TRon

I don't really know much about Gosling which is why I added the proviso "Hopefully he'll turn out to be a player worth all this time and expense". We took a similar chance on Ireland but for me he's a special talent worth taking a punt on. Maybe Gosling is as well, I'm not in a position to say as I've not seen him play.

Great signing. He cost nothing, we hadn't exactly built our whole game plan around him, so what if he can't play for a while? Post this again in two years time and maybe we can have a sensible conversation about him. He cost nothing? Mike Ashley's regime has been fairly vocal about factoring in wages when it comes to money spent on players, so unless Gosling has been unpaid this season I'd say there's already been a significant outlay. Hopefully he'll turn out to be a player worth all this time and expense.

Doesn't seem to have been a fit for any club for that matter.

Pardew might well make some fantastic signings in the future but there's no way Ben Arfa was down to him. Although to his credit he did at least recognise that he was a special player and made public noises about how he wanted to seal a permanent deal. How much input Hughton had in identifying HBA and Tiote I have no idea but if it was significant he will be a big miss.

He's adequate for this season. If we want to be the team we can be we'll need to get someone else in that position next season whether it's Gosling, Vukic or a new signing. Or maybe even Barton. I would sign two forwards, a left winger, back up right winger, back up left back, back up right back, a quality centre back and someone to back up Tiote before thinking about replacing Nolan. I am all for progressing and improving on the players we have but we need to fill gaps first. If Nolan was crocked we should have someone (Guthrie or Gosling) to step in his place. We would really struggle to fill the place of Barton, Enrique, Colo, Simpson, Tiote, Ben Arfa (currently being filled by Loven who will be older). Even Jonas who I am not a big fan of is a big miss at the moment simply because we only have a mostly untested kid in reserve. Tiote can be covered by Guthrie, Barton by Ireland if he stays, Simpson by Perch and Jonas by Ben Arfa or Marveaux if the rumours are true he's coming here next season. I would say Nolan's position is probably a key weakness in that for most teams it's the hub of the pass and move mantra. Not so much for long ball teams though, in which case he'd be a very strong player.

He's adequate for this season. If we want to be the team we can be we'll need to get someone else in that position next season whether it's Gosling, Vukic or a new signing. Or maybe even Barton.

There's not much to choose between Taylor and Williamson tbh. Taylor is probably a bit stronger and better able to stand up to a battering, but Williamson reads the game better. Taylor and Colo as a pair used to look all at seas but they have done well this season as a pair, so for me it's whoever has the shirt and has earned it...which is Williamson for now.

We don't have to convince him that we'll be in the Champions Leauge in a seasons time, we need to convince him and the other good players that we have ambition. If they are happy here and think we're going places then they'll stop rather than risking going somewhere where they might be happy. i'd doubt he'd stay if the ambition was to reach the europa, it has to be champs league and i'm not sure how we can realistically convince him of that. we could convince him we are headed in a better direction by making good signings in the summer. I am fairly confident if we showed that we were going to spend the Carroll money on quality players and we mean to have a serious assault on Europe next season, most of our players including Enrique would want to be part of it.

Yeah although I think he may be more of defensive minded centre mid, definitely compared to Nolan. Also, he's set to be out for the rest of the season IIRC. From what the Everton fans said he sounds more like Nolan, get's himself in good shooting positions but isn't very quick. That said he does apparently have good energy. Lampard isn't particularly quick but he is still relatively mobile. I don't think that position requires loads of pace so as long as Gosling has a good engine he should be ok.

Yeah although I think he may be more of defensive minded centre mid, definitely compared to Nolan. Also, he's set to be out for the rest of the season IIRC. I was thinking in terms of next season anyway. Just wondering whether some of the £35m should be spent on an attacking midfielder but we have Vukic and Gosling who might step up next season.

Does Dan Gosling play through the centre? I am just wondering if he would provide an alternative to Nolan if we were looking for more mobility in some games. Or all of them preferably.

