Right-backs

[Cajun]

What about Matty Taylor of Pompey - always struck me as being a good full back. Shouldn't be too expensive either.

 

I think he is a better midfielder than defender and I doubt they would sell.

[Ikon]

I would also look abroad for players.

[Rich]

Nobody said Lucas Neill, again?

 

I know he's not particularly brilliant, but I'd have thought he was very much available in the summer with West Ham almost certainties to go down.

 

Obviously nowhere near as "cultured" as Solano, but is a versatile leader who will get stuck in and add some steel to our backline that has been missing for eons now. If there's one thing our side needs it's more gritty characters who can also play a bit. He's got all the attributes for a modern full-back, it's only his loyalty and his disciplinary record that would put me off him.

 

I also agree that the left is a more immediate priority and I'd be delighted if we managed to get Bridge or Baines here. There are a stack of classy full-backs abroad, though, it all depends on what Roeder wants to see in his back-line. He has said recently that he wants "leaders" and more vocal players, so this would suggest to me players who can already speak English and who have a proven track-record of being influential in their careers so far. It's why Neill seems an exceptionally obvious choice. He's probably burned his bridges with Liverpool and I can't see any of the other "big 3" going for him, so I'd say we have a great chance of getting him here.

[Guest anthony118]

I think he is a better midfielder than defender and I doubt they would sell.

 

Fair enough.

 

Just thought that if Bale ends up at Chelski we may have a chance of getting Bridge. But abroad is probably best option - haven't seen anything of Taiwo but have heard good things.

[Kimbo]

Nobody said Lucas Neill, again?

 

I know he's not particularly brilliant, but I'd have thought he was very much available in the summer with West Ham almost certainties to go down.

 

Obviously nowhere near as "cultured" as Solano, but is a versatile leader who will get stuck in and add some steel to our backline that has been missing for eons now. If there's one thing our side needs it's more gritty characters who can also play a bit. He's got all the attributes for a modern full-back, it's only his loyalty and his disciplinary record that would put me off him.

 

I also agree that the left is a more immediate priority and I'd be delighted if we managed to get Bridge or Baines here. There are a stack of classy full-backs abroad, though, it all depends on what Roeder wants to see in his back-line. He has said recently that he wants "leaders" and more vocal players, so this would suggest to me players who can already speak English and who have a proven track-record of being influential in their careers so far. It's why Neill seems an exceptionally obvious choice. He's probably burned his bridges with Liverpool and I can't see any of the other "big 3" going for him, so I'd say we have a great chance of getting him here.

The problem with Neill is he's on something like 60k at West Ham, would you pay him that?

[Dokko]

Nobody said Lucas Neill, again?

 

I know he's not particularly brilliant, but I'd have thought he was very much available in the summer with West Ham almost certainties to go down.

 

Obviously nowhere near as "cultured" as Solano, but is a versatile leader who will get stuck in and add some steel to our backline that has been missing for eons now. If there's one thing our side needs it's more gritty characters who can also play a bit. He's got all the attributes for a modern full-back, it's only his loyalty and his disciplinary record that would put me off him.

 

I also agree that the left is a more immediate priority and I'd be delighted if we managed to get Bridge or Baines here. There are a stack of classy full-backs abroad, though, it all depends on what Roeder wants to see in his back-line. He has said recently that he wants "leaders" and more vocal players, so this would suggest to me players who can already speak English and who have a proven track-record of being influential in their careers so far. It's why Neill seems an exceptionally obvious choice. He's probably burned his bridges with Liverpool and I can't see any of the other "big 3" going for him, so I'd say we have a great chance of getting him here.

The problem with Neill is he's on something like 60k at West Ham, would you pay him that?

 

It is a huge problem, but no doubt that will be cut to £40kpw if when they are relegated. I guess the same is with all their new signings.

[Rich]

Nobody said Lucas Neill, again?

 

I know he's not particularly brilliant, but I'd have thought he was very much available in the summer with West Ham almost certainties to go down.

