Right then, who should we sign?

[GJP]

Whittaker has looked decent in a far weaker league, whilst playing with one of the leagues strongest sides, but is just not up to scratch for the Premier League and needs replacing. In my opinion. 

He's looked more than decent. Clearly one of the best fullbacks in the Champs.

As for the Prem...a point I've made before is that we had a very respectable Prem campaign in his first season here when he had a good run in the team. He initially started the next season in the team and quite well but had 1 bad game and was replaced by Martin - who then spent most of the season being torn to shreds.

Could we do better than Whittaker? Maybe. Is he any worse in his position than some of his colleagues are in theirs? Maybe not.

 

[Din]

Glen Johnson. Dear God, no. He'd have me a nervous wreck every time the ball moved into the left side of the pitch. I'd unironically prefer Whittaker and that's without considering what money he would be on.

Agree with this. Liverpool fans have been saying how awful he is for a few years now, and considering his wages he's definitely not worth it. 

 

[Canaryboy]

Could we do better than Whittaker? Maybe. Is he any worse in his position than some of his colleagues are in theirs? Maybe not.

He probably divides opinion more than any other player on our books at the moment, Hooper seems to have become a close contender. I sit on the side of the fence which says that finding a new right back should be a priority, grateful for the job he has done for us this season but just don't think he's good enough for the Premier League. 

 

[Canaryboy]

and considering his wages he's definitely not worth it. 

His wages are £0 whilst unemployed, he clearly isn't going to get anywhere near what he was on at Liverpool. Realistically he'll probably end up going to West Ham if they don't get Jenkinson (who Liverpool want to sign to replace Johnson), or possibly Swansea if they lose Neil Taylor (and move Naughton to left back). 

I'm not saying that Johnson is the best thing since sliced bread and that we should push the boat out to make him our player, but I do think he's better than what we have and I don't know who else is out there in that position. Sam Byram perhaps? Problem is they are talking about £8m for Byram, Johnson is free. Perhaps it a position that we need to look overseas to fill. 

 

[KeiranShikari]

Whilst the squad isn't really old I would feel a bit more comfortable if they were looking to sign younger players. I'm doubtful that a lot of our young players will ever feature for the team in the Premier League

Spoiler

33 - Hoolahan

32 - O'Neil

31 - Turner

30 - Whittaker

29 - Martin, Tettey

28 - Johnson, Jerome, Bassong, Dorrans

27 - Grabban, Howson, Hooper, Andreu, Olsson

26 - Bennett, Vadis

25

24

23

22

21 - Redmond

20 - Murphy, Murphy, Gafaiti, Hall Johnson

19 - Toffolo, Morris, McGrandles, King

 

[Jimmy smith]

Whilst the squad isn't really old I would feel a bit more comfortable if they were looking to sign younger players. I'm doubtful that a lot of our young players will ever feature for the team in the Premier League

Spoiler

33 - Hoolahan

32 - O'Neil

31 - Turner

30 - Whittaker

29 - Martin, Tettey

28 - Johnson, Jerome, Bassong, Dorrans

27 - Grabban, Howson, Hooper, Andreu, Olsson

26 - Bennett, Vadis

25

24

23

22

21 - Redmond

20 - Murphy, Murphy, Gafaiti, Hall Johnson

19 - Toffolo, Morris, McGrandles, King

Interesting gap between Redmond and the next youngest VOO or Bennett!

Redmond is the only one there under 27 that is even near the first team as well.

How old are Lafferty and RvW btw?

 

[KeiranShikari]

I guess if I'm going to include the youngsters I should have included those. Wolf is 26 and Lafferty is 27. 

 

[Jimmy smith]

I guess if I'm going to include the youngsters I should have included those. Wolf is 26 and Lafferty is 27. 

So the 5 year gap is still there. Apparently it's Whittakers 31st birthday today as well...

I wonder what it is about players in their early 20's?

btw, Ryan Bennett is 25 and Rudd is 24, still a 3 year gap though.

