Osimhen clearly for me. Vlahovic's lack of pace is a big concern but he is a sublime finisher
The centre-forward market...
- Thread starter Rozay
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Vlahovic. Comfortably.
Who would people say is the better all round player out of Vlahovic/Osimhen
Not a massive fan of Osimehn he is not graceful, cute or agile enough for me.
He plays like a younger Lukaku when he was skinnier and still had some decent ball control and serviceable dribbling to maneuver into space. Fantastic power and strength though, good flexibility and has a good game to be fair, knows what he's good at and seems a good character too. Not worth dropping £90Mish thats been quoted on though. Would rather get his Nigerian countryman Terem Moffi from Lorient who looks far more complete.
Not seen enough of Vlahovic to be definitive to be honest but he is clearly far more technically secure in possesion that suits ETH style more i'd imagine whilst still having some of those physical attributes to occupy defenders and get on the end of stuff. Doesn't have the Osimehn pace though but looks faster than Kane atleast which could suffice.
Martinez is actually fairly well rounded to be honest think he could suprise one or two but he is the unfancied choice and not really excelling in one area that i've seen. Decent age though.
Would plump for Vlahovic like the lads above mentioned with all things considered if they were all on the market.
I haven't watched else than the PL, but I saw a few games from the world cup and Gakpo looks scary. He is similar to Haaland in some respect and that's the only player I'd be happy with.
Honestly, not convinced we're desperate for a striker. Yes, Martial's injury record is horrendous, but we have plenty of options up front - Sancho, Rashford, Garnacho, Antony, Martial, Elanga.
ETH seems to be happy with Rashford. But
Honestly, not convinced we're desperate for a striker. Yes, Martial's injury record is horrendous, but we have plenty of options up front - Sancho, Rashford, Garnacho, Antony, Martial, Elanga.
ETH seems to be happy with Rashford. But
Doesn't look like that number 9 we need
A lot of reports about Rafael Leao out there from Italian sources in connection to us.
Seems like a total non-fit from my POV. At the same time, when you look into his situation, it’s a complete mess. He declared his contract with Sporting void after a violent supporter attack and signed as a free agent with Lille. The CAS however found that Leao didn’t have cause to terminate his contract and ordered him to pay damages of 17m EUR plus interest (20 MEUR in total right now) to Sporting.
That is a lot of money. We pay high wages but it’s four year’s full wages for someone like Antony (after tax).
So supposedly Leao has been promised all the time that Lille and AC Milan would take care of the fines. Everyone knew Sporting would dispute the situation, but they didn’t want to wait for a ruling so they talked him into proceeding and to pay the fines if CAS ruled in favor of Sporting. As a transfer fee of sorts, it’s not a ton of money. But it hasn’t been taken care of. Now Leao is getting a new message from Milan — sure Raphael, we will pay the fines, after you have signed a new 5 year deal with us. Leao’s contract runs to 2024.
Leao was represented by Jorge Mendes, who obviously totally have butchered his interests. If you have a young uneducated teenage client who potentially could be ordered to pay damages of 45 MEUR (Sporting’s original claim), you shouldn’t settle for a verbal promise from a club of how they will ‘take care of it’. Leao has instead hired a proper lawyer to represent him, Ted Dimvula, going forward.
It’s hard to know exactly what is going on, but it certainly seem like they are driving a hard barging requesting that Milan and/or Lille pays the fines, before they negotiate the new deal. Anything else is of course total madness.
It is extremely typical for these circles involving Mendes, certain italian clubs and so forth that you have these shady dealings. If they promised to pay the fine, it should have been paid already, and not hang over Leao in a coming negotiation. And in addition — these type of dealings just do not even remotely function in the serious context they are used. Have AC Milan recorded their undertaking to pay the fines in its annual report? Otherwise it’s a serious FFP violation. Milan’s stocks aren’t listed, so it’s not market manipulation like Juventus’ dealings. But my bet is that Leao had to pay income tax on the fine, social securities fees and so forth. Have they done that? Mendes… Up until a month ago, they probably thought they could go on as normal. But this is very similar to what Juventus did — and that board has resigned now and it’s perfectly possible that they face jail time.
