Emmanuel Mayuka - Officially Signed on OS - Work Permit Confirmed

[alpine_saint]

Why? Yes he was good for us, but when you progress the best thing is to let such players go so they can continue to be successful at the appropriate level. We essentially play with 3 forwards so I don't think we've got too many anyway.

 

Its called loyalty, Saint_clark. Is there no place for it anymore ???

[Cascadia Saint]

Why? Yes he was good for us, but when you progress the best thing is to let such players go so they can continue to be successful at the appropriate level. We essentially play with 3 forwards so I don't think we've got too many anyway.

 

Exactly. I don't even think we need to get rid of a striker to make room. We have 2 different 3's.

[MOSaint]

Sharp can still play a part this season albeit not really as a starter. He comes alive in the box and if we are hunting a late goal Sharp would be a good player to bring on to try and poach something.

[Dig Dig]

All these posters willing to discard Billy Sharp to one side just because The Next Best Thing has arrived should be ashamed.

 

What happened to loyalty to players who make big contributions to the teams success ?

 

I am seriously troubled by my opinion that Fonte cannot cut it for us in the PL, because he made such a contribution 2 years ago...

 

Then why are you banging on about us getting in defenders to replace our existing players you utter utter freak?

[alpine_saint]

Good, good. So I can assume you'll be happy when we're loyal to Fonte, Hoiveld (sp) and Fox... or doesn't loyalty count with defenders??

 

It troubles me in each case, but imo Sharp has a role to play and hasnt done much wrong, whereas Fonte and Fox were making mistakes last season already, so one could argue they've had their time to pull their socks up. You've never heard a bad word from me about Hooiveld.

[COYR_CHEF]

"evolution" infers the passage of time.

 

Billy only got here a few months ago. I am troubled that we got him in so recently and now some people see him as history. Have we already become so fickle as Man City and Chelsea fans ?

 

"evolution is defined as "a series of changes over time which result in something new arising.."

 

Sounds like I used to perfect word to describe out situation..

 

Transfer market is "evolution" ya knob..

[St Marco]

Tell me about Mayuka then Alpine? What are his strengths/weaknesses? Why do you think he can only play as a central striker? Why isn't he capable of playing in a 3 the way NA wants to play? And, more importantly considering i'm willing to bet you've never seen the bloke play, why do you instantly write him off as 'another striker' before actually seeing him play and then make a judgement?

 

And you wonder why peaople get bored of your knee jerk reactions....

 

Signing Mayuka does not mean we won't sign a defender. You're an adult so start acting like one and show some patience. You come across as a child constantly banging on to their parents "are we there yet?"

 

The window closes on Friday night so why don't you judge our transfer dealings as a whole on saturday morning like most normal people will?

 

We need an injection of pace in our forward play, hopefully this lad will give us that

 

Naturally people won't like what I said but put it this way. When we signed Due Ridder people were saying the same things. The guy is a gamble and to look at it with a bit of caution is right. I think a lot of you are playing the man rather then the ball.

 

The guy is a striker not a winger. Even Adkins refers to him as a striker and a front man. To say he plays on the wing isn't quite true. To say he is effective from the wing is bull**** as none of us know. The lad scored 9 goals last year in the 14th ranked league in Europe. The top scorer is nearly 34 and scored 24 goals. Showing pace does not mean goals. Experience means goals.

 

And that is the point of what I said. Should we be taking chances on guys unproven at this level and play them out of position or should we be looking at bringing in slightly older more experienced players and play them in their natural positions?

 

Now who knows what will happen in the rest of the window but if this guy is our potential main winger for this season then I'd be surprised big time.

[doddisalegend]

Don't we need pace out wide?

 

I'd be happy with Adam out wide instead of J-rod. Personally I thought the defence was our weak spot at the start of the summer and the 2 games in I still think it's our weakest area I'd be happier with a new LB and some more centre backs ...but there is still time.

[doddisalegend]

Everyone said we needed pace in the final third. This will give us pace in the final third. Job done.

 

CB's will come as well, lots of things happening.

 

Hope so and a LB to with any luck. Any signing is welcome....but I'll find it pretty strange if we don't sign any more defenders having signed another forward.

[Cascadia Saint]

Naturally people won't like what I said but put it this way. When we signed Due Ridder people were saying the same things. The guy is a gamble and to look at it with a bit of caution is right. I think a lot of you are playing the man rather then the ball.

