The centre-forward market...

Idxomer

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Anyone get a chance to watch Chelsea yesterday? If so, how did that Sesko lad do against them?
He works hard but doesn't look anywhere near ready to play for a top team.

I don't think he's guaranteed to be a starter for Leipzig next season either.
 

WirralRed

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It dose feel strange that there arn’t many centre forwards considering the budget we are likely to have for one. We are likely to spend £80mill plus and still have question marks over whoever we sign.
 

Sea-Cow

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He works hard but doesn't look anywhere near ready to play for a top team.

I don't think he's guaranteed to be a starter for Leipzig next season either.
Thanks. And that is disappointing to hear. I was all in on the guy to be our Haaland when we were linked.
 

croadyman

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Wish we could get Osimhen & Toney in next two windows,however we can't afford to do it when we need new GK & CM too
 

NoPace

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I wasn't pushing hard for Jonathan David (despite being Canadian) because he's not an aerial presence, but everything Cristiano does terribly (press, link play) is what he excels at, so I'm starting to get there.
 

croadyman

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I wasn't pushing hard for Jonathan David (despite being Canadian) because he's not an aerial presence, but everything Cristiano does terribly (press, link play) is what he excels at, so I'm starting to get there.
We damn sure need something
 

Kingslayer18

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Another younger we should start keeping tabs on if we are looking for a typical no 9 striker is Rasmus Hojlund. He just joined Atalanta after 6 months tearing up the Austrian League. Tall, quick and physically a beast. He's already hit the ground running in Italy and is ahead of where Sekso is in terms of their trajectories. I'm also starting to like the look of Randal Kolo Muani, not so much a typical target man but an all-round forward that has been compared to Henry. He might become the player we thought Martial would be and has just been called up to the French team.
 

sullydnl

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I don't know if bringing an injury prone player for 85m pounds is a wise decision
Didn't realise that Osimhen was injury prone
Think it's a bit exaggerated.

He had Covid twice and got a freak facial injury within the space of two seasons, which cost him around 20 games between them. Unless you think the global pandemic and Milan Skriniar smashing his face in are the result of some durability fault on his part, he's just been unlucky. Beyond that his injury record looks fairly normal, the only other noteworthy issue across five or so seasons having been dislocating his shoulder.

It's not quite the same sort of red flag as Martial/Jones style players who have tended to suffer from repeated muscle, tendon and ligament issues to their knees, ankles, hamstrings, etc. Typically when we talk about players being injury prone those are the sort of problems that keep repeating.
 
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SAF is the GOAT

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Think it's a bit exaggerated.

He had Covid twice and got a freak facial injury within the space of two seasons, which cost him around 20 games between them. Unless you think the global pandemic and Milan Skriniar smashing his face in are the result of some durability fault on his part, he's just been unlucky. Beyond that his injury record looks fairly normal, the only other noteworthy issue across five or so seasons having been dislocating his shoulder.

It's not quite the same sort of red flag as Martial/Jones style players who have tended to suffer from repeated muscle, tendon and ligament issues to their knees, ankles, hamstrings, etc. Typically when we talk about players being injury prone those are the sort of problems that keep repeating.
He didn't play against rangers in CL on Wednesday because of a thigh injury
 

Acheron

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Juve should maybe have gone for him and just played 4-4-2. They have proper wingers in Chiesa and Kostic. PSG would be the other one but he might have wanted to start and try to score 20+ goals and win the Brazil 9 job and also just stop being a rotation guy after his time at City. Not sure who else was bigger than Arsenal and needed a starting 9. I guess Inter Milan instead of bringing back Lukaku but they got him for cheap and he's a hero there and recently dominated Serie A and hasn't had serious injuries since. City wouldn't have sold him to Liverpool and he wouldn't have come to us probably. Not sure who that leaves. I guess Barca instead of Lewandowski but that's a big downgrade.
I would have him at Real Madrid, we didn't get either of Mbappe or Haaland and we still need someone to cover up for Benzema. He's definitely getting more minutes at Arsenal but I feel he would still play plenty for us. Anyway I'm just speculating, would like someone like him at the moment but I'm glad for him he's looking a lot better at Arsenal.
 

SAF is the GOAT

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Imaging bringing in Mbappe when Cristiano would leave next summer and Mbappe has a contract at PSG until 2025 and we'll have a dynamic front 3
 

Adam-Utd

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I just want a hard working forward who's quick and strong and can hold the ball up. Not really bothered by scoring 30 goals a season as we share the goals around.

A fit Martial that didn't get injured all the time would be really nice. Such a shame this happened when he was looking to spearhead the side.
 

mitchmouse

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Another younger we should start keeping tabs on if we are looking for a typical no 9 striker is Rasmus Hojlund. He just joined Atalanta after 6 months tearing up the Austrian League. Tall, quick and physically a beast. He's already hit the ground running in Italy and is ahead of where Sekso is in terms of their trajectories. I'm also starting to like the look of Randal Kolo Muani, not so much a typical target man but an all-round forward that has been compared to Henry. He might become the player we thought Martial would be and has just been called up to the French team.
I'm always amazed by people here who clearly watch more overseas games than me. Are they available on Sky/BT and am I missing them or do you get to watch another way? I've never heard of Hojilund or Muani, let alone seen them play. Maybe I'm jus getting old and go to bed too early!
 

