To replay my joke of 4-5 years ago, he's clearly signing for Villa on that basis that someone's seen Pjanic on the streets of Birmingham.
Still only 30 somehow, like Anelka, he never seems to get older. Can definitely still do a job for us.
de la Vega has been watched for several years now. Shone in the u20 Argentina side. Clever. finds space, loves to attack to the centre of the box and shoot. Has the intelligence to wait with the ball and pick out runs rather than acting on instinct which shows a marked maturity. And as you say Markoas he does work incredibly hard going the other way as much as he loves to attack the flank and centre with his neat dribbling. He was not always like that. He was frustrating creating the space and then delivering a poor final ball or trying too much by himself attacking wise while not bothering with any defensive duties. He has impressed again at a club with a very decent recent record in youth development. I fear someone else will get him but he would fit in well here as a first team player. Pencilled in as a national team player for the future.
As others have said, big thanks to Markoa$ and Lower Rous for some really interesting stuff, great read!
Andrea Belotti. FM beast, FIFA 19 legend. Regular serie A scorer. 27 years old. Loyal to one club. Italy international. Go get him Gino!
Kamaldeen Sulemana from Nordsjaelland just won Player of the Month and Young Player of the Month. What a player.
I literally just started watching him. Here’s my list of players from Scandinavia. Once we signed PZ I started looking into who else is highly ranked in that area. Based on what journalists, data websites, and as much research as I could do, these were the names I found. Onyeka - DM/CM Midtjylland Wind - ST Kobenhavn Ahmedhodzic - CB Malmo Sulemana - LW Nordsjaelland Ronning - GK Elfsborg Okumu - CB Elfsborg Haksabanovic - LW Norrkoping Johannesson - CM Norrkoping Lindstrom - CAM Brondby I know there’s a few posters on here that have way more knowledge than me when it comes to these leagues/players. Any information is welcome. I’ve actually been enjoying researching those above.
Worth keeping in mind that due to the new work permit rules players from Scandinavian leagues seem very unlikely to qualify for work permits unless they've either played for a club in Europe or are internationals. Sulemana seems to have got two friendly caps for Ghana last year, not sure if that'd be enough for him.
Only one year left on his contract so there seems a fair chance he could be sold this summer, but I suspect it'd take a bigger club than us to tempt him away from Italy. Also Spurs and Liverpool have been linked, though it's not clear how genuine their interest might be.
Maybe a deal linked to any Udinese gems then? Give them Zeegelar, Prodl, Okaka and Delefeou in return for him then we take Belotti. Works for me!
Over a drunken conversation with a very knowledgeable Norwegian football fan last night. His opinion on the one to watch here in Norway is 17yr old Albert Tjaaland cousin of Haaland. 67 goals in just under 40 games Molde youth team. He said he's got everything to go all the way in football like Erling. Will be interesting to follow him up this season be cause he should be starting for the first team on e the season kicks off.
Not sure if anyone else has suggested this guy, but I wonder if that lad at Peterborough, Jonson Clarke-Harris could make the step up straight to the PL, after all look at what Toney has done at Brentford this season. So you have to ask if Toney could have skipped Brentford and gone straight into a PL side last season? Therefore maybe Clarke-Harris could go one better than Toney by skipping The Championship and going straight to the PL, and why shouldn't that PL side be us.
Yes Toney could have skipped Brentford and gone straight to the PL last season, I said so at the time and was amazed no PL club took a punt on him ahead of Brentford. However, Clarke-Harris is not a patch on what Toney was for Peterborough. C-H's ceiling is the Championship.
I'm not usually one to suggest raiding the relegated teams (most teams get relegated for a reason) but Fulham have a number of excellent young players who would improve us
Fulham really aren't that bad a team overall, which makes it more concerning for our chances of survival next season that they're still going to be comfortably relegated. They're a warning to any of those in the 'Squad for next season' thread who don't think our team will need a significant amount of improvements this summer.
Not commanding from crosses nor does he make excellent reaction saves. He is 100% a downgrade on our two previous Prem keepers Gomes & Foster, we will notice it.
Yeah sure, let's just look at goals per conceded numbers. Coincidence that our defensive record was just as good with Foster in goal? Wouldn't have made much of a difference who our keeper was this season to be honest.
So we have two excellent keepers yet we need to replace one of them? Out of every position in the squad, goalkeeper is the very last position we need to be thinking about.
I’ll be honest - I haven’t watched any Championship games this season besides ours. Who are the best players who’d be worth poaching? I think Danjuma at Muff is the obvious one (hopefully they lose the play-offs and are financially diddled enough to have to sell him cheap) and Olise/Ejaria at Reading look lively. Who else might be worth a shout?
Two suggestions I have and both from Norwich. The first us that Zimmerman who's a centre back. I think he's been injured a lot this season. He's seemed very good when I've seen him. The second is Onel Hernandez. His football is pretty good, but it's more because he's Cuban. He could come in ahead of Ken.
I would go for Adam Armstrong. With 24 goals in 38 games this season, he is a goal scorer. He won’t be cheap but would be a look risk purchase. Even If we get relegated he would be capable of getting the goals to get us back again. Players that have done well in the Championship often make the step-up e.g Bowen, Watkins. He won’t be cheap but we could easily waste money on several foreign imports that on paper are good but in reality struggle to adjust.
Armstrong is a good shout. Only 24, in his last year of contract and would score goals. Obviously a risk as it's a step up for him, but he would bag goals if we went straight back down. I don't think he would break the bank. The way I see our business, I don't think we'll spend too much. We'll hoover up a lot of cheap young talent, and freebies. There should be enough for one substantial signing. Say £5m on Ugbo and around £15m (plus add ons) for Armstrong. I think they may well sell for that. Depressed market and his last year of contract. He'd be happy to sign for a Prem club and I don't see too much competition for him from established EPL clubs.
He conceded 3 goals against Tranmere and 3 goals against Newport just last season alone. He’s not excellent and certaintly not good enough for the Premier League. I can’t prove it but if you put Rob Elliot in goal this season I reckon the difference in results would be minimal. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Not convinced Bachmann is Prem level, but he's certainly not the biggest fault we have, we have other priorities
Ugbo seems a bit of a punt, but certainly worth a go as he's young, seems to be clinical and cheap. Armstrong needs a lot of chances to score a goal, which is a luxury he won't get in the Prem, and he won't be anywhere near as cheap as Ugbo
I'm not convinced he's what we need stylistically, he's not a traditional number 9 and won't offer much of an out-ball. Also Blackburn will be wanting £20mil+. I reckon both Dike and Moore would do better at leading the line for us and both will cost less.
