Season 16-17 | Page 5 | Vital Football

Season 16-17

2 new rumours today!

Dale Stephens, almost 27 year old CM currently playing for Brighton has his contract expiring at the end of the season and so we're said to be looking at a cut price deal for him as I would assume BR would still rather get him in now rather than the summer for free.
Stephens has never played in the EPL but has been a top player for Brighton since joining them from Charlton in January 2014. His current value is around £4.25m......which seems quite ridiculous for a player of his age and lack of experience at the highest level! But that's English football for you. Seems we'd probably therefore have to pay £1.5m or so for him......

The other option is Darlington Nagbe, a US international playing for Portland Timbers. Reports are that he's being given the VIP treatment at tonight's game against Barca in the hope that it will woo him into joining. Nagbe is 26 and according to transfermarkt he is typically a winger or plays in behind the striker and from the first video I could understand that. He doesn't appear to be blessed with outstanding pace or acceleration but still seems to be able to run past opposition players with ease at times! I couldn't see him being a natural winger like Sinclair, Forrest or Roberts but potentially more like Nakamura was (although he's a long way from being that good with the ball). He has scored some good goals though! I think his best position is more of a Rogic role in behind the striker as he also seems quite at home to take over that striker role.
However a recent highlights video of him was from 5 months ago when he was a half-time substitute in the USA's friendly against Ecuador where he was brought on to play in CM. It was a strange game because the US seemed to be sitting quite deep and just happy to pass the ball about, there was little penetration at all. Yet Nagbe scored the winner after getting himself into the box, nicely taken goal it was too. In 45mins of football, he made 32 passes.....100% completion! It was just a case of him moving in to a good position to get the ball and rather than do something fancy, he would pass it back to the defender or further in to CM. It was actually impressive in it's simplicity!

While at times it feels like we could do with a player to just collect the ball and pass it on calmly, I feel it's a lack of creativity on the pitch that we need to address and unfortunately for Nagbe I saw no creativity from him in CM. There were a couple of nice 1-2s but no sublime passes or anything to get excited about. He wouldn't be a bad addition to the squad and he appears versatile but is he really going to improve the team as BR is looking for? I'm not so sure!
 
So apparently Darlington Nagbe was "just visiting" last night according to someone from Portland Timbers. Another source said that they expect him to be at Portland for the whole of 2017 and even if he did try and force a move, £1.5m wouldn't be enough. They'd be looking for closer to £2m. He's contracted until 2019.

Henrik Larsson has left as manager of Helsingborgs and as a farewell gift, offered to not take his payment due to him and instead leave it with the cash-strapped club.
If we have any interest in Jordan Larsson, now is the time to move on it!
 
Logan Bailly who has dropped down to our 3rd choice keeper is being linked with a move back to Belgium as he hopes for more first team football.
 
Jordan Larsson is reportedly a transfer target for Feyenoord this January. Former Rangers player and current Feyenoord boss Giovanni van Bronkhorst is lining up a move for the young striker........or is it simply too much of a coincidence that he'd be making the same move as his father? Then on to Celtic?

We've also been linked with a new striker. It's one I have looked at recently but I didn't think our chances were all that great for him. Cyle Larin of Orlando City in the MLS. He's a 21 year old Canadian international striker who's been a consistent goal scorer over the past 2 seasons now. In 2015 he won Rookie of the Year and scored 18 goals and 1 assist in 28 appearances and this year he followed that up with 14 goals and 4 assists in 33 appearances plus he has made 18 appearances for the Canada national team and scored 4 goals.
He's a big lad and offers both presence and an aerial threat as well as being quick and skillful with the ball. He'd offer us something a little different to what we have as you could use him as a bit more of a target man. If I was to liken him to someone else, it would be Lukaku! Big, powerful but quick and an eye for goal!

The reason I didn't think we had much chance is because the talk of him moving is to clubs like PSV, AZ, Belgian and German clubs (un-named) as well as the likes of Corinthians in Brazil but it would be surprising if a few English clubs weren't also circling. The transfer fee may also be an issue for us as the talk is of him going for at least $5m but potentially over $8m! However with only a year left on his contract, it would seem difficult for Orlando to demand too much for the player!
The question of whether he would want to join Celtic is another matter. He will obviously want to play regularly and with the formation we use and the other strikers currently at the club, he may struggle to break in. However if we were to make this move, it's seen as a preemptive move to have a replacement in for Dembele before the summer. However the opportunity to join a club who will be in the Champions League and to work with a manager like Brendan Rodgers will be a huge draw for any player and could swing the vote in our favour!