 

Obviously nowhere near as "cultured" as Solano, but is a versatile leader who will get stuck in and add some steel to our backline that has been missing for eons now. If there's one thing our side needs it's more gritty characters who can also play a bit. He's got all the attributes for a modern full-back, it's only his loyalty and his disciplinary record that would put me off him.

 

I also agree that the left is a more immediate priority and I'd be delighted if we managed to get Bridge or Baines here. There are a stack of classy full-backs abroad, though, it all depends on what Roeder wants to see in his back-line. He has said recently that he wants "leaders" and more vocal players, so this would suggest to me players who can already speak English and who have a proven track-record of being influential in their careers so far. It's why Neill seems an exceptionally obvious choice. He's probably burned his bridges with Liverpool and I can't see any of the other "big 3" going for him, so I'd say we have a great chance of getting him here.

The problem with Neill is he's on something like 60k at West Ham, would you pay him that?

 

Dyer's getting £80k+, Owen's on £100k+, Duff must be on £60k-ish, same with Martins... Luque is getting paid £40k or there abouts. Obviously these won't be exact figures, so feel free to pull me up on any you think might be way out.

 

£60k these days is sadly becoming fairly normal - I actually dread to think what we're paying the likes of Carr and Babayaro at the minute and the fact that we are paying Luque £40k a week (or so) for practically nothing means that I would not object to us getting shot of him and buying a first-choice fullback and paying him £60k p/w.

 

I don't doubt that it's obscene, but I'm sure the likes of Wayne Bridge would command a similar sort of wage, and I personally think that Neill is a far better bet than the likes of Johnson and Hoyte, who are yet to really prove anything in the game. It all depends on Solano, really. If he can play to his current level for another season then I would not object to us looking at someone like Hoyte and preparing him for the future. If Solano isn't going to be the solution next season, then we need to look at getting somebody of proven class in.

 

Is Neill definitely on £60k p/w? Was he getting that at Blackburn? (Seems outlandish for them lot!) The only mention I've heard of the £60k thing came from someone who was describing him on the new database of Football Manager, that's why I'm asking.

[Dokko]

Nobody said Lucas Neill, again?

 

I know he's not particularly brilliant, but I'd have thought he was very much available in the summer with West Ham almost certainties to go down.

 

Obviously nowhere near as "cultured" as Solano, but is a versatile leader who will get stuck in and add some steel to our backline that has been missing for eons now. If there's one thing our side needs it's more gritty characters who can also play a bit. He's got all the attributes for a modern full-back, it's only his loyalty and his disciplinary record that would put me off him.

 

I also agree that the left is a more immediate priority and I'd be delighted if we managed to get Bridge or Baines here. There are a stack of classy full-backs abroad, though, it all depends on what Roeder wants to see in his back-line. He has said recently that he wants "leaders" and more vocal players, so this would suggest to me players who can already speak English and who have a proven track-record of being influential in their careers so far. It's why Neill seems an exceptionally obvious choice. He's probably burned his bridges with Liverpool and I can't see any of the other "big 3" going for him, so I'd say we have a great chance of getting him here.

The problem with Neill is he's on something like 60k at West Ham, would you pay him that?

 

Dyer's getting £80k+, Owen's on £100k+, Duff must be on £60k-ish, same with Martins... Luque is getting paid £40k or there abouts. Obviously these won't be exact figures, so feel free to pull me up on any you think might be way out.

 

£60k these days is sadly becoming fairly normal - I actually dread to think what we're paying the likes of Carr and Babayaro at the minute and the fact that we are paying Luque £40k a week (or so) for practically nothing means that I would not object to us getting shot of him and buying a first-choice fullback and paying him £60k p/w.

 

I don't doubt that it's obscene, but I'm sure the likes of Wayne Bridge would command a similar sort of wage, and I personally think that Neill is a far better bet than the likes of Johnson and Hoyte, who are yet to really prove anything in the game. It all depends on Solano, really. If he can play to his current level for another season then I would not object to us looking at someone like Hoyte and preparing him for the future. If Solano isn't going to be the solution next season, then we need to look at getting somebody of proven class in.

