Should have said Henderson
The centre-forward market...
- Thread starter Rozay
- Start date
The more and more I think about it, the less I think we should make a move for Kane due to his age and cost. We already have a team that has more players at their peak or past their peak in terms of age and that will need replacing in 2-3 year. We shouldn't worsen the age profile with Kane. Even if we added Kane, we are not likely to be competing for the title next season. We should take the Arsenal and Chelsea approach of getting younger players, that would mean we can sustain a title challenge over a number of years. This means we should be targeting a CF between 22-25 and keep Martial for one more season (due to probable lack of buyers at his current wages). We should take a look at Rafael Leao and see if we can turn him into a 9, he has the strength, pace for it
The bold part is the entire reason for us to go all in for the BEST striker we could (match our play style), and imo its Kane. He will offer us the best chance to go for the trophies in the next couple of years. Go for young or lesser chance striker, risk not getting the trophies we want and the other best players we got in the teams will past and we will still have to reinvest again and the cycles keep continues.
I might well be wrong but feel like more people would warm to signing Kane if we were getting a younger understudy too
That is the best case scenario but only when we could offload others, eg Martial (which is a doubt). One way or another, the best striker that we could go for should be as much proven as Kane to give us the best chance to get the trophies. Get the tittle and we would be able to build from year on year.
Do you objectively think we are going to win the league if we just get Kane? City would still be favoured, Arsenal will spend more and Chelsea won't be this bad after a pre-season where their team is likely to gel. We will still be cementing a top 4 spot, so buying a 29 year old Kane for 100m plus his wages, doesn't make sense. This is not an RVP situation with a mature, world class team that just needs a proper CF. We still have needs all over the pitch, mostly in midfield though and we still need to bring the age profile of the team down. Otherwise we are stuck in a situation in 2-3 years time, where our spine basically all age at the same time and need replacing.
Rather bring in a young CF that is still to get to him prime. We have taken the shortcut too many times over the past few years, bringing in old CFs through Ibrahimovic, Cavani and Ronaldo. We need to look forward and bring in someone for the long term.
The squad really is not that far from the one when we bought RVP. Realistically we have to show that we want and will compete witth the best and the rest of the PL teams. City will be just city like usual, Arsenal is like Leicester of this year. Nobody expect them to compete for PL title this year, Chelsea has their own problems and who to say they gonna to gel. We are better than them this year and if we spend on the best to give us the BEST CHANCE, why cant we challenge for the tittle.
We have to and must show that we want to win. By your logic, we go and buy the young striker and wait for around 2/3 yeara then we will still have to replace the older core players (Case, Varane...) then what, wait another 2/3 years down the line for the replacements to gel and get up to spees with the squad.
Dont wait, if you have the almoat proven and sure thing as Kane then go for him and show that we want to win the title and will do at any cost to win it. Case, Varane, Licha...ect wont be happy if we show that all we want is top 4 and try to bring down the age profil of the team rather than quality. However, by no mean if EtH dont want Kane (stylistically speaking) then go ahead and buy other.
He's not slow, he's an athletic player.
My problem with him is we need more technical players, and he's weak in that area.
If we had Carrick I'd agree with you, but since we don't I believe that unless we get someone like that, Kane isn't a good choice.
Relative to the league they were playing in it's extremely far away.
The side RVP came into had finished level on the top of the table the previous season, only losing out on the title due to a 8 goal goal difference. And the 3rd place side was a full 19 points behind. So in a two horse race they had come as close as they could to winning the title without actually winning the title, and only needed to improve slightly relative to their only competitor to win the title the following year.
In contrast, this year we're currently 19 points and 34 goals behind the current league leaders, 11 points and 36 goals behind the second place team and have five other teams within 8 points of us, all of whom have better goal difference. And if you look at expected stats we're just 6th in the league for xGD/90 as it stands.
These aren't like for like situations where we're a key Kane/RVP missing piece of the jigsaw away from winning or even seriously competing for major trophies. There's a lot more rebuilding still to do, even with that sort of signing. We could improve a lot as a team next season and still "just" finish in the top four.
Kane might be the right buy, but if he is it's because we think he'll be a potential league-winning striker over the medium term into his mid 30s. Not because we're going all in on a short term (e.g. 2 season ish) push that could very easily not amount to anything.
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Re striker, i think go for Kane is the best option we can get (but only if EtH think and like him for the system he wants to play). And, of course, we will have to buy another Midfielder (whoever he is) to help with the squad.
