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The official unofficial January transfer targets thread..


SB

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Very encouraging to see the Echo report on Adkins' signings intentions. To the complacent fans who think that 5 points from 5 games is no worry, becausew we have hung on to top spot, if the report is correct that is not the managers' view. We are top because we did so well early season and have had the great home run, added to WHU dropping points unexpectedly, so this report is very encouraging. We don't want to scrape promotion in a struggle or be left with a play-off spot at best, we want to get back to championship form of 2 points a game and do that regardless of injuries and suspensions, both of which are more likely in the second half of the season. We have a great chance and this window is the way to seal it. Good to hear Adkins' thinking this way.

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I would expect us to only sign three players in January. As much as the squad needs a boost, to bring too many players in would be a bad idea, and our league position shows that we don't need any upheaval. I think we'll get a striker, a right winger and CB in on loan until the end of season with a view to a perm mone, but nothing set in stone, like Dale Stephens last year. In an ideal world for me it would be Rhodes and Snodgrass, although I think it more likely to be Sharp who we get. Not sure about what other RW are available at the mo tbh.

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I'm expecting to see Billy Sharp join and possibly Lukas Jutkiewicz. I'd like to see Matt Phillips here. Has really impressed me both times he's played against us (FA Cup last season and this season) - he seemed to be their main attacking outlet with pace and had a pretty decent cross / shot on him.

 

A CB would be handy but only on a loan IMO as we have Aaron Martin ready to step in if any issues arise.

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I'm expecting to see Billy Sharp join and possibly Lukas Jutkiewicz. I'd like to see Matt Phillips here. Has really impressed me both times he's played against us (FA Cup last season and this season) - he seemed to be their main attacking outlet with pace and had a pretty decent cross / shot on him.

 

A CB would be handy but only on a loan IMO as we have Aaron Martin ready to step in if any issues arise.

 

 

If you're expecting Sharp and LJ I expect you will be extremely disappointed.

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Whatever gets done better be under the radar as what will happen is ..

 

1. Saints linked with player

2. Player 'seen' at SMS

3. WHU and Leics suddenly linked with player

4. WHU and Leics offer player twice the wages we did

5. Player goes to WHU or Leics

 

Which is why we have no chance of Adomah, Maynard etc

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Sorry if this has been covered previously/elsewhere, but whatever happened to the Huddersfield winger who broke his leg last season? He seemed a likely prospect and I expected him to be in a higher league by now. Was his name Pilkington, or similar?

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Sorry if this has been covered previously/elsewhere, but whatever happened to the Huddersfield winger who broke his leg last season? He seemed a likely prospect and I expected him to be in a higher league by now. Was his name Pilkington, or similar?

 

He's at Leicester or is it Norwich, can't remember but he's not at Huddersfield now.

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Whatever gets done better be under the radar as what will happen is ..

 

1. Saints linked with player

2. Player 'seen' at SMS

3. WHU and Leics suddenly linked with player

4. WHU and Leics offer player twice the wages we did

5. Player goes to WHU or Leics

 

Which is why we have no chance of Adomah, Maynard etc

 

This doesn't prove that we have no chance of those players, this proves that we get linked to people we're not actually interested in by the papers, our own fans believe these papers and are then disappointed when we don't complete a deal we were never trying to do in the first place.

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Sorry if this has been covered previously/elsewhere, but whatever happened to the Huddersfield winger who broke his leg last season? He seemed a likely prospect and I expected him to be in a higher league by now. Was his name Pilkington, or similar?

 

He's scored 4 goals in the Premier League for Norwich already this season.

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Agree Church is a great player, potentially top class! With Reading approaching play offs, cant see them parting with their best players!

 

I work in Reading with lots of Reading supporters, and to summarise what they say; he doesn't have a good first touch, is too slow, and not great in the air, but to his credit, he's a decent finisher. They all (more than 10 season ticket holders) say Le Fondre is better.

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I work in Reading with lots of Reading supporters, and to summarise what they say; he doesn't have a good first touch, is too slow, and not great in the air, but to his credit, he's a decent finisher. They all (more than 10 season ticket holders) say Le Fondre is better.

 

He did more in the 20 or so minutes that he was on for against West Ham than Le Fondre will probably do in the season.

 

You don't need a "first touch" when you can bury shots in the back of the net first time from 20 yards. Good with his head as well.

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He did more in the 20 or so minutes that he was on for against West Ham than Le Fondre will probably do in the season.

 

You don't need a "first touch" when you can bury shots in the back of the net first time from 20 yards. Good with his head as well.

 

Sorry have to disagree I live on the Berkshire border and I think Reading fans I know would happily let us pay silly money for him - they just don't rate him. Le Fondre is the one they rate....

