Although I'm sick of this bloke's name, I think he'll be a success. 28 goals in 72 games is a good return for a player during the ages of 20-23. 1 in 2.5 can't be sniffed at, not by us at the moment!
I've got a feeling it's just the inter bloke trying to start a bidding war. panic us with news that other teams approached the agents, but we have first refusal either way so it's probably just a fee stunt. 2 years ago when this started I thought he could be a really quality player. I'm less sure now, since the olympics his form has been good but has wavered too and for 20m or there abouts, it's one hell of a risk. Either way, it'll depend on champions league football and he's far above the dross we have now. Benteke - also a good buy. Remy - I don't want him and was always a harry buy not a levy one. Let newcastle, liverpool etc have him. In terms of other areas we might look to strengthen... obviously champions league dependent and I don't have a clue what the hell avb has planned for us in terms of formation. Guessing, If it's his preferred 4-3-3, eriksen would be a tidy purchase. Given that he can play on the right too, he'd be useful cover as an inside winger for a 4-2-3-1 and we all know avb loves the rotation options to be able to do different things to those on the pitch at the time. 4-3-3 might also be why we're looking at attacking full backs. What's more, i see bale in one of the front 2 roles as his passing isn't good enough for the deeper 3, but being given a sort of "laissez faire" role - do whatever the **** he wants effectively. Left backs.... BAE looks to be gone. Good fee maybe, but he was a good player for us so I'll be sorry to see him go. Not so much the attitude. Baines won't come to us, and if madrid are starting cointrao against dortmund... good luck. Rose is good cover. No more I think. I'd like to see son as he's excellent in so many roles (left of a front 3, right, centre forward, playmaker, wings - anything!) and at 10m it's a bloody bargain! So... what would be a good window for us? And really able to assemble a quality challenging side capable of a good euro run? But of course will never happen? In Damiao - 19m (Benteke - 15m - Villa will keep him if they stay up but I like him a lot and at 22 is quality) Eriksen - 14m Ince - 8m (not sure he's necessary if townsend is back...) Son -10m A left back - ? 10m + if he's better than benny... About 60m Rose as cover. Carroll given game time. Modric in the making? I like to be optimistic. Townsend given game time Livermore. One last chance to decide what he is. Otherwise gone the season after. Might prove useful cover for parts Hudd - again, cover as we can't afford a playmaker as well but if there's a decent fee, maybe it's worth it and would grant carroll some time. Hotlby i think is being molded to this anyway. Scholes esq potentially Sig - good utility player and i don't think we've seen his best yet Kane - loan. Will someone pleaseeeee give him some game time! Out BAE - 10m+ Naughton - 4m Parker - 4m - he just can't play this dynamic midfield role and isn't an avb player. sorry to see him go Gomes - nada Bentley - nada Ade - anything - loan move is an excellent idea for both buyers and sellers club - will think he's got the chance of a contract and heypresto, goals! Gallas - nada Dempsey - 6m - a good player but not for us. Good luck to him. Always tries his hardest. (Hudd, Livermore managers feelings dependent) Anything from 20m - 40m. Net spend? Between 20m and 40m. But given we have 20m from last season's window that we didn't spend, with Champs league money (LOL) and the increased Premier League money... there must be more to spend? I say without much conviction... It must be the season to role the die! That. Exhausted. Me. And will of course never happen. But that side, playing to potential, could win something.
I also thought it might be useful for us to see what would happen if we didn't have champions league football. So: In Out Yep, that about does it.
It seems that Napoli pissed off Internacional's chairman by going straight to Damiao's agent, so he's told them to go **** themselves and refused to deal with them! It's the Brazilian version of Levy. I haven't seen enough of the player to judge, but he appears to be called Damiao Gooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllll lllllll judging by Youtube clips: [video=youtube;n8sIByDGPbo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8sIByDGPbo[/video] Anyone can look good on Youtube though, even Carlton Cole or Emile Heskey. Why the hell he's smelling his fingers is beyond me, to be honest.
If we're in for a Son Heung-Min/Tom Ince type player (ie a young wide man/attacking midfielder utility) I think it'll be one or the other, not both, especially with Townsend coming back into the fold having done so well at QPR. I'm sick of the Damiao rumours now, he might be a damn good player but this has been messing us around for years. We seem to set our hopes on Levy cutting a deal for him every time and then nothing ever happens. If he's going to set us back £20 mill odd then I'd rather see us spend it on Benteke at a year younger and who has already been scoring lots in the Prem. I'd love to see us get Eriksen but seeing as it's been made very public that he's going to leave Ajax I feel we may not be able to get him because other clubs may be able to offer him more in terms of money. Just how good is this Son? I've never actually seen him play but Youtube makes him look good (for what thats worth), and he's got something like 1 in 3 this year for Hamburg. At 20 he could be a good prospect.
exactly fro, Benteke is younger, cheaper (maybe) and (more) proven in the prem. Maybe AVB is very keen on Dameow, or maybe Levy just needs to complete this transfer.