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That could be a decent deal. We're also looking at midfielders, apparently. McCarthy's name keeps coming up.
 
That name does keep coming up but I still feel that's a push too far! I also can't see us being able to buy him from Everton......BR isn't going to sign someone on loan for 6 months in this window, there would be no point!

I still think there are a couple of players in Serie A playing with Palermo who are currently bottom of the league and so could be available!
 
wee_od_88 - 30/11/2016 08:30

Jordan Larsson is reportedly a transfer target for Feyenoord this January. Former Rangers player and current Feyenoord boss Giovanni van Bronkhorst is lining up a move for the young striker........or is it simply too much of a coincidence that he'd be making the same move as his father? Then on to Celtic?

We've also been linked with a new striker. It's one I have looked at recently but I didn't think our chances were all that great for him. Cyle Larin of Orlando City in the MLS. He's a 21 year old Canadian international striker who's been a consistent goal scorer over the past 2 seasons now. In 2015 he won Rookie of the Year and scored 18 goals and 1 assist in 28 appearances and this year he followed that up with 14 goals and 4 assists in 33 appearances plus he has made 18 appearances for the Canada national team and scored 4 goals.
He's a big lad and offers both presence and an aerial threat as well as being quick and skillful with the ball. He'd offer us something a little different to what we have as you could use him as a bit more of a target man. If I was to liken him to someone else, it would be Lukaku! Big, powerful but quick and an eye for goal!

The reason I didn't think we had much chance is because the talk of him moving is to clubs like PSV, AZ, Belgian and German clubs (un-named) as well as the likes of Corinthians in Brazil but it would be surprising if a few English clubs weren't also circling. The transfer fee may also be an issue for us as the talk is of him going for at least $5m but potentially over $8m! However with only a year left on his contract, it would seem difficult for Orlando to demand too much for the player!
The question of whether he would want to join Celtic is another matter. He will obviously want to play regularly and with the formation we use and the other strikers currently at the club, he may struggle to break in. However if we were to make this move, it's seen as a preemptive move to have a replacement in for Dembele before the summer. However the opportunity to join a club who will be in the Champions League and to work with a manager like Brendan Rodgers will be a huge draw for any player and could swing the vote in our favour!

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Nice one wee od. Looks a player who could really develop with us.

Other positions BR will want to strengthen are attacking centre midfield and likely CB too as you and David have discussed.

Fullbacks is another area he should have his scouts working on. Tierney and Lustig are first picks, obviously, but the Izzy situation needs resolved and on the other side Gamboa has yet to impress even as a stand-in.

We need either proper competition for Gordon or a direct replacement if the rightone is available. The two backups we have are shite. Who the fk is scouting our goalies!?



 
Cheers Tic!

Agree about Larin. Hoping it's true, either that or I think Larsson is the other option. Otherwise I doubt we're going for another Dembele, young striker to develop and it's someone who's a bit older but is struggling for game time and we can convince them to move to Scotland to help put them back in the spotlight.....

CB is definitely one I think, I mean I'm happy with Sviatchenko and Simunovic and I think they're both good players but they can be exposed from time to time, especially in Europe.

Not sure if we'll go for an out and out attacking midfielder or maybe someone capable of doing that and CM or possibly might go for another winger. We'll have Roberts to replace in the summer from the sounds of things....
 
Apparently Ciftci could be facing the boot in January. Considering he has barely even featured on the bench, even when Griffiths was out injured, it seems he must be one of those told by BR that he will not have a future at the club. He's only been on the bench 6 times this season, including European qualifiers and made 2 sub appearances against Lincold Red Imps in our first qualifier. He last appeared on the bench for the 2nd game against Borussia MG on 1st November and that was his first bench appearance since he was on the bench against Rangers back in September!
Rumours are that he could be heading back to Dundee United. Ciftci still has 2.5 years to run on his contract, so it would seem we'd require some sort of cash for him....but if we really want rid of him and he's not going to play, we may look at a very cut price deal.

That however does suggest he'll be offloaded in order to make space for a new striker........although it's difficult for a 3rd striker due to us normally playing only 1 up front, you need someone there in case 1 or both players get injured. Unfortunately Jack Aitchison is still too young to really be considered credible back-up. If we had a slightly older striker in the youth team then they could be a natural successor to Ciftci and keep fitness and match sharpness up by playing for the youth team until needed for the first team.
 
