James McArthur £8m

[Move Klose 303]

First proper media transfer gossip, thought i would share it (even tho i highly doubt theres any truth in it) Via Greg Bird Dailly Mail Sports Editor

Norwich City are weighing up a £8million bid for influential Crystal Palace midfielder James McArthur via @MailSport #CPFC #NCFC

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,566]

Seems a lazy one due to the link between him and Alex Neil at Hamilton.

[Branston Pickle 3,669]

Lazy it may be, but it could still hold water - if AN is well thought of by the guy and we express an interest, you never know what might happen

[ZLF 274]

Is that lazy journalism given the Accies link the base of a true rumour?

Not sure its the area of the pitch I would first pick to strengthen.

Anyway, not interested in any rumours until more than £10m or a surname with 5 or more syllables

[Horse Renoir 1]

I*''d love to have him even if we don''t urgently need a new CM. He''s absolutely class and 8 Million seems about right. How can we afford that though? Also I''m not sure Palace would consider less than 12 Million in the current climate which is too much

[Crabbycanary3 994]

Nice one ZLF, that made me chuckle

[kick it off 1,952]

How can we afford that?

We are debt free, and will have a relatively low wage bill for the Prem you would imagine.

We have just received an 80 million+ windfall.

I wouldn''t be surprised to see us drop 20-30 of that on 3 or 4 quality additions to the squad.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Would take him. Dunno if palace would sell tho easy 2+2 rumour tho.

[morty 0]

What position does he play? Who would he be replacing?

[Nicko 0]

Would take him any day. Get rid of Johnson, get in McArthur.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Nicko"]Would take him any day. Get rid of Johnson, get in McArthur.[/quote]

Seriously, get rid of Johnson?

[Jim Smith 2,325]

[quote user="Nicko"]Would take him any day. Get rid of Johnson, get in McArthur.[/quote]

Whilst he''s a good player and I would like to sign him lets not fall into the trap of assuming that all these other lower prem players are necessarily better than what we have. Lets learn from what kept us up for 2 seasons previously and what ultimately contributed to us being relegated.

Bradley Johnson has just rightly been voted our player of the season. He has proven himself reliable at prem level previously as well. Hugely disrespectful for people to be posting "get rid" of him less than 3 days after he has helped us to one of our best victories in years.

And before Nutty pipes up to point out I have moaned about Johnson in the past yes i have although rarely at him personally (great attitude and the sort you want in your club), more at the midfield combo of him and Howson being played at the expense of Tettey.

[Nicko 0]

Yes he''s done well in the Championship but we''re a premier league club now. He wasn''t good enough back then and nothings changed, he still lacks quality.

Harsh I know, but thats the reality.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Nicko"]Yes he''s done well in the Championship but we''re a premier league club now. He wasn''t good enough back then and nothings changed, he still lacks quality.

Harsh I know, but thats the reality.[/quote]

I am not even sure where to start with this lol.

He is twice the player he was two seasons ago. Were all those goals just luck then?

[Nicko 0]

Well no, but he was playing Championship players this season.

I''m not denying he hasn''t been excellent for us, but he''s found his level. Upper Championship.

I would love to be proved wrong, however.

[Jim Smith 2,325]

He was good in the premiership for a couple of seasons as well before it all went wrong under Hughton.

[Nicko 0]

Was he? Are you sure?

I remember when Swansea were rumoured to be in for him for 3m. I''m sure the entire board would have contributed to his train fare. Short memories.

He''s had a good season, but the Johnson experiment failed in the Prem.

[Rich T The Biscuit 562]

Based on that analysis we''d bette replace the entire team as they all played premier league before.

BJ has been immense this season and will do a job for us in the Premier League. He''s improved no end since Hughton left and he had the shackles removed, anyone can see that surely?!!?

[morty 0]

[quote user="Rich T The Biscuit"]Based on that analysis we''d bette replace the entire team as they all played premier league before.

BJ has been immense this season and will do a job for us in the Premier League. He''s improved no end since Hughton left and he had the shackles removed, anyone can see that surely?!!?[/quote]

Clearly not lol.

[Jim Smith 2,325]

[quote user="Nicko"]Was he? Are you sure?

I remember when Swansea were rumoured to be in for him for 3m. I''m sure the entire board would have contributed to his train fare. Short memories.

He''s had a good season, but the Johnson experiment failed in the Prem.[/quote]

Well he played 29 times for us in 2011/12 when we stayed up comfortably and 39 times for us in 12/13 when we finished 11th.

I agree there were issues with the balance of the midfield at times and I still believe that Johnson and Howson as the central 2 in midfield is not good enough to control games at that level as we don;t retain the ball well enough but alongside the right players and in the right position Johnson is more than capable of doing a job for us again next season even before one takes into account his improvement over the last season and the belief that has given him.

We would be mad to start shipping out characters like Johnson from the dressing room at this moment in time. it would show we have learnt nothing at all from the debacles with the likes of Fer and RVW.

