Joshua King / signs for Watford

[Rolaholic]

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[Skåre Willoch]

If we can't keep Ighalo, I think this signing makes sense.

 

[Bondi77]

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This is the sort of info that I like to see posted.
A decent teller to what is probably going to happen
King has another year left on his contract and Eddie Howe has already intimated that we were after him in January and his head has been turned.

 

[lysglimt]

The way he has played for Norway the last 2 years - he could certainly do a good job as back-up for us.

 

[United Pro]

For the right price, King would be a decent squad option to have. Given that Shanghai reportedly want £20m for Ighalo, King at that price is much better business as he's a better player overall. Ultimately it depends on whether we want a first team striker or a squad option. If the latter, there are others like Dzyuba and Cavani who are available on a free transfer. Cavani will obviously demand very high wages, but given a lack of transfer fee, he will probably cost a similar amount to spending £20m on a player who'd be on £150k a week wages over 2 years.

 

[VP89]

I quite like Ighalo for us to be honest. I haven't seen much of King, mind. I just hope he we dont' get him and he ends up injured long term!

 

[Ali Dia]

He’s just a cheaper replacement for Ighalo. Like for like. He’ll thrive on better service and won’t rock the boat if he doesn’t play as much. He knows the club. It’s not an amazing singing by any means but he’ll do the job until we go back in for Haaland. It’s good to always be thinking a few steps ahead. An injury to martial or Rashford and we are struggling and we have more pressing positions to fill in the squad now.

 

[CM]

If the fee is modest it could make sense. Bournemouth wanted a significant wedge for him in January though, I don't see that changing drastically.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Igdaho was supposed to be underwhelming but it turns out Ole has an eye for deals. I wouldn't mind as long as we know how to use him.

True but I honestly think the jury is still out on Ighalo. Asides from the City game he's only been excellent in games against much lesser sides

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Haven't we been linked more with Dembele than this guy

 

[sillwuka]

He would be more than happy to be a squad option similar to the Ighalo role, sign him up if we can't keep Odion on loan.

 

[duffer]

Why are you lot not signing Ighalo? Are the Chinese club asking for too much?

The player himself seemed to constantly talk about his love for the club so he surely wouldn't rinse you for wages.

 

[andersj]

Why are you lot not signing Ighalo? Are the Chinese club asking for too much?

The player himself seemed to constantly talk about his love for the club so he surely wouldn't rinse you for wages.

I've heard he makes £300K a week in China. To make a pass on £150K a week or so for five months is quite different than to do it for 18 months. And we probably would not want to pay him that much for 18-24 months either. So it could be a difference of approx £10 mill for him personally. Would he accept that? Furthermore, Shanghai wants £15-20 mill according to the media, and considering that he is their star playing (who they are willing to pay £300K a week) it sounds credible that they would want a considerable fee. At the age of 31 that is quite expensive.

Bournemouth is also said to struggle financially and King has one year left of his contact. You could probably get King for a similar fee (£15-20 mill), and King is a few years younger. Furthermore, he do not make much more than £50K a week at Bournemouth. £75-100K a week will probably be enough to get him.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

If the fee is modest it could make sense. Bournemouth wanted a significant wedge for him in January though, I don't see that changing drastically.

His contract expires next June. They can ask for £30m but they won't get it. He leaves next summer and they get nowt. If they sell him for £15m now they'll make a huge profit because they paid nothing for him.

 

[Matriac]

I've heard he makes £300K a week in China. To make a pass on £150K a week or so for five months is quite different than to do it for 18 months. And we probably would not want to pay him that much for 18-24 months either. So it could be a difference of approx £10 mill for him personally. Would he accept that? Furthermore, Shanghai wants £15-20 mill according to the media, and considering that he is their star playing (who they are willing to pay £300K a week) it sounds credible that they would want a considerable fee. At the age of 31 that is quite expensive.

Bournemouth is also said to struggle financially and King has one year left of his contact. You could probably get King for a similar fee (£15-20 mill), and King is a few years younger. Furthermore, he do not make much more than £50K a week at Bournemouth. £75-100K a week will probably be enough to get him.

He's even been offered a contract extension to 2024 at £400k a week.

I loved Ighalo here, but even 130k was pushing it for a backup striker.
I'm not sold on King, but if Ole thinks he can perform in this role then I trust him, and it makes a lot more financial sense. We can keep 2 more Gomes in the squad for the difference, it's likely we'll have a few more of the youngsters on improved contracts within the year or so.
Then once Sanchez is off the books we have room for another top quality striker (Haaland?).