Anyway — these type of things can go sour fast. Who knows what kind of threat is hanging over Lille and/or Milan and/or the board directors of each club.. Maybe it’s best if they do not pay the fines, and sell Leao and the problem to someone else. I don’t know. Wrongdoing is of course always hard to prove and most goes unpunished for one reason or the other, but if you undertake to pay someone 20 MEUR in salary under the table (even if it’s not primarily intended to do so to avoid tax), you normally have to do time. It’s not a minor crime.
But how does that help us? The last thing we need is another LW. That is of course true. But Raphael Leao is built like a tank, 6’2.5, 190 lbs. He has of course played some as a striker and can of course be turned into one with relative ease.
I mean, if you are looking for a top striker, and you could have a 23 y/o Raphael Leao for 100m — I could certainly see people being intrigued by it. 60m of it to Milan as a transfer fee. An extra 40m of it to Leao as a sign-on fee so that he — net taxes — can pay the fine of 20m cash to Sporting instantly. Leao, Milan and Lille agree that the later two never agreed verbally to pay any fines, meaning that they walk away from the tax crimes.
Odds of happening? 5%? 0.5%?
Seems like a total non-fit from my POV. At the same time, when you look into his situation, it’s a complete mess. He declared his contract with Sporting void after a violent supporter attack and signed as a free agent with Lille. The CAS however found that Leao didn’t have cause to terminate his contract and ordered him to pay damages of 17m EUR plus interest (20 MEUR in total right now) to Sporting.
That is a lot of money. We pay high wages but it’s four year’s full wages for someone like Antony (after tax).
So supposedly Leao has been promised all the time that Lille and AC Milan would take care of the fines. Everyone knew Sporting would dispute the situation, but they didn’t want to wait for a ruling so they talked him into proceeding and to pay the fines if CAS ruled in favor of Sporting. As a transfer fee of sorts, it’s not a ton of money. But it hasn’t been taken care of. Now Leao is getting a new message from Milan — sure Raphael, we will pay the fines, after you have signed a new 5 year deal with us. Leao’s contract runs to 2024.
Leao was represented by Jorge Mendes, who obviously totally have butchered his interests. If you have a young uneducated teenage client who potentially could be ordered to pay damages of 45 MEUR (Sporting’s original claim), you shouldn’t settle for a verbal promise from a club of how they will ‘take care of it’. Leao has instead hired a proper lawyer to represent him, Ted Dimvula, going forward.
It’s hard to know exactly what is going on, but it certainly seem like they are driving a hard barging requesting that Milan and/or Lille pays the fines, before they negotiate the new deal. Anything else is of course total madness.
It is extremely typical for these circles involving Mendes, certain italian clubs and so forth that you have these shady dealings. If they promised to pay the fine, it should have been paid already, and not hang over Leao in a coming negotiation. And in addition — these type of dealings just do not even remotely function in the serious context they are used. Have AC Milan recorded their undertaking to pay the fines in its annual report? Otherwise it’s a serious FFP violation. Milan’s stocks aren’t listed, so it’s not market manipulation like Juventus’ dealings. But my bet is that Leao had to pay income tax on the fine, social securities fees and so forth. Have they done that? Mendes… Up until a month ago, they probably thought they could go on as normal. But this is very similar to what Juventus did — and that board has resigned now and it’s perfectly possible that they face jail time.
Anyway — these type of things can go sour fast. Who knows what kind of threat is hanging over Lille and/or Milan and/or the board directors of each club.. Maybe it’s best if they do not pay the fines, and sell Leao and the problem to someone else. I don’t know. Wrongdoing is of course always hard to prove and most goes unpunished for one reason or the other, but if you undertake to pay someone 20 MEUR in salary under the table (even if it’s not primarily intended to do so to avoid tax), you normally have to do time. It’s not a minor crime.
But how does that help us? The last thing we need is another LW. That is of course true. But Raphael Leao is built like a tank, 6’2.5, 190 lbs. He has of course played some as a striker and can of course be turned into one with relative ease.
