What kind of player is Icardi? I still think Poch will want someone a bit big and strong...
Video is interesting (first time I've seen him), question for people.
Seems a poacher type (Soldado-esque?), most of his opportunities/goals in video, the defender is not close, how do people feel he could adapt to the more physical defending in the PL
Manolo Gabbiadini
Andre-Pierre Gignac
Jackson Martinez
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Saido Berahino
Wilfred Bony
Jay Rodriguez
Christian Benteke
Wissam Ben Yedder
Aleksandar Mitrovic
Andrej Kramaric
Lukas Podolski
Fernando Llorente
Chuba Akpom
Mauro Icardi
Duvan Zapata
We're going to be spoilt for choice in February.
I wouldn't call that list impressive by any means. Mostly journeymen from weaker leagues.
I think we'll either get Rodriguez, or a relatively unknown 19/20 year old to come in as 3rd choice behind Kane and Soldado
If Ade leaves and both Kane and Soldado keep performing getting in a "journeyman" to make up the numbers might not be the worst idea. If a proper top class "perfect" signing isn't available.
That just reeks of another Booth/Raziack/Saha player turning up though. Someone who will be deadwood within a few weeks.
Strikers are so expensive too. Even mediocre players like Huntelaar, Gignac or Martinez are going to cost £15m+.
I'd rather promote one of Coulthirst, Oduwa or Miller to 3rd choice than waste money on a big wage journeyman.
For me we either need to exploit Rodriguez's contract situation, or get Baldini and Mitchell to uncover an unknown gem. You don't get a perfect CF for under £30m these days, and certainly not in January.
Chadli up front is a decent shout I think. Has the technique and physique, and he certainly has a strikers instinct.
If Ade is off I do think a target man type is probably what we should aim for. I would say there is only a slim chance of us snaffling up someone worthwhile in Jan. Bony or Benteke would be brilliant but maybe someone like Llorente (ex Bielsa player) might be worth a punt. He was a beast of a player a couple of seasons back and he should be in his prime right now.
A perfect window for me would see Ade, Paulinho and Chirches moved on with Rodriguez, Bony and Moreno arriving.
(Edit Schneiderlin for Capoue too )
Doesn't have to be a deadwood signing. Of course if one of the youngsters are actually good enough, that would be fine. But We haven't seen any of them in or around the squad even with a lot of injuries and no recognized striker on the bench.
Gignac's contract is up in the summer from what I remember. I don't think Marseille can ask for £15m.
I just think the time is up for Ade. Never say never, but if he manages to turn around his Spurs career at this point I'd be very surprised. He's just not reliable as we've sen again and again. And although he might be injured at the moment even when he's fit and available I just struggle to see how he can be trusted. Some rumours are saying that Poch has had enough already, just rumours, but we'll see. What I'm saying is that if Ade leaves (or is frozen out as under AVB) we're left with two recognized first team strikers in Kane and Soldado, and arguably Kane is better as a number 10, and Poch seems to want to play the two of them at the same time at least some of the time.
That leaves us short on numbers. Soldado's scoring record isn't impressive and Kane is still young and should be expected to be inconsistent. We're one injury away from having to play a lone striker or shift someone like Chadli up front and still have no striker on the bench if Poch wants two strikers on the pitch. With EL football that's just not enough. Again, this based on the speculation that Ade isn't going to be in our squad come the end of January. But if that happens I would rather have someone than no one. Not Rasiak (lack of) quality type, but someone like Gignac could surely do a job...
Chadli up front is a decent shout I think. Has the technique and physique, and he certainly has a strikers instinct.
If Ade is off I do think a target man type is probably what we should aim for. I would say there is only a slim chance of us snaffling up someone worthwhile in Jan. Bony or Benteke would be brilliant but maybe someone like Llorente (ex Bielsa player) might be worth a punt. He was a beast of a player a couple of seasons back and he should be in his prime right now.
A perfect window for me would see Ade, Paulinho and Chirches moved on with Rodriguez, Bony and Moreno arriving.