All that said, I haven't seen anything reliable suggesting we're still in for him. We can assume he wants to move on from Bournemouth after a top club wanted him, he's had some decent moments and the next window is probably his only shot at getting into a big club. He's said his dream is to play CL before he retires. So he has changed back to his old agent to help make that move happen. Around the same time there's news out that 4 of the top six clubs want him, coincence? Maybe. But maybe also Jim starting to do his job. If anything you'd think he wouldn't necessarily need Jim to facilitate a deal with United if it seemed like Ole was set on him coming here. No I think he wanted to change agents because they need to go shop him around.

I bet Ole has him at the back of his head for a potential backup transfer target, but won't make any decisions until they know when the window will open next, and what possible targets we can get. Say if Sancho turns out to be impossible this window we might put more in a CF. Though I hope we get Sancho, and if so King is an adequate backup for a few seasons.

 

[flappyjay]

Only problem regarding this for me is it seems we are ready to bet next season on Martial as our main striker with no good replacements, and Martial doesn't have a good record with injuries. Would have preferred if we get a striker that can compete with Martial for the starting position, to keep him on his toes and help the team in general when form drops or injuries happen, but it's alright. It's the manager's choice I guess and we can only evaluate it when we see the end results by ourselves.

More like we are looking to spend more on obvious holes. We want to get a permanent fix for the right wing. That's going to eat a chunk of the budget. If we go for a top class striker we are looking at spending another 50m+. The we have to neglect midfield again. Sancho, Martial and Rashford backed up by Greenwood /king is good enough for us to comfortably finish in the top 4. Next year then we spunk on Haaland/Osimhen or whoever else will be available if the frontline falters

 

[Ed9]

I've heard he makes £300K a week in China. To make a pass on £150K a week or so for five months is quite different than to do it for 18 months. And we probably would not want to pay him that much for 18-24 months either. So it could be a difference of approx £10 mill for him personally. Would he accept that? Furthermore, Shanghai wants £15-20 mill according to the media, and considering that he is their star playing (who they are willing to pay £300K a week) it sounds credible that they would want a considerable fee. At the age of 31 that is quite expensive.

Bournemouth is also said to struggle financially and King has one year left of his contact. You could probably get King for a similar fee (£15-20 mill), and King is a few years younger. Furthermore, he do not make much more than £50K a week at Bournemouth. £75-100K a week will probably be enough to get him.

From what I've read he's been offered a new deal 400k a week in China and something like 120k a week here so the money gap is really massive.

 

[Tom Cato]

I've heard he makes £300K a week in China. To make a pass on £150K a week or so for five months is quite different than to do it for 18 months. And we probably would not want to pay him that much for 18-24 months either. So it could be a difference of approx £10 mill for him personally. Would he accept that? Furthermore, Shanghai wants £15-20 mill according to the media, and considering that he is their star playing (who they are willing to pay £300K a week) it sounds credible that they would want a considerable fee. At the age of 31 that is quite expensive.

Bournemouth is also said to struggle financially and King has one year left of his contact. You could probably get King for a similar fee (£15-20 mill), and King is a few years younger. Furthermore, he do not make much more than £50K a week at Bournemouth. £75-100K a week will probably be enough to get him.

"A fan did not even have to ask the question as to whether Ighalo wanted to stay beyond the expiry date (May 31) of his loan contract with United. Ighalo replied: "Of course.""

 

[devilish]

I agree that Vardy is exceptional in many ways. But there is plenty of examples of players that rely on speed that dont decline much between the age of 28 and 33.

I also think there is several examples of strikers who actually have their peak years between 28 and 33. Being a striker is a brains game too, and if they take care of themself it is not that surprising.

Vardy is just a funny example since very few would have rated him at all at 28, the exact same age as King today. In fact, he had probably done a lot less than King at that age.

Players like Vardy are rare. They tend to score loads of goals on a regular basis at the smaller clubs but no one knows how they would act at a bigger club. I can mention a few like him in my time like Di Natale and Kevin Phillips for example. Although Vardy is physically stronger then both.

Josh King is nowhere near to these sort of players, he never was and he'll probably never be.

 

[Scroto Baggins]

It is a pragmatic signing, sure not the superstar signing that gets the fans posting 'sign him ups' furiously and making 'Welcome to United' youtube compilations.

 

[Ekeke]

For a club so keen to promote youth, it doesn’t seem smart to take game time away from its best youth prospect in years. We’ve already played Greenwood mainly out of position this year.

King doesn’t even play at 9 for Bournemouth does he?

He did last season when Bournemouth were scoring far more goals. But they played 2 up front, King and Wilson

 

[duffer]

From what I've read he's been offered a new deal 400k a week in China and something like 120k a week here so the money gap is really massive.

400,000 what? Can't be £, that's more than anyone in the Prem.

 

[Ekeke]

So for the record Igahlo had scored over 10 premier league goals 1 time. He did also score over 10 in Spain. The rest of his career was in weaker leagues including China

King has had 2 premier league seasons where he scored over 10 premier league goals. Absolutely fine for competition for the striker spot to make sure Martial is playing very well to keep his place

 

[-Supreme-]

From what I've read he's been offered a new deal 400k a week in China and something like 120k a week here so the money gap is really massive.

