fredbob

This poll assumes we're sticking with a 433 in which case id have Butt the most important position to replace, its a position that is important for most formations and is vital - without possession we're toothless. Basically the spine of the team needs working on, Taylor, for me, doesnt work naturally with Faye, so i think it's important we look for competition for his place. And i think Viduka needs replacing, i think we need to have players in the squad who are in the squad and not the first team on the basis of there form and not there ability, age or experience. They need to be ready made replacements rather than the next bext best thing, for me viduka isnt good enough to lead the front line and for a big man doesnt really hold the ball up well enough for the current formation. The other thing that needs addressing is Owen and Geremi - toss up really, dont think Keegan will want to play him in the withdrawn role for too long, doesnt offer too much creatively and Geremi is good but not the level we want to be aiming for. Also wouldnt offer a great deal on the wing if we revert to 442.

Id be worried about his behaviour and mentality but if he came available and was on the clubs radar i would have no hesitation in signing him. The boy would take this league by storm and would be every bit as good as Drogba and Torres in my opinion.

Didnt Joaquin say he'd be interested in signing for us a while back, he looks a qulaity player.

I'd love him here, he's the player i think who has wasted his talent the most so far. He has done canny for being party loving one footed striker: Club With Flamengo Rio State Championship : 2000, 2001 Brazilian Champions' Cup : 2001 With Internazionale Serie A: 2006, 2007 Coppa Italia: 2005, 2006 Italian Super Cup: 2005, 2006 International Copa América: 2004 Confederations Cup: 2005 FIFA U-17 World Cup: 1999 South American Youth Championship: 2001 Individual Copa América 2004: Top Scorer Confederations Cup: 2005 - Golden Ball for The Best Player of the Tournament and The Golden Shoe For Top Scorer Hell of a career so far, no wonder so many of the top Brazilians lose there appetite for the game, they win everything by the age of 21 and get paid stupid amounts for it. One of the 6 best places to party in the UK! I've always liked him, think its stupid how many people havent been snifing round him for so long cos he's made for the Premiership, i just cant see any reason why he wouldnt thrive in the league, even as a target man it'd be difficult for him to be lazy.... Keegan said something about South American players though...maybe having already played in Europe may work in his favour.

I'd love him here, he's the player i think who has wasted his talent the most so far.

11 now, there are 11 people out there who think that a club with a billionaire owner and 52k fans every week should attempt to challenge for 'relative honours ' by employing youth which isnt good enough for the fisrt team in spain but would come here and be good enough to help us achive our sky high ambitions, whilst having our best players at the mercy of another club. Am i missing something?

See id disagree with that, Jones for me is one of the best target men in the Prem, he never falls over and he dominates defenders, even Faye had trouble containing him, he just lacked so much support, he excels at holding the ball up but his finishing and composure is still in question if you ask me. Would take him over Crouch. Because Faye's the best defender this league has to offer... He's just a decent player in a s*** team. He looks good because the players around him are so bad. Would be a mistake. Not us moing forward in the slightest Cant remember saying Faye was the best defender in the league....however he's one of the strongest and Jones handled him like no other striker has handled him that i can rememebr anyway. How many times did Jones retain possession against Taylor and Faye when we played them but he had no support. If he had more outlets when he recieved the ball he'd get more oppurtunites to prove he's a good player. It wasnt long ago that people were writing off Martins and Owen even though the team around them werent perfoming......

See id disagree with that, Jones for me is one of the best target men in the Prem, he never falls over and he dominates defenders, even Faye had trouble containing him, he just lacked so much support, he excels at holding the ball up but his finishing and composure is still in question if you ask me. Would take him over Crouch.

Want to see Zog on the pitch at some point, really be interesting to see what sort of performances he;d give and what kind of response he'd get from the fans.

Does it matter which list he was on? That seems a retarded point to home in on. They eventually joined the lists together anyway so it's 'our' list. Exactly they are not going to go about this with their two seperate lists are they, with a fixed amount for Wises list and a fixed amount for Keegans. What makes you so sure? From what i gather, Wises list is of younger future stars, id wouldnt of thought the club would be as desperate to sign Wises targets as they were for Keegans targets. It seems to me that the club were only gonna pay a certain amount for a younger talent who is unprven and not a Keegan main target. Cant see the same applying to a player explicitly named by Keegan because at the end of the day, Keegan is the one who has to make the team work.

Does it matter which list he was on? That seems a retarded point to home in on. They eventually joined the lists together anyway so it's 'our' list. "retarded point" - every cloud.... My 'retarded point' is that id rather have a wise target underpaid for (as seems the case) than a Keegan target underpaid for, if Keegan didnt think of them in the first place then irrespective of there suitablity for the team they arent the players he primarily wants. So yes it doesn matter what list he's on, id rather the club looks at Keegans list and say, we need to hard try hard to get these because these are the player Keegan wants the omost, we need to go gung ho for there signature. Seems to me that Wises target have a llmit, i wouldnt want there to be too much of a limit on Keegans list. If Keegans list said Deco and Wises list said Modric, even though Modric might be the seemingly better option id rather go for Keegans option because he;s the one who has to fit him in the team.

