I believe you are correct welch, most of these signings are with a view to more long term plans!
Gershon is for the here and now, he already has decent experience and is the right age to come straight into the team. I think he is good cover in case someone were to come along with a good offer for Mulgrew. Charlie is a similar type to Gershon, a LB, CB or even midfield if you want him to. Both very versatile and I think Gershon has a decent left foot as well but certainly not quite as good as Mulgrew. Muldini is one that isn't mentioned when talking about possible players leaving the club but you have to ask, if an EPL club were looking for a new utility player, they could spend a lot more money on someone a lot worse than Charlie Mulgrew! Someone like Newcastle for example, they need back-up in defence and Collocini wants to return to Argentina so Mulgrew would be a good option for them. Clearly I'd rather he stayed but Gershon fills that gap quite nicely if he were to be the subject of a bid.
How much Gershon actually plays remains to be seen but I struggle to see how he will play many games.
Gershon is more likely to be competition for Izzy instead of our CBs but if belfast is correct (and I think he probably is) in that we want to use the 3-5-2, I don't see Gershon playing on the left of midfield much, not convinced he is a wing back, therefore we will look to use him as a CB. He therefore becomes back-up.
On big Vic, I don't think any club that is being credited with interest (all the big clubs) are looking to sign him in this window but if someone were to make a bid, it could spark a bidding war and force clubs to bid for him now so that they don't lose out!
Anderson and less cash for big Vic......I don't like that deal! Anderson has not turned into the player Man U thought he would, he's not a bad player but I don't think he would be a good fit for our club! Plus his wages would be the big stumbling block!
The reason we are pushing for Agudelo now is that we know he wants to join us, his club now seem to be willing to sell but most importantly is that he has been down at West Ham on trial and they are also keen, so we are moving quick to beat the EPL clubs to the punch!
Not so much to do with getting him in and settled but that will be part of it.
Miku is to stay until the end of the season and nobody has given up hope of him settling in, Lennon pointed out that Ki took a while to settle and then came good, Miku could do the same!
Bangura is apparently set for the off, despite scoring on his comeback to the development squad back in Decemeber. Hooper has apparently decided to change agent at the end of the month and that is his reason behind not signing a new deal at the moment but he has apparently also told the club that he wants to leave in the summer because he wants to force his way into the England team but he doesn't want to go now because he wants to play in the CL against Juventus!
This is clearly bad news but at least he is committing himself until the summer so we don't have to worry at the moment. The major problem is how much we can get for him. Come the summer, he will only have 1 year left on his contract, therefore how much we can ask for him is reduced! Clubs are currently talking about prices of £5m.....that will be a good offer in the summer! Considering that whoever he moves to could easily sell him for about £10m+ in a couple of years, £5m in the summer is a big blow! What we have to hope for is a bidding war!
In terms of replacing him, it is obviously going to be difficult and it feels more like we are going for quantity of strikers rather than proven goalscorers. We know Stokes will score if you give him the right partner, so far Hooper has been the only one who really works with him but I think the other problem for Stokes' future at the club, as well as the off-field problems we have spoken about before is that Lennon really seems to favour this front 3 system now. Two wider players and one through the middle. Stokes hasn't done particularly well up front on his own so could struggle through the middle but he is good in wider areas, stretching defences. That means he isn't in a position to score goals though!
Agudelo could fit in well to the front 3 playing through the middle as a bit of a target man. We have seen that Lassad can play in a wider position but would also be capable of playing through the middle.
I think the Australian kid could be a good buy for £400k and could add something a little different. He's big, strong and skillful and could be developed into a cracking player!
I think we should also be actively looking to sell some players as well. We still have Daryl Murphy out on loan, Andre Blackman, Bangura and Paddy to sell or let go and then we have to make a decision on players such as James Keatings who showed so much promise as a youngster but suffered an unfortunate injury just when we would have brought him into the first team. That has seen him go out on loan but unfortunately I don't think he has done too well or played that much. We also have Paul Slane and Lewis Toshney to make decisions on as they are at the age where they either need to be back-up and be involved in the team or they move on!