Leandro Damiao

[AngerManagement]

I would add Coulibaly to that list I have heard great things about him

yea would be great to see some of the youth we have brought in go on to make an impact like Arsenal managed to do with one or two every now and then

 

[$hoguN]

It certainly seems that was the case with those two, which is fine as long as they come off but I think its a dangerous and perhaps unnecessary game Mr Levy plays and perhaps over all our club would be better served if we had deadlines to agree such deals and moved on if it could not be done in time so we don't get left short (at least have a cheap tied over option until the next window)

I can only really think of VdV where this policy paid off for us where as we have been left without a proper striker 3-4 windows in a row which has cost us badly, lost points at the start of the season because our squad was threadbare and as we saw this window have been left without a direct replacement for our best manager.

For every million this activity saves us in transfer fees how much has it actually cost us in revenue from lost points in the league? prize money? CL prize money and advertising?

I honestly firmly believe that the last two Jan windows had we signed a goal scorer we would have been in our 3rd consecutive season in the CL right now for example.

I like Mr Levy and I think he does a good job over all, but I really wish he would focus on what he does well and appoint an expert to undertake the footballing aspects of running our club because in my opinion its not his game and has cost us substantially in recent times (not saying he is useless or hasn't done well, just that he could and probably should have done better and I believe a decent DOF would do so)

I think it is just a bit to easy to say if we had signed a goal scorer in either January window would have been in a different position, as you can almost certainly guarantee we did try to bring in a striker, and that we were just unable to find one that fit the bill. It is not just about finding a goalscorer but someone who would score goals in our team, otherwise we would be fine just using Defoe.

 

[AngerManagement]

I think it is just a bit to easy to say if we had signed a goal scorer in either January window would have been in a different position, as you can almost certainly guarantee we did try to bring in a striker, and that we were just unable to find one that fit the bill. It is not just about finding a goalscorer but someone who would score goals in our team, otherwise we would be fine just using Defoe.

I really don't think its that outrageous a statement at all

We were 10 points clear of Arsenal in third and closer to the Manchester teams than the chasing pack.

We went on quite a slump but we were still creating chances, just went a bit goal shy.

It was obvious to everyone, including the powers that be that we needed a goal scorer and that is why we brought in Saha instead of just sticking what we had. (if we didn't think there was a need to do something in that area we would surely have kept things as they were.)

If it is so very difficult to find a striker who could fit the bill how did Newcastle and Everton so easily find Jelavic and Cisse respectively?

I refuse to believe that in the whole wide world of football we were unable to make a signing similar to this, or indeed wonder why we were not able to beat these clubs to players like this. It didn't have to be our long term future star striker, we had Pav leaving and Defoe who didn't really fit....we could easily have brought someone in for the end of the season who would then fight for their place long term depending on who we bring in and how they perform (defoe and Pav out would have left space to resign ade, keep the Cisse type striker and sign another suitable striker this summeR)

How can you almost guarantee we did try to sign a striker? it seems to me (and backed up by ITK) that Mr Levy basically told Harry he had no budget and would have to bring in a free transfer (in which case we were not really trying harder than what we achieved)

I don't really get what you are saying about Defoe, Defoe isn't actually a good goal scorer in my opinion, I think that's quite a misconception about him. He didn't play well with Ade really and could't lead the line on his own, you can't honestly tell me that we did all we could to bring in someone who could cover/play with Adebayor better than Defoe or Pav could?!? If you are suggesting that then I'm sorry I simply don't agree.

For one I think both Jelavic and Cisse would have had more than enough short term impact to justify their signing by firing us to the CL and the prize money would have paid their fee (Defoe could then have been sold on in the summer if we needed or wanted to bring in another striker still)

Personally I think Levy thought 3rd was in the banged and gambled on not backing Harry to conserve our funds for the summer to back whoever was going to be in charged then, I think the gamble didn't pay off and I think had we made a move for a striker of the ilk I mentioned we would have comfortably finished in third so to me Levy's decision making cost us our CL status.

 

[Stavrogin]

If it is so very difficult to find a striker who could fit the bill how did Newcastle and Everton so easily find Jelavic and Cisse respectively?

I refuse to believe that in the whole wide world of football we were unable to make a signing similar to this, or indeed wonder why we were not able to beat these clubs to players like this. It didn't have to be our long term future star striker, we had Pav leaving and Defoe who didn't really fit....we could easily have brought someone in for the end of the season who would then fight for their place long term depending on who we bring in and how they perform (defoe and Pav out would have left space to resign ade, keep the Cisse type striker and sign another suitable striker this summeR)

The evidence, going back years, suggests it is hard for us to sign strikers.

Could we have signed Jelavic and Cisse? Probably but they'd barely have played (forecasting of course). Would we be offering sufficient wages, since they'd be substitutes? Did we expect to sign Damiao in the summer? Did we want to see what happened with the manager and Adebayor? Did we feel burned by having Defoe and Pavlyuchenko sitting on the sidelines for so long?

