Always rated this guy. Was phenomenal in the Championship but for some reason hasn't got many goals this season. Then again I've hardly watched any Premier games this season so can't comment. His goals for Serbia show he's still more than capable. Wonder what kind of price Lemina would fetch. Another one on his day is a joy to watch.
We are unlikely to buy any big stars, but I would like to see us going for Tammy Abraham and Loftus Cheek. Not likely. We will be looking for some good bargains from around the World, as British players are too costly. Having said that, one or both of the two young midfielders from Reading would be a good buy. Certainly impressed against us. Crucial summer of activity ahead. Some loyal servants will not be with us next season, possibly Foster, Cathcart, Masina. More recent acquisitions are also likely to be off, such as Gosling, Sanchez, Lazaar (foolish signing). Our player recruitment strategies will be put to the test.
Dunno about Abraham but Loftus Cheek is supposedly on over £100k/wk. Can't see that happening. Can't see why Gosling would leave. He won't play much but presumably he only came here because he got some assurances about his future if we went up.
I'd like to see us try and get Alex Mowatt when his contract expires in June (assuming Barnsley don't go up and he stays). Matt Grimes will only have a year left on his deal too at the end of the season so I'd hope we revisit that one. Hughes, Chalobah, Grimes, Mowatt, Cleverley, Gosling and possibly Quina/TDB would hopefully be a cheap midfield that gives us a fighting chance of staying up. Need to give Hughes and Chalobah new contracts ASAP.
Can't see Masina going tbh definitely need someone else in at Left back to properly challenge him though. Be nice to get a natural left footed CB too. But imagine a few freebies, loans with an option and standard loans. Getting the deadwood out and freeing up some of the outrageous wages they're on hopefully will see us go for a proper striker.
It looks like it's just me but I don't get all the fuss about Matt Grimes. Imo much better available out there.
Never really understood the Mitrovic thing. Just over 20 Premier Leagues goals in over 100 games. Looks very immobile. I would like us to bring somebody with pace who play in a front 3 but can play in all parts of that front 3. Cucho would be one but his goal record isn't great. Tammy Abraham is not coming here!
Mitrovic is good, but you kind of need to build your team around, and Fulham don't play that style of play at the moment
Certainly no better than what we already have, and absolutely no guarantee he'd be much cop in the Prem
RLC, absolutely not, not done much for Fulham this season and is on mad wages. Abraham, would be on bigger wages than we can afford, but if we could cut some kind of deal, that would be great, I don't quite understand what he's done so wrong at Chelsea to be frozen out to the extent he has been
That record is for both Fulham and Newcastle though. If we need a goalscorer not sure he's what we need
I wonder if we will be considering Juan Jesus from Roma who we have been linked to before. Not played much this season but will be a free agent.
I have only watched a small number of Fulham games recently and I thought RLC looked very impressive, but I have not seen enough to know if that was just a fluke. I agree, neither he nor Abraham will even be considered because of wages and possibly a desire on both their parts to play for a so called "bigger club".
Rafael Santos Borre is available on a free from River Plate. Supposedly very keen to come to Europe. Not the biggest striker but 29 goals and 6 assists in 3500 minutes over the last two seasons is seriously impressive. Still just 25 too.
Ha, that didn't take long! @Burnsy http://wfcforums.com/index.php?thre...ford-fc-20-04-2021.58276/page-21#post-2992701 No chance at all he comes to a club as middling as ours.
Nor do we. As I posted in another thread earlier, we've been much better since not having an immobile lump up-front any more and I'd be concerned that Mitrovic would be a repeat of the same (albeit at least more of a goal threat). I'd rather we looked elsewhere first. I'm not convinced by your suggestion of Maja either. Although he's been brought in at Fulham to start in place of Mitrovic to suit their style of play more, he has still not been one of their best players. If we don't want to go straight down again if we go up then we should be aiming a bit higher if possible for our CF than an average player of a team on its way down.
Lazio have been looking at this fella for a while. Supposedly he turned down a team in Brazil to go to Europe.
We're not gonna have an unlimited pot of gold to dip into tbf, it's gonna have to be relatively cheap punts/loanees. In any case, someone like Maja wouldn't have to be super prolific if the likes of Sarr and JP chip in with useful totals
Yup. If I were him I'd go to Lazio for sure. But for some players the PL has a unique pull and we could probably match them financially. Supposedly Lazio want him to replace Vedat Muriqi who they signed from Fenerbahce last summer for 17m. He hasn't pulled up any trees in Serie A (has hardly played) but did have a very impressive record in Turkey for the preceeding two seasons (49 G+A over two seasons for two different clubs, which I always think is important for a goalscorer as you can see if they're flourishing in different systems/dynamics). He just turned 26 and if they want to sell him to cut their losses or loan him out, we could do worse. Another player who has a really really good record in a lesser league is Jean-Pierre Nsame. Been banging them in for Young Boys for a few years now. Only two years left on his contract, and about to turn 28 - which means minimal resale value but that he is gettable for a promoted side. A player who has his goal record in that calibre of competition but is under 25 would be getting a 30m+ to a UCL side this summer but his age will understandably put off suitors. Reckon we could get him for 10m or so. 41 goals and 7 assists last season (3800 mins) and 25+9 this season (2600 mins). He was linked with Udinese in January - I'm sure he is on the Pozzos radar.
JP will not be chipping in with much at all - he'll likely be on the bench and I suspect limited to rare cameos. He hasn't looked like scoring in the last 10 Championship games, there's not much chance he'll suddenly become more of a goal threat in a tougher division next season. Sure we won't have a huge amount to spend, but out of what we do have if we're going to make at least one Sarr/Gray/Pereyra level multi-million signing then it has to be firstly at CF where we've been so crap for so long, and it needs to be someone better than Maja.
