Isakly what we need

[Frogfish]

We deprived Newcastle of the chance to sign Ekitike by signing him ourselves. He can't play for both of us. Seems pretty obvious to me.

I think it's reasonable to spend relatively less on backup players than first choices. I think £80m on a backup striker is quite a lot. Not totally against it, but it's a bit questionable for me.

I doubt he'll be a back up player. He'll be part of the LW/CF rotation (in-game and for injuries, resting). I can see him getting just as many games / starts as Gakpo and Isak.

EDIT. That twat Stevie beat me to the post again.

 

[StevieM]

Fundamentally I just think that money might have been better spent on a cheaper striker and a Diaz replacement - maybe chuck in an extra £20m and that should've been doable. As it is we look a bit overstocked at CF compared to LW. Guess it depends how well Ekitike covers LW, if indeed that's the plan.

Yeah - I guess it does depend on how well he can compete at LW and our shape - which with Kerkez providing width and Wirtz drifting wide in a deeper area could mean Ekitike going narrow towards the centre - dunno - but he seems like he has the skill set to play as a left forward rather than a more traditional “winger”.

It’s much of a muchness isn’t it - I don’t see 2 players for CF as overstocked, more like a minimum - we have more options at LW if you include the kids like Rio & Doak, with only really Danns in the centre.

Not sure about the “cheaper” striker - for me it’s a question of quality and there’s not a lot available out there - Ekitike may not be the one, but he looks a better bet than all the other available options a bit cheaper and then there’s the cost of a new LW’er - they aren’t likely to be any cheaper than Ekitike was and still be as good as Diaz.

 

[dogboy]

can we get them to pay 150 for darwin then just not buy isak

If they take some of @Woland's ket.

 

[Fabio]

Why were we unlikely to get Isak though? Newcastle were always gonna give in and sell him once they had their replacement. If they sell to us now it's not because we don't need him - they don't give a toss either way.

And personally I'd rather overpay by £20m for Isak then overpay by maybe £40m on Ekitike (compared to £30-40m we'd have spent on a backup striker).

And people saying we had to get Ekitike cos we need two strikers - the same applies to the LW position having signed him. Personally I'm happy enough having him as cover on the left, but I don't know why that's necessarily better than a LW like Rodrygo who can also cover up front. Either way we're slightly stretching 4 good attackers.

We were not "unlikely" to get Isak, per se; more I think it was a belief by the club "well if we can't get him because he doesn't fancy the move, we need to have our ducks in a row".

We've tried to mitigate the risk of not getting him ahead of actually trying to get him. I'm fine with that. It's a little overcautious, but if getting Ekitike doesn't stop us getting Isak I don't overly mind it.

Equally if we don't get isak now, I'm sure we will go for a LW like rodrygo and another st, possibly a mateta.

 

[Squiggles]

I think there's a legit scenario where Slot watched Ngumoha in training and thought balls to Mateta (there was reports we met him) divert the chunk of the Diaz money towards two quality strikers instead, especially with Isaks niggling injuries. We'll never really know, but I do find it unlikely the club would release such enormous funds for Isak and operate in such an unplanned way. We've only been known to do that really with Caicedo out of desperation at the end of the window.

Alternatively they might have an eye on a cheaper winger that represents some serious value.

 

[keniget]

I think there's a legit scenario where Slot watched Ngumoha in training and thought balls to Mateta (there was reports we met him) divert the chunk of the Diaz money towards two quality strikers instead, especially with Isaks niggling injuries. We'll never really know, but I do find it unlikely the club would release such enormous funds for Isak and operate in such an unplanned way. We've only been known to do that really with Caicedo out of desperation at the end of the window.

To me that reads like a fan putting themselves in the shoes of Slot having just watched Rio in pre-season.

I would hope Slot & co see Rio regularly and that the role of youth players factors into transfer plans much earlier.

 

[Hansern]

It was 69m

It’s weird how that fee is inflated when someone wants to argue against the signing

 

[Frogfish]

It’s weird how that fee is inflated when someone wants to argue against the signing

Or denigrate the player (cf. Nunez)

 

[FreshRed]

I have a feeling that Ekitike is going to exceed 90% of the expectations on here.

I am lukewarm on Isak because of cost/injury ratio, but agree a 2nd striker is must.

 

[Hansern]

I think Ekitike will be a brilliant signing for us. Well worth the 180 mill £.

 

[Holle]

I have a feeling that Ekitike is going to exceed 90% of the expectations on here.

I am lukewarm on Isak because of cost/injury ratio, but agree a 2nd striker is must.

That bar is quite low.

He's going to be shite though.