Thank god we have a striker in at last and it eases the nerves a little, I still think we need three more but singing Kalas and Kamara means we can probably wait till the end of the window if need be, I still would love A solid centre half - Grant Handley Another Striker - Rolan or Enrich A left back - ??
Cookie, I've just read .. "Newcastle are looking to offload defender Grant Hanley and Birmingham City are interested in the Scotland international. (Newcastle Chronicle)" So hopefully we will have a bid in for him, having missed out previously.
Good but like Cookie would welcome another and more experienced striker. Suspect not however. Quite a contract they've given him - 4 years plus a 1 year option. Then guess he is only 22, although would hope the Club did more than simply guess. please log in to view this image Usual undisclosed fee but we were said to be in with €5m in January, which was rejected, and the stories last week were that we'd topped that.
Firstly I would love Handley, I wanted him the first time round. He is solid as rock in the championship an absolute beast, I know technically not great but we have 9 other technical players, I believe he is what our defence/team require. On another worrying note there are rumours we have gone back in for Rolan offering him a contract with a clause he can leave for free after one year if we don't go up!
Catatonic never mind worrying, Cookie. At £5m for 1 year that's about 4 times what we paid for the other "don't wanna be here", Chris Martin. [Not sure about the rumour though; sounds a bit of a rehash of theoretical stories doing the rounds last week.]
Getting there if somewhat slowly, Hanlley sounds good, my choice Dunk,but no chance there CF Rhodes for me, Enrich over Rolan, but i would still take the latter. We still need an authoritative quality keeper, something we dont seem to be addressing.
Rhodes would have been fantastic, but I think he's just made January's loan to Sheffield Wednesday permanent, so nothing doing there. I don't know enough about Enrich to have a view, but I'd rather pass on Rolan: if he's that unsure (or uncommitted) about us, let's just look elsewhere.
Would he? He looked pretty limited last year at Wednesday and he has scored fewer goals each season for the past five (27, 25, 21, 16, 3). He might have been worth a punt, but neither his recent play nor his recent record make me think he would have been fantastic. I'm not sure about Hanley. He's a better version of Sigurdsson, but I suspect our style of play would leave him exposed.
Well, 16 years ago today we signed this guy so, being a great one for coincidence, my fingers are crossed.
Am I the only one happy with our keepers?? Betts finished the season playing well and at his age should be on an upward curve improving every year, Button has his issues but an ok number 2.
I'm fine with Betts, Button has and continues to be a liability and if called upon would cause me concern.
Neither commands their 6 yard box and both are guilty of poor distribution. However ... however... Betts did have the confidence of the back four in those final games of last season and obviously had been working on his flaws. Wish he wouldn't dither before kicking out though - if you remember the Norwich fans were incandescent at theirs last year claiming he was "time wasting" when in fact he was just being "normal". So, I'm not going to moan if we start with Bettinelli. However .... I'll also be a tad disappointed if by the end of August him and Button are the best we've got.
As others have said, Bettinelli yes, Button no. That said, if we're going to sign a keeper, let's make it one who is better than what we've got. I don't see a lot of point in bringing someone in to be number 2.
Stories in the papers say it's D-Day for Sheyi Ojo. They say the diminutive winger will today decide between us and Derby; Newcastle having dropped out of the frame. Strange how the Geordies feature so often in players linked to us. And just to add to the plot, they are rumoured to be chasing Danny Ings.
Right latest rumours on the Twitter vine, I mentioned above I wanted three more in by the end of August a striker, left back and centre half No news on a left back but centre half there are a few rumblings of Tyrone Mings on loan from Bournemouth. Striker wise a lot of recent rumours of Majeed Waris of L'Orient which has got me super excited, he is a Ghanian international who at the very least will make AK47 look as slow as John Terry on a bad day he is lightening and has a decent record, the best description of him is Sone Aluko who can finish.
Could be a tough one getting Waris, Cookie. What with West Ham, Brighton and Celtic said to be equally interested. Mind you the Gaffer agrees with you that more is needed. In his official site interview he said, “I am very happy because the Club made a great effort to sign new contracts with Tom Cairney and Ryan Sessegnon. “I am very happy because we brought back Tomas Kalas and Lucas Piazon. We signed some people, the transfer window is open until the end of August, I believe we are going to bring in some more for our squad." Could be just me but that quote gives the impression that he's not 'over the moon' about our newbies (Cisse, Djalo and Kamara).
When Mings was at Ipswich he played mostly as a left back, and I think his few games for Bournemouth have been mostly in that position. He's a big lad (6'5" according to Wikipedia) and he can play in the centre, but he's spent much more time at full back. Bournemouth fans were very excited when they signed him from Ipswich, but he got injured very early in his time there and never really established himself once he was fit. Could be a good signing if it happens.
According to the Portuguese paper A Bola we've had a €7m bid for the Braga striker Rui Fonte turned down. They want €10m. Source: https://www.abola.pt/Nnh/Noticias/Ver/686057
Talk Sport have linked us to potential left back Ikechi Anya. The Scottish International joined Derby on deadline day last summer from Watford for something like £2m. Although the 29 year is outside our 'age tick box', he and the Gaffer were at Watford at the same time, so there may be a different dynamic in play.
