Joshua King / signs for Watford

Chesterlestreet

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Bit misleading, no?

He confirmed that we bid for the player in January, prior to going for Ighalo.

Not a huge story, really. If the bid had been accepted, he would've - basically - filled the Ighalo role.
 

sammsky1

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As someone above me said, he is abit different.
But he is versatile position wise, relativly pacey, has similar hold up play to Ighalo, and a good poacher.
More importantly he is more used to the current PL tempo. Think there is a reason that Ighalo hasnt gotten any PL goals yet.
Different player
I think so, King also has the benefit of being considerably younger and has been playing weekly in a competitive league for the last five years. Not to say Ighalo hasn't been good, mind.
Thanks for explaining.
Having seen every minute of Igahlo play for us (probably like all of us), I find it very hard to criticise him. He hasn't really missed any sitter's, and in games often didn't get any proper service or chance creation for him to score from.
I think Igahlo could do the job for all next season, but of course we would then have to buy him, as I doubt his host club in China would be willing to loan him out for so long.
With Sancho incoming, and Rashford, Greenwood and Ighalo as cover for Martial, I feel like we have enough ammo up top this season, and this money would be better used elsewhere in the squad.
 

roonster09

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As someone above me said, he is abit different.

But he is versatile position wise, relativly pacey, has similar hold up play to Ighalo, and a good poacher.

More importantly he is more used to the current PL tempo. Think there is a reason that Ighalo hasnt gotten any PL goals yet.
Yes the reason is Ighalo playing just 122 mins over 11 games, averaging 11 mins per game.

He scored against Norwich in FA cup who were PL team.
 

Carl

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Isn't that a good thing? Whilst its good to have a different option, it means if one of the above players are out injured/rested, then it won't affect our style of play too much, i.e. fluidity, interchanging. Wilson is ok, but too static, in my opinion. A massive reason as to why we've been scoring goals for fun of late is the movement of our front three. King, whilst not as good as Rashford and Martial, has that.
Its good for cover, but for me we have quite a massive hole at centre forward that we need to resolve. Wilson is a proper goalscoring striker, and we don't have one of those in the squad.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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Its good for cover, but for me we have quite a massive hole at centre forward that we need to resolve. Wilson is a proper goalscoring striker, and we don't have one of those in the squad.
Except our leading scorer Martial...
 

Eli Zee

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Thanks for explaining.
Having seen every minute of Igahlo play for us (probably like all of us), I find it very hard to criticise him. He hasn't really missed any sitter's, and in games often didn't get any proper service or chance creation for him to score from.
I think Igahlo could do the job for all next season, but of course we would then have to buy him, as I doubt his host club in China would be willing to loan him out for so long.
With Sancho incoming, and Rashford, Greenwood and Ighalo as cover for Martial, I feel like we have enough ammo up top this season, and this money would be better used elsewhere in the squad.
If ighalo leaves, we need a replacement.

LW: Rashford
St: martial
RW: sancho
Sub: greenwood, king/ighalo, james

An injury to any leaves us relying on James a little too often than I like, but maybe I just don't rate him enough right now. In the next window, I'd look to bring in another attacker while retaining everyone else for more depth.
I think that replacing Matic is the most important thing this window behind getting Sancho.

Order of transfers to come in rated by highest importance to lowest: sancho> matic replacement > king/striker > defender > attacker
 
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Samid

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- I am sitting here at Ullevaal in this chair and do not know where I will play next season. That's an honest answer, King says.

- I will not lie, because I really wanted to go there [United] in January. But what happened, happened. And I know why things happened. We'll just have to wait and see. There is a lot that is open, says King.

After the near-transfer to United, he has changed agent, to Jim Solbakken. King is 28 years old and has one big ambition that trumps most before his career is over: the Champions League.

He has played five minutes in the tournament before, when he as a Manchester United player replaced Danny Welbeck in a 0-1 loss against Galatasaray in 2012.

But those minutes mean little to King.

- How important is it for you to choose a club that usually plays in the Champions League, or that has good opportunities to do so?

- Of course I have a dream to play Champions League. Whether it will happen in this club election or in two years, I do not know. But I have a dream about it that all boys have. I grew up with Erik Solér as a commentator on TV 3, I still remember it, says King and laughs.

