Toon in for Jack the lad?
Posted on May 13th, 2010 | 73 Comments |
Hughton should have some cash available to use in the summer, although admittedly perhaps not as much as most of us would like to see thrown around. Still, we have to deal with it and I am sure that whatever Hughton does get to spend will be spent wisely. Of course, there is a way of maximising whatever cash there is available and reserving it for use on perhaps one better signing rather than two mediocre ones, and that is to operate in the loan market. Which brings me onto Jack Wilshere, whom Chris Hughton will apparently be trying to tempt to Tyneside over the course of the summer.
The young Arsenal protege had been on loan at Bolton Wanderers for a chunk of last season, and has impressed both Owen Coyle and Arsene Wenger with his performances and maturity whilst at The Reebok Stadium. It is thought that Hughton will be looking to persuade Wenger that Wilshere could benefit from the extra pressure and experience of playing in front of 50,000 fans at St James’ Park, although any attempt for a loan deal on our part will immediately be matched again by Bolton, whose selling point will be to offer the 18 year old the chance of returning to familiar surroundings.
Wilshere has been tipped to reach the top of the game for a long while now and is finally showing what he do when given first team games. We had tried to get him on loan whilst in The Championship but ultimately it was to no avail. He is just the sort of player we need though, a player that will add a bit of craft and guile to the middle of the park and give us that extra creative spark that could prove vital.
One problem though, haven’t we already got one of those types of players in the form of Haris Vuckic? I would personally much rather we give our youngsters match practice rather than nurturing kids from other teams, and if Wilshere was to end up on Tyneside you could assume it wouldn’t be to warm our bench and make up the numbers, so all it would do is knock Vuckic back down the pecking order just as he verges on making a breakthrough into our first team.
What about other areas of our team? In this age of austerity we should focus on getting loan players that can cover in the event of injury to any of our key first team players. What happens if either Wayne Routledge or Jonas Gutierrez succumb to injury? We wouldn’t have another natural wide player to fall back on, so how about someone like Vladimir Weiss from Manchester City who would be a very able deputy?
Tom Cleverley is another loan deal that has been mentioned, although that particular link doesn’t fill me with optimism as I don’t feel he would add anything different to our locker. Danny Wellbeck has also been linked although, much like Cleverly, doesn’t really make me stand up and take notice.
There are plenty of young players out there who could come to us on loan whilst we learn to stand on our own two feet again. I have probably missed a bucketload of players whilst ignoring the most obvious positions that need strengthening, but you’ll have to forgive me as it is early! Anyway, this is where you guys come in.
Do you have any suggestions on who we could loan in to help us?
Sergio Aguero :cool: