I know quite a few fans aren't impressed, but his play of recent weeks has been exceptional. His shot for the penalty against 1p5wich, followed by his goal and even the Sky commentators waxed lyrical about his goal (after 17 passes) to seal promotion. Really hope he'll stay for at least another couple of years and develop under AN's watchful eye. Also we don't need to sell with the money we've got coming in!!!! PS - I like Loserpool
Indeed - wouldn't they be better scavenging the carcass of Hull, Burnley or QPHa, rather than a newly promoyed outfit? At least if he does go, McNally can set his own price, because, as JRF says, we sure as hell don't need the cash at this particular time
Can't imagine a great deal is happening with him and AN on hols and then he's off for England U21 duty. I'm sure his agent is rubbing his hands together though.
........and don't forget the Scousers always like to pay at least twice what a player is worth so if Redmond does go to Anfield we'll pocket at least £30M !
Great posts HMQC and KIO!!! I'll bet his agent is already planning on his new house/car/exotic holiday on the money he'll make. Agreed we won't see much actual activity until the end of this month.
These rumours don't go away because lazy journos simply cut and paste them into a new article instead of actually doing any journalism.
Do we have too many midfielders at the moment? Central Tettey Howson O’Neil Odjidja-Ofoe Andreu Can play central or wide-ish Johnson Dorrans Wide/Attacking E.Bennett Jo.Murphy Redmond Hoolahan + Thompson, Jacob Murphy & McGeehan - but obviously these probably won't make it very near the first team. I can't see O'Neil, Andreu, or any of the three youngsters I've mentioned at the end getting much of a look-in. Removing those from the picture, I think we have a solid choice, with room for maybe another winger/wide-ish player.
We never properly replaced Pilks, or Snodgrass, thinking about it. I mean with an orthodox wide left-sided player. Johnson has been more in the Surman role, since he was deployed out on the left. A CB, RB, cover for Olsson at LB and a wide left man would be my priorities for this summer.
Quality CB LB cover Genuine wide midfielder/winger They'd be mine. If those are signed, the following can be sold/loaned as far as I'm concerned: Miquel Turner O'Neil Andreu Lafferty or RvW (not both)
Not a 'priority' compared to the ones I've listed. I'd call a striker a 'secondary' target - if there's a quality striker available, then fair enough, but I wouldn't want to break the bank for one.
RvW will tick that box when he returns. Likewise, Lafferty could well be the answer to our lack of pace / guile on the left flank
Fair enough I'd love RvW to do brilliantly so that we can recover some of that £8.5m, but I sway between blind optimism and pessimism on that front. For me, our defence has been class this second half of the season, so I am less fussed about a "classy CB" - I don't think we need particular experience, we need someone who represents value who could be eased into the first team. Priorities are back-up LB and RB/LW and RW. We are in a great position that because of our second half of the season under Neil being so stellar, it's difficult to identify any weaknesses in the first team so any big outlay should be an investment for the future. I would seriously consider starting the first few matches of next season with the same team we ended this one, perhaps with the bench a little tweaked. Neil, of course, may well have a different perception of where our weaknesses lie.
As I see it, we have 5 midfield positions (brackets indicate 2nd position, italics young players): CM: Howson, Odjidja-Ofoe, O'Neil, McGrandles CM: Tettey, (Johnson), Dorrans, Thompson WR: Redmond, E. Bennett, Jacob Murphy WL: Johnson, Lafferty, (E. Bennett), (Hoolahan) Josh Murphy AM: Hoolahan, Andreu, (Howson) I make that 10 midfielders and Lafferty for 5 positions which seems about right, given that we're likely to play a 5-man mid-field most of the time. I suppose O'Neil and Lafferty are the question marks.
I think I should say that despite being a little disparaging towards him, I think Redmond is a fantastic talent and under AN he has become even better. The longer we can hold on to him the better and I really hope he doesn't go to Liverpool as it would stall his career. Better off playing with us this season and raising the interest (And his price tag) for next summer.
Not seen us linked, but I wonder if Fabian Schar of Basel might be linked to us at some point. 23 year old centre back who is looking to move to the Prem. Probably good enough for a mid table side, with time to develop
