Brennan Johnson. Comfortable and composed on the ball. Great vision for a kid always looking up and creating space for others by attracting defenders. Great technician and free kick taker and a calm finisher. On loan at Lincoln from Forest at present. One to keep an eye on.
Thinking about our weakness in CM: Callum Styles has been getting rave reviews at Barnsley this season. He's played half his games as a left-sided CM, the other half as a left-wing back or left-midfielder, so positionally seems similar to Sema. (is also left-footed) His tackling stats are amongst the best in the league this season and he's still 20. Whoscored had his as the MotM when we lost to them as well (not that I was paying much attention to their players). Some Barnsley fans' comments: "We DO NOT want to lose him in January. What a player!" "He’s not going to be here long, let’s enjoy him whilst we can. What a talent. " "Sweet left foot. Can beat a man. has vision for a pass. Can tackle. Great attitude. Great work rate. the lad is a proper footballer." Scored a belter vs Forest at the weekend as well (1:20): Another possibility could be Ryan Ledson at Preston. He's played most of his games this season as the most deep-lying of Preston's CMs, and has made the most combined tackles and interceptions in their whole team (and is near the top for most tackles in the league with 2.9 per 90, Cleverley is our top regular midfielder on 2.7). However, he also has good forward passing and creativity, with 1.8 key passes per 90 minutes (that's better than all our players, out of which Sema currently has the most with 1.6). Just 23 and wouldn't cost very much (prob a bit cheaper than Styles, maybe even just £2mil). Preston fans generally seem to consider him their "PotY to date", and say '"I think the best option we have in the middle who can successfully play an offensive pass is Ledson right now". Also "Ledson has really started to show he's a class act". Scores the goal at 1 minute:
Vydra (the guy who wasn't good enough for us in the prem) has signed a new contract at Premier league Burnley . https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55069217 Maybe, just maybe, we let him go too soon ?
Vydras agent not too happy about it, saying that Vydra isn't happy with his game-time and wants to move but Burnley activated an optional year in his contract so they don't lose him for nothing
Maybe we should put in a cheeky offer for him in January, or even offer a swap deal of Andy Gray or Troy Deeney for him.
He's played about 2 hours of football all season. And he played 90 minutes in the second match of the season. So not good enough for Burnley is the headline finding there. However, I'd still take him. He simply cannot be worse than Gray.
It seems pretty clear already that relying on strikers who managed got us promoted last time but are now not as good any more as they were then will simply not cut it. We should be aiming to sign a striker on the up.
I looked at potential central midfielders from the Champ last time. Next I'm having a quick look at Centre Forward, which is our other big area of concern. Any decent CFs from the English league would no doubt be too expensive for us, but French football is in a terrible financial situation right now so signings from Ligue 2 could be feasible - it seems to have been a decent league for Champ clubs to get players from, with Brentford having done a lot of business there for instance. An obvious candidate is 22 year-old Mohamed Bayo at 6th placed Clermont Foot. Joint-second top scorer in the league with 6 goals in 11 games, only 1 from the penalty spot. Seems to have all the necessary attributes for a mobile, determined CF and also decent composure. Reminds me a bit of Lucas Joao at Reading or Demba Ba. Here's his latest goal at 1:30 Gets a hat-trick in this game a few weeks ago: And here are some assorted highlights from last season: One other eye-catching attacking player from Ligue 2 is 23 year-old captain of 11th place Sochaux, Gaetan Weissbeck. Despite playing as mostly as an AM/or second striker, he is also joint-second top scorer with 6 goals in 11 games. Seems a set-piece specialist, which is something we're currently missing. He definitely seems like he could play at a higher level. Free-kick goal here: Good link-up and finish here at 1:40:
If we really are super strapped for cash and can't really afford to buy anyone, then one idea for a cheap punt from the English leagues is 24 year-old James Wilson at Salford City in League Two. He came through the Man Utd academy and for a while was more highly rated than Rashford and probably had their best youth scoring record until Greenwood came along. Unfortunately various fitness and injury problems have seriously hindered his playing time at senior level. However, he seems to have started to find form and consistency and has been showing his class with 4 goals in 8 games for the 7th placed team. When fit he is way too good for League Two and I wouldn't be surprised if he could do a better job off the bench in the Championship now than Deeney, Gray and Murray and he still has room to improve. He has an excellent touch, a sweet left foot, and is good in the air. His contract expires in the summer already, so he'd be a seriously cheap punt with potentially a lot of upside if he can stay fit. Here's a class goal from him at 2:50: Here are two goals he scored while coming on as a sub on his debut for Salford at the end of last season:
Strange shout, he consistently failed to make it in the Championship (Brighton, Derby, Sheff Utd) and then was hopeless in Scotland with Aberdeen (so much so that they just let him leave in the end for nothing while he was under contract as far as I'm aware). Previously has a serious knee injury too. He hasn't been in Salford's last 4 squads so I assume he is injured again. He'd be a hopeless signing and for that reason I can see it happening.
