A few players who should be looked at.

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,820]

[quote user="mrs miggins"]But you know that if you spend the same or more money on the likes of Rhodes/McCormack, they are not going to score more than 10 goals. There''s an element of luck in buying foreign players (e.g. I''m surprised Sakho did well this year but Hernandez didn''t) but the rewards are often much higher considering there aren''t enough good british based players to match the rest of the teams in the PL. I think therefore it''s wise to have a mix of both reliable signings in which you know what type of limitations the player has as well as foreign players which could flop, in the case of RVW, or could go well. There''s normally a few clubs in the PL each season who find a few gems, I just hope we''ll be one of the clubs. CamJam''s never scored many goals in this league yet scored sh!tloads in the championship. Hooper will need someone with him up top if he''s going to be a success this year and Grabban, well we''ll see. Sometimes treading into the unknown is the best place to find hidden talent. We have to rely on our scouts to find this talent. RVW was not from our scouts, it was Hughton as they (Newcastle) tried to get him whilst he was in charge. So don''t let the RVW fiasco put you off because there are more success stories than failures.[/quote]I''d personally say that the failures outweigh the successes, but then I suppose it depends what is deemed a success and what is classed as a failure.You say that Rhodes (who I wouldn''t mind, by the way) and McCormack (who I wouldn''t fancy) wouldn''t score more than ten. But Holt, Lambert and Austin all did in their first seasons in the Premier League. I know they weren''t signings as they were promoted with their clubs, but they all had similar Championship records to Rhodes, McCormack etc.I wouldn''t mind us taking a chance on a player or two from overseas, because as you say, there is hidden talent, but I just wouldn''t want to be gambling most of our transfer budget on them.

[mrs miggins 0]

fair enough

[kick it off 1,952]

Southampton in for another Pole... http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/38792/?

[ZLF 274]

Toon looking at an Andy Carroll,   but also Juanmi from Malaga & Bas Dost from Wolfsburg

[93vintage 16]

[quote user="mrs miggins"]There''s an element of luck in buying foreign players (e.g. I''m surprised Sakho did well this year but Hernandez didn''t) but the rewards are often much higher considering there aren''t enough good british based players to match the rest of the teams in the PL. I think therefore it''s wise to have a mix of both reliable signings in which you know what type of limitations the player has as well as foreign players which could flop, in the case of RVW, or could go well. There''s normally a few clubs in the PL each season who find a few gems, I just hope we''ll be one of the clubs. CamJam''s never scored many goals in this league yet scored sh!tloads in the championship. Hooper will need someone with him up top if he''s going to be a success this year and Grabban, well we''ll see. Sometimes treading into the unknown is the best place to find hidden talent. We have to rely on our scouts to find this talent. RVW was not from our scouts, it was Hughton as they (Newcastle) tried to get him whilst he was in charge. So don''t let the RVW fiasco put you off because there are more success stories than failures.[/quote]I''ve got to agree with the bulk of that, particularly the point about there not being enough British players of a decent standard. If we buy British then we ought to particularly look at technically good players in their early 20s who have had a good footballing education but haven''t been polished enough to get into their first teams at a higher level. We should go for the ones with sufficient playing experience, say two seasons or more, preferably at Championship level.With that in mind I suggested Chuks Aneke who couldn''t get a game at Arsenal, but did very well in two seasons at Crewe and continued to develop at Zulte in Belgium. There''s a good risk-reward if we got him for say £2-2.5m when compared to spending £6-8m on someone whose skill levels are inferior but have been half-decent when given the chance to slog it out in the PL.We need to avoid getting in too many ordinary, safe PL players. Aneke isn''t PL proven, or even Championship proven, but if you''re buying a British player then I''d rather take a chance on quality than throw money at a PL player who''s hyped up and has nowhere near the potential. Aneke''s Arsenal teammate Afobe was another good candidate until Wolves snapped him up for £2m.

[kick it off 1,952]

Milik scored a 25 yard beauty and set two up for Lewandowski (who got a hat-trick in 2 minutes!) as Poland beat Georgia 4-0.

Milik is the real deal. So annoyed Ajax got him for a pittance.

[ZLF 274]

I come back to Matty Phillips as a wide left option, interesting Leicester and the baggies.

[ZLF 274]

Looks like Sunderland will be getting Sam Byram, breaking our feeder club links..

[ZLF 274]

Looks like Sunderland will be getting Sam Byram, breaking our feeder club links..

[tom cavendish 0]

[quote user="Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man"][quote user="mrs miggins"]But the players that ''we know what we are getting'' aren''t that good, especially for the extortionate price. Ross McCormack and Jordan Rhodes cost £11m-12m respectively whereas you can buy the likes of Bony for that much and sell them on for £30m

Pelle at Southampton for £7m would now be worth more than double that.

Sakho at West Ham for £4.5m - now worth at least £12m

When you think the likes of Connor Wickham cost £8m, yet has scored no more than 5 goals in a season, poor.[/quote]But how did we know how good Bony, Pelle and Sakho were going to be?[/quote]I knew. I was also right about RvW.