 

[morty]

Starting to see lots of deals being done, heres hoping we join in soon!

 

[KeiranShikari]

People have been saying Mulumbu will be announced tomorrow for a while now, dunno if that was based on anything.

 

[Suffolk Canary]

Surely we won't start doing many deals if we haven't got this Head of Recruitment bloke in from Burnley yet? I know the club would've been scouting players for months now, but this new guy will need time to identify which players to prioritise and get pen to paper.  Annoyingly i think we'll be a bit late to the party in terms of signings.  We'll just have to sit tight and hope the guys at the top know what they're doing..

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Okay, I'll agree to this hypothetical transfer if you can get me the Glen Johnson of 3 or 4 years ago. He's never been a good defender, that's why Chelsea got rid. 

He'll end up in some crap foreign league as I don't think there are any QPRs in the Premier League this time around.

Does have the feel of the Jose Bosingwa move to QPR about it doesnt it...

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Have we been linked with Carl Cort or Shola Ameobi yet?

http://www.eyefootball.com/news/23634/Shola-Ameobi-Norwich-City.html

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Whittaker has looked decent in a far weaker league, whilst playing with one of the leagues strongest sides, but is just not up to scratch for the Premier League and needs replacing. In my opinion. 

Id be nervous about Whittaker at right-back. He's clearly got a lot of good footballing attributes, but I think he's just too weak a link defensively to play there for us next season. Id certainly have him as a defensive winger though in games where we need someone with more defensive nous at right midfield than Redders

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

His wages are £0 whilst unemployed, he clearly isn't going to get anywhere near what he was on at Liverpool. Realistically he'll probably end up going to West Ham if they don't get Jenkinson (who Liverpool want to sign to replace Johnson), or possibly Swansea if they lose Neil Taylor (and move Naughton to left back). 

I'm not saying that Johnson is the best thing since sliced bread and that we should push the boat out to make him our player, but I do think he's better than what we have and I don't know who else is out there in that position. Sam Byram perhaps? Problem is they are talking about £8m for Byram, Johnson is free. Perhaps it a position that we need to look overseas to fill. 

They wanted £8m for Snodgrass remember - they got £3.5m

 

[GJP]

Sam Byram ain't that great. But he's got time on his side.

 

[Din]

His wages are £0 whilst unemployed, he clearly isn't going to get anywhere near what he was on at Liverpool. Realistically he'll probably end up going to West Ham if they don't get Jenkinson (who Liverpool want to sign to replace Johnson), or possibly Swansea if they lose Neil Taylor (and move Naughton to left back). 

I'm not saying that Johnson is the best thing since sliced bread and that we should push the boat out to make him our player, but I do think he's better than what we have and I don't know who else is out there in that position. Sam Byram perhaps? Problem is they are talking about £8m for Byram, Johnson is free. Perhaps it a position that we need to look overseas to fill. 

One I'd like us to look at is Kieran Trippier at Burnley. Being linked with a couple of the bigger teams such as Southampton and Spurs, but he was one of Burnley's best players last season, is only 24, wouldn't be on big wages at all, and he has a release fee of £3.5m. 

I'd also like us to look at Jenkinson, but he could we demand a big fee. A loan for him though I don't think would be a bad idea at all. I know preferably we want to be signing players rather than loaning them, but he is someone who will come straight into the first team and is definitely an upgrade on the other two right backs we have.

 

[GJP]

Don't think we'll get anywhere near either of them, Din.

 

[Din]

Don't think we'll get anywhere near either of them, Din.

I think you're right GJP. I think they'd both be classed as 'too good' for us. 

A right-back is definitely a priority though. Both Whittaker and Martin are good defenders at Championship level, but I do have a lot of fear about the possibility of either of them playing regularly at Premier League level.

 

[ZLF]

The times are reporting that Sunderland agreed a £2m fee for Jenkinson who wants to stay in London - west ham looking to loan.

Could we be close enough to london to tempt him?   If that fee is right it seems like a sensible ask..