Is that it transfer wise?

[steveo_88]

A central back up attacking midfielder is next on my list, someone who wont mind sitting on the bench but will challenge for places, if we dont sign him now we will need it in summer when vieira retires we will have little or no central midfield cover.

Ill put my head on the line and say charlie adam for 3m or whatever would be ideal, be great second choice and would relish being here, still young too

That little midfield spitfire from Borussia Dortmund looks tasty. Can't remember his name. Everyone is wan king over their Japanese striker but I'd prefer their little midfield dynamo. He'd be one to buy and groom with silva.

Cheers

I think you've hit the nail on the head Dub, if you look at our entire squad we have backup in all positions except for Silva. We finally replaced Berkovic but there is no Ali B to back him up. It was evident against Leicester where De Jong came on in the second and changed the passing from poor long attempts to the usual tic-tac-to but there was no Silva to string the short passing game up front.

I know and agree SWP, Ade, Bridge, Jo should go in the future but not until we have replacements. You do not weaken your squad before replacements have signed on the dotted line, it's plain suicide, especially if we go all the way in the league and two cup competitions!

[Esky]

A central back up attacking midfielder is next on my list, someone who wont mind sitting on the bench but will challenge for places, if we dont sign him now we will need it in summer when vieira retires we will have little or no central midfield cover.

Ill put my head on the line and say charlie adam for 3m or whatever would be ideal, be great second choice and would relish being here, still young too

That little midfield spitfire from Borussia Dortmund looks tasty. Can't remember his name. Everyone is wan king over their Japanese striker but I'd prefer their little midfield dynamo. He'd be one to buy and groom with silva.

Cheers

Nuri Sahin?

[blootoof]

Ade is out

[Chinners]

Ade is out

Ha ha

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I doubt there's another big signing lined up. This big deals take ages to complete and press woul already be all over it. I reckon we might sign some promising lad to Academy again and I should Given leave, there will be domestically trained back up keeper arriving.

[Trautmann]

Torres is looking a little pissed off as late. Are we allowed to start rumours based on nothing whatsoever?

Torres would be nice. The one who plays for Crawley, I mean.

[chef]

A central back up attacking midfielder is next on my list, someone who wont mind sitting on the bench but will challenge for places, if we dont sign him now we will need it in summer when vieira retires we will have little or no central midfield cover.

Ill put my head on the line and say charlie adam for 3m or whatever would be ideal, be great second choice and would relish being here, still young too

i would go for age/experiance in this position , more a short term cover for silva, with mj hopefully (soon)back to provide the complete answer. my choice would be scott parker he would provide instant impact (hit the ground running) and we might be able to offload a couple of our squad bloaters in the deal.

[Beefymcfc]

2 for 1 I reckon.

[john@staustell]

Last incoming I reckon.

[Ted Hughes]

Maybe a defender, cannot see anymore than that, just isn't the need.

At the moment, if recent months are anything to go by, if we get a couple of injuries; Jo plays. Imagine if we actually move on Ade SWP & Co? Jo plays.

If recent news reports are to be believed, Jo is being courted by a host of clubs. I am hoping with Dzeko, Tevez, Balotelli, Johnson and Silva that his opportunities will be limited even should be stay. Even if we get another forward, who would you recommend that will be happy sitting on the bench? Sanchez? Hazard? (Think they'd be gone in a year)

Looks like Balotelli's a serious doubt to be any use for the season now so imo we sign another striker or if there's a release clause; we get Bellamy back. Imo the whole business about people who are 'not happy on the bench' is mainly down to one thing; they've not been good enough. If Jo was as good as Tevez, he would play more & Tevez would play a bit less. The same goes for every position imo. At the moment, we run some players into the ground whilst others don't play, mainly because they're not as good.

If as I fear, Balotelli is fucked for several months & Ade & RSC are going to leave, we have one proper centre forward plus Jo. One 2nd striker in Tevez. One proper wide player in AJ. One creative midfielder in Silva. An injury to Tevez & Silva & we're really struggling to get 4th.

Go for top players, whoever we can get.

[CityGer]

Maybe a defender, cannot see anymore than that, just isn't the need.

At the moment, if recent months are anything to go by, if we get a couple of injuries; Jo plays. Imagine if we actually move on Ade SWP & Co? Jo plays.

If recent news reports are to be believed, Jo is being courted by a host of clubs. I am hoping with Dzeko, Tevez, Balotelli, Johnson and Silva that his opportunities will be limited even should be stay. Even if we get another forward, who would you recommend that will be happy sitting on the bench? Sanchez? Hazard? (Think they'd be gone in a year)

Looks like Balotelli's a serious doubt to be any use for the season now so imo we sign another striker or if there's a release clause; we get Bellamy back. Imo the whole business about people who are 'not happy on the bench' is mainly down to one thing; they've not been good enough. If Jo was as good as Tevez, he would play more & Tevez would play a bit less. The same goes for every position imo. At the moment, we run some players into the ground whilst others don't play, mainly because they're not as good.