- What do you say if United are still interested?

- That it's amazing. I was at United for five years and learned a lot there, says the 28-year-old.

- The fact that you have liked to play on the wings for Bournemouth instead of striker, what has that meant for the number of goals?

- I played on the left and right wing all season. I have not been a striker in 2-3 years. Yes, it inhibits me. But there could also be an upside there. Not many strikers can play in all those positions. I handle them quite well. But it's the striker I am, it's my favorite position, when I'm in the no. 9 role and can run in the space behind defenders. I was kind of sacrificed. But it was a job, I went to training and matches and gave everything every single time.

- How many more goals could you score each season as a striker, do you think? 15+?

- In the season where I scored 16, I played striker for four months. So yes, then I would have had 15 each season. I have no doubt about that. But you can not always get what you want. I'm a team player. If a coach asks me to play somewhere, I do not whine, but give everything. It goes without saying that a striker comes to more chances than a left winger who has to run up and down and help the back.

- But yes, I know with myself, and personally hope, that one day I get to play a place where I am used as a striker, says Joshua King.
 

Eli Zee

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Yep. Whatever happens, we need either a LW, or a ST this window. We cannot go into another season without a backup LW (Dan James doesn't cut it) or 2nd ST (Ole doesn't trust Ighalo nor is he good enough to start games IMO) to lead the line so martial can shift left some games. An out of form / injured martial or rashford will hinder us greatly without depth.

joshua king appears to fit the profile of a winger and a ST all in one, which is a perfect trait for this team right now. Adds much needed depth to 2 positions.
 

AshRK

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I would have taken him if not for ighalo. Both King and Ighalo in the bench rarely makes sense considering little quality they offer. Maybe we will sign him eventually as a back up option but if Ole doesn't bring them on from the bench what's the point.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Yep. Whatever happens, we need either a LW, or a ST this window. We cannot go into another season without a backup LW (Dan James doesn't cut it) or 2nd ST (Ole doesn't trust Ighalo nor is he good enough to start games IMO) to lead the line so martial can shift left some games. An out of form / injured martial or rashford will hinder us greatly without depth.

joshua king appears to fit the profile of a winger and a ST all in one, which is a perfect trait for this team right now. Adds much needed depth to 2 positions.
No it's not. We already have depth with Mata, James and Ighalo. And then there's Greenwood who can at both roles and will eventually be a top player. What we need most is genuinely quality on the right wing. If we're signing another winger on top of that it should ideally be a proper wideplayer given we have lots of strikers who play/can play out wide as it i.e our main front three.
 

Mainoldo

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Would become the first name listed as deadwood once Ole leaves. So no thanks.
 

Chesterlestreet

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Like I said above in this thread, we presumably wanted him in January as a backup striker. But ended up going for Ighalo - who is still on the books until January.

Decent but unremarkable player (just like Ighalo), could do a job out wide (yes) as well, but he's hardly someone you would target for anything but a backup striker role (and we already have Ighalo for that until the next window).

So, nah - wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, really.
 

croadyman

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We’re 5 good signings away from having one of the best squads around. If we add King we’re still 5 signings away. “Better than what we have” isn’t good enough.
So that would be presumably

RW
CB
DM
LB
ST
 

kettledrumhamster

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I think he's a great player and could be really effective at a club like ours. I'd imagine the deal could be rally cheap and he'd be great coming off the bench or coving for Rashford on the left.
 

Giggsforever

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I think he's a great player and could be really effective at a club like ours. I'd imagine the deal could be rally cheap and he'd be great coming off the bench or coving for Rashford on the left.
There has never been anything great about him. Effectiveness can you also forget, he is 28 years old and has 56 senior goals since making his senior debut 10 years ago. He is also injury prone.

We really should stay away from him.
 

Falcow

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I would take him at reasonable fee if we dont get anyone else. I'm sure most on here would have passed up the chance to sign Gnabry and Perisic 2 years ago yet they have gone on to play key roles in an all conquering side.

However if his injury record is questionable then perhaps not.
 