[star_manic 0]

Stop it with all this modesty, or is it arrogance.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

A couple of other names to throw into the hat that may be available:

Mathieu Flamini - No need to tell you all about his footballing capabilities. He could be surplus to requirements at Arsenal and only a year left on his deal. Ambitious maybe but a season loan where we pay his wages for the season and if all goes well we get him on a free next summer.

Younes Belhanda - Linked with Villa, perhaps wants to get out of Ukraine. If Villa can be in for him, we should be able to have a go as well. Very tidy player who would be a massive upgrade/ successor to Wes.

Breel Embolo - Young Basel striker from Cameroon with a Swiss passport. Really awesome potential at a young age. Perfect height and has all the attributes to play that lone striker role, pace, power and a cool finish. Scored 10 in 30 at the age of just 18 last season. I think he''s worth a punt.

[mrs miggins 0]

Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man wrote the following post at 12/06/2015 11:28 PM:

But how did we know how good Bony, Pelle and Sakho were going to be?

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I would also like to add that it is just common knowledge that some players would be good enough for the PL. Bony for example, the people (including myself who also suggested him at the time) who knew of him before he came to Swansea just knew he''d be good enough for the PL because he''s built for it as well as the fact that his technique on the ball is very good too.

Sakho on the other hand was just lucky. Big Sam didn''t know who he was but took a punt from the recommendation of his employers (Sullivan). This time it worked out. You win some, you lose some. Just look at their signing of Andy Carroll...actually just look at the ''reliable'' signing of Andy Carroll by Liverpool. That went well.

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,820]

[quote user="mrs miggins"]Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man wrote the following post at 12/06/2015 11:28 PM:

But how did we know how good Bony, Pelle and Sakho were going to be?

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I would also like to add that it is just common knowledge that some players would be good enough for the PL. Bony for example, the people (including myself who also suggested him at the time) who knew of him before he came to Swansea just knew he''d be good enough for the PL because he''s built for it as well as the fact that his technique on the ball is very good too.

Sakho on the other hand was just lucky. Big Sam didn''t know who he was but took a punt from the recommendation of his employers (Sullivan). This time it worked out. You win some, you lose some. Just look at their signing of Andy Carroll...actually just look at the ''reliable'' signing of Andy Carroll by Liverpool. That went well.[/quote]If you''re talking about naming specific players, then there is no way you can judge that. There have been plenty of well built players with good technique who have struggled. If it was so obvious, a bigger club than Swansea would''ve signed Bony.If you''re referring to players on general, then yes, some players will be good enough, and some won''t. But that''s the gamble clubs take.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Well Altidore was the perfect build for the premiership and he was utter trash for Sunderland and Hull!

[mrs miggins 0]

Altidore, fuck me, he was never going to be good you didn''t have to be a genius to work that one out, he''s always been a big lump (which is still ok if you have other skills of course e.g. bringing others into play or finishing). It''s not just about your physique, but talent. ...actually it''s mostly about talent. Everyone knew the likes of Silva and Hazard would be fantastic because they have clear talent as well as the drive or hunger to do well.

To the question of why a big club didn''t sign the likes of Bony first, if I was a top 4 club and was looking at Bony I wouldn''t have thought he would go straight in the first team, I would''ve thought a club like Spurs or Southampton was his limit. However we are not talking about top 4 clubs, we are talking about oversees players that would be good for the PL and particularly Norwich (and we could''ve signed Bony at the time Swansea did). I still think Bony may regret the decision to go to Man C because I don''t think his finishing is all that (to be in a top team), but I suppose he is still a quality striker and adds something different to their strike force, but its a bit of a silly question imo

[mrs miggins 0]

Micah Richards has just joined villa on a bosman. Very good signing for them. We probably can''t match that wage though.

[mrs miggins 0]

(imo)

[Katie Borkins 1]

Nathan Dyer

Claudio Fritzelberger

Mohammed Al Shababi

Klaus Kurtzwankle

Bruce Wayne

Natasha Kaplinsky

[Icecream Snow 761]

[quote user="Bor Bor Bor"]Nathan Dyer

Claudio Fritzelberger

Mohammed Al Shababi

Klaus Kurtzwankle

Bruce Wayne

Natasha Kaplinsky

[/quote]Bruce Wayne''s got issues with floodlights, especially if winged creatures fly in front of them and leave shadows.

[mrs miggins 0]

mrs miggins wrote the following post at 31/05/2015 8:13 PM:Why are people talking about Theoklitos? We''re in the PL, not in League one where the chance of getting a good oversees player is very slim. Leicester signed Cambiasso last season, the season before we were trying to sign Alderwierld who everyone said there was no chance because of the champions league teams surrounding him....he went to Southampton; a team who sold half their team and were expected to struggle.

We need to aim higher than the likes of Joey Barton. As I say, the likes of Roberto Firmino are most likely out of reach, but there are still some fantastic players we could get, e.g. Clasie, Botteghin and Herrman.

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Clasie looks as if he''s going to Southampton to replace Schneiderlin. Good signing imo.