 

The guy is a striker not a winger. Even Adkins refers to him as a striker and a front man. To say he plays on the wing isn't quite true. To say he is effective from the wing is bull**** as none of us know. The lad scored 9 goals last year in the 14th ranked league in Europe. The top scorer is nearly 34 and scored 24 goals. Showing pace does not mean goals. Experience means goals.

 

And that is the point of what I said. Should we be taking chances on guys unproven at this level and play them out of position or should we be looking at bringing in slightly older more experienced players and play them in their natural positions?

 

Now who knows what will happen in the rest of the window but if this guy is our potential main winger for this season then I'd be surprised big time.

 

I don't think people are playing the man rather than the ball.

 

On the thread about a specific new signing, Alpine is off on one negatively (as usual) about signing a forward instead of defenders.

 

 

The window isn't closed yet. We may still buy defenders.

 

 

Also, and this is obviously down to people's specific opinions, Mayuka may simply have been bought as another striker, not a winger. We are apparently close to buying a rather expensive winger also, so it's not out of the realms of possibility that this is the case. I personally don't think 5 strikers is too many.

 

 

It's the jumping the gun negativity that winds people up. This thread about an exciting signing has slumped into an alpine swamp of misery just as countless other threads have before it.

[CWD]

You want to have at least 2 or 3 players for every position. I think we have that covered now with regards to the front three.

 

2 Wide forwards from Mayuka, Guly, Lee, Puncheon and hopefully Ramirez.

 

1 central striker from Lambert, Rodriguez and Sharp.

 

If you compare that to most other PL sides, it seems about the right strength in depth. 8 players for 3 starting positions can hardly be called excessive. They'll all have their part to play yet.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Watch this video all the way through and tell me he can't play wide:

[alpine_saint]

....but I'll find it pretty strange if we don't sign any more defenders having signed another forward.

 

Yep. Not long to go before we know either way though.

 

At the moment it feels like we have Kevin Keegan in charge though.

[doddisalegend]

Naturally people won't like what I said but put it this way. When we signed Due Ridder people were saying the same things. The guy is a gamble and to look at it with a bit of caution is right. I think a lot of you are playing the man rather then the ball.

 

The guy is a striker not a winger. Even Adkins refers to him as a striker and a front man. To say he plays on the wing isn't quite true. To say he is effective from the wing is bull**** as none of us know. The lad scored 9 goals last year in the 14th ranked league in Europe. The top scorer is nearly 34 and scored 24 goals. Showing pace does not mean goals. Experience means goals.

 

And that is the point of what I said. Should we be taking chances on guys unproven at this level and play them out of position or should we be looking at bringing in slightly older more experienced players and play them in their natural positions?

 

Now who knows what will happen in the rest of the window but if this guy is our potential main winger for this season then I'd be surprised big time.

 

I'll admit to knowing diddly squat about this guy......you make him sound like the next Pappa Waigo (not sure if that is a good or a bad thing)

[alpine_saint]

I'll admit to knowing diddly squat about this guy......

 

Me neither. But somehow this disbars you from expressing your opinion about the apparent balance of the whole squad, though....

[JPTCount]

calm down everyone, we are building a squad that will have a core of players that will be here for the next 8-10 years

 

gazzaniga, clyne, j rod, mayuka, (& ramierez) are all 21, and have all been bought for the long term, as was jack cork last year, and i'm pretty sure players like jos, fox, & sharp we're bought in to get us to the premiership, and not necessarily to compete once we got there. let's not forget we are ahead of schedule in NCs plan, and lambert & guly can only really be expected to play at this level for 2 years.

[doddisalegend]

Watch this video all the way through and tell me he can't play wide:

 

I really don't think Youtube videos are much help in assessing a player Papa Wagio, Guly and SDR all looked ****ing amazing on Youtube. Not That I'm writing this guy off or saying he won't be great just Youtube is a little selective....

[Cascadia Saint]

calm down everyone, we are building a squad that will have a core of players that will be here for the next 8-10 years

 

gazzaniga, clyne, j rod, mayuka, (& ramierez) are all 21, and have all been bought for the long term, as was jack cork last year, and i'm pretty sure players like jos, fox, & sharp we're bought in to get us to the premiership, and not necessarily to compete once we got there. let's not forget we are ahead of schedule in NCs plan, and lambert & guly can only really be expected to play at this level for 2 years.

 

 

Great post.

