Nicolas Pepe

http://www.footballinsider247.com/r...le-7m-bid-for-ligue-1-ace-admired-by-everton/

BOOM! Gino does it again!

According to this article he's whacked in a passing £7 million bid for this 21 year old Ivorian forward from Angers in France, who's also interesting Everton and nouveau riche Hull.

That'll mean we'll have Zarate, Success, Niang, Deeney, Okaka and Nicky Pepe competing for spaces up front, whilst Iggy takes a slow boat to China and Sinclair goes out on loan to second division strugglers (ha!) Notts Forest.


[video=youtube;NKZR2Bkxk5o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKZR2Bkxk5o[/video]

 

How are we planning on fitting all these overseas players in to one squad?

 

I wonder if this is another case where the club runs concurrent deals with the intention of only accepting one; now Niang seems wrapped up this deal may drop off.

Then again, it could also be the start of a crazy few days.

 

Pretty sure this guy would count as an under 21 player, thus wouldn't need to be registered.

 

"According to a reliable football journalist".

Ed Aarons is far from reliable, he's claimed we've bid for about 9 players this window and none of them have signed or been reported by any bigger outlets.

 

I have no doubt about it. But I never seem to grasp what Pozzo is upto next.

 

Looks decent enough from the vid - like a cross between Danny Rose and Jermaine Defoe.

 

Hull in for him as well it seems:

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...-middlesbrough-west-ham-robert-snodgrass-hull

Having already signed Oumar Niasse and Lazar Markovic on loan, Hull’s manager Marco Silva has also made an approach to sign the Ivory Coast forward Nicolas Pépé from French side Angers. An offer on an initial €9m (£7.7m) was submitted on Wednesday, although they face competition from Watford for the 21-year-old who has previously been linked to Everton, Liverpool and Newcastle.

 

I like the look of this lad, more than the two we've signed and nearly signed.

 

I read this too quickly and thought you'd written Danny LaRue!

 

Yes but can he do it in a non descript grim northern town on a cold Tuesday night?

 

This chap?

 

Mmm. Looks like a bit of an animal. Too many bad boys linked with us this week. I'm out.

 

No that's his brother. Pepe Ronny.

 

Injuries

 

We seem to signing forwards. What about the defence? It's poor.

 

Desperately need some real competition at left back and a centre back of higher quality. Prodl is good, Cathcart is decent but Kabasele and Britos are erratic and Kaboul is beyond dog s**t.

 

Agreed. I'm sure it'll be a priority in the summer. Hopefully we can limp over the line before then.

 

Defence is only a priority now because we've signed attackers. Previously attack was non existent.

 

Improving the attack will ultimately take pressure off the defense but it does need some work. Would be to see a competition on the left side of the defence.

 

Actually, I think we will find that our defence will improve if our attaking players start to perform as we hope they will.

Right now our attack and to a certain extent our MF have been next to useless, which has put our defenders under virtually constant pressure. They have been inproportionally overworked, therefore they have not been as sound as they might have been due to the extra pressure brought on them by our very poor forward play.

 

who the hell cares about defence when we'll be scoring 5 goals every game now?

 

Nobody likes losing 6-5 though

 

£10.5m bid according to the Hertfordshire Mercury...
http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co....nicolas-pepe/story-30099408-detail/story.html


But they're not so convinced over at the Watford Observer...
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...ve_blog__Who_s_going_where_on_the_final_day_/

 

While I wouldn't say no to the potential Igahlo money being reinvested this window, and into some pace, I can't help think that a left sided defender and a defensive midfielder are more needed.

 

What a cr*p state of affairs for local sports journalism. The Herts Mercury just browse Newsnow and regurgitate stories, and now it seems that even the Observer don't have anyone at the club that they could actually pick the phone up to and get some inside information.

I had high hopes for the Mercury when that guy came on here and introduced himself and said that they'd start covering Watford but they are absolutely terrible. One of their recent stories about Zarate's signing was almost a word for word copy of a two year old HITC story when he signed for West Ham, with a couple of extra bits bolted on.

WDSports wasn't everyone's cup of tea but at least they'd phone up and try to get information out of the club, rather than sit there refreshing Newsnow every half hour.

 

"We're setting out to be even worse than WD Sport. I know that's going to be tough but we're going to give it a good go" a Herts Mercury spokesman said earlier today.









Allegedly.

 

Don't look back in Angers, Nic. Get over here for your medical.

 

Dodgy place, Angers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4697747.stm