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Pogue Mahone · 2nd May 2008, 09:44

I've been thinking about this whole summer striker thing and I've come to a few conclusions.

Louis Saha will be replaced. And he will be replaced by a striker with similar attributes - tall, strong, aggresive (although ideally not made of glass)

Manucho might be a good replacement. But he's not had much joy in Greece and his work permit situation is a long way short of a done deal. We could be waiting until the very end of the transfer window before we find out if he's even eligible to play for us. Massive gamble relying on him to sort out our striker issues.

Next we have Welbeck and Cambell. Two players who SAF seems genuinely excited about. Unfortunately, they are both a year or two away from really pushing for a place in the first-team. At least one, possibly both, of them will go out on loan next season, IMO.

So it looks like there's a gap in our squad for a striker. We spent a lot of money last summer (albeit mainly with staggered payments) and these debts aren't going away, so anyone expecting us to spend 10s of millions on the likes of Benzema, Huntelaar or Berbatov is living in cloud cuckoo land. Barca, Chelsea, Real and Milan will all be trying to sign strikers in the summer and the inevitable bidding war (combined with the strong euro) means it's gonna take mega-bucks to sign on of these three, mega-bucks we don't have.

If we do sign anyone, I think it will be a youngster from out of left-field or someone like Dean Ashton or Santa Cruz. They would both be very similar signings to the player we're looking to replace. A player from a mid-table club, who has proven PL experience and who won't cost us the sun, the moon and the stars.

This rumour might have legs.

2nd May 2008, 09:44	#26 (permalink)
Pogue Mahone Dr Death wasting tax payers money on the Caf all day Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: "As relaxed and natural on the park as a dog chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind" Posts: 16,043	I've been thinking about this whole summer striker thing and I've come to a few conclusions. Louis Saha will be replaced. And he will be replaced by a striker with similar attributes - tall, strong, aggresive (although ideally not made of glass) Manucho might be a good replacement. But he's not had much joy in Greece and his work permit situation is a long way short of a done deal. We could be waiting until the very end of the transfer window before we find out if he's even eligible to play for us. Massive gamble relying on him to sort out our striker issues. Next we have Welbeck and Cambell. Two players who SAF seems genuinely excited about. Unfortunately, they are both a year or two away from really pushing for a place in the first-team. At least one, possibly both, of them will go out on loan next season, IMO. So it looks like there's a gap in our squad for a striker. We spent a lot of money last summer (albeit mainly with staggered payments) and these debts aren't going away, so anyone expecting us to spend 10s of millions on the likes of Benzema, Huntelaar or Berbatov is living in cloud cuckoo land. Barca, Chelsea, Real and Milan will all be trying to sign strikers in the summer and the inevitable bidding war (combined with the strong euro) means it's gonna take mega-bucks to sign on of these three, mega-bucks we don't have. If we do sign anyone, I think it will be a youngster from out of left-field or someone like Dean Ashton or Santa Cruz. They would both be very similar signings to the player we're looking to replace. A player from a mid-table club, who has proven PL experience and who won't cost us the sun, the moon and the stars. This rumour might have legs.