I mean, if you are looking for a top striker, and you could have a 23 y/o Raphael Leao for 100m — I could certainly see people being intrigued by it. 60m of it to Milan as a transfer fee. An extra 40m of it to Leao as a sign-on fee so that he — net taxes — can pay the fine of 20m cash to Sporting instantly. Leao, Milan and Lille agree that the later two never agreed verbally to pay any fines, meaning that they walk away from the tax crimes.
Odds of happening? 5%? 0.5%?
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I have big doubts about Leao. Great dribbler and goalscorer off the left, but from what I've seen from him his work rate off the ball leaves much to be desired and his defensive contribution is practically nonexistent. His behaviour also raises some questions. Makes no sense to me. If we are going for a LW/CF type of deal, then it's Gakpo all the way.
Sesko anyone?
Yeah for sure, my big concern too.
But on these type of things, I think that you just must do your due diligence. Everyone loves to have an opinion on a kid like Leao. Sometimes it’s correct, sometimes it’s not. I know that Zlatan and Pioli (sp?) in Milan have worked a lot with Leao.
At the same time, doing that job as a striker can be easier than on the wing. Leao’s pressure of the CBs will not be optimal, but people had issues with his work rate against Chelsea. Chelsea destroyed them in that first game and Leao’s job was to shadow Reece James up and down the field. Doing that takes it’s man, and Leao is not that for sure. But battling it out with CBs, it’s a bit of a different type of battles.
My biggest concern is just if he got that necessary drive.
But ultimately, he is one of the biggest talents in the world if not the biggest young talent out there next to Haaland — in terms of raw ability. Doesn’t mean that he is a good signing, could be a horrible signing. But definitely worth looking into.
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Bought by Leipzig to be transfered next summer. He isn't on the market.
Everyone has their price
7 days a week and twice on Sunday yes.
Selling Nkunku though and likely Gvardiol & Laimer, i'm not super familiar with their squad depth but imagine they will want to keep some good players in those positions.
Sesko does look like he could do with a year or two banging in more goals at a higher level but his price could get exorbitant by that time we & other clubs start circling so maybe smart to act fast if possible.
Yes please
Yeah, Sesko is the No 1 for me if I could chose any striker in the world except Haaland. For various reasons, he gets underrated. If you haven't seen him much I recon its only natural to be a little skeptical about another RB Salzburg striker, how good is his competition really? But he hasn't just done it in Austria, he has also performed in the CL and especially been absolutely spectacular in the Nations League for Slovenia. I saw Slovenia play both against the Serbs and Norway the last fall, and in both games he was the MOTM among the outfield players at least. He and Oblak really carries that team.
He just got it all. 6'4. Really fast. He is 6'4, but just like Haaland, it doesn't at all show in his speed. He gets to top speed really fast. Looking at guys like Vlahovic and Schmacca and the likes, they move well -- for someone their size. Sesko moves well, period. Excellent in the pressing game. Great in the air. Finishes really well with both feet. Check out the below goal with his weak foot, its just what he does:
When he plays, he just does all the right things, definitely reminiscent of Haaland. When he takes runs against a defensive line, he immediately catch your attention just like with Haaland because its with the exact same type of fury. Just like Haaland, he shots really well with both feet even when he is running at absolute full speed. Its something they must be focusing a lot in the RB academy. Like we all know how it is when someone is storming down on the goal at full speed with a defender hanging on and they try to get of a shot despite literary losing the angle by the milli-second, odds are that the shot won't hit anything close to the net. Not with Sesko.
He is not Haaland 2.0. But he is from my POV clearly the best alternative out there.
So we should make his new club a serious offer to get them to sell before he’s played for them. Get ahead of the pack
Sesko
Osimhen
Vlahovic
Martinez
Kane
Last season people were talking about Abraham and Schick but both have had big drops in form and have been replaced with options like Ivan Toney and Mitrovic.
Other outside option is Goncalo Ramos from Benfica.
Can`t see Sesko happening now he has signed for Leipzig....think he spends at least a few seasons there before moving.
Mitrovic like Abraham and Schick has erratic form and no one was mentioning us signing him when he couldn`t hit a barn door a few seasons ago.
