Signing of the season?

By Tom Bason
January 17 2011

Today’s date is 17th January. That means that the transfer window has already been open for 14 days (it didn’t open on 1st January as that was a Saturday). So far, we’ve signed absolutely nobody. And am I worried? No I am not.

To date, we’ve seen the teams around us spending the big bucks. West Ham have taken on Wayne Bridge’s reputed £90,000/week wages. We are supposedly in the market for a left-back, but would Bridge be the answer to that question? On his debut on Saturday, he was at fault for all three Arsenal goals (he was at fault twice (twice!) for the second goal from Theo Walcott) before finishing the match injured. I would definitely say that the best thing Manchester City did for us over the weekend was let them have Bridge. And it was quite amusing to see all the “if he always performs this poor on a Saturday etc.” gags pop out as well.

Even our local relegation rivals are out there. Aston Villa today bid £18m for Darren Bent. He is a very good striker who will undoubtedly score the goals to drag them out of the situation that they are currently in. But, unless Gerard Houllier is the world’s best poker player and has managed to persuade Randy Lerner to splash the cash, surely the signing of Bent will see the squad weakened in other positions. Ashley Young and Stewart Downing are two important players who are constantly being linked to other clubs.

Birmingham City have signed David Bentley on loan, presumably paying a fair amount of his wages. If, and it’s a big if, he can recapture some of his Blackburn Rovers form, he will turn out to be a good signing. But, it’s a long time since he was playing at the required levels, and there surely have to be doubts there. In addition, it’s clear they need a striker. Kenny Miller and Robbie Keane are the two most likely, but according to reports both will cost upwards of £50k/week in wages. Both former Wolves players, Miller is in the form of his life for Rangers, but it’s a massive difference between scoring goals in the SPL and the Premier League, especially for a team who don’t create chances. Keane is slightly different, there is no denying his quality, but it appears that Rafa Benitez and Harry Redknapp have managed to break him, and he looks a shadow of the player he was before he joined Liverpool.

So far, the one player we have been strongly linked with is the Dundee striker Leigh Griffiths and even that’s not guaranteed. At the age of just 20, and currently scoring goals in the Scottish First Division, he is unlikely to score the goals to keep us up. He is definitely one for the future, and as a reported fee of £150,000, he appears to be a very low risk deal. I assume that the signing of Griffiths (if it happens) will not affect any other signings; if we enter February with just George Elokobi and Stephen Ward at left-back, the signing of Griffiths will have nothing to do with it. There have been signs that the money’s there – Steve Sidwell was on the verge of signing before being hijacked by Fulham. This surely indicates both that we are after players, and also that a central midfielder is a priority, although this may change with the return to fitness of Karl Henry.

The priority this January may be to keep our current players. Is there a possibility of a firm bid for Matt Jarvis? With Everton losing Steven Pienaar (and Tottenham’s confirmation of their interest in him), there could be a few clubs in the market for a winger. A potential hypothetical situation – Villa signs Darren Bent but sells Ashley Young to Tottenham to fund it. Would Houllier then be looking at Jarvis? Or could Sunderland look to reinvest some of their new funds in a bright young British prospect? It’s time like this that I’m very pleased he has another four and half years on his contract. One player who may not be leaving is Dave Jones, and I think this is a good decision. As he is out of contract at the end of the season, we would struggle to get £1m for him. If a proven international player such as Pienaar is moving for as little as £3m, Jones will be worth far less. No matter how much we got for him, it wouldn’t enable us to sign a replacement.

This season so far has seen the undoubted stars be those who have improved on previous form. It is a cliché, but Nenad Milijaš has been like a new signing, and we are finally seeing Steven Fletcher get a run in the team. I watched the game at the weekend with a friend who doesn’t see much of Wolves, but the player he was impressed with was Geoffrey Mujangi Bia, who if he manages to play well against Doncaster tomorrow (assuming he plays) could offer a genuine alternative. I think the basic point I’m trying to get across is that I’m not yet worried by the lack of transfer activity, I have faith in McCarthy and Jez Moxey to do what’s right for the club in the long run, not just for the next six months.

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Thanks for the weekend Mr Mancini

Discussion started by Wolves , 17/01/2011 16:41

Wolves
17/01/2011 16:41

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Stourport Wolf
18/01/2011 13:04

I dont think there is any doubt that Bridge is a decent player but he lacks match fitness and will probably take half a dozen games or more to get back in the groove by which time West Ham could have dropped a lot of points.

Isnt the signing of Bridge more naivity from West Ham board. It makes me laugh to see Karren Brady strutting around as some kind of business guru on The Apprentice but is overseeing nonsense like this going on at West Ham. It would be interesting to hear what Alan Sugar would say about the business dealings at West Ham.

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kightly37
18/01/2011 14:00

Karren Brady Your Fired !!!!!!!!!!!!!

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ernesto hunt
19/01/2011 09:18

If we are to make any improvements to our squad then we have to be aware of the weaknesses in the squad - left back seems the most popular candidate. But a true assessment is not possible until the 'team' and 'individual' players have acheived some sort of consistency.

We now seem to be acheiving it and it's revealing that perhaps we are not as badly off as we thought we were. Good job really as trying to get top flight players in is proving difficult. Even if they want to come the 'one off' fee is high and the 'week in week out' wages perhaps even a greater long term burden - as Portsmouth found out.

£6m for Keane and £60k a week! How many young prospects do you get for that at £500,000 and £5k a week? Perhaps the Hammill, Griffiths, Badwillie way is, for the main, the best way for us. OK, the occassional 'big' buy for specific problems - but a well managed policy of taking talented raw late 'teenagers' and putting them into a '6th form' Academy might be a more productive activity.

We have perhaps in a loose sense been practicing that for a while now - with dividends.

A comment on the Manc match. Earlier in the season I thought I saw flashes in our play of some damn good stuff. Against City, at a point in the 2nd half, I thought I saw some superb interplay good enough to grace even the Emirates. If MM is a good old centre-half, then some one somewhere in the club is having a good effect!

I can hear the missus coming so got to sign off!!

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Risca TM
20/01/2011 10:22

@ernesto

I hope that hearing 'your missus coming' is in the context of 'coming home', or 'coming in', or the mind boggles at what you get up to while writing these interesting posts!

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ernesto hunt
20/01/2011 15:28

Risca, you old dog. Springs early, the sap's rising and blokes minds turn to more important things than footy.

If you want to know what my misses looks like then think of Hammill's misses but a good looking version! You'll see then I've too much on my plate to type and **** at the same time - nor the inclination anyway. One job at a time!

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Risca TM
21/01/2011 08:54

I'll be monitoring very carefully how often you post from now on, ernesto...

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ernesto hunt
21/01/2011 15:10

Risca, same number as I s! About 3 times a day - strength willing!

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