Yes, relatively speaking it is far away, but the chance is not that impossible with what Arsenal doing and with hoefully Kane and another midfielder and later investments we could hopefully challenge and win the league. Since we already have a few great core players, we should build more on that and try to go for the win.
The thing is i dont want us to keep talking about building the squad and keeping age profile low and try to win in the next 3-5 years. There are many factors along the way that can happen and change what we try and expect to achieve. Build for the nowish and build for the future too. I fear we become like Arsenal (under Wenger) when they building full of young players, play good football, and end up only challanging for the top 4 until the players get fed up and leaving one after another. There are no success for the future if there is no sucess in the short-medium term (1-3 yeara)
I’ve heard other people mention him and don’t get it, he’d cost close to 100m and plays from the left. We could try him in the middle but I see nothing to suggest he’s got anymore than zaha has playing CF. It’s a different skill set
We’ve already had short term success unless you specifically mean the PL
Provided we can afford it, I really think we should just be willing to break the bank on either Kane or Osimhen.
At present, I seriously think we're a few strong players away from having a side ready to mount a very serious title challenge. In no position, however, is it more important that this player is absolutely elite than up front.
There are times when I think it's absolutely not such a bad idea to take a gamble on a younger, more unproven option. With a number of key players in the squad being of an age where they're likely to start declining in the next few years (Casemiro, Varane, Eriksen, Bruno), this is absolutely not one of those times. In my mind, this is the time to be making the kind of signing that turns you into title contenders in the immediate future, and I'd say Kane and Osimhen are the only two options that fit the bill.
I'm still kind of undecided on which one of the two would be my absolute preference. At the moment I'm slightly leaning towards Kane, as I believe he's as close to a sure bet as you could reasonably hope to sign this summer. A lot, however, will of course depend on whether or not Kane is actually gettable, as well as how much he'd cost in both fee and wages when compared to Osimhen.
At present, I seriously think we're a few strong players away from having a side ready to mount a very serious title challenge. In no position, however, is it more important that this player is absolutely elite than up front.
There are times when I think it's absolutely not such a bad idea to take a gamble on a younger, more unproven option. With a number of key players in the squad being of an age where they're likely to start declining in the next few years (Casemiro, Varane, Eriksen, Bruno), this is absolutely not one of those times. In my mind, this is the time to be making the kind of signing that turns you into title contenders in the immediate future, and I'd say Kane and Osimhen are the only two options that fit the bill.
I'm still kind of undecided on which one of the two would be my absolute preference. At the moment I'm slightly leaning towards Kane, as I believe he's as close to a sure bet as you could reasonably hope to sign this summer. A lot, however, will of course depend on whether or not Kane is actually gettable, as well as how much he'd cost in both fee and wages when compared to Osimhen.
Given Kane only has 1 year on his deal and will be demanding big money I really can't see how anyone is paying £100m for him.surely he's £60-70m at absolute most. Levy won't be wanting him to leave for free the year after. I suppose if there were a bidding war between us and Bayern or something then maybe it would go a bit higher.
I wouldn't be upset if we got him but I think if we don't have too much money available then I'd rather gamble on a younger striker. And if we do have a boat load of cash then I'd rather go for Osimhen. It's only if he's available for a good price that he'd be my pick even though I think he could be successful here, particularly if Rashford stays.
I wouldn't be upset if we got him but I think if we don't have too much money available then I'd rather gamble on a younger striker. And if we do have a boat load of cash then I'd rather go for Osimhen. It's only if he's available for a good price that he'd be my pick even though I think he could be successful here, particularly if Rashford stays.
He's got a year left on his contract with Milan, so won't cost anything close to 100m. It will be a reduced fee as they don't want to run the risk of losing him on a free like Kessie and Donnaruma. I agree that he has done his best work from the left so far at Milan but he started out as a no 9 at Sporting Lisbon and many people have suggested that's where he will end up. He has significant upside to our team as a mobile no 9 if we can convert him and improve his hold up play. He's young, talented and still to hit his prime plus will be cheaper than the 100 and 150m fees bandied about for Kane, Osimhen and Goncalo Ramos. It's worth the adaptation risk imo
We may as well play Rashford there and buy a new left forward if we're going to play left forwards as strikers. Rashford is both stronger and quicker.
I'm with you. I think the other thing people are underestimating is just how much this short-term success would set us up to build for the future. If we win the league in the next few seasons, we once again establish ourselves as one of the most attractive destinations in football. If you're smart, you can use that to rebuild.