I'm not sure we can begrudge them not signing Cisse and Jelavic, especially since it's unlikely they'd have been as good for us as they've been elsewhere. The lack of effective back-up forwards has gone on for long time. When Pleat was snapping up young players he didn't bring in a striker, did he? Doherty doesn't count.

I'd follow Ferguson's scattergun approach, grabbing people like Hernandez, Bebe and Macheda in the hopes that one will come good. It's not as if we haven't done that with midfielders.

Edit: Zamora - but that sort of proves the point, had we not swapped him, he might have been useful over the years.

 

[AngerManagement]

The evidence, going back years, suggests it is hard for us to sign strikers.

Could we have signed Jelavic and Cisse? Probably but they'd barely have played (forecasting of course). Would we be offering sufficient wages, since they'd be substitutes? Did we expect to sign Damiao in the summer? Did we want to see what happened with the manager and Adebayor? Did we feel burned by having Defoe and Pavlyuchenko sitting on the sidelines for so long?

I'm not sure we can begrudge them not signing Cisse and Jelavic, especially since it's unlikely they'd have been as good for us as they've been elsewhere. The lack of effective back-up forwards has gone on for long time. When Pleat was snapping up young players he didn't bring in a striker, did he? Doherty doesn't count.

I'd follow Ferguson's scattergun approach, grabbing people like Hernandez, Bebe and Macheda in the hopes that one will come good. It's not as if we haven't done that with midfielders.

The lack of effective back ups has gone on since about as long as Levy and DC fucked up the Berbatov and Keane window. At that time we probably had the best squad of strikers at our disposal in the league.

Cisse and Jelavic are two examples of players because they illustrate the ease at which other clubs (with lesser pull and Everton at least with lesser finance) we able to bring someone in....because I'm not a football scout and I do not have an extensive knowledge of who is out there, but these two represent two reasonably priced examples of which I am sure there are/were countless.

We had one, ONE proper functional striker in our squad. Defoe didn't fit the system or pair up well with our main striker and our main striker was great but an inconsistent finisher, plus it was obviously a risk to be so reliant on one player.

It was in my opinion obvious that we needed to upgrade both Pav and Defoe, even if only one could be shifted that window.

I absolutely refuse to believe that there was not a single striker in the whole world that we could not have brought in even as a short term fix to give us what we needed to get over the line indeed Saha would probably have been good enough had he not been such an injury problem, not even a loan move we could have made? seriously?

I honestly believe that we could and should have brought in a decent striker, obviously a world class Falcoa or Llorente signing would't have been possible but I don't believe we were unable to bring in someone who would have done a job or even been a starter/competitor for a starting birth like Cisse.

The player only needed to fit a basic mould with resale value, Defoe could for example still be sold for a decent return (as was Pav) so we haven't actually been that badly burned in the striking department (even Crouch was sold for a pretty penny)

To me its as simple as Levy thought we had enough and did't want to release funds to Redknapp that window because he gambled that third was secured and didn't think there was enough chance of actually winning the league so decided to stick and go for bigger fish (as seems his ambition every window) when we had CL money and football to offer in the summer.

The gamble didn't pay off

 

[brendanb50]

For one I think both Jelavic and Cisse would have had more than enough short term impact to justify their signing by firing us to the CL and the prize money would have paid their fee (Defoe could then have been sold on in the summer if we needed or wanted to bring in another striker still)

Not 100% on all of your points AM but i agree entirely on this point and i guess the main point you're aiming at.

Whether Jelevic or Cisse were available to us or not will not be known, however surely as two examples, these represented strong value for money? Cisse in particular looked a solid goalscorer in Germany. (flip side on him i guess is that with him/Ade, we'd be back to square one during the ACN)

I personally like how Levy does business, i've read your arguements against this and see where you're coming from but i'd prefer Levy to pretty much anyone else to be running things for us, so i'm happy to take the rough with the smooth.

Also more than happy for us to enquire, bid on or discuss top names with clubs. If there's even a remote chance someone like Llorente is/was available, i'd like to know that we at least had a look at the matter to see if we could make it work. However - here's where i do buy into what you're saying AM, if Striker A is not available, surely we have a list as long as your arm of B's, C's, D's etc. all of whom should be pursuable and viable potentials.

Of course there's things that can go wrong with said potentials - Leandro being a great example of an on/off deal, difficult club, difficult chairman etc. but surely, without competing directly with City/Chelsea etc. we're an attractive propostition for someone on that list of names?! We've waited for so long to tie up another option at top, we can't be passed having a gamble on someone can we??

 

[AngerManagement]

I think the bottom line is, should I say my actual problem with the way Levy conducts his business is......

The last day/s should be a time for him to seek bonus cheap signings in addition to the bulk of our signings for the window or indeed to make quick signings as short term options or alternatives to our actual targets should they not have been signed before had.

I like Levy, I think he's a good chairman....I just think that more often than not he makes errors in the transfer window over all and we as a club would be in a better position with an expert taking care of the transfer matters .

 

[hugrr]

I'm glad we tried for the lad, he's undoubtedly a top class finisher. However inters chairman is a grade A dong. I'm gutted we've not got him, & can only see one solution between now & January, untried/untested 'Cor blimey'