Summer 2010 Transfer Thread: B*llsh*t, Rumours & Wishes

[KevinGage]

Daily Mail are saying £10 mil for Can't Control.

[Mazrim]

In fairness Kevin, you said you'd take Kevin Doyle who is about half as good I reckon.

[KONSPIRACY]

Considering he turns 30 in January and signed for £30m 2 years ago, I think £15m would be a fair price. Even SAF admitted they took a gamble on him due to his age and subsequent resale value. If he'd been good for Utd then £20m would prob be about right, but he hasn't and at £15m he's still a massive gamble.

[Mazrim]

Aye, maybe.

[KevinGage]

Berbatov if there was even an outside chance of getting him would have to be one to seriously consider.

Might not be good enough for United, but could be plenty good enough for us.

I'm just not sure that:

(a) financially we'd be in the market for that type of player. Not much change from £20 million at a conservative guess-timate and CL wages.

and

(b) if we were somehow to stump up that kind of cash, we'd be spending it on a player with that type of languid style. A player who can -lets be frank- go missing for large chunks of the season.

[KevinGage]

In fairness Kevin, you said you'd take Kevin Doyle who is about half as good I reckon.

Crucial difference is I don't think we'd be building a side around a player like Doyle. As a straight upgrade on Heskey he gets my vote.

Cole for the money he would most likely cost (would be pretty certain West ham will be asking more than £10 million) would be signed with first team football in mind.

Maybe he's brought his game on tenfold, and is now looking like the player most expected him to be when he initially broke through at Chelsea. I just have too many memories of him trotting through games at VP during his loan stint with us. I'm not sure the player himself would want to come back either.

Doyle- even if he isn't scoring- had a fantastic workrate and bring others into play far more than Cole does anyway.

[KONSPIRACY]

I'd rather we swoop for Sturridge than either Cole or Doyle. He'd cost less and contribute more.

[Somniloquism]

I'd rather we swoop for Sturridge than either Cole or Doyle. He'd cost less and contribute more.

We had our chance for him and he chose Chelsea. God knows what dosh he is on as well.

[KevinGage]

I mentioned Sturridge this time last year.

Even though he ultimately selected Chelsea (can't really blame the lad for that), I thought he would be one to watch. And one we might revisit at a later stage.

All depends on how they intend to use him at Chelsea though. If they have promised him more game-time I'd imagine it would be very hard to prise him away.

But if they sign another top class forward this summer the writing might be on the wall for him.

[KONSPIRACY]

Not sure we had much choice considering he turned down £55k/week to stay at Citeh. I don't think he'll make it in the Chelski first team so could be a realistic target given how much we currently pay a number of shit players.

[Mazrim]

In fairness Kevin, you said you'd take Kevin Doyle who is about half as good I reckon.

Crucial difference is I don't think we'd be building a side around a player like Doyle. As a straight upgrade on Heskey he gets my vote.

Cole for the money he would most likely cost (would be pretty certain West ham will be asking more than £10 million) would be signed with first team football in mind.

Maybe he's brought his game on tenfold, and is now looking like the player most expected him to be when he initially broke through at Chelsea. I just have too many memories of him trotting through games at VP during his loan stint with us. I'm not sure the player himself would want to come back either.

Doyle- even if he isn't scoring- had a fantastic workrate and bring others into play far more than Cole does anyway.

Keep Heskey then. Who's probably better at it.

No more non-scoring strikers please. Cole is a bigger goal threat than Doyle and his hold up and distribution isnt too bad at all.
West Ham wouldn't get any more than £10m for him so they can keep him if they ask that.

But I hope we can do better. We can.
I also think for similar money, Andy Carroll could prove a very shrewd investment. If we could keep him out of grief.

But a player like Dzeko would be ideal. Right age, right stats. Yes, I know he'd be expensive and probably looking at Champions League but its worth a try if the money is there. I dont now what we have to spend though. Neither do the media for that matter.

[KevinGage]

By all accounts we were in for him before them, and he was keen to come here.

But the lure of CL, testing yourself at one of the best sides in the country (and Europe) and a swollen paypacket, would make most of us reconsider.

As I said, no problem that he chose them over us at the time. It shows dash, and faith in his own ability.

But if the landscape has now changed and he wants a better chance of first team football -at a club still challenging at the right end of the table- we might be in with a shout.

[Mazrim]

Chelsea arent going to sell Sturridge. No way. They'll be bringing him through over the next year or two. We could maybe loan him but fuck that. I'd rather bring the Fonz on.

[KONSPIRACY]

I suppose it entirely depends on the reported clear out and the size of the "war chest" that Chelski are supposed to be having this summer. There could be a few players being moved on from SB in the next few months.

Who would you rather have...

Bent
Anelka
Berbatov
Cole
Sturridge

...or someone completely different?

[KevinGage]

In fairness Kevin, you said you'd take Kevin Doyle who is about half as good I reckon.

Crucial difference is I don't think we'd be building a side around a player like Doyle. As a straight upgrade on Heskey he gets my vote.

Cole for the money he would most likely cost (would be pretty certain West ham will be asking more than £10 million) would be signed with first team football in mind.

Maybe he's brought his game on tenfold, and is now looking like the player most expected him to be when he initially broke through at Chelsea. I just have too many memories of him trotting through games at VP during his loan stint with us. I'm not sure the player himself would want to come back either.

Doyle- even if he isn't scoring- had a fantastic workrate and bring others into play far more than Cole does anyway.

Keep Heskey then. Who's probably better at it.

No more non-scoring strikers please. Cole is a bigger goal threat than Doyle and his hold up and distribution isnt too bad at all.
West Ham wouldn't get any more than £10m for him so they can keep him if they ask that.

But I hope we can do better. We can.
I also think for similar money, Andy Carroll could prove a very shrewd investment. If we could keep him out of grief.

But a player like Dzeko would be ideal. Right age, right stats. Yes, I know he'd be expensive and probably looking at Champions League but its worth a try if the money is there. I dont now what we have to spend though. Neither do the media for that matter.

I seen Carrol play the other night v Plymouth and I was v.impressed. Dominant in the air and strong on the ball, a real beast of a player.
Newcastle won't be doing us or any other clubs any favours though, and won't be selling on the cheap. Local lad, popular and all the rest of it.

That might change if they struggle next year, and need to cash in. It will also be interesting to see whether he can handle the step up to the Prem and can have a major impact in this division.

On Doyle: Looks like we won't agree and fair e muff.

I just think there is something to work with there. He scored something like 13 goals in his first season in the Prem, made a good start the following year before injury, scored bags of goals in the Championship last year and doesn't look clumsy or out of place against decent international opposition when playing for Ireland.

Even when he plays for a side like Wolves and is asked to play a different role, he takes one for the team as it where.

Cole on the other hand is a shirker, a player quite happy to drift and play  on auto pilot if everything isn't going his way. He might have more natural ability than Doyle, but Doyle might fit in better with our ethos and might -with the service he would get out wide- get back to something approaching his goalscoring form at Reading. He might even improve on that.

I would prefer to see even better, I agree.

But someone like Dzeko will have his pick of CL sides when the time comes to depart. It will need to be someone of that calibre or someone capable of making the transition to that level we target though, if we are to really push on.

Doyle would be fine as a squad player for mine, to add depth, options and a better goalscoring ratio than Heskey. But we would need him and one other, and the other would have to be genuinely top class.