Why do you say better league, it might have more money, but there are more Italian teams in the Champions league semi finals than the Premier league
This age argument is really annoying. Drogba is 37 and scored only 7 goals for Chelsea this year but he scored a very important goal in the recent win over Leicester, one against United & one against Spurs. Why not take Di Natale and use him for when we're searching for a winner? If he scores 7 goals for us that could easily be 6 points or maybe even more. Plus Di Natale could teach all our strikers a few things too. If Vydra trains with Di Natale day in day out he's bound to learn something. Deeney has already said how important working with Zola was for his goalscoring. Win win for me.
Not quite the same, Chelsea will always produce more goal scoring opportunities than Watford in the Prem
Better I suppose in terms of wages earning material and worldwide league popularity. Di Natale I expect is probably well known, but is he as well known now as Alexis Sanchez? Whilst I agree about overall league performance in terms of football success the English league's are head and shoulders above Italian league's in media and popularity.
Yeah, all players suited to English football. Likewise Drogba. What we need is Premier League experience in the squad. I'm not against signing at 37yo but lets make it someone who speaks the language and has been in the league before.
If it was a medium level player we were talking about then cool but Di Natale has been one of the Top 50 players in the world for much of his Udinese career, barring his late late years. Furthermore, if we're talking top finishers in the last 10 years then many people will put him in their top 5 or 10. That sort of class isn't affected by a different league. By the sounds of what your logic, you'd rather Ashley Barnes than Di Natale if given the choice, yes or no?
You just said a factor against Di Natale is his age! Cambiasso had never played in the Premier League and can barely speak English apparently, or couldn't when he signed for Leicester, but he's been brilliant. If you're a quality player then it won't matter what league you're in.
But just to clarify we're talking about 3 goals scored between 2008-2012, the last of which will be 3 years ago when the PL season starts? Look, he's an Udinese legend. If he comes here I'm not going to complain. But he wouldn't be on my target list.
That's a fair statement, I'm not saying we should go after him or make him a priority but if he was offered the option and wanted to come I think it'd be very silly to be upset or negative about it.
This season, even with only one penalty (the ONLY one in our favour in league so far), Totò scored 14 and has jumped above Baggio at 207 goals at 6th place in the table of top-scorers-ever in serie A. http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classifica_dei_marcatori_della_Serie_A Just 9 more and he could overcome other immortal legends like Altafini and Meazza and reach 4th place in that very special table. I think he'll give more than one thought to the idea. Even playing "part-time" as an impact sub to come in 2nd half (with opponents presumably tired) he's shown this year he can still score a lot. That said ... it's his choice. Any serious Udinese fan can only be grateful for all what he's done (not last, refusing transfer to "big teams" like Juventus because he liked staying here). If he wants to go at MSL or Dubai to earn in two years what he earned in 11 years at Udine, none will blame him. If he wants the challenge of Premier to show that an ageing and so often overlooked Italian striker has still something to show, he has my blessings. If he wants to stay at Udine to score 9 more and break above-said records, excellent! The only thing that would NOT be welcome by Udinese's fans would be seeing him play for another Italian team, but that seems unlikely.
Isn't the issue here one of variety? Let's assume, just for assumptions sake, that we make 6 new signings this summer (random figure). If all 6 were 37 year olds looking for one last challenge/paycheque, that'd be crazy! And if all 6 were players in their early 20s, maybe none with PL experience, that'd be crazy too?! But if we signed, for example, two great players from the Championship (of the Sako variety), two experienced players from PL teams and a big talent from the Pozzo Pool, wouldn't Di Natale then compliment that quintet?
I beg to differ, and people without yellow tinted glasses would agree. If he was that good why did we get Connelly, who was played ahead of Hoban when fit
We signed Connelly because he's been promoted a million times and we wanted his experience to help us over the line? Hoban made 30 appearances this season, was praised by Jokanovic and was even used at left back and left wing back instead of specialists in that position yet you think he wasn't good. You're embarrassing yourself.
If Ekstrand had been fit he wouldn't have played half of those games, I'am embarrassing myself, I think Connelly had been promoted three times not millions, he didn't last at wing back long did he. You wouldn't expect a manager to criticise a young player and do you really believe that he will play in the Prem
Tommy Hoban was fine this year. He is young and will learn. Probably the hard way, but he will learn. Had Antonio Di Natale played for us this year, the last 4 games would have been irrelevant. Think Rocket Ronnie in 98-99 and multiply.
There are some people on here who could start a fight with the Dalai Llama. I cant believe some people believe that Di Natale , even in a super sub role, would not add to our squad and drastically improve our chances of staying up. As Squibba said, what he could teach our existing strikers would alone be enough to warrant signing him. If he came , brilliant, if not no problems as we already have 4 excellent strikers. Its the midfield and defence we need to bolster the most. Essien, Richards and Kaboul although lesser players than Di Natale, would be more important signings.
The guy is just pure class. Watched him a few times this season. Excellent movement and just seems to end up in all the right positions, I have no doubt he would add massive value to any side he joins, On and off the pitch. It's good to read from a sensible fan and I agree he deserves whatever he wants after the service he has given udinese. No doubt he has had many opportunities to leave but has been a top professional and has respected the club and fans. Hopefully one day he will be able to come over and coach the forwards in some capacity.
Couldn't agree more. It would be a joy to see him wear our colours. Lets get Vydra signed up and get in some steel to sort the defense out.
What the **** are you talking about? He played at left back plenty of times! And he still would have played there if Ekstrand had been fit! So you think Jokanovic secretly wanted to criticise Hoban despite praising him and continuously having the confidence in him to play out of position?
I know he's a striker so just beat with me with this thought. I was thinking what if we signed him, one to teach our current attackers as has already been mentioned as a great idea and I completely agree. Then two to actually play and switch with Abdi? I just think his vision and passing ability could be massive in playing in Deeney and Vydra as well as Igahlo. Almost see him becoming our Pirlo. Just an idea. Feel free to shoot me down if you think it's a terrible idea.
Wind, your neck in. read what I said, I said wingback not fullback. You must calm down, have you thought of an anger management course, don't bother replying I have blocked you for the last month and will continue to do so
We rarely played with a LB, we mainly played with wing back, he may have played left side in a back three
He's not "no good", but he is nothing more than a decent Championship centre back at this point in his career, and if anyone think's he's ready for Premier League football they're delusional.