[alpine_saint]

calm down everyone, we are building a squad that will have a core of players that will be here for the next 8-10 years

 

gazzaniga, clyne, j rod, mayuka, (& ramierez) are all 21, and have all been bought for the long term, as was jack cork last year, and i'm pretty sure players like jos, fox, & sharp we're bought in to get us to the premiership, and not necessarily to compete once we got there. let's not forget we are ahead of schedule in NCs plan, and lambert & guly can only really be expected to play at this level for 2 years.

 

Yes, perhaps. But 8-10 years is a long time to keep doing your thing in football. A long time to fight to keep hold of PL status.

[hypochondriac]

On the face of it looks like a good signing offering us something we don't have and further strengthening our group of players. I lookd for ward to Ramirez and a couple of defenders signing and then we are sorted. Happy with this.

[Cascadia Saint]

On the face of it looks like a good signing offering us something we don't have and further strengthening our group of players. I lookd for ward to Ramirez and a couple of defenders signing and then we are sorted. Happy with this.

 

 

Exactly. Me too.

[melmacian_saint]

Definitely signed for the wing. Hopefully we'll see Rodriguez in the middle more often now.

 

One of the best of that Zambia team I got in love with for the African Cup of Nations trophy (in the exact same place where their most promising generation had been lost). Don't know how good he was for YB, but the Zambia manager definitely had him on for the whole tournament. He also seemed to be very obsessed about calling him during games.

[Lazlo78]

Welcome aboard the bus Mr. Mayuka!

[SB]

Very happy with the signing, from watching the Wigan game it proved we still lacked attacking options, with only Sharp as a replacement on the bench, Rickie looking tired after 10 minutes and J rod getting less touches than Sharp did.

[Saint86]

This must be paving the way for some departures.

 

Lambert

Rodrigues

Guly

Sharp

Lee

Mayuka

Ramirez?

 

Puncheon

 

That's a lot

 

I would say that if you include Adam you have 9 players to fight for 4 spaces between them. CAM, RW,LW,CF. obviously they can't all play in each position I.e puncheon as Rickie cf, but on the whole I think this gives us good depth.

[Saint-Armstrong]

But remember everyone, Nixon doesn't have a clue according to 'supersonic'.

[dubai_phil]

 

Burn the Witch!

 

The club is doing nothing.

 

We need more players.

 

We can only work on one deal at a time.

 

And then we get..... What ever happened to Loyalty? Why should we force out a fans favourite?

 

Amazing, I truly did not realise that some people were so passionate in their beliefs that Puncheon & Guly were the 38 games a season solution to our formation problems.

 

Dear Mike Bassetts. In one of our most productive periods under (oh God I'll start Dalek off) we played a pacey, able to beat his man, strong finisher Star Striker as one of the 3 up front.

 

But it's OK we respect your views and your in depth knowledge and how 4-3-3 variations are wrong and 6 strikers for 3 places at this level are not needed and how we are wrong and should be playing 4-4 farking 2 with Lambert & Sharp up front.

 

Now, it's Wednesday and our only Recruitment Team member must be in a right quandary, does he fly back to Italy or go charging round Europe starting to look for a CB & a LB?

[JustMike]

So we finally sign a player with the one thing we have all been asking for, pace. And still people moan!

[dubai_phil]

So we finally sign a player with the one thing we have all been asking for, pace. And still the same people moan!

 

Fixed it for you

[CanadaSaint]

A little more about him:

 

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1436927.html

 

"It's my dream to play for Manchester United. Ever since my childhood, I've always been fascinated by the way they play. It's an ambition which I won't stop striving for ..."

 

Sticking a couple in their net on Sunday would be a good start, Emmanuel.

[david in sweden]

sounds like a really great signing.. ..but can he play at CB?

[david in sweden]

You want to have at least 2 or 3 players for every position. I think we have that covered now with regards to the front three.

 

2 Wide forwards from Mayuka, Guly, Lee, Puncheon and hopefully Ramirez.

 

1 central striker from Lambert, Rodriguez and Sharp.

 

If you compare that to most other PL sides, it seems about the right strength in depth. 8 players for 3 starting positions can hardly be called excessive. They'll all have their part to play yet.

¨

 

 

 

nice to have some options, but do you think the ref. will notice if we have 14 players on the pitch at the same time ?

[John B]

On the face of it looks like a good signing offering us something we don't have and further strengthening our group of players. I lookd for ward to Ramirez and a couple of defenders signing and then we are sorted. Happy with this.

 

Well said Hypo plus a GK

[JoeShmoe]

If we are going to play 3 up front, we need MUCH better quality and pace than Puncheon and Guly. We've even been playing JRod there as we are so short

 

Get this guy and Ramirez and we instantly massively improve our quality in that area , stretch the field, and get service to Ricky. We have JRod to back him up

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

Athletic, quick as you like, two good feet and knows where the goal is ...... we certainly don't want his type here.

