Karim El Ahmadi CONFIRMED (Reply #278)

[TimTheVillain]

Looks decent - maybe a Petrov replacement.

I would imagiine he'd be signing for Norwich if Lambert hadn't moved to B6.

Things looking up - he looks skillful AND a grafter.

[curlytailavfc]

average player after a british passport

You forgot to add KRO.

Im no blue nose nob

[Mazrim]

Is this the return of Cranial Injury?

[Ron Manager]

Looks decent - maybe a Petrov replacement.

I would imagiine he'd be signing for Norwich if Lambert hadn't moved to B6.

Things looking up - he looks skillful AND a grafter.

I can only go by the clips I have watched (Id never heard of him) but he  looks like a Nigel De Jong type.  Not over skillful but certainly a grafter and someone who will work for the team and not for himself. Should be a good addition to the playing squad.

[Risso]

average player after a british passport

Two questions -

1) Since when has playing for an English club given foreign players a British passport?
2) Seeing as he's got a Dutch one, what advantage do you think a British one would give him?

[Ron Manager]

Ive just read that the fee will only be around 2.4mil so if anybody thinks we are getting a world beater, think again.

He will provide tackling ability in the middle which currently we do not have.

Paul Lambert will be working to a tight budget so this is the type of signing we should expect for the season ahead.

[nigel]

Once it starts to become a real thing, it comes out of the transfer thread and into one of its own. So here we go:

I agree Dave,
But it's odd you should say that, as I've started a fresh link twice regarding something that's started as a speculation thread, and mine was locked!

[Mazrim]

Ive just read that the fee will only be around 2.4mil so if anybody thinks we are getting a world beater, think again.

Whereas if we pay £24m for him he would be a world beater?

I dont think anybody is claiming he is a world beater though, for what it's worth.

[KRS]

Ive just read that the fee will only be around 2.4mil so if anybody thinks we are getting a world beater, think again.

He will provide tackling ability in the middle which currently we do not have.

Paul Lambert will be working to a tight budget so this is the type of signing we should expect for the season ahead.

Only time will tell if hes any good in the PL, but the evidence so far suggests that he has the graft of Milner combined with the passing ability and intelligence of Ireland. If we can get more players of this potential quality at these relatively low transfer fees then why waste money on over valued "name" players. As I've said previously, the over inflated prices of English players (typified by Spurs latest valuation of Kyle Naughton) is a part of the problem with English football...why spend extortinate amounts when you get the same quality, if not better, from a foreign import at less than half the price?

edit: I'm sure his wage demands, and the wage demands of similar foreign players, wont be as excessive as English or high profile players either, and that can only be a good thing for the well documented financial and wage situation at the club.

[Bordonvilla]

I have friends that are Feyenoord fans, and they are gutted that he may be leaving - "this is a big shit of a transfer for us" - exact words! They think that he a far better player than Holman, and I thought he looked decent! They discribed him as a Nigel de Jong type of player!

[N'ZMAV]

We certainly need a player who can tackle and protect the back 4. This would free up Ireland to get forward and then between them we can use Herd as a box-to-box type player. That would suit me.

[Duncan Shaw]

Can I be the first misery arse to say "In the shirt, on the pitch"!

I got there first on the transfer thread you git!! I'm the king of misery.

He'll be off to the African nations cup for half the bloody season too!

Does that win me the misery prize?

[Concrete John]

If it does turn out to be a £2.4m fee, there's two things to remember:-
1.  He's got 12-months left on his contract, so the price reflects this.
2.  Look at the great transfer value Newcastle have gotten recently.  We can't point to them and say "Why can't we do that" and then moan that we're paying too low a fee and the player won't be a world beater!

[Percy McCarthy]

How much did Viera cost Arsenal, a couple of million? God he must have been shit.

[Risso]

If it does turn out to be a £2.4m fee, there's two things to remember:-
1.  He's got 12-months left on his contract, so the price reflects this.
2.  Look at the great transfer value Newcastle have gotten recently.  We can't point to them and say "Why can't we do that" and then moan that we're paying too low a fee and the player won't be a world beater!

Exactly John.  The reason we're in the financial mess we are is that for four years we paid way over the odds for players.  We've always moaned that we've not had a manager who could find foreign bargains, so hopefully this is the first step in rectifying that.