Well you can see a certain logic until you take into account the home base player rule in the 25 man squad, unless Sullivan proposes breaching that and saying "See you in court" to the F.A. of course. Basically, the maximum number of home based players we can afford to sell is two, and that will take us down to the bare bones before we start including under 21s in our 25 man squad unnecessarily - and that would be a stupid thing to do. One of Parker or Cole may go, and my money is on Parker, but to sell both would be madness.
The Stoke rumour has resurfaced. They are definitely in search of a striker as the Remy Ryanair flight showed, but I still do not believe that Cole would be willing to join them. Liverpool yes, that would make some sense for a man who has just been recalled to the England squad, but Stoke? No, just can't see Carlton agreeing to go. Of course the Home Based rule can be sidestepped if we were to take a Home Based qualified player in exchange. That's where I think the Keane and Parker swap may come into play. Tottenham have more than enough Home Growns at present, they can afford to move out Crouch and Keane if Remy and Parker are signed.
This Riquelme rumour won't go away either. I don't see that happening and I'm not sure we would want him anyway. He is in the twilight of his career now and was patchy in his form when at the very top of his career. One very good World Cup does not a great player make, as Nicky Butt proves.
What about Yakubu. Well Avram knows him and likes him and the rumours have been very persistent. But, at the end of the day, he will increase the number of non Home Growns which we cannot really afford at this stage unless a "foreign" player is shipped out. We would, no doubt, love to move on McCarthy, but who is going to meet his wage demands?
The Behrami sale is the most logical, especially given his absence from the squad for the Deportivo game. But I still fancy Parker to go ahead of him, once the money from the Milner sale pumps into the system. Only Italian sides seem interested in Behrami, and only the biggest in Italy have any real money to spend. £12m for Parker makes more sense than £6m for Behrami to me, given both can be the midfield dynamo and Behrami is much younger.
We will see. But with the transfer market yet to take off, teams are leaving things very late. Pre season friendlies are meant to be used to bed new players in. Well that chance has now gone. I reckon it would be more sensible to say, let's hold our current hand and see how we do between now and January!
14 comments:
Ridiculous... there can be no possible good reason to get rid of Cole.
I agree. But the rumour persists.
Hope you're wrong on all accounts with this HF. All three exchanges would weaken our squad IMHO.
Cole is proven in the PL and hitting some good form whilst Remy remains a question mark and seems reluctant to join us (maybe not specifically us but appears to be holding out for a higher level PL team).
Riquelme is/was top drawer but has attitude issues and appears to be a mercenary veteran looking for one last bumper pay day.
The Yak is heavy and past his best. Most of my toffee supporting pals will be delighted if they get some money back on him as he's become injury prone and has experienced a long term drop in form. If we're looking for an overweight, out of form striker surely we already have BigMac for that?
The only one I would reluctantly let go would be Behrami. We have a lot of options in the middle now and although I love his attitude and determination he's a bit of a headless chicken and we've got plenty more of those.
I hope we keep Cole and Behrami. The headline simply refers to the rumous as the article makes clear.
Do you not hope that we keep Parker as well?
Martin O'Neill resigns. (I have to confess I didn't see that one coming.) Presumably unhappy about seeing his team weakened. Milner on his way, I'm guessing?
The transfer merry-go-round that you've been waiting for is about to get going.
Hold on for a bumpy ride.
Not if somebody offers £12m for Parker mate.
interesting HF and a little controversial.
Got to admit that £10m plus for a 30yr old would be good business for the club. And we've got plenty of midfield options to cover.
Can't see anyone offering that much for him though. £7-8m maybe but no more than that.
HF, thats the trouble here .. persistant rumours ... no smole without fire ... jamie Rednapp is a close friend of Scotty Parker and I do see mileage in this yet ... in midfield we are fine but up front we are without a proven goalscorer ... hence I still reckon one of Parker or Cole will go and either Remy, Bellamy or Keane will arrive ...
Got my tickets for the Bolton game this morning so I'll email you and arrange to catch up ... I hope none of them anonymous geezer are following you tho
I was hoping you would deal with them! I think they're more Tal Ben Haim than Taliban!
Anon...there can only be one. And he's not scared of cannon fodder Tom.
Anon, I have posted your comment to show what sort of individual you are. I would love to see you in Afghanistan, risking your life for your country. You haven't even got the balls to post on here under a handle! You have proved yourself a hideously unworthy individual with that comment. And a loser of course. The Game continues to defeat you at every turn!
I am a Store Manager for Homebase and can categorically say that no-one is leaving here before the end of the transfer window.
Check your facts me old fruitcakes
I sincerely hope that West Ham have changed but I'm an old git and therefore quite accustomed to getting well and truly shafted (no not way!) by every owner that we've had.
I can therefore see us getting the lazy Yakubu (I read the Everton sites for the fans view) and the Parker thing has gone so quiet that a deal must have been done with Spurs. I suspect that he'll join them after they have qualified for the CL - which I think they will do as their luck knows no bounds - as witnessed by their very kind qualifying draw.
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