J-rod - A* Boruc - A* Ramirez - C Osvaldo - D Davis - A+ Yoshida - B- Clyne - A* Forren - F Mayuka - E Would be my marks thus far
Wanyama and Lovren?? Anyway, basically you're saying that the signings from within these shores have been excellent, those from abroad, not so much. Herein lies the debate I feel needs to be put under consideration for future transfers. Let's look closer to home!
But the two decent ones he mentioned had no experience of playing in England and the dodgy one did, further undermining OP's point about lower league players being better investments.
Lovren has been our best signing with ease, is he "from these shores" ? Not every transfer will work out. Some players just won't settle and others won't live up to potential. It is all part of football. To simply say there is no point in looking abroad because some of our signings have turned out poor is sad.
Well looking at all the players we have signed since we entered the league I would rate them by 'value for money' thusly: Excellent - Boruc, Clyne, Davis, Rodriguez, Lovren Good - Yoshida, Wanyama Poor - Ramirez, Mayuka, Gazzaniga, Osvaldo TVFC* - Forren *The Vegard Forren Category So out of 12 transfers I'd make it 7 successes, and 5 excellent top-half quality PL players (And I do believe Wanyama will move firmly into that category once he's back from injury). That's a success rate I can live with.
I said this previously. Recruitment in any industry is 50:50. You can do all you can to try to choose the right employee, but more often than not, it's 50:50 if they work out.
Lovren is the exception. I'm not totally against looking abroad; in fact you're completely misquoting me by using the phrase "no point". I just happen to prefer the signings we make from British clubs, and I think we can all agree that over the last couple seasons these players have been far more reliable. And as such, I think this should be a significant factor towards the future transfer dealings.
This is exactly what I think myself and OP are aiming at. Ie; that you should look at success (or lack of) previous transfers in order to somehow improve the future decisions being made. How many more expensive flops from Italy will we sign before we think, "hang on, we've bought plenty better (and cheaper) players from the Championship". It almost seems as though others on here think there is an endless supply of cash to be thrown away willy-nilly.
Think I've been saying British football, not necessarily English. Also, is Yoshida really good enough? I mean, really? Gazzaniga, granted, don't really know what his signing was all about; good YouTube video? Anyway he cost peanuts, and we all know what you get if you pay with those.
Ramirez hasn't really worked out as he didn't fit the system. Osvaldo probably will work out if he stops behaving like a **** and gets regular starts.
Ivan Golac Michael Svensson Claus Lundekvam Matthew Le Tissier tongue Boruc Marian Pahars I can't be bothered to keep going on. We just need to face it, recruitment is 50:50.
I think everybody gets your point, but it's just they disagree. The question was asked - is there an issue with our recruitment policy. The answer was no....
Teams have certainly had worse transfer window escapades than us. All in all we can't complain. If we nailed every single one we'd be in the title chase.
I disagree, Wanyama looked good before his injury. All teams make mistakes in buying players.(look at Man Utd) I would still look abroad as well as at home. Good players abroad are a lot cheaper then good players here. Look at Lovren if he was English or playering here, he would cost double if not more.
I just feel if we simply have the attitude of one earlier poster, that some transfers work out, some don't, ho-hum, then that's kind of foolish. We should be trying to learn from previous experiences. I'm sure this would be the same in any recruitment policy whatever the industry.
How do we know how a player will adapt to the Prem? We don't. Be it Championship or anywhere every transfer is a risk.
But Wanyama was signed from a British club. I don't deny that it is possible to find quality players abroad. I just feel it is far more risky, as it is hard to tell how they will adapt. And are Saints in a strong enough position to keep taking these risks? Just suggesting it would perhaps be wiser to look closer to home before searching on the continent.
