Joshua King

[emiley heskey]

Sure, striker is certainly really good centre mid replacement

We were using lamela as center mid? Didn't know ...

 

[snakehipsspurs]

King is naturally a forward. That is nothing to worry about. And he is nothing like Son even if he has got pace. He is very good at more traditional forward / target man play. He has been a rock in that role for Norway for years even when he has played as a wide player for Bournemouth.

For Norway he for quite a while was a one man attack. And exceptionally good at it as well.

I thought King was overrated for years, but got to give it to him for his last 3 years or so. Just a very good football player. One of very very few Norwegian players before this recent surge of talent that can actually play.

Yeah the King being like Son or getting in his way chat doesn’t add up for me. King is a natural centre forward who also can operate on the wing if needed (but doesn’t thrive there), whereas Son is a winger/inside forward who can play as a striker if needed (but it doesn’t bring out the best in him).

The thing that we need is a focal point up front who pulls Centre Backs out of position, creates space for Son, Lucas, Dele and Bergwijn. There are 4 models to do this:

1. Pacy, tricky striker who tries to take players on and runs in behind.
2. Big, physical presence who pushes people out of positions, holds the ball up and is an arial presence
3. Someone who drops back into the midfield and plays link up with the midfield/wingers
4. Someone who hangs around the box and just finds a way to score and has to be paid attention to

King is 1 on this list and a bit of 4, Wood is 2 and 4. Giroud is 2 and 3. Harry is a mix of all of these and more and that’s why he’s irreplaceable.

We won’t find another Harry, but we just need someone who can do a couple. King would be a nice option, and he would definitely play alongside Son because his play style would give Son space and license to do what he does best from out wide.

 

[Yiddo100]

We were using lamela as center mid? Didn't know ...

Sissoko is

 

[Havre]

Yeah the King being like Son or getting in his way chat doesn’t add up for me. King is a natural centre forward who also can operate on the wing if needed (but doesn’t thrive there), whereas Son is a winger/inside forward who can play as a striker if needed (but it doesn’t bring out the best in him).

The thing that we need is a focal point up front who pulls Centre Backs out of position, creates space for Son, Lucas, Dele and Bergwijn. There are 4 models to do this:

1. Pacy, tricky striker who tries to take players on and runs in behind.
2. Big, physical presence who pushes people out of positions, holds the ball up and is an arial presence
3. Someone who drops back into the midfield and plays link up with the midfield/wingers
4. Someone who hangs around the box and just finds a way to score and has to be paid attention to

King is 1 on this list and a bit of 4, Wood is 2 and 4. Giroud is 2 and 3. Harry is a mix of all of these and more and that’s why he’s irreplaceable.

We won’t find another Harry, but we just need someone who can do a couple. King would be a nice option, and he would definitely play alongside Son because his play style would give Son space and license to do what he does best from out wide.

I'm not going to exaggerate how good King is. He isn't world class or anything like that, but he is in my opinion a lot more than just a 1). He is obviously not as big as Wood and Deeney, but for Norway he has had to play the target man role quite often and he is not bad at it. He is very good at getting his body in the way. A bit like Modric - playing bigger than he is. He is also tough and not afraid of bumping into defenders.

There is this balance between having something different, but also having something similar for when Kane is rested. To me King is by far the better option here as he can offer something different out wide with more muscle, but he can also play for Kane and still link up with Lo Celso, Alli, Son etc. - in ways I doubt Wood or Deeney could.

 

[KILLA_SIN]

My concern with King is that I think his profile as a striker is too similar to Son, and Son is a better player. If Kane was out I'd probably just start Son at ST over King.

Hopefully I'm doing King a dis-service as he has been on our radar for some time now and by no means do I think hes a bad player.

Someone like Wood or Giroud would be that target man that can hold our shape when Kane is out. They would also be a good plan B if we came up against bus parkers with their aerial ability.

I used to be of the opinion that our money was best spent on a forward that can also play wide, but this was when talking about £40m+ players. At £10-20m we probably need a specialist target man.

Frontline of Kane, Son, King, Bergwign and Moura would give us depth, cover and options

 

[WiganSpur]

My concern with King is that I think his profile as a striker is too similar to Son, and Son is a better player. If Kane was out I'd probably just start Son at ST over King.

Hopefully I'm doing King a dis-service as he has been on our radar for some time now and by no means do I think hes a bad player.

Someone like Wood or Giroud would be that target man that can hold our shape when Kane is out. They would also be a good plan B if we came up against bus parkers with their aerial ability.

I used to be of the opinion that our money was best spent on a forward that can also play wide, but this was when talking about £40m+ players. At £10-20m we probably need a specialist target man.

Yeah and it was always the fact that Pochettino was our head coach with a less direct style of play. Mourinho’s style is played at a much higher tempo with more emphasis on penetration than tidyness. It tends to come unstuck when opponents get really tight and aggressive in their defending, so we need some physicality out there to hold the ball up and bring our other attackers into play too.

 

[snakehipsspurs]

I'm not going to exaggerate how good King is. He isn't world class or anything like that, but he is in my opinion a lot more than just a 1). He is obviously not as big as Wood and Deeney, but for Norway he has had to play the target man role quite often and he is not bad at it. He is very good at getting his body in the way. A bit like Modric - playing bigger than he is. He is also tough and not afraid of bumping into defenders.

