09 Feb 2014 19:02:12
Summer Wish List:
Steven Caulker Cardiff 8m
Alexandro Pato Corinthians 16m (probably to ambitious) or Calros Vela Real Sociedad 8m (more likely)
Thomas Ince free as contract expires, depending on how he does at Palace.
All would fit our style of play, could maybe do with a couple of wingers/wide players as there isn't much left if Lallana or J Rod get injured but obviously would rather use the academy where we can providing more young players are ready.
Caulker would certainly be a great signing but I could see us facing a lot of competition as he's a ready made premier league centre back. If Real Sociedad get Champions League football again I think we may be hard pressed to get Vela, but you can never say never! All in all I think we either face a very good summer or a tough one if Poch decides to leave as it's difficult to see what ramifications we'll face from it.
Regarding wingers, we have Lloyd Isgrove, Omar Rowe, and also Sam McQueen - who has just come back from injury. Seeing how we promote from our academy, is it more likely that we promote these kids - who are almost ready, or are we likely to buy?
Certainly Rowe and McQueen have an eye for goal, and are similar to the wide forward role that Poch seems to like, rather than an out and out winger.
MoPo has another season left on his contract, I doubt he'll just quit, there isn't really any job for him to walk into but I think it'll depend on what kind of backing he gets from KL. Hopefully he won't leave but if he does I think the club will line up someone to replace him before he goes (most likely Laudrup imo)
Caulker would be great, can't see Cardiff going down so he'll probably be expensive. Dan Burn from Fulham would be my first choice though, especially if they go down - He's put some impressive perfomances in, he's young, English and he's massive, like Peter Crouch massive
^Don't forget to add Branker and Sinclair to that list - they all look just as good as anyone who's already been promoted, possibly Seager too.
Season after next we'll probably have Hesketh, Sims and Mells (Aussie, but let's forgive him for that) and Demkiv coming through
I really like what I see from Hesketh and particularly Simms. Simms has now been stepped up to the 21's despite only being 16!
I can honestly say that there are several kids that have the potential to become good Premier League players that are coming through. They just need a little time, and the chance to play, but how do we fit so many kids into a team that already has 3/4 teenagers?
I think now is a fantastic time to play the youngsters. The way the season has mapped out we can give them all a good 3/4 match run in the first team whilst resting some of the senior players for our FA Cup final tilt. Would like to see Targett, Stephens and Sims play.
Hesketh looks brilliant! I haven't seen too much of Simms or Stephens but Jake has real flair. I like them all :)
As I said I would prefer it if the instead of signing players we brought through our youth products through providing they're ready of course, realistically who do you think will be ready by next season? I'm guessing Gallagher and Reed will as they've been will as they've been with the first team a lot this season and maybe Isgrove to?
That was me above, forgot to sign in aha
Why would we want Ince when we let Puncheon go?
Why we would we want Caulker who's at the heart of a leaky defence?
Quit complaining, they're both really talented and would only improve at Southampton