 

Is Neill definitely on £60k p/w? Was he getting that at Blackburn? (Seems outlandish for them lot!) The only mention I've heard of the £60k thing came from someone who was describing him on the new database of Football Manager, that's why I'm asking.

 

All the papers put him as £60kpw, in fact every media source listed it at that figure, the FM update came a month after the window shut (and am sure it wasn't even that figure) , so hardly its fault now is it?

[Kimbo]

Exactly, those players are getting paid too much and we can't afford yet another huge earner in the squad. Neill had a choice between West Ham and Liverpool and chose the Hammers because their sugar daddy threw big wages at him.

 

There's alot of speculation around how much Owen is getting paid, the figure of 102k came from a football rich list which had Owen earning over £5m a year, so some newspaper divided that number by 52 and came up with 102k. The real number is between 80 and 90k and the rest comes from endorsements etc.

[Guest anthony118]

If (hopefully when) we get rid of the dead wood in the squad (i.e. Luque, Carr, Babayaro, Bramble, etc.), we'd have a bit more flexibility when it comes to wages.

[Rich]

Exactly, those players are getting paid too much and we can't afford yet another huge earner in the squad. Neill had a choice between West Ham and Liverpool and chose the Hammers because their sugar daddy threw big wages at him.

 

There's alot of speculation around how much Owen is getting paid, the figure of 102k came from a football rich list which had Owen earning over £5m a year, so some newspaper divided that number by 52 and came up with 102k. The real number is between 80 and 90k and the rest comes from endorsements etc.

 

I wouldn't class £60k as a "huge earner" these days. I'd be extremely interested to see what Parker, Emre, Duff, Martins, Owen, Given, Solano, etc. get paid. I bet a fair few of them are up and beyond the £60k p/w mark, meaning that it's quite possibly not an outlandish amount for someone who would be an automatic choice in the team.

 

If we don't sell any players in the summer to free up more of the wage bill, then I'd agree that it does seem too hefty a weekly sum to pay when there will undoubtedly be other good options available. But if, as expected, we lose Bernard and Luque from the wages, as well as a few other players who we'd like to see the back of - then surely there's space for a few more "big earners" on the books, without things getting abominable.

 

Surely we shaved some of the bill over last season with these players leaving: Shearer, Boumsong (I'd love to know how much he was getting), Bowyer, Faye, Viana (hopefully he'd have been getting nowt off us anyway), Elliott, Chopra? The first three were probably getting paid very, very handsomely.

 

I'd bet that our wages are a fair wedge down on where they were at when Souness was here, already, as Roeder has only brought in Duff, Martins, Sibierski, Bernard, Srnicek and Onyewu/Rossi.

[Guest Knightrider]

Neill is a very good shout, a player is vastly experienced at this level, at the right age, can play a bit and can defend too, someone who can play across the back-four.

[colinmk]

Mark Wilson from Celtic. Very solid attacking right back, good cross, decent pace, very composed. Has had champions league experience now and is only about 22-23 i think. Celtic paid less than half a million for him so a bid of 2-3 million would be tempting for them. If we had him/Solano as the right backs i'd be delighted. Can also play left back pretty well.

[Kimbo]

From what i've heard in the media, around the time of their singings, these guys are apparently on - Parker 55k, Emre 60k, Duff 60k, Martins 45k, Owen 80k-85k. If you were to pay Neill 60k a week then he would be taking up over £3m of our yearly budget, the guy isn't Dani Alves or Sagnol, it just wouldn't be worth it. Also fullbacks are traditionally lower earners than midfielders and forwards so we should really need to pay one that much. And i think 60k is classed as "huge earner" outside the super rich clubs, Spurs have a wage cap of something like 50k and Everton have one of about 40k.