When we signed Pereyra, Gray and Sarr, we didn't have to sign half a team just to be able to compete tbf, I don't even think we'll spend as much as we did on Pereyra on one player this window
Tbf, a big reason why they're down there is because they got off to a terrible start before he arrived, our squad is better than theirs when they started the season
True they've been better in the second half of the season, but that's a bit more due to them tightening up what had been a shocking defence; they still can't score for toffee, second fewest goals in the league. Maja only has 2 goals in open play in 653 minutes, and they were both basically tap-ins during the same game - so 1 goal per 327 minutes. He really hasn't done much. For context, Andre Gray even though he was especially bad last season had 2 goals in 747 minutes - so 1 goal per 374 minutes, hardly any better. Meanwhile, two seasons ago Gray managed 7 goals in 1362 minutes, 1 goal per 195 minutes.
A goal every 195 mins is by any measure very good, although it was an outlier for Gray unfortunately for us. Tap-ins are goals too, you've got to get in the right areas (God knows we've struggled to get strikers to get into the right areas!), and he's also had one or two ridiculous goals chalked off through no fault of his own, which would make his stats look better. He's young too, and would have some degree of resale value (or, failing that, I'm sure would be a good option in the Championship), unlike some of the other alternatives, and we don't want to be falling down the Deeney/Gray/Welbeck trap again
If Mowatt is going to be an free agent, then we should be involved! He's getting on a bit but I read Ayew will be a free transfer too, if Swansea don't go up, he wouldn't be the worst player to have on the bench?
I know I'm always banging on about this, but our main target should be a Striker who is potentially good for about 15/20 goals a season. So I'll say it again..... WE NEED A FOX IN THE BOX OR PREFERABLY TWO I know he would not be cheap, but why not Ivan Toney if Brentford don't make it to the Promised Land? As we should be aiming at least that high if we want to become established in the PL.
I know nothing of the financial situation of the club but agree like most that it's absolutely essential that a proper goal scoring striker is added. Toney I believe is going to be well out of our range though. I'd imagine every club that we will be battling against next season are looking too. But hopefully Gray, Deeney, Perica and Success will be moved on freeing up plenty of wages. That leaves us with no real striker on the books. Cucho and JP I believe are not the answer centrally. They're more wide forwards or second strikers imo. Its absolutely imperative that this position is filled with quality not quantity. Will we have the same pull as the more established Premier clubs? But it's not the only positions that need looking at. If my memory serves me correctly there are a few players who we've been linked with before that will be available for free this Summer. Oriol Busquets a DM at Barcelona B and Andrea Cistana a CB at Brescia. We were actively looking at both in the past. If they're looking at Keepers Rui Silva at Granada is also available instead of paying a fee for say Darlow. Hoping Ashley Young does arrive, solid professional who would be invaluable in multiple positions and will bring a wealth of experience. Mowatt in midfield Yasser Larouci left back the freebie list is massive with plenty of quality but there will be plenty of interest from everywhere looking at this list.
If we get promoted then I think there will be a big clear out of "squad" players. I expect the majority of regular first team players will be retained, and contracts extended for those who are coming near the end of their time at the club. Chalobah, Hughes, Sierralta, Quina, Kiko, Kabs should all be given new deals, however, it wouldn't surprise me if Quina goes. I think Kiko and Kabs did sign new deals, although can't see anything confirming that. Would we keep Sanchez? Maybe, but I think we could do better. Those on the list to go would probably be Deeney, Gray, Foster, Elliot, Cathcart, Lazaar, Pussetto (yes he is still a Watford player), Success, Perica, Penaranda, Sinclair & Navarro. Personally I would be sad to see Deeney and Foster go, but if we go up I don't think they'll be staying. It would free up a lot of places if that happened. GK's - new keeper, Bachmann, Dahlberg LB - Masina, Young?? RB - Kiko, Ngakia CB - Sierralta, WTE, Kabs, Wilmot, new CB MF - Hughes, Chalobah, Cleverley, Gosling, new MF, Sanchez (maybe) LW - Sarr, Geri?? or new LW RW - Sema, new RW FW - Pedro, Hernandez, 2 x new strikers. So on my shopping list would be, 1 keeper, Ashley Young, 1 CB, backup right wing or Geri, 1 midfielder (possibly two), new left winger, 2 new strikers. 7 or 8 new players....hmmm....seems like a lot to me. It wouldn't surprise me if we kept Gray and/or Deeney. I wouldn't have a problem with that if we manage to bring in someone else who is a clear upgrade on what we have. It's vital we do this.
Mitrovic turns 27 at the beginning of next season and has only ever scored double figures in the league three times in his six seasons in England, in only one of those did he score more than 12, and only one of those seasons (the lowest, with 11) took place in the Premier League. His prem record is: 15-16 - 9 goals 18-19 - 11 goals 20-21 - 3 goals The requirements of a striker are different, goal-wise, to surviving in the Prem as opposed to winning promotion from the Championship (or at least, they are usually ), sure, but I'd add my voice to the chorus suggesting that if we are targeting a striker/spending any money at all, Mitrovic is not the answer. Aside from anything else, he hasn't managed to play half Fulham's minutes this season, despite not suffering any long-term injury over its course. Centre forward would be the most important position for us to recruit this summer, and looking into Mitrovic strikes me rather like the player equivalent of the managerial merry-go-round. He's been a striker around the Prem for a while, so it's just our turn to be the club paying his wages. No, thank you.
Zinckernagel? I would have a massive problem if Gray or Deeney are still at the club. Both of them will cost well over a 120k per week in wages.
You are aware of our financial limitations I presume. They are going to want north of £30m and don't need to sell