There is this balance between having something different, but also having something similar for when Kane is rested. To me King is by far the better option here as he can offer something different out wide with more muscle, but he can also play for Kane and still link up with Lo Celso, Alli, Son etc. - in ways I doubt Wood or Deeney could.

Oh I agree King is probably more than just the 1 and 4 I mentioned, he does seem strong and has a nice low base and holds himself well against bigger defenders. It was more a simplification of his strengths, because more than anything his strength is with the ball at his feet or running in behind. And he isn’t the greatest at retaining the ball (though I think he’d have more time in our system that might benefit him).

I really like him as an option. Think we’d have a nice counter attack with him with his pace and willingness to drive at defenders. But Lucas would have to be the outlet for long balls to head/chest because King will never be as good at that as him or Kane.

 

[wrd]

Frontline of Kane, Son, King, Bergwign and Moura would give us depty cover and options

I think people don't appreciate that we likely wouldn't have got into the mess we had this past season if we had signed Bergwijn before Kanes injury. We literally had Kane, Moura, Son, Parrott for those front 3 spots and thats it. Adding Bergwijn has already created a plan B and adding King will be gravy.

 

[SpartanSpur]

Frontline of Kane, Son, King, Bergwign and Moura would give us depty cover and options

I'll be happy with King as a signing for sure. I totally get the merits of him but I'd personally prefer someone like Wood or Giroud who would bring something unique to the squad.

 

[Albertbarich]

Another player wr were linked to under poch.

I'm not convinced jose is picking these players, in the sense that I thibk they have already been shortlisted.

 

[KILLA_SIN]

I'll be happy with King as a signing for sure. I totally get the merits of him but I'd personally prefer someone like Wood or Giroud who would bring something unique to the squad.

Neither really appeal to me to be honest and when you play a big man yiu don't play the same system. Personally I think Son as our second is always our best option after Kane

 

[St José Dominguez]

Neither really appeal to me to be honest and when you play a big man yiu don't play the same system. Personally I think Son as our second is always our best option after Kane

Its good to have depth but if as it stands Bergwijn is sub and Kane got injured I’d much rather put him in and have Son and Dele up top. We’re hamstrung by our homegrown issues but personally would have been nice to have a number 9 come in who’d clearly be best option to start if Kane isn’t. King’s decent but can’t pretend our ST links aren’t all pretty average overall to me.

 

[Duskwen]

Another player wr were linked to under poch.

I'm not convinced jose is picking these players, in the sense that I thibk they have already been shortlisted.

Of course they have, we are on a shoestring budget during a pandemic for a backup player.
The difference now seems to be Jose realises this and per some of the itk is seemingly happy with the shortlists, making it easier for Levy to find the best deal. Where, under the last few seasons of Poch it seemed to be his number 1 targets or else no-one, which lead to no signings and then the big summer last season

 

[KILLA_SIN]

Its good to have depth but if as it stands Bergwijn is sub and Kane got injured I’d much rather put him in and have Son and Dele up top. We’re hamstrung by our homegrown issues but personally would have been nice to have a number 9 come in who’d clearly be best option to start if Kane isn’t. King’s decent but can’t pretend our ST links aren’t all pretty average overall to me.

Sons good enough to deputise for Kane upfront and hes better than Giroukd and Wood

 

[St José Dominguez]

Sons good enough to deputise for Kane upfront and hes better than Giroukd and Wood

We will likely be playing counter attacking football where we press and win ball and break. Having a big lump up front won’t work if Kane is out. I’m guessing links are because we’ve only got 10mil ish for ST as I’ve no idea why we wouldn’t go for Ollie Watkins instead of all these HG players we’re linked to.

 

[HodisGawd]

Sons good enough to deputise for Kane upfront and hes better than Giroukd and Wood

Erm, remember last season???

 

[thebenjamin]

Sons good enough to deputise for Kane upfront and hes better than Giroukd and Wood

But mourinho needs a target man. Its not about who's a better player, it's a about who can play with their back to goal and hold the ball up. Son cannot do that.

 

[spursfan77]

Another player wr were linked to under poch.

I'm not convinced jose is picking these players, in the sense that I thibk they have already been shortlisted.

I agree. Are these the best players our scouts can come up with across the whole world too?

 

[lukadownthelane]

Would rather get Ollie Watkins if we’re going to go for this type of player.

 

[Cinemattis]

He played a couple of years in Norwegian league before going to Man Utd. And he has played on every step in our national team since U15 ?

Wrong. He was signed by Manchester United from Vålerenga in 2007 (officially from 1/1-2008), while he was still only 15. He has never played senior football for any Norwegian club. He was a part of the ManUtd academy and trained under Solskjær (amongst others) there. He signed his first senior contract with MU in 2009 - still only 16-17 y.o. This is also why he is counted as HG for both English and European competitions.

Edit: @Marty beat me to it. And he also is a billion percent correct about the agent, Jim Solbakken: the agents´ world equivalent to Sepp Blatter. Just more corrupt. A nasty piece of low life that represents all that is wrong with modern football. Calling him a **** would be not only to offend every single female life form in the history of Life in the entire solar system, but also comparable to describing Adolf Hitler as "an upleasant person".