HanoiVillan

1) He's at Norwich. 2) We're not paying money for players. This is nonsense.

Lots of people saying he's average or rubbish. He's got over 50 caps for his country and scored at nearly a goal every other game. That's a pretty elite group, ultimately. Just don't think he's rubbish. On the contrary, he's a very strong player, and he has an excellent header on him. The problem is the off-field stuff, and that stuff is a big problem. It would be an even bigger problem if he had to work with Roy Keane. He just seems incapable of making good choices off the field. In the end, he's a good player, and maybe he'll get it together somewhere. In our current state, it's a risk I'd take, but on a very short-term contract. That being said, is there anything whatsoever behind this rumour? Haven't seen it anywhere else, and it doesn't sound very likely, surely he'd be wanting too much in wages?

I'm really not sure if that's true. I bet if you looked at Collins' PL career, you would see a similar % of clean sheets kept compared to Senderos, despite always playing for worse teams (well, apart from last season). Collins is a very effective CB. He's not a great player, you'll never win the Champions League with him, but he's an effective PL CB. There's a reason managers who focus on defence above all else like to buy him and play him.

He would never move to a team that are going to be in a relegation battle, and nor should he really. Also, Belgium generally play with just one of them up front at a time, largely because they haven't formed a successful partnership for the national team.

yes, by a million miles A very silly thing to say. Collins is probably a better CB; Cole is a better AM. Nothing is that different "by a million miles".

We went over this in the relevant thread months ago. Albrighton had one of the highest ratios of chances created to minutes played in the whole division. The fact that our tepid attack failed to convert many of those chances doesn't mean that he didn't provide them. Kozak would've benefited from that supply line.

I apologise for perhaps not making myself very clear. When I said "I don't think he has any especial fondness for the club", that wasn't meant to mean that he actively dislikes us or anything. To clarify - he was one of the most important players in a team that only just missed out on a Champions League place. To come to a club that is in turmoil, with a very unclear future direction, and which is very very likely to be at least involved in a relegation battle, would be a huge step down. I don't see why on earth he would do it unless it was to do that club a massive favour. I don't think he feels he owes us that, and I don't think he owes it to us either. Joe Cole is a completely different case. He chose us because the other offers from other teams were for more money in weaker divisions. Barry's offers will be from better teams in this division.

How do you know Barry is never going to play for us again? Because he spent last season on loan in a side that finished 5th in the table, where he was an extremely important team member. Better teams will want him. Also, I don't think he has any especial fondness for the club. Finally, if we don't sign him this window - and we won't, we don't have enough money in the wage structure to pay his wages - he won't be worth signing in future windows.

too pricey Yeah, that's nearly three-quarters of a Mark Draper. Come on people, adjust yourselves to our bright future!

I think I'd prefer to see that myself . . . just like Nibali though, you can't see Wiggins ever managing to drop Froome, Contador or Quintana on the biggest climbs any more.

Obviously Barry is never going to play for us again, and it's just pointless saying 'if only we could sign him, then we would be okay'. There are a lot of players who are out of our league who would improve the side, but it's kind of by the by really.

Big men rarely have a good touch, commentators have told me.

How? To go and play in a children's league? We might as well sell him, at least we would make something out of it.

The tragedy is that Chimbonda and Bridge would probably be improvements on our fullback options.

Missing the point a bit though. The fact is that we do have the aforementioned strikers on the wage-bill so unless Lambert is going to get rid of a couple of them, no new strikers should be added and he should be pragmatic enough to work with what he has. Obviously though, 'Lambert' and 'pragmatism' are words that you will seldom find in the same sentence. Also, what about when Benteke and Kozak return to fitness? We'll basically have a third-choice striker on biggish (by our standards) wages* that could be better used elsewhere. Not to mention that Bendtner is the sort of player who will instantly kick up a fuss about it also. *Anyone who thinks Bendtner will come here for less than something like £25k/w (if that) is deluded. I don't understand this argument. If the players we have now aren't good enough, then they aren't good enough. I can't pretend to want to see us fail to score all year simply out of bloody-minded principle.

Apparently we aren't. Somebody was quoting to me some bookies or other where there are 10 teams with narrower odds or something. I'll be placing a very large bet on us sinking this year, I want the compo if it happens, and I truly believe it will.

Nothing worth bringing you up to speed on.

There's a resigned tone to that announcement that suggests we might not all be dancing in the aisles when it's announced.

Surely a loan would be a better solution for our troubles up top? I mean, Benteke and Kozak will return to fitness sooner or later.

'Could afford' is a relative measure, isn't it? Obviously we could, if we wanted to, and if they were actually prepared to negotiate a price. But I don't think for one minute our pot of gold is big enough to accommodate purchasing a 32-year old for £2m. It would take up too much of the total budget.

We haven't got two pennies to rub together?

Sounds like he's off to Orica next season . . . sensible step for both parties IMO. Anyone watching the Criterium this week?

Honestly, that is outrageous stupidity on our part. Unbelievable.

Why? . . . he's found out the Queen doesn't write them herself, computers do it for her these days.

Not quite as hansom though are they. No seriously, if it was taken at Villa park he'd be carrying the whole team, as usual. Beautifully done, absolutely textbook.