Transfer Speculation / Gossip

[JUAN PABLO]

8 mill for a player who's marginally better than Westwood is a gamble. The sad truth is we need to fill a void in midfield with a genuinely good player, someone far more up with, and probably beyond Delph's quality. Cleverely might improve us a notch or two but we need a big step up from Westwood, not a small one. The midfield is still a bit shit. We've signed Sanchez to be our water carrier. That's part one done. But we still need a bit of class and guile in there to compliment Delph's energy and the donkey work Sanchez (when he settles) will do. Westwood is not that player and never will be. Cleverely probably wouldn't either.
Unfortunately in our current state it's all about slow and steady improvements. Barring an incredibly fortuitious piece of scouting ala Benteke.

What worries me , would cleverly have improved us last night, I very much doubt it

[Clampy]

If the price is £8m, then we can't exactly accuse Randy of trying to do the bare minimum whilst he's looking for a buyer.

[supertom]

8 mill for a player who's marginally better than Westwood is a gamble. The sad truth is we need to fill a void in midfield with a genuinely good player, someone far more up with, and probably beyond Delph's quality. Cleverely might improve us a notch or two but we need a big step up from Westwood, not a small one. The midfield is still a bit shit. We've signed Sanchez to be our water carrier. That's part one done. But we still need a bit of class and guile in there to compliment Delph's energy and the donkey work Sanchez (when he settles) will do. Westwood is not that player and never will be. Cleverely probably wouldn't either.
Unfortunately in our current state it's all about slow and steady improvements. Barring an incredibly fortuitious piece of scouting ala Benteke.

What worries me , would cleverly have improved us last night, I very much doubt it

He's one of those ordinary sort of midfielders. Tidy. He's not the sort who'll go and start putting his foot in when you need to disrupt the opposition. Likewise you won't see him playing an eye of the needle pass to unlock a defence too often, nor take on and beat a couple of defenders when you need a spark.
If you have a runner like Delph and a player like Sanchez, we could afford a third player who's...well...like a younger  and less past it version of Joe Cole.
We're just getting a slight upgrade on Westwood. That may help us in some games, and provide us with someone who stays more present in games (I hope) than Westwoodio the magnificent (and his disappearing act).

[Steve67]

If the price is £8m, then we can't exactly accuse Randy of trying to do the bare minimum whilst he's looking for a buyer.

Totally agree, which is why I constantly question the poor purchases and crap coaching when they get here.  I would much prefer us to use the money to sack Lambert and hope that Tom Fox is a better judge of character than Lerner. I'm positive that there is better out there for 8 million.

[PaulWinch again]

He was good at Wigan, he may not be top class but he's pretty good for our level.

[barrysleftfoot]

 Thats a good assessment supertom.We need a young Joe Cole, but these kind of players are either incredibly expensive, or incredibly inconsistent. You could buy Morrisson, or maybe Ben Arfa, but what would you get?

 Cleverley does move the ball quickly, and does move off the ball far better than Westwood.He would be an improvement, and after thinking about it theres not many other players out there who would be as positive, or gettable as Cleverley......maybe Dembele, not sure about Holtby tbh.

 I wouldn't be too disappointed with Cleverley tbh.

[tomd2103]

Thats a good assessment supertom.We need a young Joe Cole, but these kind of players are either incredibly expensive, or incredibly inconsistent. You could buy Morrisson, or maybe Ben Arfa, but what would you get?

 Cleverley does move the ball quickly, and does move off the ball far better than Westwood.He would be an improvement, and after thinking about it theres not many other players out there who would be as positive, or gettable as Cleverley......maybe Dembele, not sure about Holtby tbh.

 I wouldn't be too disappointed with Cleverley tbh.

We might have one!

[supertom]

As much as it's glaringly obvious we need a good winger, I'm not sure Lambert will ever be comfortable using a winger. I suspect he'll play Grealish in just left of centre, and Zogbia will play either right side cutting in, or just behind the forward(s).
We can hope for signing someone like Andros Townsend but it won't happen.

If we sign Cleverely and he gets back to his Wigan form he'll prove good business. Would he be our last signing? I think Lambert might have 1 more target in mind after TC. Hopefully someone who will score or create goals. We can't rely on Zogbia and Cole for differing reasons, and it wouldn't be fair to rest too much pressure on Jack.

[wozwebs]

To be fair, that guy is the one to watch on Twitter then. Said Cleverley this morning and press picked it up late on this afternoon / evening.

[JUAN PABLO]

He was good at Wigan, he may not be top class but he's pretty good for our level.

Wigan level?   Great

[JUAN PABLO]

As much as it's glaringly obvious we need a good winger, I'm not sure Lambert will ever be comfortable using a winger. I suspect he'll play Grealish in just left of centre, and Zogbia will play either right side cutting in, or just behind the forward(s).
We can hope for signing someone like Andros Townsend but it won't happen.

If we sign Cleverely and he gets back to his Wigan form he'll prove good business. Would he be our last signing? I think Lambert might have 1 more target in mind after TC. Hopefully someone who will score or create goals. We can't rely on Zogbia and Cole for differing reasons, and it wouldn't be fair to rest too much pressure on Jack.

most players go backwards here . was he that good at Wigan . 3 goals and 2 assists

[Rudy Can't Fail]

He was good at Wigan, he may not be top class but he's pretty good for our level.

Wigan had a manager that knew his arse from his elbow. We don't have that luxury.

[JUAN PABLO]

I just think we need to spend that money on that playmaker . we create nothing , we haven't done for years . Cleverly , we have already got this type of player and 8 million is too much to be spending on him , instead of other areas

[Dave]

He was good at Wigan, he may not be top class but he's pretty good for our level.

Wigan had a manager that knew his arse from his elbow. We don't have that luxury.

That raises a point actually, if Cleverley is available for a reasonable (ish) price - I wonder why Martinez and Everton aren't interested.

Unless he saw enough in a year of working with him to decide that he doesn't want to bother having him back.

[JUAN PABLO]

He was good at Wigan, he may not be top class but he's pretty good for our level.

Wigan had a manager that knew his arse from his elbow. We don't have that luxury.

That raises a point actually, if Cleverley is available for a reasonable (ish) price - I wonder why Martinez and Everton aren't interested.

Unless he saw enough in a year of working with him to decide that he doesn't want to bother having him back.

good point dave