 

By the way you lot, I claim first dibs on the 'Mayuka Bazooka' headline when he scores his first screamer.

[notnowcato]

This is chuffing hilarious.

 

Exciting, young, pacy striker signs on a long term deal. Great day for us, we should be happy.

 

I think some would be better off giving this forum a miss until the window closes.

[Chin Strain]

This is chuffing hilarious.

 

Exciting, young, pacy striker signs on a long term deal. Great day for us, we should be happy.

 

I think some would be better off giving this forum a miss until the window closes.

 

Apparently the window has closed and we haven't bought a centre back.....or that's what you'd have thought.

[labibs]

I asked Jonathan Wilson (football writer who covered the CAN extensively last year) for his thoughts on Makuya.

 

"@jonawils: He was excellent at the CAN. Held the ball up well, good movement, cd finish."

 

Doesn't sound like someone who would play wide, but positive nonetheless. Personally very happy with this signing, we were crying out for some pace on Saturday. Squad is starting to look a little unbalanced now though, very short in some areas and bloated on others. Hope we use the remaining few days of the window to sort this out. Although I suppose a few of the lads may be stuck here until the transfer window closes and the short term loan window to the championship opens.

[sammysaint]

Surely this means guly has dropped down the pecking order, i personally think SDR is off and and possibly Puncheon despite his great goal last nite, aldo i would rather us move guly and SDR and loan out Lee to a championship club for 3 months as he needs plenty of match practise to get fully fit, leaving us with Jay Rod Lambo Sharp Mayuka Puncheon and Rameriez, of maybe the GR deal is off and this guy has been signed instead.

[Smirking_Saint]

All these posters willing to discard Billy Sharp to one side just because The Next Best Thing has arrived should be ashamed.

 

What happened to loyalty to players who make big contributions to the teams success ?

 

I am seriously troubled by my opinion that Fonte cannot cut it for us in the PL, because he made such a contribution 2 years ago...

 

Oh please

 

You bemoan a lack of signings saying the squad isnt good enough and then peddle out this tired old crap ?

 

This is a football team Alps, one that needed improving if we were to stand a chance of staying up.

 

We looked seriously lacking an extra dimension against Wigan, this boy will do that whether upfront or on the wing.

 

If Sharps not good enough he will move on (he isnt good enough) and will easily find a suitor.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Sharp can still play a part this season albeit not really as a starter. He comes alive in the box and if we are hunting a late goal Sharp would be a good player to bring on to try and poach something.

 

You should have seen his awful miss at Stevenage last night

[JustMike]

You should have seen his awful miss at Stevenage last night

 

....and his goal and assist

[Smirking_Saint]

....and his goal and assist

 

It was against Stevanage, he isnt good enough

[JustMike]

It was against Stevanage, he isnt good enough

 

some would argue that he hasn't been given a chance to be

[Turkish]

Its called loyalty, Saint_clark. Is there no place for it anymore ???

 

You crack me up Alps. On the one had on the one hand demanding new signings and the team isn't good enough the when we make them say we should stay loyal to the ones we've got! So which is it, new players or loyalty to the ones we have?

[JustMike]

You crack me up Alps. On the one had on the one hand demanding new signings and the team isn't good enough the when we make them say we should stay loyal to the ones we've got! So which is it, new players or loyalty to the ones we have?

 

a valid point!

[Smirking_Saint]

How many players have loyalty these days anyways ?

[Katalinic]

http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/2012/08/29/southampton-signs-mayuka/

 

Loving some of the comments from the Zambian fans - especially that they should now support Saints and not Man Utd as they have the sign of Lucifer on their shirt. Also some appear to be doubting his age.

[John Smith]

If we are going to continue with a 4-3-3 type of system, we need 6 attacking players. They don't have to be 6ft plus strikers like Lambert, or natural goalscorers like Sharp, but also pacey like this guy appears to be. By having this guy and a n other, we enable the midfield to have cover also. Lallana becomes a midfielder rather than attacker, along with Morgan, JWP etc. One more CB required and we have 2 players for every position, sounds good to me.

 

I really hope this guy is as good as Dyer proved to be for Swansea! Good Luck lad, welcome to the Prem!

[skintsaint]

looks a player who gets down the flanks a fair bit from the yootube clip. Adds pace which we have been missing.

 

Any guess on the fee?