Grabban in early for £3m - A stroke of genius!

[Tetteys Jig 851]

Now seen the Ulloa deal could be £10m depending on success, £8m minimum. Mental money for a guy who is 27 and scored 16 goals last season!

Deeney will most likely go for £8m somewhere meaning that there will be Leeds, Watford and Brighton to add to clubs looking for a multi million pound striker. Guess who all would have liked to have turned to?

[morty 0]

Don''t come on here praising our board, thats not how it works around these parts.

[Tetteys Jig 851]

I''ll berate when they deserve (Hughton persistance) and praise when they deserve (this transfer).

Now don''t get me wrong, he may turn out to flop but if we''d waited, we''d have everyone in the championship fighting for his signature and probably have had to spend more on wages for him to make sure he chose us.

When you see 8 figure fees being bandied about for championship players, £3m is a steal and we''re all severely undervaluing our current players. Is Ulloa any better than Hooper for instance?

[Daz Sparks 1,558]

That''s right Morty, and even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally.

[grefstad 0]

Valid points by the OP, but it remains to be seen how much impact Grabban will have on NCFC´s fortunes this year.

I don''t see him as a 20 goals-a-season player, to be fair. If RvW stays, I think Grabban and RvW will share a lot of game time between them.

But at 3 mill it is a fairly good deal, on paper, although the other players quoted in the OP are different types of players, at lease Ulloa, who can head with the pace others can kick a ball.

[Tetteys Jig 851]

[quote user="Daz Sparks"]That''s right Morty, and even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally.[/quote]

A lot of it is guesswork though. Look at Lambert and Holt? Did we really think we were signing a Premier League level striker when we went for Holt and a genius in lambert when we appointied him? There will be several of unexpected hits and misses. I remember being delighted we''d ''stolen'' Simon Whaley from Preston for £200k back in the day. Look how that one turned out?!

[Tetteys Jig 851]

[quote user="grefstad"]Valid points by the OP, but it remains to be seen how much impact Grabban will have on NCFC´s fortunes this year.

I don''t see him as a 20 goals-a-season player, to be fair. If RvW stays, I think Grabban and RvW will share a lot of game time between them.

But at 3 mill it is a fairly good deal, on paper, although the other players quoted in the OP are different types of players, at lease Ulloa, who can head with the pace others can kick a ball.[/quote]

I was merely focussing on the timing of the buy. I suppose it does echo our ill fated purchase of RvW though! Imagine we''d waited until summer to get RvW and paid £16m last year!

[morty 0]

[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]I''ll berate when they deserve (Hughton persistance) and praise when they deserve (this transfer).

Now don''t get me wrong, he may turn out to flop but if we''d waited, we''d have everyone in the championship fighting for his signature and probably have had to spend more on wages for him to make sure he chose us.

When you see 8 figure fees being bandied about for championship players, £3m is a steal and we''re all severely undervaluing our current players. Is Ulloa any better than Hooper for instance?[/quote]I agree, it could turn out to be a good deal.But as I saw someone quote the other day "Judge a player not when he arrives at a club, but when he leaves"

[Buh 0]

Does seem to be a great deal if his current level of performance continues as it has through his career.

An exciting player, really hoping for a front 3 of Redmond lafferty and grabban

[GrantsMoustache 0]

£3m was his release clause, so the fee would have been £3m whoever he went to, and whenever he went there. I wouldn''t really call matching a release clause genius.

[Eadies Left, Hucks Right, Iwans Heed, Holts Laugh! 0]

I''m pretty sure Watford may have appealed to him geographically and he would have been a ideal replacement for Deeney, credit where credit is due, well done Neil and NCFC on this one.

[GrantsMoustache 0]

These crazy prices for mediocre strikers do make you wonder whether we should be keeping Becchio, who has 56 goals in the Championship in two and a half seasons.

Of all our strikers he is the most proven in this division.

[Guest]

It always amazes me how people make a decision about a player before actually seeing them play in any form of competitive match.

Wait, hang on. Clearly we only paid £3m for him because he is not good enough to warrant an £8m fee :)

[Tetteys Jig 851]

[quote user="I.S."]It always amazes me how people make a decision about a player before actually seeing them play in any form of competitive match.

Wait, hang on. Clearly we only paid £3m for him because he is not good enough to warrant an £8m fee :)[/quote]

As I emphasise, he might turn out a flop but he looks like a great buy for the fee. I''d say he has shown enough to warrant an £8m fee anyway given the McCormack and Ulloa deals. He is as proven as them.

[GrantsMoustache 0]

We all thought Van Wolfswinkel was a bargain at £8.5m, we thought we were getting a £20m striker.

So lets not overhype this one. He has had one very good Championship season. He may have another, and he may not.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

I agree with you regarding both strikers we brought in, Jimmy.

Get the strikers in early and NA has. He deserves for both to turn out well.

At least if we lose a forward player late we already have plenty in situ.

[Fakenham Canary 0]

[quote user="GrantsMoustache"]These crazy prices for mediocre strikers do make you wonder whether we should be keeping Becchio, who has 56 goals in the Championship in two and a half seasons.

Of all our strikers he is the most proven in this division.[/quote]

Yes, this is a weird one, and he will be an expensive addition to our U21 squad if he does end up staying on past the window. Im sure he wants to go, but who will want him? Clubs are desperate to sign players in form arent they, and Becchio hasnt scored a competitive goal in what, 18 months? Probably longer, I cant remember. Im a little bit surprised that he hasnt been more involved pre-season, and presume this is down to his attitude rather than anything else. Or perhaps he is just rubbish, its not like any of us really know, is it?! The one thing I think its easy to forget when talking about who we need to sign and who we should be looking for, is that in any division you need players for whom that division is their level. Thats why I think Surman coming back into the fold will be important, and why I think actually Whittaker will be a key player for us this season. Not because they are brilliant players, but because at this level they will be better than most of whats in front of them. Becchio could just have fitted that mould for me but I guess if his head isnt right, then thats it. Look at the recently promoted clubs in past seasons and they generally all have seasoned Championship players in the spine of their team, that they then discard upon promotion [Kevin Phillips type]. Maybe Neil can sort it out and Becchio will end up winning the golden boot...now I wonder what the odds are for that??!!