If as I fear, Balotelli is fucked for several months & Ade & RSC are going to leave, we have one proper centre forward plus Jo. One 2nd striker in Tevez. One proper wide player in AJ. One creative midfielder in Silva. An injury to Tevez & Silva & we're really struggling to get 4th.

Go for top players, whoever we can get.

Agree with this.

If the press reports are true then we are likely to lose Rocky, Ade and SWP from our list of attacking options in the next few days.

I think think this could leave us short, especially if Mario continues to pick up injuries. None of the three have been used regularly but we're still in the Europa and FA cup and could be in a hole if we were to lose two from Mario, Tevez, Dzeko, Silva and AJ at the same time.

If these three do leave I'd like to see us sign someone who can play up front or out wide as cover. A more stable, younger Bellars would be ideal. There is too much at stake to take the risk as if we are left relying on Jo for any great length of time it could really cost us.

[Ted Hughes]

Bob is now saying Balotelli may only be out for a few weeks BUT he's reluctant to let Adebayor go yet in case it's worse than that. Then he said Balotelli has to work in the gym because the muscle around the knee is weak. This is the exact same problem that Balotelli mentioned when he 1st arrived at the club. Therfore, he had a knee problem when we signed him. How long wil it take to fully clear up, even if he plays? Is lack of genuine match fitness one of the resaons for his perceived lazyness; lack of confidence in his knee ?

If we're really serious about winning the league & we want Ade out, why don't we try to get a replacement in now just in case & then sell somone in the summer if neccessary?

[john68]

From a football standpoint Ted, that makes sense.
I do wonder however if the fair play rules maybe dictating our buying policy and whether the Dzeko deal has taken us to the limit that the club considers it will be able to balance.
We know we have to offload and even so, there may be little room for financial manouvre.

Our balance sheet always seems to include our transfer spending. I would like to see how we are doing without that expenditure. It would present a clearer picture on our financial trading balance.

[ronk]

At the point where our squad matures to a (meta-)stable state -- if it hasn't already -- there will still be four basic types of transfer ongoing. Firstly, there will be maintenance signings, someone leaves or gets old/injured and someone is signed because an identified need with the squad. i.e. we need a goalie so we sign one. Reasons could be Given leaving or an injury etc. These can often be poor value because the selling club know you need a player.

The 2nd type of signing is the value signing, this is something Chelsea have done a fair bit of but you also see from Spurs, Arsenal and the Scum: you buy a young player who is willing to be paid less for the chance of breaking into your squad, but you do it more in the hope that you can sell them at a profit due to their reputation being enhanced. Ben-Haim signing for Chelsea would be a typical example, signed as a Bosman, sold on for more than his years wages. We won't be doing much of this yet.

The 3rd type and one that's now finally become relevant is the fact that we will continually be in the market for World Class players, they are in limited supply and many don't tend to move once they've settled into an elite team. These are the guys you "break the bank" for. When you identify them, you have to move or miss them. I call them franchise players, scum have been the masters at this, there's usually a lump of cash lying around so they can splash out on Keane, Veron, Ferdinand or Rooney. Despite their money problems, they can still go out and make a big signing but he'd have to be worth the risk. Chelsea built their team around signings like Carvalho, Makelele, Essien, Drogba and Cech. The fight over Mikel was another example. I think (hope) that Dzeko falls into this general category. He's about more than specific tactical need (though that is relevant), he's of the quality that you build the team around for years to come. You don't necessarily make them that regularly.

4th type is like the 3rd type but is instead with squad players who may spend some time training with the squad and really are only expected to make an impact 6-12 months down the line. When you plan ahead with these you spend a lesser transfer fee to get far better players, you usually also end up paying less of a wage premium. Caicedo was this type of signing, Adam Johnson to an extent too. We're not so much in this market, yet.

For now, I think we're done barring a maintenance signing (depending on sales).

[CitizenYank]

From the way Mancini is talking, and the rumblings in the market, I really think the team is sort of in purge mode.
I think they are trying to implement the overall plan with the fair play rules and what not, so that's why we are seeing
so much transfer talk. I am rather skeptical about the idea of lessening the squad in favor of loans, since we are still responsible
for that player in the long run. But if it helps us weed out the malcontents, more for it!!

[lets all have a disco]

I'd like us to try and get Pienaar he is last year of his deal.

5 Millions should do it.

[ross.mcfc]

I think Adam has done enough to get a move should Blackpool go down this season, but I think he is still sold on the fairytale at the moment and won't move till the summer at the earliest.

Agreed. He's in a purple patch which to be fair to him he is producing form I would never have believed possible from him. He has the right team and manager around him to florish. Go anywhere else and that will soon disapear.