Guardian today... "Roy Hodgson’s side have also made their interest known in the Strasbourg defender Mohamed Simakan, as have Southampton and Watford, although the €25m valuation of the teenager is considered far too high at this stage of his career." Centre back apparently https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/mohamed-simakan/profil/spieler/666234
The two Americans have stopped investing in Palace ,so I'm not sure they have funds unless they sell Mr T. There are also major objections to their development at their training ground apparently,it's in a residential area and the locals aren't keen on a large plastic dome on their horizon.
I don't think we'd pay €25m for a centre back even if we finished top 4, won the FA Cup and managed to sell Gray for £50m.
What happens to defenders between the ages of 19 and 32? They all seem to disappear. None on our radar it seems.
We really should have done this summer though (or at least splashed out on someone of a higher calibre and price than Dawson), we've been paying the price for our false economy thriftiness so far this season. On Simakan, this season he's started 7 games at CB for Strasbourg, and 6 games as either RB or RWB, so like an opposite-sided version of Vegas in terms of his apparent versatility. He has been Strasbourg's 5th highest rated player on whoscored so far this season. The only highlights vids I could see for him were on games where he was playing at RB:
Not sure we should be punting €25m on a future prospect at this stage when we are unsure of our future funding position. The key at the moment is to use this window to strengthen the starting 11 to avoid relegation. I hope there's activity behind the scenes with that primary objective.
He seems to be a prospect ready to perform now though - he has played most of Strasbourg's games this season (11th in Ligue 1) and been rated their 5th highest player on whoscored. He can also cover both CB and RB equally, so could be used as a better rotation option than Dawson or Mapps while he continues to develop.
Sounds a great prospect but to spend that sort of money on a teenager who has just broken through this season for a mid table french side and throw him into the premiership would be a hell of a gamble. I'd prefer a couple of experienced loans.
Like who? If he's a Sarr level prospect who could take more like a few weeks than a few months to get up to speed then it could still be worthwhile. I do agree with you though to the extent that having him as our only defensive signing would be a bit too much of a risk and probably not enough, I'd want another experienced first choice LB and/or CB as well one way or another.
There must be a decent top 10 side LB and CB that we could loan for 4 months and drop straight into our starting 11 ? Or even from Italy/Spain/Germany who has top flight experience. I don't think now is the time to buy another foreign teenager and throw him into our starting 11.
Hmm, 'the undeniable truth' seems to be following 'The Voice of Reason''s method for posting in the transfer forum. Similarly pompous forum name, similarly empty, uninsightful posting style. You're not actually the same person are you? "Yeah let's just sign the next Messi for peanuts from the Argentine second division before anyone else gets to him." "Who? Name names? How about doing some of your own research for once and come up with some suggestions?" "Nah can't be bothered. I'd rather just keep posting crap, banal, unsubstantiated claims on here thanks. But they must exist somewhere though, surely?! Just hurry and sign 'em up Pozzos!"
I doubt we'd splash a huge amount on him but doesn't mean that we aren't interested. Although we're probably not.
"My name is Lowerrous and I'm a complete ****head" You didn't say that ? No nor did I say the utter crap you've typed in inverted commas so don't act like you're quoting me. No idea what you're doing this afternoon but I'm pretty busy at work. If you won't accept my view that we should be able to loan in a LB & CB who have some sort of top level experience because I've not spouted a list of names I'm very sorry. That must mean that there are none and this guy is our best bet so we should lump €25m on him. Happy now ?
A reminder. If Watford are rumoured to be one of 3-4 clubs "interested in" or "considering a bid" for a player in France, file the rumour under load of old ********.
Dare I say - they are 11th in a poor league and he is only rated as their 5th best player according to the website. For €25m I’d want him to be their highest rated player if they are mid table in that league.
It's more uncommon for defenders to end up top of whoscored rankings given their slight bias towards goals and assists (and MotM performances). 5th placed for a defender with a 6.87 rating is good. Sarr has started to show that it is possible for young players from the French league to directly translate their performances in Ligue 1 to the PL (albeit after a bit of adjustment time), so a solid mid-table defender with further room to improve isn't anything to sniff at should they be able to also make the adjustment (even at that fee - sure it's at the top end of what we should be spending on a defender, but if it's not our only defensive signing then I'm not gonna complain either if the Pozzos are happy to splash the cash again).