Been linked with a young attacking midfielder/winger - Junior Flores. He's currently playing for the Borussia Dortmund B team however he was on the bench for the first 2 games of the season, then dropped out of the squad for 2 games and since then he's had a torn ligament so hasn't featured. His contract is up in the summer and Rodgers has been an admirer for a while having tried to take him to Liverpool. He's still only 20, 21 in March, but he's probably still a little bit behind some of our own players in terms of his development to the first team. BR might get him in to have a look once he's healthy but at this stage of the season I don't see this going anywhere.

There's also stories about our scouts going out to watch Anderlecht vs Eupen recently......unsure who we were looking at as any player we might be interested in is way out of our budget or the others would be very difficult to sign due to red tape and immigration issues as they've not represented their countries (African players).
We've also once again apparently taken in a Benfica match as well.......
 
I've been looking around at other potential signings this January, players who might not otherwise be available to us but their contracts are running out in the summer so we should be able to do a deal.

If we're looking to bolster the defence, Andre Pinto could be a good option! Former Porto youngster but never actually managed to play for the first team as he was always being sent out on loan! He left Porto at the age of 22 and joined Panathinaikos in Greece where he spent 18 months before returning to Portugal to join SC Braga at the age of 24 in January 2014. He has been there since! Now 27 he's an experienced defender who is helping his side sit 3rd in the table however his contract expires at the end of the season and perhaps CL football and a change of scenery will interest him. He'd add a bit of experience and height to the defence. He's a good header of the ball, he's strong and he's decently quick too while also being calm and cool on the ball and in possession. He also seems to organise those around him, telling them where to go and who to mark and when to push out etc. Looks to be an intelligent player and I don't see why he wouldn't be a good addition and replacement for Toure who I still believe may well retire at the end of the season.
His value is currently around £2.7m but with only 6 months left on his contract, I think we could do a deal! It depends whether he intends to sign a new contract or not.

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In terms of strikers, if we don't at least try and sign this guy then there is something seriously wrong!
Jamie MacLaren - 23 year old Australian striker (Scottish parent/s by the looks of things as represented Scotland at youth level but born in Melbourne) currently playing for Brisbane Roar. MacLaren was signed as a youngster by Blackburn Rovers and came through their U18s and then into the U21s but with first team chances slim, he ended up moving back to Oz to join Perth Glory. He scored 11 goals in 38 appearances for Perth before opting for a move to Brisbane Roar where he has scored an incredible 25 goals in 35 games! This season he has scored 6 goals in 10 games! His contract is up this summer and he's only valued at around £850k.....so this guy could be an absolute bargain! Even paying more than his value to get him now he could be a bargain! £1m.....bite their hand off!
He is now a full Australian international and so should have met Rogic, having that familiar face could be a good draw, plus he'll want to test himself at a higher level (Champions League) and is one who could definitely end up moving on to bigger things. The big question would be whether he wants to leave his family and the quality of life in Oz.....
He's a natural goalscorer, he's quick and tricky and can play on the shoulder and run in behind like Griffiths but he can also be more like Scott McDonald or Gary Hooper and be a real in the box poacher, just finding those little spaces to be in the right place at the right time to knock in the easy goals. That's something we don't really have!

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I didn't get round to posting about midfielders but it doesn't look like that matters as we've made a move. After the Darlington Nagbe deal seemed to fall through after his club were unwilling to make a deal happen, we've turned our attentions to Russia and have agreed a fee to sign FK Krasnodar's 19 year old (only turned 19 in December) Ivorian midfielder Kouassi Eboue however the deal can't be completed until we've obviously agreed personal terms and we get him a work permit which is the difficult bit as he has yet to actually make an appearance for the Ivory Coast at any age group although he has been called up to the squad for the full national team. I don't know if he's been called up for the AFCON squad but he has seemingly impressed in the Europa League this season starting all 6 group matches and helping them through to the last 32 while also helping his team to 5th in the Russian League.

He's described as a holding midfielder, someone who likes to control the play in the middle of the pitch. He's around 6ft, not massive but certainly bigger than Broony but he's not the most well built player I've seen and that might be something he works on, beefing up. However that may not stop him from being strong on the ball!
He may need to grow up a bit yet though as there is a video of him being shown a red card in a league game this season and he pretty much throws a tantrum, throwing himself to the ground etc. From what I could make out, it does appear to be a harsh red card as I'm not sure what he really did, however you can't get so easily rattled and behave like that. I think BR's plan will be to have Kolo Toure as his mentor and show him how to be a proper professional. With Toure also being from Ivory Coast, he'll be someone for Eboue to look up to if he doesn't already!

This looks like it could be an interesting signing either way though so look forward to seeing what this lad is all about!
 