I wonder if they would be interested in Sanchez in exchange for Ighalo...

 

[laughtersassassin]

This really the quality of player we going after?

Hope the club prove me wrong and get Sancho while keeping Pogba because a move like King for our striker is a Liverpool under Rodgers type signing.

There is a base level that is required.

 

[laughtersassassin]

So for the record Igahlo had scored over 10 premier league goals 1 time. He did also score over 10 in Spain. The rest of his career was in weaker leagues including China

King has had 2 premier league seasons where he scored over 10 premier league goals. Absolutely fine for competition for the striker spot to make sure Martial is playing very well to keep his place

Neither Igalho or King are good enough for a team trying to get back to winning leagues. Especially when they are likely to play a lot as Martial is injury prone.

 

[horsechoker]

Not high profile enough, we should go after Josué Rey instead.

 

[Adisa]

Does King have pace?

 

[ValenciasDrilledCrosses]

I'd rather buy Ighalo if that was a possibility because I think he offers more different things to the squad than King, but if we were able to get King for 15 mil I'd take him. Ben Yedder would probably be my top choice for a backup striker as I think he's top class and Monaco could be forced to sell with their financial issues, but he'd probably still be too expensive. I don't know what people who want Werner are on about, he'd cost 50 mil minimum. We're obviously prioritizing Sancho this summer and are still on a tight budget, absolutely no way we can afford both.

Werner would be an upgrade on Martial but not enough of one to justify that kind of outlay, and he's far too selfish to play striker in our system imo. I'd much rather make a huge upgrade from James to Sancho in a position of need than a marginal one from Martial to Werner in a position that's much lower on the priority list. A solid cheap backup for the cups is what's needed. I'm convinced some people are so obsessed with Werner (despite no indication we're interested at all) because Liverpool might get him.

 

[Zoo]

If it means we’re going all out for Sancho then I’ll take it if Ighalo is not happening

 

[el3mel]

More like we are looking to spend more on obvious holes. We want to get a permanent fix for the right wing. That's going to eat a chunk of the budget. If we go for a top class striker we are looking at spending another 50m+. The we have to neglect midfield again. Sancho, Martial and Rashford backed up by Greenwood /king is good enough for us to comfortably finish in the top 4. Next year then we spunk on Haaland/Osimhen or whoever else will be available if the frontline falters

Our net spend last 2 summers didn't exceed 70m. We should have more than enough budget this summer to spend big on 2 top signings.

 

[flappyjay]

This really the quality of player we going after?

Hope the club prove me wrong and get Sancho while keeping Pogba because a move like King for our striker is a Liverpool under Rodgers type signing.

There is a base level that is required.

With the money necessary for Sancho would it be possible to also go for a big name striker in the same window?

 

[Relevated]

King is such a bizarre signing. We're always doing so good then it seems we do something stupid. This is obviously not going to work out since he isn't good enough and I really really hope solskjaer isn't just giving him a chance at united as a personal favour

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Does King have pace?

Yes, he does. 2 years ago he could manage 34.94 km/h, which is definitely pacey.

 

[Judas]

Made a bit more sense in Jan but its a weird one unless he's very reasonably priced. Couldn't see him having the sort of impact Ighalo had.

 

[Ekeke]

Neither Igalho or King are good enough for a team trying to get back to winning leagues. Especially when they are likely to play a lot as Martial is injury prone.

Posters didnt want Mane, Salah was a Chelsea reject and Shaqiri wasnt considered good enough for a role either. I posted a thread about Firminho I dont remember many being that positive about him and apparently he needed a system built around him

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/roberto-firmino-no-h-possibly-not-enough-stats.386134/

 

[Handré1990]

So for the record Igahlo had scored over 10 premier league goals 1 time. He did also score over 10 in Spain. The rest of his career was in weaker leagues including China

King has had 2 premier league seasons where he scored over 10 premier league goals. Absolutely fine for competition for the striker spot to make sure Martial is playing very well to keep his place

In a nutshell. What do people expect for a backup striker?

 

[Ekeke]

In a nutshell. What do people expect for a backup striker?

At least 160 or -9 potential on football manager

 

[Tom Cato]

Does King have pace?

Yes. He's a low center of gravity kind of player, great acceleration.

 

[ValenciasDrilledCrosses]

King is such a bizarre signing. We're always doing so good then it seems we do something stupid. This is obviously not going to work out since he isn't good enough and I really really hope solskjaer isn't just giving him a chance at united as a personal favour

He's pretty much the same quality of player as Ighalo if not slightly better, why would signing him as a backup be such a nailed on disaster?

Of course if we do sign him I hope it's because we actually believe he can bring something to the squad and not just be an Ole favor