I also just think the squad is no longer at the point where the goal should be to just build for the future. If we don't sign an elite striker this summer, I seriously think we risk letting Casemiro, Varane, Eriksen and hell possibly even Bruno go to waste by failing to mount a title challenge before they start declining.
This is why I'm strongly averse to making the likes of Goncalo Ramos, Højlund, Sesko or Evan Ferguson our big money striker signing this summer. I'd love to be able to get them, sure, but for me the priority absolutely needs to be Kane or Osimhen. Those guys are the two of the best strikers in world football right now, and are the two strikers most likely to elevate us from getting into the Champions League to making a serious bid for the Premier League title.
I don't think one player alone is quite enough to make us title contenders, to be clear, but without an absolutely top drawer forward I just don't see it happening at all. If we had the funds available, I'd love for us to be able to get a promising young striker too, but for me the priority has got to be Kane or Osimhen.
I tend to remember people questioning "age" when we signed Casemiro... and further back Zlatan
Kane seems unlikely. If he is sold he would be sold towards the end of the window to drive down the price. We need a CF urgently, so I don't think it would be wise to play that game with Levy. Hopefully we snap someone up at the beginning of the window...
I think this kind of gives an idea of what Eth would want from his striker. The closest to this we've been linked to is Ramos I think
That is very sensible thinking because we need to take advantage of Rapha,Casa, Bruno & Eriksen. So yeah need to think long term for a younger backup CDM,however medium term for a sure fire striker like Kane.
He should only be in our thinking IF we can't get Kane/Osimhen. Just don't think the likes of him/Vlahovic/Kolo-Muani are elite tier
Agree 110% and finally some posters with more sense. I'm fed up with those "average age of the squad", "resale value" and "29 is too old" nonsense that mostly comes from people who think this is a Football manager.
That's not how it works IMO. We have to meet our spine prime years, take advantage of having those players and win titles. Big clubs like ours should always have both short-term and long-term strategies plotted.
I think at its worst the prices would be Osimhen for 132m, Ramos for105m (rc), Kane for 100m. In this scenario I'd just go for Osimhen provided Eth thinks he suits the team
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Confident we can get Kane for less than £100m
Ideally would get an expensive striker like Ramos and then an up and coming like Hojlund. That would be perfect.
Kane & Hojlund but odds of spending around £130m on two strikers is zero
Leao played 9 for Sporting before he went to AC Milan and even scored in his debut vs Porto. The thing, though, is that his dribbling and ball carrying are unbelievable and I think you’d be better suited with Leao as the winger and Rashford as the striker.
Leao tends to look lackadaisical and will only track back if he feels like it. He’s a weird player to root for and that’s why he hasn’t cracked the starting 11 for Portugal
Unfortunately it is, as I said, it would be perfect, but yes hella unlikely. But there could be a scenario where we opt for someone like Hojlund because the striker market is just insane currently, and we are likely going to have to spend close to 100mill on one that we need. Ramos seems the most likely as I feel like we'll waste a lot of our time getting Levy to the negotiating table for Kane, and Napoli are notorious in their transfer dealings and I cannot imagine us spending over 100million on Osimhen. It leaves Ramos as our likeliest option... but even that will cost a lot
Are Retegui or Hlozek any good?
I just would like a Italian, Czech, German player in our team doing well because we haven’t ever had one in my time.
I just would like a Italian, Czech, German player in our team doing well because we haven’t ever had one in my time.
My feeling is that we won't get him. But if we do it'll be for more than £100m, possibly even £110m. Otherwise Levy won't sell. United will want a quick deal and that puts the power with the seller.
My feeling is it'll be deemed too expensive and we'll move on to someone like Ramos for £80-90m.
That is true, I do worry about his intensity and consistency. I also like the idea of Leao as the left winger and Rashford as a 9, but Rashford doesn't play well with his back to goal. However I can see the two of them switching constantly and taking turns to engage the opposing CBs, they would be a terror for any defence.
The only thing that's giving me hope is the fact he's only got 1 year left on his contract so if he refuses to sign a new one surely they'll have to sell him, even Levy wouldn't be daft enough to turn down £70-80m and let him go free next year
I genuinely believe that Levy will not sell for under 100m and he'd risk keeping Kane for his final year.
Yes, I think it could be a fantastic partnership. It would also help Bruno because he needs runners, not slow forwards.
I’m also excited to see how Garnacho develops. Lots of potential
Yeah knowing how stubborn Levy is
I've said this before, there's no incentive for Spurs to sell for less than that. You'd need that to even come close to replacing what he is in their side.