Apparently, he's a big talent. He has been compared to Wanyama, but I don't see that as Victor is a more imposing physical presence. This is an interesting move as I see Rodgers moving Bitton out this window or next and that McGregor will take a lesser role. It would also mean that he definitely sees Armstrong in more of an attacking role. They way he has played, why not! Since Eboue cost about £3 million, he must be pretty good!
 
We're paying for his potential I think. Doesn't seem to be too big a risk given his performances in the Europa League and he has been called up to the full Ivory Coast team so that's a good sign. The talk does appear to be that Bitton could be on his way out.......

Been linked with a host of other players now as well though and when it comes to defenders, there seems to be a bit of a theme....young!

19 year old RC Lens defender Jean-Kevin Duverne. 19 appearances for the first team in Ligue 2 this season, he only made the bench and didn't play in 1 game, 2 sub appearances and the rest he has played the full 90 mins. Lens are sitting 3rd in the table and in contention for promotion to Ligue 1 which is where he'd really be tested, but that's when his price will rocket and more clubs will take notice. Lens have a reputation for producing good young talent and it looks as though Duverne could be the next one. He's only valued at £128k right now although that will probably go up and only contracted to 2019 so he shouldn't be an expensive signing and should be comfortably good enough as back-up to Simunovic and Sviatchenko. You'd think Rodgers would again pair him up with Toure as a mentor.
He's not the biggest defender in the world and is probably closer to a Sviatchenko type of defender, his long passing needs a little bit of work and his defending will get better the more he plays but he looks very promising.

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The other defender is the "new Simunovic"......19 year old Filip Benkovic. He has replaced Simunovic in the Dinamo Zagreb team and while he hasn't played as much for the Croatian youth teams as Simunovic had, he's considered a big talent. He played in all of Zagreb's Champions League group games except one where he was on the bench and he played in all but one of the qualifiers where again he was on the bench and one of those 5 games he made a sub appearance. All of the Champions League and qualifiers he played in other than the 1 sub appearance, he played the full 90mins. In the league has made 18 appearances, playing the full 90mins every time, missed one game and was on the bench for another.
His value has already bumped up to around £2.5m but then that is often the case with Zagreb because they have such a successful conveyor belt of young talent that as soon as they enter the first team, they're worth a lot of money!

As you might expect, he's a similar style to Simunovic and may even be a bit quicker across the ground than him. He has a knack for just reaching in with his long legs to stab the ball away or tackle players, loves a sliding challenge! lol.

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We've also been linked with a move for Nottingham Forest midfielder Henri Lansbury. The 26 year old joined Forest in 2012 when still only 21 having come through the ranks at Arsenal and had successful loan spells at Norwich and West Ham. It feels like Lansbury has been around for ages yet he's only turned 26 in October 2016. 6 goals and 3 assists this season after 4 goals and 5 assists last season. He hasn't played or even been in the squad since the start of December where he'd been on a run of 3 games as captain. Strangely the same sort of thing happened for about 3 months last January. Could it be to do with his contract and him wanting to move away from the club? He's captained the side on 8 occasions this season and was the captain for the majority of last season.

Watford and Derby are reportedly interested and apparently although his vlaue is £1.7m and his contract expires in the summer, bidding is to start at around £3m.
 
The Lansbury link is interesting. It seems Rodgers really wants to remake the midfield in advance of Europe qualifiers next summer. You figure we'll be losing Roberts and maybe he thinks Forrest isn't quite up for European competition?

Remaking central defense would also be a nice move. I like Sviatchenko and Simmo, but are they strong enough for Europe? Maybe that's what Brendan is asking.
 
We will lose Roberts this summer, not much doubt about that!
I think Rodgers has faith that Forrest is good enough, he's shown himself to be good enough at times but it's about consistency with him.
The reason I find Lansbury a strange option is that he wouldn't be played out wide, he'd be in direct competition with the likes of Rogic, Armstrong and McGregor. Granted, McGregor and Rogic can be good in the right games while Armstrong has become a fantastic player for any game this season but it still seems a strange area to strengthen given that we're losing a winger in the summer.

I think everyone has questions over Sviatchenko and Simunovic. Some games they can look like great players but they just don't quite give you that same confidence as past defenders that they will be there to sort the problems when needed if you know what I mean?
Toure would appear to have 1 more season in him and then I think he'll retire but I'd be surprised if he doesn't go into coaching and who knows, if he likes it enough then he might start his coaching journey with us.
That makes sense that we may therefore be looking at young defenders who can learn from him for a season, make a few appearances and then step up once he's gone. The Benkovic rumour seems to be a bit of rubbish.....we're keeping an eye on him but have no plans to sign him right now and no contact has been made about him.
 
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