I have read all the interviews past and present in this thread and all I see is a player who wants to be part of an ambitious club. He's said more than enough times he loves the fans and the city but he's got international aspirations as well as the desire for club honours. With £35m in the bank to strengthen the squad it shouldn't be the hardest sell to persuade him that we can provide all that soon. Will we do that? If Ashley won't go for it now he never will.

It is in most other countries. That's why we got HBA and Tiote in the last 12 months for a fraction of the fee it will cost to land Connor Whickham.

Aye he has just turned 25 I think,looks like he went to the same ageing school as Obafemi Martins. That's why I don't think he'll be worth anywhere near the £20m you have priced him at. Sunderland have bought a decent striker but they paid top whack IMO. He looks closer to 30 than 25. Serious question...... Would you not like Gyan at Newcastle? He is a better footballer than Bent,he won't score as many goals but his all round play is very impressive and a real team player. I wouldn't pay £13m for a 30 yr old no.

Best post in this thread by a country mile.

Aye he has just turned 25 I think,looks like he went to the same ageing school as Obafemi Martins. That's why I don't think he'll be worth anywhere near the £20m you have priced him at. Sunderland have bought a decent striker but they paid top whack IMO. He looks closer to 30 than 25.

How old is Gyan? I quite liked him at the World Cup but he does look like he's knocking on a bit.

If Spurs want to spend £15m on a lad with potential then good luck to them. I am pretty sure if you scour the world markets a third of that will get you some pretty special potential talent.

Yup. I still think he'll go in the summer. He's basically put the ball in our court. There are only two or three players left at this club who will attract attention from the big clubs. If Jose sees that we are serious about getting back where we belong I think he'll stay. Otherwise he'll reluctantly move to a club which can give him the platform his talent deserves. That's how I read his comments.

Even he knows he's s*** The first two lines look like really good news, the third and fourth are killers. The fourth isn't so bad. We could take an optimistic view and assume when he says he's going to work really hard to stay here for another three or four years that means he's going to lay off the beer and lose a stone.

Because Whelan hates Ashley and the idea of selling his one real hope of Premier League survival 10 minutes before the transfer wndow closed would be an utterly mental thing to do? Not only this, but I suspect that Ashley only put a bid in to Whelan cos he is the one owner Ashley could be 100% sure wasn't going to accept the bid. Yeah that was the point, when you get owners as rich as these guys, the odd million here or there is peanuts to them. Ashley would probably happily piss away a few million on a bet. Whelan had as far as I know put a price of £10m on Zog to another club. But because it was Ashley no sale.

No problem with us haggling to get the best deal as long as we don't capitulate and sell our own players if they get itchy feet due to the lack of early signings.

It's not a world of difference, it's just a matter of scale. We wouldn't be able to hold onto one of the best players in the world in their position, of course we wouldn't. However Enrique is not one of the best players in the world in his position. He's good, and he's better than average in this league, but he's not in the top 10 left backs in the world. If it's really about the ambition to win things for Enrique, then we can't begrudge him leaving for a club in England, Spain, Italy or Germany who are in the CL, and I wouldn't blame the club for selling him in the Summer either. However if he goes to a club who are only realistically going for a Europa League place like Liverpool or Villa, then it's partly about the money for the player, and completely about the money for the club. I know there are some who would hate him for that, but personally I don't begrudge any player moving for money, 99.9% of us in the same position would do exactly the same and you're kidding yourself if you think differently. In that situation, a club with our resources in one of the best leagues in the world shouldn't really be struggling to keep hold of him if we think he's worth it. Enrique as a player is about at the same level as we should be as a minimum as a club. Very true. We as a club now seem to have set ourselves a wage limit where only other clubs cast offs like Nolan, Butt and Smith will be happy to ply their trade. Any player of significant quality will leave for a club with more ambition. It was understandable to have some wage restrictions but it seems we now class ourselves alongside the likes of Bolton and Wigan when it comes to how much we are willing to pay players.

Don't worry he won't be going anywhere because the big clubs won't want him.

Nolan always gives 100% and his attitude has never been in question on the pitch. However we want to be like his idols Liverpool "a great club" which means we'll no longer require the services of the likes of Nolan who just isn't good enough to be at an ambitious club.