[Delima]

Instead of Lucas Neill, why did we miss the boat of Lauren !!?

 

Shame that Greg Halford went to Reading for 2.25 million this January. He would have the right profile we are after (Height, potential, proven record, transfer fee, wage)

[Rich]

From what i've heard in the media, around the time of their singings, these guys are apparently on - Parker 55k, Emre 60k, Duff 60k, Martins 45k, Owen 80k-85k. If you were to pay Neill 60k a week then he would be taking up over £3m of our yearly budget, the guy isn't Dani Alves or Sagnol, it just wouldn't be worth it. Also fullbacks are traditionally lower earners than midfielders and forwards so we should really need to pay one that much. And i think 60k is classed as "huge earner" outside the super rich clubs, Spurs have a wage cap of something like 50k and Everton have one of about 40k.

 

All fair enough, but we don't know that Neill would want £60k p/w if he gets relegated with West Ham. He's hardly in as strong a bargaining position as he was when he moved there. I do agree with you in that it's daft money, as well, but even at SJP it's hardly an uncommon wage, which was my gist.

 

My personal view on things is that I'd keep Solano, try and see if Edgar has the potential to be a quality right-back and sell Stephen Carr, making do with the two former for next season while we concentrate on more pressing areas of the squad. I'd rather we got a really high-class left-back instead of two average players for both full-back positions. I could even survive with Solano/Carr as our options if we bought quality in other areas.

 

Might be a risk, but if Solano doesn't work out then we've still got umpteen players who can fill in there to a degree and January would provide a chance to strenghten that area in a new market.

[Rich]

Nobody said Lucas Neill, again?

 

I know he's not particularly brilliant, but I'd have thought he was very much available in the summer with West Ham almost certainties to go down.

 

Obviously nowhere near as "cultured" as Solano, but is a versatile leader who will get stuck in and add some steel to our backline that has been missing for eons now. If there's one thing our side needs it's more gritty characters who can also play a bit. He's got all the attributes for a modern full-back, it's only his loyalty and his disciplinary record that would put me off him.

 

I also agree that the left is a more immediate priority and I'd be delighted if we managed to get Bridge or Baines here. There are a stack of classy full-backs abroad, though, it all depends on what Roeder wants to see in his back-line. He has said recently that he wants "leaders" and more vocal players, so this would suggest to me players who can already speak English and who have a proven track-record of being influential in their careers so far. It's why Neill seems an exceptionally obvious choice. He's probably burned his bridges with Liverpool and I can't see any of the other "big 3" going for him, so I'd say we have a great chance of getting him here.

The problem with Neill is he's on something like 60k at West Ham, would you pay him that?

 

Dyer's getting £80k+, Owen's on £100k+, Duff must be on £60k-ish, same with Martins... Luque is getting paid £40k or there abouts. Obviously these won't be exact figures, so feel free to pull me up on any you think might be way out.

 

£60k these days is sadly becoming fairly normal - I actually dread to think what we're paying the likes of Carr and Babayaro at the minute and the fact that we are paying Luque £40k a week (or so) for practically nothing means that I would not object to us getting shot of him and buying a first-choice fullback and paying him £60k p/w.

 

I don't doubt that it's obscene, but I'm sure the likes of Wayne Bridge would command a similar sort of wage, and I personally think that Neill is a far better bet than the likes of Johnson and Hoyte, who are yet to really prove anything in the game. It all depends on Solano, really. If he can play to his current level for another season then I would not object to us looking at someone like Hoyte and preparing him for the future. If Solano isn't going to be the solution next season, then we need to look at getting somebody of proven class in.

 

Is Neill definitely on £60k p/w? Was he getting that at Blackburn? (Seems outlandish for them lot!) The only mention I've heard of the £60k thing came from someone who was describing him on the new database of Football Manager, that's why I'm asking.

 

All the papers put him as £60kpw, in fact every media source listed it at that figure, the FM update came a month after the window shut (and am sure it wasn't even that figure) , so hardly its fault now is it?