The others are all unproven in the premier league although Osimhen and Vlahovic seem best suited to prem.
Both could command big fee`s and I think Osimhen would want the move the most, despite Juve`s woes I think Vlahovic will stay there.
I can only see two options in the summer....Kane or Osimhen both are going to cost big money but I don`t really see any other choices.
Osimhen
Vlahovic
Martinez
Kane
Last season people were talking about Abraham and Schick but both have had big drops in form and have been replaced with options like Ivan Toney and Mitrovic.
Other outside option is Goncalo Ramos from Benfica.
Can`t see Sesko happening now he has signed for Leipzig....think he spends at least a few seasons there before moving.
Mitrovic like Abraham and Schick has erratic form and no one was mentioning us signing him when he couldn`t hit a barn door a few seasons ago.
The others are all unproven in the premier league although Osimhen and Vlahovic seem best suited to prem.
Both could command big fee`s and I think Osimhen would want the move the most, despite Juve`s woes I think Vlahovic will stay there.
I can only see two options in the summer....Kane or Osimhen both are going to cost big money but I don`t really see any other choices.
Yeah he is fleet of foot for a big lad and has the same "Choo choo train" running style Haaland has doesn't he.
I was quite impressed with his performance against Liverpool and that volley he scored you posted.
Signed for £20M on a 5 year deal, definitely wishful thinking we could pull something that daring off. Although im there in dreamland with ya for sure
If he does turn out to be any good there's big vacancies in a year or two at Madrid, Barca, Bayern all the big clubs outside England so like Bellingham think we missed the boat on this lad.
We should of gone hard when he was still in Slovenia when we supposedly scouted him back then. As is the case for quite a few big young players flourishing out there at the moment.
I don't think Morata is as bad as people would have it... 
Moffi more complete than osimhen ??
Moffi isn't half the player iheanacho is and iheanacho isn't as good as osimhen.
We need a proper number 9 not an hybrid (we have those kind of players already) and a consistent one,I think you really do underate osimhen without watching him play.
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Still don't know why everyone is clamoring for a link up player for a number 9, when we have that clearly in martial.we need a top number 9 for world class depth in the team.
Games we need silk, play martial.games we need to bully defense play the new 9.
Sesko should be our number 1 priority, osimhen and vlahovic next in line.
Let's step away from mediocre players please,we should be signing upgrades not downgrades.
Games we need silk, play martial.games we need to bully defense play the new 9.
Sesko should be our number 1 priority, osimhen and vlahovic next in line.
Let's step away from mediocre players please,we should be signing upgrades not downgrades.
Get him bought!
Ramos?
We need a striker in the winter. Embolo looked like a proper tank today, until his team fell from the cliff.. Could be a Saha signing before we spend big in the summer.
Joao Felix with an option to buy?
Ramos is surely 70mil player after the WC which is a huge overpayment but will probably turn out better than Nunez..
Joao Felix with an option to buy?
Ramos is surely 70mil player after the WC which is a huge overpayment but will probably turn out better than Nunez..
Yeah should be all over it if possible
26 year old Iheanacho who has only scored more than 5 league goals in the last 7 seasons once? Not very accurate comparison brother.
Moffi will be popping up on the radar of many smart clubs as he is just 23 like Osimehn and has a very good physical profile. He is robust and can ride challenges, two footed, powerful & pacey, agile, 6 foot 2, technically secure ( far more than Osimehn) and is developing very well into a modern complete striker at a small french club where he is having his breakthrough goals season. He has 10 in 14 just behind Neymar & Mbappe, he will be on the move to a bigger club for a reasonable fee soon that we should be sniffing around is my point. He can develop the rest here. We should not be the club getting fleeced for near £100m for players who are not £100m players.
I watched Osimehn in Ligue 1 and I liked him then, but Napoli paid about £65M for him and he has developed and improved his game since then, he is good and has unique attributes as I said in my post but he is not a £90M+ striker yet that Napoli & De Laurentis who are famed for trying to secure top fees or just keeping the player will demand. Osimehn actually has really unique body as his legs are extremely long so he can be really hard to disposses combined with his powerful body and long stride that can reach balls you don't expect but he can also be quite awkward and can look like bambi at times trying to get the ball out of his feet, hence my younger Lukaku comparison.