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A player like Bridge or Davies is a real conundrum for this side given our league position. Get it right and a wise head who has been there, seen it and done it could give us some quality leadership and real edge, just like Bally did back in the day, get it wrong and the dressing room is split...

 

As good as Bridge and Davies have been in the past, or are now, neither would offer particular leadership qualities and certainly not in the same category as Alan Ball did during our promotion season.

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Sorry have to disagree I live on the Berkshire border and I think Reading fans I know would happily let us pay silly money for him - they just don't rate him. Le Fondre is the one they rate....

 

If we are looking to give Reading a pay day then I'd be interested in taking their young England GK, McCartney off their hands, even if its in the summer.

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Was on my HCDAJFU list before we supposedly made a bid but I rate Fontaine - and thought he did a good job snuffing Lambert out. St ledger isn't getting a sniff at Leicester atm and Alex Pearce has had a very good this season. Also like Gardner at Palace, Robinson at Millwall and Gerrard at Cardiff (less realistic I guess).

 

Don't rate St Ledger at all. Preston's defence was good when Youl Mawene was there, but when he left they shipped goals right left and centre. I don't see an international defender at all. Fontaine looked very good and I thought Pearce did a good job when we had him and he has improved since then. Neither are going to be available at least until the summer.

 

If we are talking about getting a centre back that might take us up and do a job in the division above then (other than Davies) Craig Dawson might be an option. He still isn't getting games at WBA, so might be available on loan with a view to buy. The success of Cork (a fellow England U21 international) might twist his arm, although I think Everton were rumoured to be interested too.

Edited by Chez
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I don't know what the record fee is for an L1 player, but that sounds a bit high to me ..even if they go up, he might end up staying anyway
Isn't it £12-15million, paid by Arsenal to Saints for AOC?! And he wasn't a full international like Rhodes.
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Just trawled a few sites in the prem and Championship and it appears that at least 50% of all those clubs have mentioned Rhodes as a transfer target including Manure,Everton,Newcastle and Sunderland.Palace for some reason have a 44 page thread on him.Rhodes is a top top prospect and he was absolutely outstanding on Saurday at Wendies who to be fair to them said it was one of if not the best striking performance they had ever seen at Hillsborough.Check out the clip below.Our Chairman says we don't need to sell and his money is better invested in Rhodes than the bank.Having said that every player supposedly has his price but I think it would have to be North of £5m.I know this sounds a lot but Delph went to Villa from L666s for £7m.Interestingly,I went to my first Premiership game for a couple of years last night Wolves v Norwich.Morison surprised me by how good he was but Ebanks Blake was absolutely pants and Rhodes is 10 times the player he is (and about 4 stone lighter).Rhodes would fit in superbly at Southampton rather than a host of other clubs that I can think of.Another plus with Rhodes is that he is a quiet,lovely lad who doesn't have a bad word to say about anything and says all he is interested is being a better person and a better player.As for Alex Smithies.Probably the best young keeper I have seen other than Joe Hart but he has been injured for almost a whole year although he is near to returning to training.I doubt we would let him go.Good luck for the rest of the season.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16238289.stm

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Isn't it £12-15million, paid by Arsenal to Saints for AOC?! And he wasn't a full international like Rhodes.

 

you're right, of course. but you have to say that AOC was no ordinary 17 year old.

But Arsenal were buying a developing 17 year old and (if I say so ) ..Cortese did a great deal on that (FOR US) and Arsenal got a bargain, anyway.

There is a lot of difference between (the thought of) AOC playing for England ..at age 17, and Rhodes playing for Scotland. I saw that Machail-Smith had been capped too, but with little glory for the Scots..

 

Rhodes has had a remarkable career - so far, a goal average of over 0.5% ..which is really good (Wiki. states 52goals in 99 games .2011)

however, it's all been in L1. Exciting to see a young striker getting in the goals, but he may easily burn-out in a year. Remember all the fuss over Beckford ?

 

Of course Rhodes may score goals in Prem. but I doubt if such a high fee would be paid out by a Prem side..most CC clubs couldn't find that sort of money.

Edited by david in sweden
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you're right, of course. but you have to say that AOC was no ordinary 17 year old.

But Arsenal were buying a developing 17 year old and (if I say so ) ..Cortese did a great deal on that (FOR US) and Arsenal got a bargain, anyway.

There is a lot of difference between (the thought of) AOC playing for England ..at age 17, and Rhodes playing for Scotland. I saw that Machail-Smith had been capped too, but with little glory for the Scots..

 

Rhodes has had a remarkable career - so far, a goal average of over 0.5% ..which is really good (Wiki. states 52goals in 99 games .2011)

however, it's all been in L1. Exciting to see a young striker getting in the goals, but he may easily burn-out in a year. Remember all the fuss over Beckford ?