 

Sigh. I never said it was "FM's fault". Merely said that I had only heard the figure of £60k p/w from someone who got it from the game. I didn't read any of the multiple news stories about Neill's move to West Ham at the time, I don't think. And if I did, I simply didn't remember his suggested wage.

 

Even so, who can say that all of the media sources have got it right? All it takes is one bit of wrong information from a reputable source and the rest will follow, i.e. the "Shearer is always our highest earner" thing.

[brummie]

How about Aaron Hughes?

 

Please.

[Guest exilim]

Dani Alves i reckon!!!!!!

[gray]

without having read the whole thread, the times ive seen johnson for chelsea, hes made their back four look crap.

[Guest LucaAltieri]

Since we've got a fair few young central defenders in Taylor, Ramage, Huntington, Edgar... would it not be worthwhile making a direct swap of one of our central players for a young, unproven, left-back?

 

Wouldn't effect the wage bill, no transfer fee, and lets face it; we can't play all 4 of our young'uns.

[NUFC06]

Lucas Neil ,Luke Young and Glenn Johnson are the 3 RB who will be worth checking in the summer when we talk about RB in England and i dont think Arsenal will sell Justin Hoyte because he has played about 25 games for them this season so Wenger is giving him a chance of 1st team football

 

This season Nobby is doing amazing job as RB but i do feel we need cover there

Carr is utter shit but my prediction is that Roeder will use him there as a back up for Solano

When Solano is injured or not available at RB Carr will play there

[lovejoy]

ryan taylor of wigan is a good shout, i would have his mate baines for left back as well

[Guest Glenn]

Spot-on Lovejoy, both Wigan full-backs would be great buys for us. Wigan won't get relegated now but they're not a rich club so may well be forced to sell if we made a decent offer (£3M each?).

 

Left-back is number one priority as we haven't got one reliable LB in the squad at present. Baines is a current England under-21 international. He's solid as a defender but can also get forward well. Capable of scoring long-range shots + very good delivery from the right with free-kicks. Has also shown leadership qualities and has worn the captains arm-band at Wigan on occassions, I believe.

 

Ryan Taylor was a very promising, attacking RB when at Tranmere. He's been very unlucky with injuries, especially last season when he was also kept out by the very good Chimbonda. Now looks to be back to his best. Decent defender, excellent going forward. Whips-in great crosses from the right and (as we saw), free-kicks from the left. Again a current England under-21 + is very good mates with our own Stevie Taylor, which would be a bonus for team-spirit.

 

N.B. Taylor would have to settle for being second choice RB in the short-term for us (Nobby first choice) with Carr off to Celtic / Makems or anywhere else, hopefully.

[toontownman]

Baines everytime for LB.. hugely ignored by the media (which isnt a bad thing for us trying to buy him).. Im sure we will be bidding for Bale though.

 

Matt Taylor is a good shout but he is close friends with Ambrose and will never come here after the way we treated him.

 

Bridge would be great, but Id rather we caught someone on the up rather than the way down.

 

For RB, Luke young, Lucas Neill and Glen Johnson I would all steer as far away as possible.

 

Young is horrendously overated and has been shocking and half hearted for the past two seasons.

 

Neill is clocking on, only there for the money is repeatedly skinned ala Carr has to resort to fouling opponents, he is an improvement on Carr maybe but not by much. Blackburn fans have been praying for someone to take him off their hands.

 

Johnson is just damaged goods, although Roeder might fancy getting him back to his best.

 

As HTT rightly says Hoyte would be a great addition, although im inclined to agree with whomever said Wenger will want to keep hold of him. He has played a pivitol part in Arsenals team this year all across the back, he is calm, young and versatile would be a fantastic addition to our defence, I dont see it happening though.

 

Ryan Taylor looks good aswell, like Glenn says being mates with Steve Taylor would be a pull, not to mention a certain striker that we have been linked too that is close mates with both of them.