He is certainly one of the best forwards out there in this current landscape but from a stylistic point of view it depends what ETH would want from his striker. Osimehn is not a technical tight spaces clinical finishing link up player with tight technique, he is an explosive pace and power battering ram who has impressive technique "for his size". Lukaku did well when he was here doing the exact same act, so i'm sure Osimehn could replicate that too, dominating physically, outrunning & outmuscling players, getting on the end of stuff and running in behind. I just personally don't want to go back to that "style" of striker when we sold Lukaku for similar reasons that he didn't fit the type of football we wanted to play even though his stats for us were actually good.
Not saying Moffi is gods' gift and the only prospect by the way, I was reeling off other promising young strikers earlier in the thread who we should be monitoring that wouldn't cost astronomical fee, Ramos for example who we were linked to and just bagged a cool hattrick.
If we are going to spend £90M big british pounds on someone, I want them to be world-renowned non debatable world class or as close to a foregone conclusion they are about to be, with other top clubs in the frame to get him too. Just don't want us overspending and always being the mugs paying top dollar for not top shelf quality.
Yeah would be delighted to sign either,Kane has had ankle trouble and nearly 30 but proven.
Am I the only one who likes the look of Martinelli?
Goncalo Ramos replacement for Ronaldo both with Portugal and United?
A sharp old style nr.9. A CF i think United shall try to get i him.
A sharp old style nr.9. A CF i think United shall try to get i him.
Embolo was signed by Monaco only last summer. He's on a 4 year contract that he's only 4 months in. He's Monaco's main man and he's scored 7 goals in 15 games for them.
He ain't gonna come cheap, especially if we try in January, and he's not a temp solution.
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Slightly different type of players. For us I woul say Osimhen for his work rakte and pressing ability, physical presence and hold up play.
Just a rubbish tweet though, innit? ETH isn't limited to buying players who play for the Netherlands national team. So what's the point of discussing who is better suited as a striker from an artificially narrowed down selection of players that doesn't even include a striker to begin with. Just bizarre.
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This is the list I can think of.
Prices are a huge guess obviously and for the summer, not January, for which you can add like 25% on price I'd guess.
Italicized the ones I've never seen apart from highlights or like one half of football, so have no personal subjective take.
Very Expensive (50M or more)
Osimhen, Ramos, Lautaro, Mitrovic, Shick, Sesko
Expensive (35-50M)
Gapko, Toney, David, Abraham, Gouiri, Kolo Muani, Okafor, Joao Pedro, Cunha
Maybe not so pricey (20-35M)
Vitinha, Okafor, Kalimuendo, Andre Silva, Rutter, Wahi, Embolo, Pedro, Beto, Moffi, Hojlund
Free, but then presumably big wages
Thuram, Moukoko, Memphis, Brereton Diaz
Prices are a huge guess obviously and for the summer, not January, for which you can add like 25% on price I'd guess.
Italicized the ones I've never seen apart from highlights or like one half of football, so have no personal subjective take.
Very Expensive (50M or more)
Osimhen, Ramos, Lautaro, Mitrovic, Shick, Sesko
Expensive (35-50M)
Gapko, Toney, David, Abraham, Gouiri, Kolo Muani, Okafor, Joao Pedro, Cunha
Maybe not so pricey (20-35M)
Vitinha, Okafor, Kalimuendo, Andre Silva, Rutter, Wahi, Embolo, Pedro, Beto, Moffi, Hojlund
Free, but then presumably big wages
Thuram, Moukoko, Memphis, Brereton Diaz
You missed Vlahovic from the very expensive list.
There is no way that Toney will sell for 50m or less, more likely at least 70m.
I am sure that ETH is keeping tabs on Kudos at Ajax.
There are a lot of decent options on that list, certainly decent enough that if we signed them we could be hopeful they'd be good buys and improve us. There just isn't a super-obvious stand-out buy. All depends on what type of player ETH wants and what prices they're available for. Be interesting to see what direction we go in.