RopersReturn

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I'm always amazed by people here who clearly watch more overseas games than me. Are they available on Sky/BT and am I missing them or do you get to watch another way? I've never heard of Hojilund or Muani, let alone seen them play. Maybe I'm jus getting old and go to bed too early!
He did mention Hojilund was playing for Atalanta, who feature on BT’s Seria A coverage.
 

mitchmouse

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He did mention Hojilund was playing for Atalanta, who feature on BT’s Seria A coverage.
thank you. I really am getting old... I remember Seria A on that "new" channel C4! With the occasional loony commentator raving about every flick and pass :houllier::yawn:
 

Rozay

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Scored in both Slovenia games this week. Could be a long game here, but we could be seeing a special centre-forward in the making. Hopefully we maintain contact with his team and build this transfer over the next couple of years if he develops as hoped.
 

arthurka

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Scored in both Slovenia games this week. Could be a long game here, but we could be seeing a special centre-forward in the making. Hopefully we maintain contact with his team and build this transfer over the next couple of years if he develops as hoped.
20m plus add ons to Leipzig. Maybe we can offer 100m before he plays a minute for them. Ridiculously talented
 

mitchmouse

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Scored in both Slovenia games this week. Could be a long game here, but we could be seeing a special centre-forward in the making. Hopefully we maintain contact with his team and build this transfer over the next couple of years if he develops as hoped.
rather Van Basten like - and looks big and strong (mini Halaand?) but I know nothing else about him. Given what everyone is saying about our finances (which could of course change if the vampires sell all or part of the club), might be the sort we have to look at... unless we decide to opt for a not-very-happy-sounding Messi :D:nono:
 

SAF is the GOAT

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Sesko has a clause of 50m euros(44m pounds)

But there isn't any other info when this clause is gonna get triggered
 

Erik the Red

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Sesko has a clause of 50m euros(44m pounds)

But there isn't any other info when this clause is gonna get triggered
I'd not seen that clause quoted. Do you have a source? If true, we could get Sesko AND Gakpo for one Darwin Nunez!!! Throw in Brobbey and Martial and we would have a really good mix of strikers to rival the Cole, Yorke, Sheringham and Solskjaer era. Antony, Sancho, Rashford and Garnacho can compete for the two wide spots. Ronaldo is leaving, Greenwood is a great player, but I can't see him playing in English football again so we should try to sell him, along with Elanga, Amad and Pellistri. If we can recover costs on those players it would be a result. For the first time in years we appear to be heading in the right direction.
 

sullydnl

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We need a CF next summer. Sesko, who already has a transfer arranged for next summer, isn't an option.
 

Erik the Red

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With the news that Nkunku had a medical at Chelsea, and that we are leading the race for Gakpo, who would you prefer? Presumably they are too similar to contemplate both, as they both come in from the left, they are similar age, and are both in great form... Which is more capable of playing as a 9, or false 9, if that is where we want to use them?
 

tjb

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Right now, ita not worth it to overspend too much on a striker. Signing competition for Martial would be a much better deal. Having two good strikers who rotate with one another similar to Cole/Ole or Drogba/Crespo would be really good for us. It would ensure that goals are spread around the team, but that we are not too dependent on one figure to perform. I don't think there are any centre forwards on the market that have proven to be dependable enough to be our main and only striker.

Ivan Toney would be a good deal if we got a fair price. A striker of a similar caliber for a good price would be what I would spend on
 

Skills

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The fact that he was nobody's radar up until we started getting linked to him shows maybe we do have some scouts who know what they're doing? Promote those guys
 

VidaRed

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The fact that he was nobody's radar up until we started getting linked to him shows maybe we do have some scouts who know what they're doing? Promote those guys
So why haven't we signed him then ?
 

Teja

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The fact that he was nobody's radar up until we started getting linked to him shows maybe we do have some scouts who know what they're doing? Promote those guys
We were linked to Bruno, Bellingham, Haaland, Nunez as well before they were on any big club's radars. Our scouting is fine IMO, just the overall recruitment strategy is shambles.

You know our strategy was shit when it was clear that Pogba would be at his best with a 3 man midfield with a DM + box to box next to him and we spent the following four years trying to fit him into various different positions that didn't suit him.

At some point under Ole they went all-in on the "english core" and believed the koolaid around passion and mentality monsters and so on. So we ended up wasting a bunch of money on guys like Maguire, AwB, Ronaldo etc.

Let's not even get into the players who were awarded new contracts "to preserve value".
 

Bojan Djordjic

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Everybody seems to be calling for Ivan Toney but I really don't know what that solves for us. We're very short on goals and not one of our forwards, central or wide, could be described as prolific (if we accept that Ronaldo is finally finished). We need someone who can score at between 15 and 20 goals a season and while Toney is good at lots of things, he just isn't prolific at this level.Non penalty xg/90 last season was only 0.25 which is way too low (and lower than Ronaldo's so far this season).
 

Sparky Rhiwabon

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Everybody seems to be calling for Ivan Toney but I really don't know what that solves for us. We're very short on goals and not one of our forwards, central or wide, could be described as prolific (if we accept that Ronaldo is finally finished). We need someone who can score at between 15 and 20 goals a season and while Toney is good at lots of things, he just isn't prolific at this level.Non penalty xg/90 last season was only 0.25 which is way too low (and lower than Ronaldo's so far this season).
Keep up, that was a couple of weeks ago when he scored that hattrick.
 

Isotope

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The fact that he was nobody's radar up until we started getting linked to him shows maybe we do have some scouts who know what they're doing? Promote those guys
He's linked to us after he agreed signing for Leipzig next summer. I think that's a pretty shite scouting, don't you think so?
 

croadyman

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Still very much on the Osimhen train,yes he's not a goal machine like Haaland but like his pace and strength on counter through the middle