 

Of course Rhodes may score goals in Prem. but I doubt if such a high fee would be paid out by a Prem side..most CC clubs couldn't find that sort of money.

 

Ummmm! where did AOC play, remind me?

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Just trawled a few sites in the prem and Championship and it appears that at least 50% of all those clubs have mentioned Rhodes as a transfer target including Manure,Everton,Newcastle and Sunderland.Palace for some reason have a 44 page thread on him.Rhodes is a top top prospect and he was absolutely outstanding on Saurday at Wendies who to be fair to them said it was one of if not the best striking performance they had ever seen at Hillsborough.Check out the clip below.Our Chairman says we don't need to sell and his money is better invested in Rhodes than the bank.Having said that every player supposedly has his price but I think it would have to be North of £5m.I know this sounds a lot but Delph went to Villa from L666s for £7m.Interestingly,I went to my first Premiership game for a couple of years last night Wolves v Norwich.Morison surprised me by how good he was but Ebanks Blake was absolutely pants and Rhodes is 10 times the player he is (and about 4 stone lighter).Rhodes would fit in superbly at Southampton rather than a host of other clubs that I can think of.Another plus with Rhodes is that he is a quiet,lovely lad who doesn't have a bad word to say about anything and says all he is interested is being a better person and a better player.As for Alex Smithies.Probably the best young keeper I have seen other than Joe Hart but he has been injured for almost a whole year although he is near to returning to training.I doubt we would let him go.Good luck for the rest of the season.

 

Thanks for the background info - very interesting.

 

Not having seen Rhodes play, but obviously knowing how many goals he scores its pleasing to hear he is the real deal and not a flash in the pan.

 

I doubt whether we will come in for him if the price is north of £5 million - I think thats our absolute ceiling to be honest and as you say, you are flush enough not to sell on the cheap.

 

On a personal note - Don't mess up promotion this year eh? You deserve to be in the CCC.. Good Luck!!!

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you're right, of course. but you have to say that AOC was no ordinary 17 year old.

But Arsenal were buying a developing 17 year old and (if I say so ) ..Cortese did a great deal on that (FOR US) and Arsenal got a bargain, anyway.

There is a lot of difference between (the thought of) AOC playing for England ..at age 17, and Rhodes playing for Scotland. I saw that Machail-Smith had been capped too, but with little glory for the Scots..

 

Rhodes has had a remarkable career - so far, a goal average of over 0.5% ..which is really good (Wiki. states 52goals in 99 games .2011)

however, it's all been in L1. Exciting to see a young striker getting in the goals, but he may easily burn-out in a year. Remember all the fuss over Beckford ?

 

Of course Rhodes may score goals in Prem. but I doubt if such a high fee would be paid out by a Prem side..most CC clubs couldn't find that sort of money.

 

I think Rhodes is the fine example of a young player that needs to take 2 steps back, in order to move forward.

 

He wasn't getting the game time at Ipswich and needed it as it was hampering his development. The move to Huddersfield made sense to all parties and we're now seeing the true ability of the lad come on. He will score goals in the championship, no doubts about that, some players just need to drop down a level or 2 to grow and gain the confidence before coming back better players.

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Today's Mirror.... "Southampton are set to raid Bristol City for centre-half Liam Fontaine"

 

Always thought we'd go back for him. With Jaidi finishing this season & it being unclear when Seaborne will be back, picking 2 from Fonte or Martin (on the right) & Hooiveld or Fontaine (on the left) gives us good strength in depth at the back. Add Sharp (can see it being him rather than Maynard or LJ) + a wideman (possibly the return of Puncheon?) & I think we'd be pretty much there for the rest of the season.

Edited by Ivan Katalinic's 'tache
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That would be the same WBA who just recalled 3 players from loans because of their injury crisis. Seems a little unlikely as a source for loans.
you might be right, he was on the bench last night, but once the window opens they can bring in new players of their own, plus some of those injured players may return too.
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Seem to remember something about Man Utd being interested in Nathaniel Clyne. If that's true, don't think we've got a chance of getting him.
he turned down a move to Wolves last year preferring to stick with Palace to learn the game. Not a chance of him joining us unless we get promoted.
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Brum's Jack Butland should be snapped up before he starts getting games in the first team. Also Jordon Mutch is back from injury playing for Brum reserves last night. He is a quality player. With Zigic's wages draining them the blues are going to get desperate for funds.

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Brum's Jack Butland should be snapped up before he starts getting games in the first team. Also Jordon Mutch is back from injury playing for Brum reserves last night. He is a quality player. With Zigic's wages draining them the blues are going to get desperate for funds.

 

Did very well on loan at Cheltenham.

 

I'm not sure we could sign him now, but if Brum don't go up and they are struggling for cash then a summer bid should be made.

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