Is Elmander a veteran? Surely he's in his twenties :shrug:
I fully expect to see at least one new striker at the Club, and feel probably two are likely. Harry has defended his strikers because he doesn't want to compromise their perception in the market place and of course if a few of them stay he doesn't want to publicly undermine them affecting their confidence levels. I find his remarks sensible and covering all bases.
I'm confident that Levy and Harry are fully aware that this department needs strengthening in order to truly compete next season.
Firstly, Elmander is 30. He's been playing professional football for a long time, and was Premiership proven, which I thought would make him a perfect fit for what Redknapp is after. We passed, clearly.
Secondly, everyone knew back in January that we needed a striker to compete for 4th place, yet it didn't stop us from not landing one, did it? We passed on Suarez, who Redknapp didn't feel was a good fit, and had other bids rejected abroad. Who's to say we don't pass on certain strikers this summer and have bids rejected, leaving us empty handed or scrambling?
Personally, I don't know if Redknapp has a desire to spend major money on a player from abroad (especially a striker), since it's a risk he may not want to take with the England job looming. I actually think he rates Defoe and Crouch highly and, isn't playing clever word games like you insinuate, to inflate their value.
Judging from his past and more recent comments, I think it's very possible that he prefers a rather conservative approach, which brings on Scott Parker, Charlie Adam, and Phil Neville, while hoping that the leadership provided by these lads will transform the team from within.