(Edit Schneiderlin for Capoue too )
I agree that a target man type would be very useful. Kane can play that role, but seems to thrive in a slightly deeper #10 role at the moment.
Llorente has been getting games at Juventus quite regularly and at 29 I just can't really see it happening. I still think it's a shame that Liverpool picked up Lambert this summer and have now actually started playing him, would have been a good shout if not. Pushing the boat out on Benteke could be an option, but he wouldn't be cheap that's for sure. Benteke, Kane and Soldado would be a good strike force though, good mix between youth and experience, bit of PL experience too. Just not sure Benteke is worth what we would have to pay for him...
Not target men, but two strikers with expiring contracts that haven't been mentioned much is Danny Ings and Luiz Adriano (Shaktar). Luiz Adriano might have problems with work permit though, not sure.
Really makes me thankful that Kane has broken through looking at potential striker targets, not exactly a great selection out there.
I genuinely think Gignac is a Chamakh-level player.
Even though Kane is great in the deeper role, you couldn't have a target man playing next to him. It would be like pairing Berbatov with Sheringham (where you really need a Kane or young Shearer alongside them).
Kane in that role is actually operating in the same sort of areas Berbatov used to (though different styles of players).
We need pace from our 3rd forward, and we need a slightly more direct option.
In what way do you liken Gignac to Chamakh? Have you watched Gignac? What do you see as his strengths and weaknesses?I genuinely think Gignac is a Chamakh-level player.
I don't think we need a target man - that is Kane.
Ade's big issue this season was been that he's too static (like most big CFs) for a Poch system. Poch needs players who press intensely without the ball and move cleverly when we have it.
Kane is our smart but hardworking big man, Soldado is our finisher with incredible movement. What we are missing is a bit of pace and directness (but still with work ethic and intelligence). To me that is Rodriguez, or a cheaper foreign version like Andre Ayew.
I don't know why Bony is still being mentioned when he signed a big new contract a few days ago.
In what way do you liken Gignac to Chamakh? Have you watched Gignac? What do you see as his strengths and weaknesses?
Personally I don't think Kane is a target man at all. I think if we play him as such then our gameplan would fail. I also don't think Ade has been static this season. If anything he has done too much running out into wide areas and back towards his goal to see more of the ball. He was also one of the few players trying to press the ball earlier this season. Whether his performances were good bad or in between he wasn't showing a lack of pressing or movement.
When I look at our team currently (assuming Lennon is in and not Lamela) then I see our biggest attacking weakness as Soldado. If we had a really top class centre forward in there instead, somebody who could bully the defenders and hold the ball up but also has pace, tenacity and is also confident in front of goal then we would have a very good attacking unit. Sure Soldado's performances have improved a little recently and he has finally scored a goal, but we need a striker who will pretty much guarantee us 20 goals a season instead of the 8 or 9 that Soldado is likely to get.
I see you are wanting Rodruiguez - in which case where do you see him playing? I don't think he can play as the number 9, so that kind of leaves number 10 (dropping Kane) or coming from the left (so dropping Erickson). I think I would be completely against us signing a squad player for such a large amount unless we have already addressed our need for a proper number 9 type centre forward.
I expect Bony is mentioned because he plays for a club of a lower ranking to ours and therefore would probably be happy to sign for us. Additionally none of us have any idea of the contract he signed, it could well have a release clause in it or something like that.
When I looked at that list Jordinho posted I saw a number of exciting and potentially exciting players.... Personally I think that Martinez, Huntelaar, Berahinho, Bony, Benteke, Icardi, Llorente and perhaps Gignac would all get a starting place in our team as a number 9. With the likes of Kramaric and Mitrovic having big potential for the future. Signing any of these players would allow us to let Adebayor leave. We could then take a call on Soldado in the Summer depending on how he goes for the rest of the season and how our Adebayor replacement gets on. Gignac in and Adebayor out would make perfect sense for us considering Gignac's contract situation. It would be a small transfer fee and Gignac's wages would be significantly lower than
Adebayor's.