ohmelads

If I didn't know anything about Luque before he came here, I'd be inclined to agree with you. In truth he's done nothing for us so far, and hasn't shown much either. But as a follower of Spanish football I've seen enough of him to know that we have a top player on our hands. He was used mostly on the wing in his final season at Depor, largely because of his pace. Yes, believe it or not 12 months ago Luque was pretty quick. Go and watch some highlights of his performance against us in the Riazor, a few weeks before we bought him. I know people are going to say Carr is slow, but he just couldn't handle Luque's pace down our right flank and was lucky not to get sent off after a yellow card and a series of fouls. Or watch his performance against Man Utd on his debut, where he was quick down our left flank and looked like he could make that position his own. He's looked slow ever since, almost certainly because of his injury in only his second game, which was the worst of his career. Roeder described it as 'a horrible hamstring injury' and it put him out for 3 months. The big question is, has he lost a yard of pace permanently or will he get it back with fitness and games? It's difficult to say, he hasn't had a run in the side since he came here. Believe it or not the Deportivo fans are still talking about him on their forum, and mention that they miss the pace that he offered them. If you don't believe me I can point you to it. You mention he's fragile, but he's never had injury problems in his career. He's played over 30 games a season throughout his career. In 3 seasons at Deportivo he only missed 14 games, thats about 5 games a season. In his last season at Depor he played 37 out of 38 games and was the club's top scorer from the left wing with 11 goals. He also had a tendancy to score against the bigger teams, including goals against Villarreal, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan (home and away). The player we signed only 12 months ago was a regular in the Spain squad, competing with Vicente for the left-wing spot and attracted the interest of Real, Barcelona and Liverpool. He was pivotal in Deportivo's Champions League semi-final run two years ago, scoring 5 goals. You don't play that well throughout your career and then suddenly turn shit at the age of 28. Are you ready to lose £5m on a player who has only started half a dozen games for us? Personally I think his pedigree suggests we should have a good look at him before we get rid.

You'd think he'd start by submitting a transfer request or at least saying something to the media.

The whole team lacked effort, heart and desire in the first half against Lillestrom at St James', but Luque was the only player getting stick. At times it seems that everything that goes wrong on the pitch is Luque's fault. There are too many people out there determined to see him fail and for that reason I don't think he'll make it here. I do however think he'll go somewhere else and be a success, just as he was at Deportivo. Eventually attitudes will change, but it'll take time.

Not good enough. Are we competing to 'cement a place in mid-table' like a side that's just been promoted or are we going for UEFA Cup/Champions League places next season? If we go for Lua Lua it'll be a massive statement about our ambition. Yes, I'm aware it would be a 'temporary measure' etc but he's not going to be content sitting on the bench, we've seen that with him before.

I remember a lot of people saying that what Chelsea paid represented about double his value. Besides, I think people are concerned about the amount of money being put by (it doesn't matter if its instalments or not, it will come out of next season's budget whatever way you look at it) for a position we're already healthy in. Who knows, as a second striker he could be brilliant but we haven't seen much of him playing that role. It'd be a good loan signing but this 10M worries me.

Let's not forget SWP is no longer a youngster, he's almost 25. Still got plenty years left in him, granted, but I think he's as good as he's ever likely to be.

Well we don't know the terms of this proposed deal yet but it looks like it would eat up all of next season's budget and a bit of this season's one too (they'll surely want some sort of loan fee). Owen cost us everything we had and this looks like it could do the same.

Didn't we say the same thing about Owen? These are the sort of signings we should have been making when we were in the Champions League, right now they represent too much of a gamble on a player we don't desperately need.

We certainly would. We don't know what our priorities will be next year. For all we know there may be a new player we want to spend our money on, or a player this coming season who catches our eye. What if Milner starts to really look the part or Dyer gets over his injuries. We just don't know where we'll be in 12 months. Souness put all his eggs in one basket with Owen and it cost him and us dearly. I'm hoping however that the Journal have just cocked this story up and we would pay an initial fee of say a couple of million, followed by the rest if we decide to sign him. That way even if we string them along theyve got a million or two out of us. To say 10M for SWP is 'a bargain' is suggesting that he is bordering on world class. He had one good (not great) season for Man City and has been frozen out for 12 months which won't have done him good.

10M would be a massive gamble. It wouldn't be a bad loan signing if we could string them along all year (Sporting Lisbon style) and then send him back to Stamford Bridge at the end of his loan period. 10M is a lot of money for a winger, I'm not yet convinced that SWP is that good. When we were linked with Beckham, everyone was keen to point out that we already have Solano, Dyer and Milner for the right wing. Suddenly it's SWP and everyone is excited. Would Chelsea loan him to us if they thought we might just sit him on our bench as luxury backup?

fantasy.premierleague.com

Looks a little bit sluggish from what I've seen, I'm a little sceptical whether he could make the step up to the Premier League. If we really do have that kind of money to throw around it'd be worth testing Real with a bid for Baptista. He's fallen out of favour there and with the change of presidency I can see them making a big bid for someone like Torres. Baptista's stock has fallen significantly over there and they might want to recoup a bit of their money. The only reason he rejected Arsenal was because he needed an extra year to obtain his EU passport. I've seen quite a lot of him this season and I think he's exactly what we need.