I've not really seen him, but he's alright isn't he?
Like, not amazing, but not shit either? Or what?
Like, not amazing, but not shit either? Or what?
The new number 9…
- Thread starter Buddha
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
Honestly in this scenario I might just take a chance on a couple of prospects from South America or wherever. There's fuck all out there. Ekitike looks a complete and utter rip off at £80m or whatever it is they want. If they don't take then just play Diaz or Wirtz there.
I don't think Delap is technically good enough. Good player in the right team, not sure if he's for us.
I think there's. Deal to be made. And if there isn't we'll find someone else.
A 9 is non-negotiable this season. We need it
I don’t we should rely on Salah hitting record numbers again.
How many times this season have we seen gakpo, Diaz, Jota or Nunez fuck up a presentable chance?
All the fucking time
Mos creativity was untethered this season and we STILL needed him to score a bulk of the goals
A good striker is non-negotiable
All the fucking time
Mos creativity was untethered this season and we STILL needed him to score a bulk of the goals
A good striker is non-negotiable
I am not sure great technical skill is that critical, we need someone who can actually score from 6 yards. He is good at getting into scoring positions and finishing. Not the perfect striker at all, but the current bar is pretty low and I would not want to pay the huge fees being quoted for for a mediocre crop.
I think if we just want a finisher Gyokeres seems the best option.
His age and fee would probably be a barrier. 80m and 26?
Villa are going to have sell players to comply with PSR. The Grealish sale will no longer count and though they got CL money for this past year plus the Duran sale, they'll still need to balance the books.
Watkins would be a short term signing and doesn't have as diverse a skillset as some of the players, like Alvarez for example, we've been linked to. But at 50m or so, you've got to consider him.
We're built to win now and have Mo and likely Wirtz who can put it on a plate. We need someone who knows where the back of the net is.
In the absence of great striker candidates this transfer window, I think we could do worse than Watkins for the next 1-2 years while waiting for a long-term successor to become clear.
Edit: This especially makes sense if we shift Jota. Trade an injury prone striker who is about to pass his prime for one of comparable age but not made of biscuits.
Small sample size strikers from Frankfurt is a big red flag to me. Marmoush looks the business so far but Frankfurt are great at rinsing teams for attackers with one good season (cf. Kolo Muani, Luka Jovic, Sebastien Haller).
Thing is, Watkins isn’t a deadly striker in my eyes. Put it on a plate for him and he’ll miss 2 out of 3 chances. I want someone deadly.
Right. Delap is younger, higher ceiling, and better value.
I don't think delap has enough senior minutes for the spreadsheet squad to consider
Nope, the new number 9 has to be technical. We can't have players like Salah and Wirtz and hope to complement them with someone like Nunez. It will be like buying a Ferrari and entrusting them to someone who cannot drive properly.
75 goals in 184 appearances in the Premier League. He's not absolute top class but has proven efficacy at this level and, if cheap enough, could be a value signing.
Unless you prefer options that cost at least 20-30m extra and have a track records that are one or more of: a) much shorter sample size and/or b) in a league of significantly lesser quality.
I don't think any of the options mooted are all that inspiring. But we need to improve on our current selection.
So do we want to take an expensive punt on what could be another project like Nunez? Or who has enough of a record and is reasonable enough of a price to punt the big investment down the road a couple years?
With Wirtz coming in, that probably rules out flexible attacker types like Pedro or Cunha. Jonathan David seems like he's going to Italy. Maybe Delap is worth a punt but is he really going to be the primary striker we purchase?
You
I would love Delap to join us.
Even if he were the only striker this summer?
I understand the argument around Watkins, but it would be a complete departure from our entire transfer strategy that zi just don’t see happening.
Additionally, I’d view £50m spent on him as £50m less to spend on a replacement on another forward in a year’s time.
I feel like we’re seriously interested in Alvarez, but he’s probably not going to be available this summer (and rumours of Barca keen to sign him when Lewandowski’s contract expires end of season).
I agree that Ekitike is way overpriced and we don’t seem to be interested in Delap either.
Arsenal look like they’ll go after Sesko and I’m not convinced that Gyokeres is the right player at all.
Like I said earlier, I’m starting to lean towards us not signing a replacement for Nunez - with us making use of Wirtz, Gakpo, Diaz & Jota to cover left side and centre.
Our modus operandi would suggest we’ll wait until the right player becomes available rather than make a hasty or interim signing.
Additionally, I’d view £50m spent on him as £50m less to spend on a replacement on another forward in a year’s time.
I feel like we’re seriously interested in Alvarez, but he’s probably not going to be available this summer (and rumours of Barca keen to sign him when Lewandowski’s contract expires end of season).
I agree that Ekitike is way overpriced and we don’t seem to be interested in Delap either.
Arsenal look like they’ll go after Sesko and I’m not convinced that Gyokeres is the right player at all.
Like I said earlier, I’m starting to lean towards us not signing a replacement for Nunez - with us making use of Wirtz, Gakpo, Diaz & Jota to cover left side and centre.
Our modus operandi would suggest we’ll wait until the right player becomes available rather than make a hasty or interim signing.
Yep.
Completely agree with this.
All strikers miss big chances, Salah incuded, but we seem to remember them more than the goals. 17 from Diaz (some from when he was wide) when you have Salah banging them in, and Gakpo dangerous on the left is a proven potent front 3.
Add Wirtz to that and the supply from full back and we're Completely stacked going forward. Unless the right guy is there or we sell Diaz, i don't think we'll buy a striker, and i wont mind either. We'll still be super sexy 🤩
We might make a Divock Origi or Carvalho-level punt on a number nine and see where that takes us. Bring someone whose stats are promising for the age, fit the system, and is available for 10 million or so due to contract issues.
We do - but history tells us we’ll wait till the one we want comes along and we will make do with the resources we have rather than attempt a short term fix.
I’m not saying either way whether that’s the right or wrong strategy - there’s strong arguments for both, not least we just won the league with Diaz, Jota & Nunez sharing the load.
But we know what will likely happen - if we buy a player that Slot doesn’t fancy… he’ll just not play him anyway.
Search your feelings Luke… you know it to be true.
I'd go further and say that holding fire till a player we really want comes along definitely IS the right strategy. For decades we went the other route and IMO that was a crucial reason why the club got stuck in the doldrums. I share the frustration about not having a reliable goal-getter up front, but we will not put that right by signing a Carlos Kickaball and hoping for the best.
We won't go for an stop gap, but we will absolutely go for an alternative. Slot would have been presented a list and given a sign off I reckon. Perhaps a veto on one or 2.
I reckon under 25, around 70-90m. There's a few options and as said, there's no outlandishly good options. I reckon between the main 3 linked (Pedro, sesko, Ekitike), we'll get one of them. If we get rid of Nunez and Elliott that's immediately any of those paid for.
I believe we're going all in or wirtz to make up for the fact the striker we get won't be as electric as people hoped. Even if we kicked the cam down the road a year, who is all of a sudden going to be this mercurial striker? The ones we're linked to are the ones primed to explode and perhaps need to be in better sides to see them explode.
You can't buy what's not on the market, you just have to buy the closest to it.
If we sold Nunez and then relied on Diaz to be the false 9 (as Jota will be dead), that leaves us short LW unless we plan to push Rio up that quickly. So then the issue becomes "who's a LW to buy" and there's not exactly any available brilliant talents there either.
Couldn't care who's after them. We can go in swinging dicks and guaranteed starts
No doubt, but the striker market will dry up quickly. That’s my point.
85 mill for Ekitike isn’t a good deal.
