Toon interest in 4 strikers and a defender?
Posted on November 8th, 2011 | 27 Comments |
With January fast approaching and no Premier League football for two weeks, it’s inevitable that the names of potential targets will be bandied about.
Our impressive start to the season and the recent spate of injuries to our squad may both, in their own way, raise questions about where we need to strengthen things in January if we’re to continue to push hard this season.
Mike Ashley may also be somewhat re-enthused by the way things have gone and perhaps support Alan Pardew by allowing him to buy a few more players than he would have done if we had not started so well. But who are those players likely to be? The press have a list of potential contenders for us.
The first such player is Modibo Maiga, Sochaux bad-boy and Toon transfer target from the last window. According to some press reports, the deal is all but done and a four and a half year contract awaits the player as soon as trading can commence next year.
Next we have Luuk de Jong, a Dutch 21 year-old striker currently playing for FC Twente where he has scored 9 times in his 15 appearances for the Dutch side this season and once in his first International for Holland back in September against Finland. De Jong is allegedly worth £10m and press reports suggest our scouts have been tracking him for some time, as have Liverpool’s.
Blackburn’s winger/striker Junior Hoilett comes in at number 3 in this week’s chart as his club’s inability to pin him down to a new contract supposedly has Spurs, Stoke and us all sniffing around.
Huddersfield Town striker Jordan Rhodes is the next on the list. Rhodes is just 21 and already has a tally of 46 goals in 97 league games for Huddersfield. Apparently Manchester United, Stoke and Bolton are also interested in the player.
Finally (for the moment) we’re also back in the running for Birmingham City’s Liam Ridgewell although apparently we’ll face stiff competition from The Baggies for the £2m-rated defender’s signature.
So there we have it. No doubt there will be others too and your guess is as good as mine as to which – if any – of those players really are targets for our January spree. I tend to think Maiga is and I’d be surprised if Ridgewell was because at 27 he seems a little old for our typical recruitment profile but I have no idea about the others.
Thats great, we’re being linked to everyman & their dog again, shows we must be doing summit right thats for sure.. lol
My only concern is, yes we need to bring in players to strengthen the squad for the end of season push & to cover the ACoN but where are we supposedly getting the extra dosh from to cover the wages every month, as I remember reading that we’re at around 65% of revenue with our current squad & club could sustain that without help & if thats the way Ashley wants to roll, then we’re gonna have to get rid of some players to cover bring in others from my understanding of the financies.. :(
So who will be leaving in Jan to paveway for the new faces??? Smith, Harper, Ranger, Lovenkrands, Perch etc etc…. It’s a lot easier saying than actually doing it, as the club has found our with the likes of Smith who even tho on a free transfer is still pocketing his 60k/wk wages & playing the odd game for the reserves… no one is willing to buy these out of favour players & pay their wages, so we’re stuck with them untill such times as another club wants them, which is a lont time coming imo… :(