Can definitely see Huntelaar being a target. Definitely more realisitc than i thought previously.

Hopefull this was a target on Wises list and not Keegans. Would be even nicer if we were looking to pay big money on the younger ones. Which means that if theres a max to wises targets then thats fine but id be more concerned if we hit maximums on Keegans targets.

Joe Lewis, the geezer who lost £500m in Bear Sterns banking collapse.

If anything it's encouraging we are going for £20m players in the first place. Obviously there will be other clubs competing so we don't have a divine right to win every player's signature. Modric seems to be a decent player but he looks a bit puny, so Spurs might get outmuscled in midfield next season. True it is good that we are going looking at a good claibre of player, but itwould shock meif we were beaten by Spurs mainly on financial grounds which seems to be the case. That is our main selling poit as a club, we can offer the finances other clubs can. Id have absolutely no issue if he signed for Spurs on an even keel with finances the same etc, but to be trumped by them on financial terms is actually a little worrying. Hopefully though, Modric isnt our first and main target and we are actually persuing others but Modric is the one that has made it to the media, we have a precedent of our club doing business in the quiet.

I think its very imporant for a player, not so much the glamour of the competition but the fact that you are effectively testing yourselves as a player against the "2nd tier of European football" of teams in Europe, its more games for the player as well and possilby more chance for cash and it a marked level of achievement in your relative league which shows that your are going somewhere. A team that isnt in Europe cant as effectively prove there ambitions as a club that is in Europe, the club without would have to rely on words and money to help prove there ambition and that maybe more of a gamble for a player who can choose a club which already has European football in the bag and would by naturally hope to progress as a club with European qualification in the bag.

Bit gutted to of missed out on him, thought he would of made a good signing and would of been a name that would of got other players looking our way. 2 things that concern me with the transfer, one was the rumoured money issue, if we've underpaid or not offered him decent terms thats seems a bit strange unless he was being extorinate because that is our main selling point. If we cant outpay our main rivals then we dont have much else to offer except for our 'potential' which im sure is the same with most the clubs above us. Also i dont like the fact that Keegan isnt part of the transfer negotiations, i know Jiminez is meant to be the bees knees regarding transfer negotiations but i cant help but think that a dosage of Keegan enthusiasm and passion would help the process a little, surely he knows his plans for the club better than Wise and Jiminez and can therefore sell it a little better. Nee bother, there are obviously plenty of fish in the sea, its good though that the club are dfinitely looking in the right direction!

Im gonna go 'all in' and say that that might be legit. I hate the Sun with a passion but i think this one is legit for some reason. They've not really left themselves much room for manouevre in case its not actually signed sealed and delivered. Would be gutted but there are other talents out there, remember we missed Zenden and got Robert instead.

Just reading through the thread and i cant help but get the feeling that people are arguing completely different things. Which player the Morts quotes were aimed at Whether the old board did actually make statment signings Whether Owen was a statement buy Whether Owens signing was a good one in hindsight What are people debating?

I thinks that's the plan, to sell him before the EURO. Price can't be much bigger than what's being speculated atm. Wouldnt it be in the clubs best interest to sell him after the EUROs so that more clubs get to see him in action and get into a bidding war? I cant see the sense in wanting to sell one of the best youngsters around before a major tournament. They won't get much more than what we're offering before or after the tournament tbh. So wheres the sense in not giving him that oppurtunity to raise his value in a major tournament if the chances they wouldnt lose either way a la Royston Drenthe.

I thinks that's the plan, to sell him before the EURO. Price can't be much bigger than what's being speculated atm. Wouldnt it be in the clubs best interest to sell him after the EUROs so that more clubs get to see him in action and get into a bidding war? I cant see the sense in wanting to sell one of the best youngsters around before a major tournament.

pretty shocked by al this, i hope its true. talk about a conservative first signing! quotes from the Dinamo spokesman as well, does that make this an official attempt then rather than sepculation?

"games played" vs "league starts" ??

no, you're wrong. I've answered them before and mick knows the reply, and there are still 2 open ones for him. You are the first to complain if I repeat things I've said before, well the answer is if he replied to the factual information I wouldn't have to. Don't want to have to say this again, or you'll complain again How much do you think we'll spend this summer? How much ambition do you think the board will show?

Im not being funny, but i genuinely dont think there are too many signings out there that would be wildly unrealisitc. I know we havent been doing as well as a club of club but i think like Tottenham we are in a real position of strength come the end of the season, there will be players who will turn there noses up at us, and there will be players who are being courted by clubs in better situations than us, but if you ask yourself if a player would sign for us if we were the only club in for him then id be inclined to say that there is a chance of signing that player irrespective of his reputation. Look at Man City, they were a nothing club before Frank took over, now they are in for the 2/3 times World player of the year, thatis a true measure of how much things can change, and i dont see why it should be any different for us, except maybe, just maybe we are in a slighlty stronger position than Man City because of our recent history being so much better.