Mickeza

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So that would be presumably

RW
CB
DM
LB
ST
Absolutely. Only the RW, CB and DM (if Fred doesn’t step up) need to be guaranteed starters. Get those signings right over the next two years and we can go back to making one first team signing a year from a position of strength and waiting for bargains to pop up. The rest of our focus can be on picking up young talents.

Signing King wouldn’t be getting those signings right in my opinion. He sort of made sense in January when we were desperate and were trying to salvage top 4. He makes zero sense now.
 

EwanI Ted

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Believe that’s whats known as a come and get me plea. Would take on a free if we could offload Mata, Lingard and Pereira, we need some backups. However I guess Bournemouth are looking for £20m+ for him, which is a total non starter.
 

croadyman

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Absolutely. Only the RW, CB and DM (if Fred doesn’t step up) need to be guaranteed starters. Get those signings right over the next two years and we can go back to making one first team signing a year from a position of strength and waiting for bargains to pop up. The rest of our focus can be on picking up young talents.

Signing King wouldn’t be getting those signings right in my opinion. He sort of made sense in January when we were desperate and were trying to salvage top 4. He makes zero sense now.
Well if we could still get Sancho then that is the top one sorted,in regards to CB perhaps there is genuine belief around the club we can secure Upamecano next summer for his release clause.

I would like us to sign a Matic replacement but doesn't look to be a priority at all. Think that Reguilon would be a quality buy at LB but there is talk of Madrid wanting a buyback clause if he goes elsewhere.

So which young Striker would you like us to bring in when Ighalo leaves then just out of interest
 

hubbuh

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It’s not pretty, but this was probably one of those times when a player ought to kick up a stink in order to force a move. He didn’t so fair play to him, but he’s missed his shot.
 

Eli Zee

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No it's not. We already have depth with Mata, James and Ighalo. And then there's Greenwood who can at both roles and will eventually be a top player. What we need most is genuinely quality on the right wing. If we're signing another winger on top of that it should ideally be a proper wideplayer given we have lots of strikers who play/can play out wide as it i.e our main front three.
Out of the 4, greenwood is the only one who is really good enough for Manchester United.

I agree that we need a quality RW. I never said we didn't. That doesn't mean we don't also need more at LW/ST. You do realize the best teams have more than 1 good Striker right? And they have quality options on the bench to change a game in attack. Right now, we have ZERO game changers off the bench. If Sancho came in it would mean we have 1 game changer On the bench in Greenwood. Need more.


Personally, I think we need to recruit two attacking players(top class RW being 1), a DM, and a backup LB or RB if we want to do anything next season. Maybe King isn't the right option for the 2nd attacking player, but I think we need someone.
 
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amolbhatia50k

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Out of the 4, greenwood is the only one who is really good enough for Manchester United.

I agree that we need a quality RW. I never said we didn't. That doesn't mean we don't also need more at LW/ST. You do realize the best teams have more than 1 good Striker right? And they have quality options on the bench to change a game in attack. Right now, we have ZERO game changers off the bench. If Sancho came in it would mean we have 1 game changer On the bench in Greenwood. Need more.


Personally, I think we need to recruit two attacking players(top class RW being 1), a DM, and a backup LB or RB if we want to do anything next season. Maybe King isn't the right option for the 2nd attacking player, but I think we need someone.
King is a game changer for Bournemouth not Manchester United.
 

Eli Zee

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King is a game changer for Bournemouth not Manchester United.
Yeah like I said. I think his traits fit exactly what we need (depth in multiple positions), but the quality may not be there to be successful at MUFC.
 

NotQuiteManc

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I think he's a great player and could be really effective at a club like ours. I'd imagine the deal could be rally cheap and he'd be great coming off the bench or coving for Rashford on the left.
That is such an overstatement. Roy Keane, Giggsy, Scholes, Beckham - now that's a list of great players.

Last January was his chance. Ighalo did well, for a while. Not sure what's Ole's verdict of him now, but if anything, any kind of move would only happen next January.
 

RDCR07

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We’re 5 good signings away from having one of the best squads around. If we add King we’re still 5 signings away. “Better than what we have” isn’t good enough.
He isn’t better than what we have. I’d take Ighalo over him any day of the week.