January Transfer Window

[Nii Lamptey]

Striker is #1 priority.
What’s the point in having a Jack Grealish with a strike force that couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo.
Love Ollie, but a player that cost that amount of money should be putting some of those chances away for breakfast. Gets into good positions, and it may be a confidence thing, but currently, no matter his form, he’s undroppable. Needs quality competition.
Wes - bad injury and he’s going to take an age to get back up to speed (if ever).
Keinan - no.

We've scored plenty this season.

What we lack though is that go to striker off the bench to make major impact in last 20 minutes when games start to get stretched or we need direct option.

Can't really remember last striker we had who actually did that. Guess you could count Carew once he became more of a bench player in O'Neill's last season but he was much better starting.

To be a top side we need one from somewhere. It's o.k to wait for Wes but there is nearly 15 more games to play before we get to mid March so practically half the season.

Not denying we haven’t scored plenty, but we SHOULD have scored plenty more. That’s the difference between those top few spots and the rest. Would Leicester have won the league (or even got top 4) without Vardy.... not a chance in hell.
Ollie shows tremendous promise - Cannot fault effort, or getting into good positions, but he’s only actually scored in 3/4 premier league games out 15. In the cold light of day, that’s not a good enough return for a 30+ million player.
He desperately needs competition/someone else to help shoulder that burden

[TonyD]

The title is there for the taking this season.

We should grab ourselves a Costa.   

[DrGonzo]

"..replace him if he is not doing the business"....

Evaluate this sentence. 

He needs support not replacement. Genuinely? 

[Stinkin_Thinkin]

maybe he needs inspiring competition for the shirt?

[Goldie.7]

This season is giving me flashbacks to 2008/09. All we needed was a capable striker in January to really push on, but we decided otherwise.

Watkins won't be enough firepower for our remaining 23 matches. We could be in Europe next season if we act accordingly this month.

[tomd2103]

As I've said in another thread, our biggest issue to moving on from where we are (upper mid table) to where we belong, is that we need a top quality goal scorer.  If we had one of those, I'd be pretty confident of top 4 this year.  I do like Watkins, but he isn't going to score 25 goals this season and that is what we need. 

Over to the scouts and owners.

The problem (and it's a nice problem) is that we've progressed so quickly this season.  At the start of the season, I think most of us would have taken a 10th - 13th place finish this season and seen it as marked progression.

Don't want to get too carried away as we're less than half way through the season, but we have exceeded all expectations up to this point and deserve to be where we are. 

I just think that there is s huge opportunity this season to potentially finish in a position that could change the profile of the club completely.  The side we currently have got have done very well so far, but I just think the last couple of games have shown that we would just need that extra bit of quality in the final third to make that next further step up.

We've been in that position before a number of times over the years and have never taken the step. 

[Drummond]

He needs a breather that's all. We haven't a goalscorer to bring on. Good as Davis has the potential to be, he ain't that man.

[Percy McCarthy]

Our first 11 is as good as anyone’s.  If we push the boat out in the transfer window anything is possible this season.

[TheMalandro]

Our first 11 is as good as anyone’s.  If we push the boat out in the transfer window anything is possible this season.

Agree. It certainly seems a good season to take a gamble.

[Ads]

Having Trez and Barkley on the bench today would make a huge difference quality wise. So another midfielder and a forward seems a must to me. We're going to get injuries, we need to expand the pool of quality players.

[Mister E]

The title is there for the taking this season.
We should grab ourselves a Costa.   

As long as we buy Sheringham rather than Cantscorino this time!

[ozzjim]

Attacking midfielder that can play wide and central, and a striker for me.

I know he has his critics, but an in form Alli from Spurs competing with Barkley would be a great loan for me.

Striker wise, god knows, but Ollie needs a rest! He is getting in positions, and save for 2 very dubious VAR would have 8 in 15 that is top drawer striker range, so he is not really the issue. Also, he does so much running that half the goals the team has scored don't happen without him, so it is about having a different option to him, that can make that big impact. In the summer we wanted Wilson AND Watkins, watching us you can see why. Wilson would have been a really good addition to this squad.

I really, really hope we have someone lined up.

[WarszaVillan]

Midfielder and forward player are needed as we are not able to mix and change things when we have a couple of injuries. But I'm not sure this can be done this window. There's no point buying anyone just for the sake of it, we're not in the desperate situation we found ourselves in last year. We need quality at least at the level we already have in the squad.

[brontebilly]

I think Tuanzebe would be a decent shout. Seems to be third choice RCB at United. Engels seems to be on the way out, not that I'm a huge fan of the formation but Tuanzebe also would give us the option of going with three at the back. Would also enable us to release Elmo or Guilbert.

[IFWaters]

I dont think its a case of Ollie needing to be binned, but he is low on confidence and there are times when you just need someone with a bit more guile and experience to sneak a goal in from 6 yards, get in front of someone, use their head. Same really with Wes, happy he's in the squad and recovering but he will need time.

In the meantime I would go for Mario Mandzukic who is free at the moment. Understand he was asked to join us last summer but declined , but we're a different prospect now and I think at his age an 18 month contract with an extra year option for us on good money should be attractive enough.

Longer term I think Edouard or Tammy are good options but wouldnt bring in the experience that Mandzukic has.

Elsewhere, at left back a Mr Jordan Mavi's contract at Nice runs out this summer, although he is out with a torn muscle at the moment. Surely there must be a way to get him back ? French clubs have lost their TV contract and several are in dire straits financially and could be desperate to sell just to get wages off. I dont know Ligue 1 at all but surely there are plenty of options there for a bargain now ?

Looking at our squad now :

Goal - good cover, experience, no issues

Central defence - maybe a spot free if Engels goes but despite Mings cockups I think we are good enough here.

Left & Rightbacks - Taylor will go in 6 months, if there is a chance of someone very good, otherwise its a risk, RB is fine.

Def Midfield - as long as Dougie stays we are ok, Nakamba is ok as cover

Attacking Midfield - not a problem but would be good to get Barkley back

Wing - good in that if we add that striker I would play Watkins in one of those positions, Trez, AEG and Traore all good not great.

Striker - Watkins and Wes good and potential, but need someone experienced to make that difference.