The suggested price is £16m. I can't see Benteke being any cheaper than that. Quite the opposite right now, unless Villa go down. What happens if we don't sign the Brazilian this time, though? Does it just continue to drag on forever, like some poor will they, won't they romance in a crappy TV series?
Agreed, I think Son will be similar to Ince but with a much higher ceiling... I'd love to get him. He's strong, super fast and even more determined. VDV rates him highly, but seems to think he could do with another year in germany. 1 in 3 for a team that aren't in the top 10 at 20 years of age... from the wing... worth a 10m punt. Was worth 35m within two seasons on FM. If there isn't a better judge than that, I'm stumped.
Leandro is Levy's everest. If he signs him for 16m it proves that for the last 2 and a half years levy was right to hold off on their negotiations. For that reason alone, I'd be fine with us not getting him (forgetting that benteke is an excellent shout for proven quality at a young age for less than 20m) Also, he played for food stamps when he was 18 instead of trialing for the big clubs in their youth structure as he needed the food so the pundits seem to think in brazil that's made him somewhat wasteful in front of goal and needs several chances to score - not sure how true that is though or how it applies to his finishing... Gossip everywhere. Plus, considered quite unfit so would take some time to get used to the rigours, speed and technicality of the prem. In terms of flair though, WOW. He can Dribble, head and hit a ball. THE ronaldo believes he's the brazil number 9 for years to come. Not a bad reference for a cv as they go. Most similar in style to Ibrahimovic - obviously not as good yet haha. I'm getting excited again... God damn these gossip columns. Every year, every bloody year
Son would virtually pay for himself, too. The Korean media would set up camp at WHL and the sponsors would love it.
I guess the thing about Ince as well is that he's a) young and English b) had a lot of publicity in the Championship and then made TOTY to boot and c) has the second name 'Ince'. Therefore if we put in say an £8m bid or whatever the price would surely escalate because to be fair he does look like he has some potential. If we're really after a player of his ilk it may well be worth going for Son if we can get him, simply because as far as I'm aware in England there's been almost no hype over him to drive the price up. Also I know this sounds very stereotypical but by and large the Asian lads tend to have a teriffic work ethic, whereas we all know what can happen to some of the English lads should the hype and money go to their heads....... If VDV reckons he could do with another year in Germany (and if we take these claims seriously) then we could offer to buy and then loan back for next season. That way we get him back just before he turns 22, and Hamburg get another year to find a replacement which might knock the price down as well. This also gives us another season to see if Dempsey can hit some proper form (although I feel this to be a bit unlikely) and to see if Sig progresses, which of course I really hope he does and think he will. The priority remains a striker though. Damiao, Benteke, Soldado, who knows?!
Benteke has already been given the tag "world class" by Lambert which tells you that a) he would be very difficult to prise from Villa if they stay up b) even if they could be persuaded to sell, the asking price will be ridiculously high.
The Brazilian season runs May-December, plus the Copa Libertadores runs January-July, so from that standpoint he will be match fit ahead of the rest of the team which may translate into an early scoring run - however, that also means he'll have played three months of football already, so we'd need to ease him in like we did with Sandro rather than play him every week, or he'll be knackered come the business end of the season (like Pavlyuchenko was), which means we'd need another option up front, be it Defoe or (Levy may need to sit down for this) having a third striker, say Benteke, to share the workload. Lucky for us, Inter failed to qualify for the Copa Libertadores this year, so they can't play hard ball like they were before.
Yes, Benteke would be a great deal at less than £20mil. But, if Villa stay up, there ain't no way we, or anybody else, is going to get him for less than £20mil!..
Let me put it this way...Damiao looks a real prospect and IF Levy can get him for a good deal (I'm talking around the £20m we're likely to have to pay for a player of his age and good reputation) then I'd like to see him in. What I don't want us to do is pay over the odds just because we've been looking at him for a few years, and I certainly want whatever talks we have with Inter to start ASAP so that if they fall through all over again then we can look into another few players.
£16m is perfectly normal in today's market for a striker of the quality we need. We've got to bite the bullet and push on, regardless of who it is. I think KOTL is pretty spot on with that epic post above. if we're to bring in 4 or 5 new faces (which are needed IMO) then we must look to do it early. Too many changes will require players to settle in over a summer period. It's no good leaving all till late on again, it costs us too many points each season as we're completely unbalanced.
I guess its easy to say that Spurm but for every Benteke/Lewandowski/whoever that clubs take punts on and they come good theres 10 more who don't. We've been bitten a bit by such players in the past so perhaps it was just caution. It's easy to be frustrated with hindsight I guess. Benteke got 19 in 37 last year at Genk but how many one-year-wonders have there been at that age?
