"Crouch too expensive" - heard that one before...

[a1canary 0]

Does this sound familiar? Lets not forget what a sneaky wiley old fox worthy can be in the transfer market. He more or less ruled out Huckerby before we signed him and this is just Worthy''s opening shot to Villa - "we won''t be able to afford what you ask so we won''t be pursuing it further." (oh, you mean you''re prepared to lower your asking price doug? ok, i''m listening...)
There are two things that push him strongly in our direction. Villa HAVE to move him on, and he wants to come here. Just like Huckerby, he has said if he does move on it would be for Norwich. And when the player wants it, anything can happen.

We haven''t seen the end of this one yet.

[Tufnell Park Canary 0]

You''re right A1 - if Villa have a player they need to sell, but no-one will match the asking price then they will have to lower it. Given that Crouchy wants to come to norwich - I don''t think the deal is over at all.

[First Wizard 0]

Sorry to disagree with you A1, but I just don''t care!. He''s ok, but I''ve always thought he was a tad lightweight to me. And the reported asking price of 2 million is far too much, or 1 million come to that.

Just trust Nigel to find a cheaper and better striker, I know I do. The way he''s going at the moment, I would''nt be surprised to see Zidan turning up!.

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

If we didn''t get Crouch I really would like us to get another target man. Somebody tall and strong who can hold the ball up- Just in case Sven gets injured or can''t hack it. I''m sure he will though!

[SwindonCanary 455]

target man, someone who holds up the ball better than Sven ?
Nobody does it better than Mr Roberts. at the moment you can find him looking for a job on
www.givemefootball.com (the professional footballers association web site)

[Ayrton Twigge 0]

I''m with A! on this one.

He''s a marked man for sure - he''s in Worthy''s sights and he''ll get him. (Delia is a big fan too)

[Canary Boy 0]

I think that 1 million would be money well spent for a target man who scores plenty of goals, is young and would serve us well for years to come. In fact, I''d say Crouch is worth 2 million.

[Steve White 24]

Swindon Canary, have you seen Iwan over the last two years? Even given his unbelievable swansong goal, even he has the good grace to admit that the Premier League is now beyond him.

[a1canary 0]

No probs wiz, i don''t think he''s as good as some people seeem to think he is but he has proved himself sufficiently for me to be a good target man in our squad with svensson that we surely need. And i''m not suggesting we pay 1 or 2 million. I don''t think nige will when he knows if he plays a few games with villa, who he knows must move him on, he could well end up getting him for 500,000 or so.

[Saint Canary 0]

Personally i''m not that bothered if Crouch comes or not, i''m pretty certain Worthy will make some good signings. I find it interesting that Worthy said that Villa''s asking price "might" be too high. From how I read in to it, it sounds like we haven evem spoken to Villa and Worthy is hoping that they will ask us to buy Crouch rather than us making an offer for him.

[Super Shaun Carey 0]

Doug Ellis apparently fell off his chair with our generous offer of £400,000.

[Scotty 0]

He''ll be a Norwich player by the end of next week...

[jb 0]

I''ve heard that too.This deal is definitely not dead!

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

Who was it on this board who stated, quite boldly, that the Crouch deal was done and dusted months ago? I think whomever it was was jumping the gun a bit!

[FatMan Fat 0]

I am firmly in the Crouch admirers camp and hope that eventually a dealcan be done. As I said on another post, "I hate newspaper reports"....they can sometimes get your hopes up to no avail, and right now it looks like neither PC or Edwards are joining us...shame :-(]

[jb 0]

Edwards is going to Wolves.Crouch?mmmmmmmm

[harrogate canary 0]

I was a bit disappointed but not suprised to hear that Crouchy was gonna be too expensive .
However , it may be a Worthy ploy to get Villa to be a bit more realistic , but offering 400k was a disgrace if that was the case , the guy is worth at least 1.5 million .
He played ever so well for us last season and was a great link up man for Hucks , plus he wants to play for us . Maybe Villa will put some conditions into the sale , like if we stay up , apperances goals scored etc which might make the fee more attractive to them say 1 million down and the other dosh paid in installments in the future depending on the above.
l personally think that Norwich will have to sign a couple of players of quality that are gonna break the million we spent on Jon Newsome in 1994 .
lts ok trying to get a couple of Bosmans and season loans but we''ll have get the cheque book out sooner or later .Surely the board realise they will have to spend some serious dosh ?

[Jonzey 0]

Classic diversory tactic. In fact it''s rule one in the book titled: ''The Wily Old Foxes Rule Book to Buying Football Players, 1982 classic edition''. Author; W. Fox.

[Anderz 0]

Harrogate Canary, I understand your point and would like to add to it my own point: just because we haven''t seen the Carrow Road cheque book being used yet doesn''t mean its not going to be in the near future...
I think the watchword for this particular summer pre-season period has to be: ''Patience'', which I have to admit is something I''m struggling to contain...
I''m positive the board are prepared to spend, its just where that they are being careful about...
Come the beginning of the season, I''m pretty sure the majority of the jigsaw pieces will be in place, we''ve just got to sit tight and watch those pieces being identified and put together... (here ends the jigsaw analogue(sp?))

[ca 1]

I too think that Crouch will be a Norwich City player by the end of the month.

[susie b 0]

I too have had this feeling for some time, cityangel...ever since that dream I had when I got to interview him in a restaurant and he ripped up his plane ticket back to Birmingham!!!

[Saint Canary 0]

If NW is playing a little a bit of a game to try and get Crouch for cheaper, I can''t see how it''s going to work. Villa don''t have any money, they paid £5m for Crouch and making more than £3m+ worth of loss on him isn''t going to help them at all. The only way I think we will get him cheaper is if they sign a couple of strikers.

[gazzathegreat 0]

well as we know, he is going to be ours v soon, the doubters amongst you cast your minds, and if necessary have a look at this board circa oct-dec last year and remind yourselves of someone else deemed "too expensive"

yeah, and now we are premiership, so who needs to count money anymore?

[Anderz 0]

re: Crouchetto, can''t we take him on a season loan? Not sure I''d like to see the two Prem-based season loans being strikers as it could limits other possible avenues regarding signings but if its possible, would it be worth considering over signing him outright? Any thoughts..?

[jb 0]

Really good points Anderz.I heard the loan opton had been discussed but rejected.Worthy wants to save the other loan for an emergency.

[Anderz 0]

thanks jb...

[BedsCanary 0]

Villa won''t let us have him on loan - they need the cash.

I agree with the majority in thinking that by the beginning of next season Crouchy will be back in a City shirt. It''s just a business nagotiation at the end of the day. We bid £400,000, Villa reject it, we bid £750,000 (rising to 1.2 mill if we stay up) and Villa let us have him.

Sorted.