January Transfer Speculation (or lack of) Thread

[Concrete John]

Craig Gardner?  A strange one if true as I'd put him behind all our present midfielders - at best he's on a par with herd.

Dann?  Yes, please.  An organiser and would compliment Dunne better than Collins does.  Didn't Mcleish say in the 'secret' meeting with fans representatives just after he came that he saw Dann as a real star player?

[Steve R]

I see Stevie Gerrard has no ambition of winning a premier league medal by signing a new contract with Liverpool.

On the upside, he does get to keep his kneecaps.

I think I missed an 'allegedly' out somewhere there.

[ozzjim]

Some agent has said we are seriously interested in Bacinovic of Palermo.


I know nothing about him, so anyone that does please enlighten us?

[Matt C]

Link to Bacinovic story: http://t.co/AeCUqpDi

[ozzjim]

Having looked him up on football manager, if he is half as good as he is on there then fingers crossed, looks a bit of a beast.

[Concrete John]

Link to Bacinovic story: http://t.co/AeCUqpDi

When was the last time we were described as 'Midlands giants'??

Defensive midfielder, isn't he?  My guess is that, if true, he's the long talked about Petrov replacement.

[nick harper]

Craig Gardner?  A strange one if true as I'd put him behind all our present midfielders - at best he's on a par with herd.

Dann?  Yes, please.  An organiser and would compliment Dunne better than Collins does.  Didn't Mcleish say in the 'secret' meeting with fans representatives just after he came that he saw Dann as a real star player?

Think there's a bit of anti- Gardner bias going on to be honest. In terms of the players we have available at present, only Petrov is clearly better. Clark, Herd, Delph and Bannan are all finding their way and to be honest only Clark looks like being a long term fixture in the side.

I'm not saying we should not aim better than Gardner, but our midfield is as poor as I can remember at the moment and as an aggressive box to box midfielder who scores goals, he would certainly get in the side at the moment.

[Concrete John]

I wasn't think of Delph when I made my initial post, so I'll give you that one, especially based on current form.  After that?

Petrov - no, as you say yourself
Clark - different role to Gardner, so can't see him displacing him
Ireland & Bannan - both have more inventiveness about their play, so as the most advanced of a 3 I'd play either ahead of Craig.

I don't think he's a bad player, just that he'd be a sideways move for us at best, so the money would be effectively wasted.     

[Toronto Villa]

McLeish was never afraid to venture into foreign waters to find players at his previous gigs. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he viewed the British maret as completely overpriced and started to look abroad for financially responsible additions to the squad. A sensible foreign policy, a keen eye on the lower divisions and a top academy is the way forward for us.

[ozzjim]

McLeish was never afraid to venture into foreign waters to find players at his previous gigs. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he viewed the British maret as completely overpriced and started to look abroad for financially responsible additions to the squad. A sensible foreign policy, a keen eye on the lower divisions and a top academy is the way forward for us.

I think age is too. I would not want to see any big contract to a player over 27, possibly even 25. Sell on value is vital. See Spurs, Newcastle and Arsenal as models of this.

[Toronto Villa]

McLeish was never afraid to venture into foreign waters to find players at his previous gigs. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he viewed the British maret as completely overpriced and started to look abroad for financially responsible additions to the squad. A sensible foreign policy, a keen eye on the lower divisions and a top academy is the way forward for us.

I think age is too. I would not want to see any big contract to a player over 27, possibly even 25. Sell on value is vital. See Spurs, Newcastle and Arsenal as models of this.

yep. I imagine the club want to have a balance between kids and experienced pros with an average squad age around 25-26. I agree that sell on value is critical as this applies to everyone but a select few. Wenger's ability to sell players at the right time made the club a lot of money early on. His stubborness and an unwillingness to spend stupidly or indeed at the right time to keep up has held them back in recent years from winning things. Fact is, that is still a very sound model for us to emulate.

[Concrete John]

Problem is that should a player be in the 25-30 age bracket then they are in their prime and will be looking for top whack wages - see Darren Bent.  That's OK, provided we get the right ones that contributes well for it.  And even if we sign them at 21 or so on a smaller contract, then when they hit that age and new contracts get negotiated, then we'll be paying the going rate or seeing them walk.  I think it's much more important to get the fee right for them, whereby we can make that back, or indeed a profit, on the larger signings, but limit our exposure when they're older by looking as smaller fees.

[barrysleftfoot]

  I would'nt buy anyone over 26 tbh, my targets would be players like Capoue, players who might be great players, but not quite at the moment.

  I would'nt criticise MON for buying Davies, or Delph for example.........gambles, but so was Milner, Young and Downing, and they all worked.

  Its no coincedence that they were all youngish signings, and we got money for them, the older players he bought, are generally still here.

 Capoue, Long, are the kind of signings i would be looking at.

[Rick_avfc]

Eck has said that James Collins is moving into a new house near the area so should end rumours of him moving to another clu but he has admitted that he is a wanted man.  This info was tweeted by Mat Kendrick.

Also, he doesn't believe we are after Scott Dann.

[Toronto Villa]

Problem is that should a player be in the 25-30 age bracket then they are in their prime and will be looking for top whack wages - see Darren Bent.  That's OK, provided we get the right ones that contributes well for it.  And even if we sign them at 21 or so on a smaller contract, then when they hit that age and new contracts get negotiated, then we'll be paying the going rate or seeing them walk.  I think it's much more important to get the fee right for them, whereby we can make that back, or indeed a profit, on the larger signings, but limit our exposure when they're older by looking as smaller fees.

I don't think the club will haver an issue of giving a contract to a top pro like Bent, or Ash if he was still here. It's the Johnny Average bench warmers getting stupid money that has to stop. I think you need the odd 27-30 top player in every team to not only add that quality, but to help with the overall development and success of the club.