[LOANED OUT] Jorge Cabezas Hurtado

Agreed, I am quite disappointed with a lot of the reception he's received. Yes it wasn't world-beating by any means, and he probably hasn't got the quality to be starting for us yet, but the fact that people have already written him off after 20 or so minutes is a joke. He may be a flop, and I don't think he was the greatest signing the club have pulled off and represents a transfer policy I think is very flawed, but he needs a lot more than 1 sub appearance in the cup to truly judge

 

I remember Pedro's debut, it wasn't anything to write home about either.

 

Yet another wide player with no pace and no ability to take on defenders. Quite the collection of them we’re building.

He has got all the enthusiasm for playing that Martins and Asprilla used to have. That’ll be drummed out of him in no time.

 

Looked slow and clunky to me. Might end up being a world beater, but based purely off his 20 minutes or so yesterday, I'm not sure there's much to get excited about.

 

Considering our current top scorer looks like an amateur, yet has bagged 9 goals this season so far, I'm not sure what to believe anymore!

 

Now that he's featured for us, is he tied to us for the rest of the season, or can we still loan him out? If it's possible, I think a loan to League 1 would do him good as it's hard to see him getting anything more than fleeting appearances off the bench here as it stands

 

Given his age and the comments from VI, I would be very surprised if he's loaned out. VI seems to want to mold players into his system, and at 20 years of age it's really about time to be a part of the first team. If Healey is out for some time there should be plenty of opportunities for him.

 

Are we sure he's a winger? I thought he was a striker and he very much looked like he didn't know the position yesterday but was sort of lumped on to help get us a goal, which he did to be fair to him.

 

He's a striker, but VI has some special criteria for whoever plays center forward in his system and any forward who doesn't fulfill those gets stuck on the wing instead Exactly what those criteria are is a bit of a mystery (he seems to want Haaland... so yeah), but the only players in our squad who seem to fulfill them are Bayo and Rajovic (neither of which are Haaland, obviously ).

 

I thought when we signed him he was supposedly a striker, but he didn't look like he really had the physicality to be someone who can play with his back to goal and hold the ball up. It could get there I suppose but would take lots of time. Not sure what he's like in the air either.

 

It's odd that basically all the South American youngsters we've brought over have been attacking midfielder or second striker types.

There must also surely be plenty of promising defenders and central midfielders about over there we could sign.

 

Yeah, in fairness watching it back it was a slightly better pass than I gave credit for. We spent all game making sloppy under-powered passes, so yeah, good to see someone actually snap one into feet at a good pace which gave the receiver options.

 

Let’s give the boy a chance. I would like to see him get a few hours on the pitch before putting him in the same pot alongside Peñaranda.

 

I would say Penaranda was a lot further along as a player when we had him, but he just wanted a party life. He wasn’t a dedicated pro, he just liked the trappings.

 

True Peñaranda had 60 league starts before he joined our squad. Most as a teenager in South America. I was really thinking more in terms of a signing who added nothing to us. Anyway it’s far too early go judge him on one enthusiastic if disjointed run out against Chesterfield.

 

An amateur outside the 6 yard box, prime Lineker inside.

 

Reids 4 mins (?) video clip of his time in the US on the loanees thread is enough to show just how far away he is from being ready to play in the champ or even League one at present. Nothing in that video to suggest he's going to be anything special.

 

Yup, he looked better than I thought in his cameo at the weekend but he's still a way off our level. It's telling that on his loan spell to Medellin (one of the best teams in Colombia) last year that he only managed 300 mins in 8 months before his loan spell to NYRB. The 2024 Colombian season starts in a few weeks, I think a loan to a upper midtable side in Colombia where he'll be expected to play most games is likely the best bet for him. I'd like to see a lower league loan in England but not sure he'd be suited to that in all honesty.

 

crap

 

I can't remember - what did he cost (fee, before wages etc) ?

 

Undisclosed. But given that we paid around £3m for Asprilla and Hurtado came from a lower division it couldn't have been a lot.

 

On the bench for Gillingham tonight. Number 19.

 

Came on in the 86th min, the gills won 3-1 away to notts county and leapfrog them into 7th place (the play offs)

 

Only coming on for the last few minutes when they're already 3-1 up is a bit disappointing.

 

Hurtado Hurt. A Do About Nothing?

Sadly not. Knee injury, possibly cartilage damage, means a spell on the sidelines

Currently back at Watford, scanned and waiting for longer term diagnosis/treatment plan

Details here; https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/24127025.hurtado-back-watford-picking-knee-injury/

 

It was quite eventful though.

We shipped three goals to Tranmere in the half he played and Pereyra got wrongly sent off.

Classic Watford.

 

Out for a month (he hopes) according to a Q&A on his Instagram.

 

That's a relief - from the initial reports it sounded as if it could have been much worse.

 

He left on loan as not good enough for the first team, the way our current crop are falling apart or destined to leave, by the time he gets back he will be our best player, without even improving.

 

Option to buy is an interesting but disappointing one.

Not sure he'll ever be at the level where we can flip him for big money, but in the future could still be an interesting player for our level.

 

Hopefully we can draw Gillingham into a bidding war. Could see the fee hit 6 figures if we can!