alpal78

Ya you must have been one of those who said that you wouldn't have sold him for any price when we did sell him. I would have been happy with 20M and since that time, his stock (and ability) has plummeted quite considerably.

No issues with West Ham getting him. They are about his standards. We can do better esoecially for the price quoted.

I don't like either of those options. Sorry my bad, it should have been "so I think Pards quotes should NOT be taken to mean..." My point is that the quotes could mean a variety of things and nobody knows how Pardew wants to play Ba for the new season, so it's all speculation at this point.

pards has said he'll be playing centrally Please point me to these quotes by Pards, thanks Allow me: When asked if he was impressed by Ba's comments hinting towards staying at United, Pardew told the Evening Chronicle: "They have never been anything other if you speak to Demba. "He's always had the same feeling for the club. I think he understands that the fans love him here. "He wants to repay that. By the same token we all have to make sure that everybody is happy here." Ba has asked Pardew about playing more as a centre-forward this season, having been deployed mainly in a wide position after the arrival of his compatriot Papiss Cisse in January. And the Newcastle manager has indicated that Ba will get his chance to lead the line alongside Cisse for the coming 12 months. "Demba wants to play in a central role. He wants to get himself chances to score goals," said Pardew. "And I think that in 90 per cent of the games next year that's where he will play." Thanks. But that can mean a few things. I dont necessarily think it excludes the possibility of rotating with Cisse or even us playing 433 with Cisse and Ba interchanging position in the center. As many have said, even with the 433 last season, Ba would start from the left but got his chaces in the middle of the trio and he didnt score through a combination of bad luck (hitting the bar/post multiple times) and low morale or fatigue poct ACON. I dont see why a rejuvenated Ba would not do well in a 433 formation, so I think Pards quotes should be taken to mean that we will revert to 442 or that Ba will replace Cisse as the centre focal point.

pards has said he'll be playing centrally Please point me to these quotes by Pards, thanks

Why are we arguing about Ba? He's not really come out to say that he is either leaving or not happy with the 433 formation.

And Carrol could not tie half of Zlatan's shoelaces even if he was on all fours!

Laughable how a few are using Liverpool's insanity and stupidity of buying Carroll for 35M as justification of why Carroll at 15M is good value. When you benchmark your price against stupidity, then guess what, the justification is stupid too!

And where do you see HBA, our most skilfull player in the front 3 fitting into all this? You alluded to the point yourself, if Carroll is going to be on the bench for the trio of Cisse, Ba and HBA, then I've got no problem. But should we be paying in excess of 15M for what is in principal a sub player (regardless of the oh we have so many games because we're in Europe argument)? That's not even getting into the point that we can get better options fom Europe for 15M. No I don't have the names for you because I've not spoken to Car yet but given our previous record nd the inflated price of Enlish players, it's not unreasonable to suggest that we can do better for 15M

Anything above 10M and we're spending too much. We all know that the price of an English player is inflated and even more so for an English striker (this is part of the reason why Liverpool were mugged coz KD wanted his English players as the core if his first 11). For 10M, we can get a better European striker whose proven more than having a 6 months purple patch and is technically more suitable to the fluid passing football we are trying to play. Plus if we do spend in excess of 10M, there's every chance that we will have to cheap out on our other purchases of RB, CB and midfielder (that means potentially loosing out on the likes of Debuchy, Douglas...etc for cheaper options). So anything above 10M is a big no for me and those saying yes are just caught up in the romanticism of having a Gordie lad back in his home club potentially leading the line (at least in some games)

Don't want him back, he represents the opposite of what we are trying to build both in terms of character and style of play. Yes he doesn't have Shola's rapist touch but technically he is far inferior than the likes of HBA, Cabaye, Cisse and Ba. Just let him lie in the grave he dug himself

Not sure you really read the quotes. Pardew actually said that he has good work rate and the issue is consistency in producing those magical moments which whilst difficult is a fair comment to make

awesome stuff mate, in case you didn't know its gone viral even in Asia

Santon will be that LB, no concerns. There's been plenty of quality right footed LB's in the past for bigger clubs than ourselves. Aye and we still could really do with a left footed fullback, its crazy not to have one. Aye if we had infinite amount of money for transfers and wages

Wages my good sir Yah but shouldn't City be asking for more?

So basically we have to wait another 14 days to find out either way. SSN with another premature jizz!

How the hell is Spurs getting Adebayor for £5M? In today's market he has to cost at least >£10M

Madras, isn't the whole point of a full back to stop crosses coming in in the first place? Backing off is useful if you end up forcing the winger onto his weaker foot, thereby stopping the cross and forces him to pass backwards and disrupting the momentum of the attack. But backing off aimlessly and letting the wingers cross in the hope that the centre back will deal with the crosses is just poor defending and is what Simpson usually does

Don't want him anywhere near our club and don't think he'll ever be a top striker in the mould of Shearer

Happy to miss out on this one (assuming we tried)

Thats why I'm asking, coz people are saying stump up the cash but do we actually know how much Lille wants.

Spot on What's the difference between our offered price and what Lille is asking for?

Not too fussed if I'm honest as long as we get in another striker in (maybe two). 15M is too high for someone who has not proven himself at the highest level, might be a one season wonder like Carrlol. These are the riskiest kind of transfers, a player between "got potential" to "consistent top performances". They fetch a high price (due to young age) but are yet to prove themselves. If we are to buy big, I'd rather it be on someone who has done it consistently and who we know can hit the ground running like Cisse. If we are to buy potential, I'd rather we buy them at an earlier development stage (cheaper) like the ones we got in recently

How good is he that we're willing to spend big (by our standards). For those who have seen him, would you say he is better than Ba?

Should have been a pro and kept his mouth shut. You realize that had he not had a falling off with Deschamp, he would not be playing for us