Bits and pieces from me this week…
First off, the £8m-£9m transfer links. I’d like to believe they’re true, but something says to me we won’t be spending that much on any one player. The latest link, which Matt wrote about yesterday, was Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha, a winger, valued at anywhere between £6m-£10m.
Of course I could very well be wrong. But with £4m-£6m spent so far on two players with Holman being a free, leaving let’s say £15m, it seems there are more holes than £8m bundles laying around.
As you might have heard Matt and I discussing on our first 5-on-5 podcast, I think Lambert is building both depth and competition. It’s a no-lose scenario. Relatively cheap players come in, and if they don’t secure a spot, there’s room on the bench without causing anyone heartburn.
Moreover, they remain a threat for underperforming players, and give Lambert tactical flexibility. They can always be sold on with no great loss whatever the fee. With DM and RB now having options in El Ahmadi and Lowton, we’re still waiting to see what’s up with LB and one if not two CB spots.
Of course the math changes a bit if Martin O’Neill’s purported double-swoop for Gabriel Agbonlahor and James Collins comes off. I’m not surprised it’s Collins he’s after and not Dunne. I’ve read £10m for the pair, which I think is a tad light. Now, I have said Collins and Dunne could go for free, and that puts Gabby at £10m, which isn’t bad, really. But I’d just as soon take MON for £12m the pair. It’s the least he could do.
But clearing off Collins means getting in another CB. Whether that means Clark is a starter with Dunne, I can’t say. I think Ciaran Clark can be the ball playing CB, but at 6′ 2″, roughly 170 lb, I don’t see him being a physical presence for a while yet.
Regardless, an extra £10m-£12m would be nice. We could do a reasonable job replacing Gabby with someone who can pressure Bent for a starting spot in the lone role and/or a complement if we’re playing two up front.
And then we could perhaps allocate £8m-£9m on a CB. Leaving £6m-£7m for competition at RB and maybe another wide option.
Hmmm. It starts getting complicated. Do I start putting hotels on my properties or try to complete that other stretch first? I tend to think hotels, which means doubling down on the skill players you’ve got (Ireland, N’Zogbia and Makoun). But it is a risk. Makoun ought to help CNZ settle, I would think, and if one of these other France-based players does come off, it gets a little more comfortable for him. We’ll soon see what Lambert has in mind.
Brad Guzan: Yes, please. As good if not better a shot-stopper than Given, roughly eight years younger, and has the potential to boss the area, which Given isn’t going to start doing all of a sudden. I’m glad this seems to be going through, which has to mean Guzan has a real shot.
The other links? Matt Kendrick is rubbishing Brahimi (the link, not the player). Robert Snodgrass has been persistent the last two-three days. I’ve been unable to see much of him, so I’ll rely on readers’ insights here.
Ramis? See above, the fee seems a bit steep, like the Bertrand link. But if we were going to drop a chunk of change on one player, there’s nothing wrong with getting a good athletic CB in. The downside? Curtis Davies and Zat Knight.
It would be interesting if Lambert really were willing to drop all the rest of his spend on a FB and CB.
If I were a betting man, I’d say Lambert likes to have flexibility. To me, this seems to indicate more “value” signings. Doing better than Warnock shouldn’t cost a lot (see Lichaj). It’s really about finding another striker, unless he’s counting on a lot more scoring from Stephen Ireland and Charles N’Zogbia. But maybe Weimann has enough in his locker to secure a spot.
If we don’t see anymore signings before the U.S. tour, we’ll get some better ideas what Lambert’s thinking about what he’s got. Saying it’s all about “fitness” is, to me, an exercise in expectation management. Yes, the team needs real fitness to press and challenge and move on and off the ball…But I think he’ll obviously be looking at more than that.
In the end, if none of these bigger-money signings come off, we could do worse than turning into a Norwich for a year on our way to something better with the next year’s spend. Which isn’t to say that Norwich had Ireland, N’Zogbia, Makoun, and Bent. The big question remains what Paul Lambert sees as the core he wants to build around.
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