Yes he does have another injury it seems, a minor foot one this time supposedly. He was still young though when in the Championship and was supposedly too lightweight and meek at the time, which seems to no longer be an issue. Injuries hampered his game time then as well. He's still just 24 which is the age at which strikers generally start coming in to their own, and the signs before his latest injury were that he was starting to get everything together. As I say, I'm mainly mentioning him as he'd be a very cheap punt, but with an outside chance of being a steal if he can stay fit and continue building on what he's been starting to show at Salford. When you look at the goals he's scored there, including the ones above, you can see the quality he has which made him so highly rated in the first place.
I watched him in the youth leagues and he was excellent. One of those you thought had a very good chance of being a Premier League striker. Then he suffered a couple serious injuries, and was never the same player again. He's still relatively quick, but no longer blistering, which was the main thing that separated him from other strikers in his year group. I think he's better than league 2, but I think his ceiling is below our current level of ambition.
I agree his ceiling could well now be something like decent Championship striker, but that could already be more than Murray and Gray offer us with him likely to cost no more than the former.
Andre Gray out of our club even it means taking a big hit on what we paid for him, and if nobody wants him maybe we should try to do a deal to buy him out of his contract.
Won't happen - but a straight loan swap with a view to a permanent swap for Vydra and Gray seems obvious for both clubs from what I can see. I definitely didn't understand the clamour to get Vydra back in the past few seasons as he had done very little in the PL. But he has obvious ability and pedigree at Championship level and would be very high on my list of strikers I'd bring in.
Been there before, knows surroundings, manager and system they play. Not saying they would want him back - but there are factors that mean it wouldn't be a hard deal to make should there be interest on both sides. Perhaps 'obvious' wasn't the right word to use, I accept that.
Considering our goalscoring problems and the new rules on signings, there really aren't many options for potential goalscorers we could sign, even if we had a bit of money to spend on a possible upgrade, which we might not do. One possibility for a second-striker or wide forward we could bring in who could score goals is Michael Obafemi on loan from Southampton. He has only played 13 minutes in the PL this season for them so will surely be available. He's looked sharp for their U23 team though this evening vs Man Utd U23s and scored a good goal. Now 20 years old, he managed 3 goals and 2 assists in 650 minutes in the PL last season which is decent. He has real pace, which is something our current forward line lack with the exception of Sarr. For a more traditional CF/number 9, one of the very few possibilities I can see from leagues in the top 3 bands is Thiago Santana, a 27 year-old Brazilian at Santa Clara, mid-table in the Portuguese League. He's joint second top scorer in the league so far with 6 goals in 8 games and should qualify for a work permit under the new rules. Has a bit of everything, goals with his right foot, left foot and head. He seems good and in form, though would prob still cost £2-3mil or so (could be decent value though if he becomes our Lucas Joao). Someone who seems Portuguese has also written a recent scouting report on him here: "Thiago Santana has undoubtedly very interesting characteristics, being one of the few Spearheads in Portugal still having an excellent relationship between mobility, finishing, heading, anticipation and combativeness when attacking the ball. This combination, in a game with spaces and varied crossings, can certainly be lethal to the opponents. " https://www.proscout.pt/thiago-santana-hora-de-afirmar-se/ Some of his goals from this season:
One other striker I missed before when checking out leagues it would be feasible for us to sign players from is: Kevin Nisbet - 23 year-old at Hibernian and the current second-top scorer in the SPL with 8 goals in 14 games (plus 2 assists). Hibs only signed him in the summer for about £250k from Dunfermline, after he was the second-top scorer in the Scottish Championship last season. He seems to have all the attributes to be amongst the top scorers in the English Championship as well, and seems to have room to keep improving. He's quick with good movement, and appears to also have a decent header. Difficult to tell how much he'd cost in the current climate, but prob around £3mil. Only caveat is he perhaps shouldn't be relied on to take penalties. Here's a hat-trick of his from earlier in the season: And he scores the first two goals here:
Good call. He was one of my go to anytime goalscorers last season for Dunny. Good to see the move up hasn't hampered him. Saw the Semis against Hearts. Wasn't his best game but he had just lost his Father. Strong and very good pace.