[Nicko 0]

Not the entire team, no. Certainly Russell Martin & Steven Whitaker though. Leroy Fer and Snodgrass were the others who had to go. Luckily they did.

I wouldn''t be opposed to keeping BJ in the squad. But we need better quality than that in the first team IMO. Same with Whitaker and Martin. We won''t stay up with a similar squad that relegated us.

[Jim Smith 2,325]

[quote user="Nicko"]Not the entire team, no. Certainly Russell Martin & Steven Whitaker though. Leroy Fer and Snodgrass were the others who had to go. Luckily they did.

I wouldn''t be opposed to keeping BJ in the squad. But we need better quality than that in the first team IMO. Same with Whitaker and Martin. We won''t stay up with a similar squad that relegated us.[/quote]

Although we did stay up with a similar squad in the two preceding seasons. You could argue that the only difference was the Hughton efect! I don;t think its quite that simple but the effect that man had in terms of sucking the life out of the club should not be underestimated.

I agree with you though on Whitaker and Martin. I would be worried if both start regularly next season as that channel will be consistently exploited by the opposition. i think one of them at right back is ok (or having them as our two right back options) but at the very least we need a proper centre back alongside Bassong.

[Proper Charlie 0]

We certainly need to strengthen in certain areas, however I think you will be surprised at what our current squad is capable of in the premier league, given our current manager........

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,566]

Johnson was good under Lambert - he was in an extended England squad remember.

What last season and this season has shown though is he isn''t a defensive midfielder. Put him higher up the pitch, closing down defenders or getting onto crosses and he can cause havoc - he can also cause havoc in Norwich''s own half with his less than perfect first touch and slightly erratic passing.

McArthur would be a Hoolahan replacement in some respects. He has a bit more of an all round game that would fit AN''s 4-1-4-1 formation more than Wes currently does. £8m is only £1m more than Palace paid for him last summer when they got him from a cash-strapped Championship team - they would probably only sell him for excess of £10 - which he isn''t worth in my opinion.

[Nicko 0]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]Johnson was good under Lambert - he was in an extended England squad remember.

What last season and this season has shown though is he isn''t a defensive midfielder. Put him higher up the pitch, closing down defenders or getting onto crosses and he can cause havoc - he can also cause havoc in Norwich''s own half with his less than perfect first touch and slightly erratic passing.

McArthur would be a Hoolahan replacement in some respects. He has a bit more of an all round game that would fit AN''s 4-1-4-1 formation more than Wes currently does. £8m is only £1m more than Palace paid for him last summer when they got him from a cash-strapped Championship team - they would probably only sell him for excess of £10 - which he isn''t worth in my opinion.[/quote]

Johnson did flatter to deceive unfortunately.

[Craig Brown 0]

Wouldnt bother signing McArthur - he has only scored 2 goals and got no assists. So the stats seem to indicate he is quite poor in terms of scoring and creating goals. He isn''t worth £8m!!

[Craig Brown 0]

Player Stats from wikipediaHamilton Academical - 2005-2010 - 168 appearances - 10 goalsWigan Atheltic - 2010-2014 - 129 appearances - 11 goalsCrystal Palace - 2014-15 - 32 appearances - 2 goalsIt seems these stats reveal he can score goals - but he probably doesn''t score goals enough. Bradley Johnson scored 15 goals in one season and it took McArthur five seasons to score 10 goals. So maybe he is more of a defensive midfielder...

[ZLF 274]

If we compare prem records BJ has 6 goals from 90 starts, not dissimilar to McArthurs 8 goals from 74.

I do think we need to be wary about assuming we will do better next season - we were playing a level down, where the top 8 this season are at best the same as the bottom 6 in the prem. We did well in those games - but we will need to improve to remain promoted next season.

BJ has had an exceptional season at a lower level with 15 goals - but none of us know if that will be repeated when he returns a level up - and many metrics were worse this season compared to last - eg fewer tackles & interceptions made, more fouls, worse passing, had more bad touches, been dispossesed more often,

The positives are he has dribbled well more often, made more shots on goal, scored a phenomenal number of goals & has never won as many headers remaining ever committed.

On top his overall performance levels have been lower against the best teams rather than those outside the top 6-8 - all of which suggests he may not be as improved as we think and that he may not be a star back in the prem. The same story applies to most of our players - this is not a BJ dig.

Nor is it an insurmountable gap - 4-7 quality signings will strengthen the team enormously and make us very competitive.

I would say McArthur is probably the better all round player so I would be pleased if he signed to competed with BJ for a starting slot, all injections of quality (as with Dorrans) is good business - however I think we need to address other areas first.

[Tommo 51]

McCarthur would be a great Prem league signing. Wouldn''t mind us looking at Mo Diame at Hull - him Dorrans and Howson would be a solid midfield trio

[Guest]

Got it Nicko, in your world a player has a fixed ability and can never improve?

*slow clap*