.Etienne have realised he isn't as good as a lot of people think he is - or should I say "want him to be".
Yes, he will have to up his work rate if he is going to be retained by AN, especially as CJ seems to be 'scoring for fun' albeit under a totally different style of play and when we are actually creating chances for strikers to score.
I always thought that he worked hard when he played to be fair. In fact, my main comment would have been under Houghton he did so much "defensive" work ie chasing the ball down ect rather than being in the right places at the right time. I would be confident that if he had played for us this season he would have scored his fair share of goals due to our attacking style and playing against poorer defenses.
I would like to see him back next season and see if AN can get him fired up, and get the team to supply him well to create more chances, and hopefully score lots more goals. Edit...or as BC says below, getting him back now might be useful
If so can we have him back now, would solve our fairly precarious striker position and the chance to score a goal or two at carrot road would help with the fans. He'd fit in the team better these day, now we actually play balls behind defences not around the outside of the box and get stuck.
If he's not in their first team, and isn't going there permanently, he may as well be on our bench rather than theirs. I presume we'd have to pay a decent sum to recall him though, as St Etienne put down a reasonable loan fee. You'd think it's an option worth exploring though.
To be fair, a lot of the time, Snoddy would have the ball and wouldn't pass to him, or play the ball into the box for RvW to run onto!!!
This is so true - in fact the way Hootun set the team up frequently meant RvW had to retreat into his own half just to get a touch of the ball. Pathetic, for a striker who was signed based on his prolific scoring rate abroad to not receive any meaningful service.
Can't see him back here under any circumstances. I'd love to see him back but unlike some of you I cannot see how he would fit into AN thinking, doesn't strike me as his type of player. I doubt McNally will allow him back to be honest
If AN could bolster RvW's confidence and get him scoring again, surely he is just the player we would want. The thing about Ricky is his movement is brilliant. His season with us went badly because he was making these runs and no one passed him the ball (ahem Snodgrass). Unsurprising that he became frustrated and more negative in his play. Whilst being impressed with the rise of Grabban in his last half dozen games, IF we do get promoted the kind of clever and unpredictable players come into their own and I don't see Grabban being that good based on what we have seen so far. When Hoolahan is on form he is one of our few current players to fall into that category. We need a couple more - and a firing RvW would be a huge asset.
a Agreed, if the way Neil has managed to coax Bassong back into the fold and keep his head firmly screwed on in the right direction, is anything to go by, I see no reason why he shouldn´t be able to do exactly the same thing with Wolf. I hope he can be encouraged to stay, and that he wants to stay, although I dare say that promotion might have to be a condition.
I agree - he ended up getting so frustrated at not having the ball he seemed to track back far too much. The criticism obviously bit and he stopped playing his normal game. Whether he'll ever show that promise, I don't know, but he's worth a shot.
It's not just Bassong who is back in the team and finding form. Grabban wasn't rated by many, but most admit now to being impressed by his recent form. Whittaker has been excellent. Johnson has been inspired and inspiring. Has Hoolahan ever been more widely adored by fans and commentators? That ability to personally motivate and simultaneously create the kind of team cohesion that gets results is what makes me really excited about our manager. If RvW is trying to decide how to move his career forward, surely playing for one of the games most exciting emerging gaffers has to be high on the list?
We were considering signing Akpon, so we must feel we need a striker. What better options are available?
But wasn't that purely a short-term option to compensate for Grabban's injury? Plus Ricky represents an investment of circa £8m - so we need him to start scoring a) for us, as his parent club, or b) for somebody else, so we can recoup some of that transfer fee.
It would be great if AN can get the best out of RvW but I'm still not convinced that RvW has enough attributes for the EPL or the Championship, wherever we find ourselves. I don't think his movement or effort were a particular problem, it just don't think he had the physicality or mental coolness, something that will be relevant in either division. I also think it's telling that he's not really set St Etienne hearts aflutter.
St.Etienne paid a hefty fee to loan him for the whole season, and they have a shout at the Champs League places so there is no way at all he'll be coming back before the end of this term. I personally don't think he's anywhere near as good as a lot of people want to believe. If his movement was THAT good he'd surely have returned more than one goal all season. I see a lot of people blaming Hootun or Snodgrass for his failings but nobody seems to want to accept he maybe isn't actually that good after all. Never known a player fans want to be good as much as he, I put it down to the name personally and if he was called Ricky Smith we'd have never heard of him.
