Summer transfer, gossip, speculation and the usual butter ollocks thread

[Duncan Shaw]

When we were seemingly flying under MON in that 2nd season with pace and aggression and were creating chance after chance we should of bought Bent then  but instead he bought Heskey and the rest is history.

I swore at the time if he was fit then MON would have also bought that piece of shit Savage if he could of. When you look back at the opportunity we had then and the absolute shite that was bought it makes you weep.

See Harewood M.

[dave.woodhall]

Or what was the name of that Scotish bloke we bought from Dundee , wasant he a centre forward ?

Different world then. A SFL XI in the seventies would be a match for an English one.

[Risso]

When we were seemingly flying under MON in that 2nd season with pace and aggression and were creating chance after chance we should of bought Bent then  but instead he bought Heskey and the rest is history.

I swore at the time if he was fit then MON would have also bought that piece of shit Savage if he could of. When you look back at the opportunity we had then and the absolute shite that was bought it makes you weep.

Just about the worst thing that happened was Heskey scoring on his debut.  It "proved all the doubters wrong" for one match, before he reverted to type and got one goal in his next 13 games for the rest of the season.

[cdbearsfan]

Or what was the name of that Scotish bloke we bought from Dundee , wasant he a centre forward ?

Ahem, Dundee United.

[paul_e]

Look at all the places where we need strengthening - a striker, wide player, midfielder, central defence, left-back. Now, think how much difference a better player in any one of those positions would have made us last season. How much earlier would we have been safe if we'd got a different player alongside Tyrone Mings - maybe two games? A more physical presence in midfield - very likely the same. A striker who could have got us even twelve goals - pretty much as soon as we started up again. That's the impact he'd have had, and that's why we should be signing the best goalscorer we can, then seeing how much we've got left for the other replacements.

We'll see how it pans out but if we're looking at 4-5 players and have a budget of £100m I don't think spending half of that on Abraham is a good idea but, as I've said many times now, I think that's irrelevant anyway because I don't think he's available anyway and if he was I don't agree with the 'he loved it here and would definitely want to come back' idea.

[Toronto Villa]

How does anyone know what the budget is? Did anyone accurately predict we’d spend £140m last summer?

[mallo]

When looking at or thinking about the bloke from Celtic remember one Scott Sinclair who scored a million goals up there but was actually shit down here.

Or just for balance Moussa Dembele who Eduoard replaced with similar strengths, who scored a million goals up there and is now scoring at the same rate for Lyon.

Isn’t the French league like the Scottish one? 😉

No. Dembele has 16 goals in France this season, comparable with Neymar who has 13 and Mbappe with 18.

I fear Moussa Dembele is out of our league - he's a great player.

[mallo]

How does anyone know what the budget is? Did anyone accurately predict we’d spend £140m last summer?

£100,589,226.10
The 10p is for going.

[paul_e]

How does anyone know what the budget is? Did anyone accurately predict we’d spend £140m last summer?

Well £100m has been thrown around a fair bit and seems about right but you're right, it might be more (or less).

[Keeno]

Origi would be an excellent signing, and I really hope the rumours of us pursuing him are true. He might have had a lack of game time, but there's no shame in being kept out of that Liverpool front three. Their fans rate him, he's got a habit of popping up with big goals at great times whenever he has played, and his work rate, pressing, and football brain will have been improved by one of the best coaches in the world for the last 3 seasons - he certainly wouldn't be coming in from a lower level.

He's a good age, clearly got quality and needs a club in the PL to make him the number one guy, ready to slot in on day one, which you wouldn't be able to say about Eduoard, as much talent as he has. If we can get him for 30m or less, it's a no brainer for me. Would give us the 10-15 goals we need from a No 9 to kick on.

If we brought him in along with Watkins/Eduoard, get Wes fit again and loan out Davis for some top end Championship experience, that would be an massive improvement to our options for the front three overall this summer.

[FailsworthVillan]

Or what was the name of that Scotish bloke we bought from Dundee , wasant he a centre forward ?

Ahem, Dundee United.

Maybe Steamer is thinking of Neil Tarrant from Ross County.

[Dave P]

I agree that for every Virgil Van Dijk there is an Ulises De La Cruz, but playing in the Scottish league doesn't instantly mean they are crap.  Especially if they tear it up in said league as Eduoard is doing.

[SheffieldVillain]

When looking at or thinking about the bloke from Celtic remember one Scott Sinclair who scored a million goals up there but was actually shit down here.

Or just for balance Moussa Dembele who Eduoard replaced with similar strengths, who scored a million goals up there and is now scoring at the same rate for Lyon.

Isn’t the French league like the Scottish one? 😉

No. Dembele has 16 goals in France this season, comparable with Neymar who has 13 and Mbappe with 18.

I fear Moussa Dembele is out of our league - he's a great player.

Yeah, agreed on both points. I wasn't suggesting him as a target (not quite at that level yet) but as part of a discussion on whether Scott Sinclair doing well in Scotland but not here had any bearing on whether we should target Eduoard.

[garyellis]

How does anyone know what the budget is? Did anyone accurately predict we’d spend £140m last summer?

Well £100m has been thrown around a fair bit and seems about right but you're right, it might be more (or less).

It's total guess work and probably bollocks. Nobody believed we would spend the amount we did last year so what's changed now?

[brontebilly]

Look at all the places where we need strengthening - a striker, wide player, midfielder, central defence, left-back. Now, think how much difference a better player in any one of those positions would have made us last season. How much earlier would we have been safe if we'd got a different player alongside Tyrone Mings - maybe two games? A more physical presence in midfield - very likely the same. A striker who could have got us even twelve goals - pretty much as soon as we started up again. That's the impact he'd have had, and that's why we should be signing the best goalscorer we can, then seeing how much we've got left for the other replacements.

We'll see how it pans out but if we're looking at 4-5 players and have a budget of £100m I don't think spending half of that on Abraham is a good idea but, as I've said many times now, I think that's irrelevant anyway because I don't think he's available anyway and if he was I don't agree with the 'he loved it here and would definitely want to come back' idea.

While an upgrade at centre forward is highly desirable I think we are forgetting how dreadful we were without the ball for most of last season. We conceded 67 goals, the second worst in division. Dreadful and all though our strikers were, 41 goals scored was 2 more than Sheff Utd. We need huge improvement at left back, centre midfield and a more experienced centre half. Possibly a backup/starting keeper too if Heaton is still a way off.