Still need a striker?

[Fiddy]

You only get what you pay for.

We bought Cisse for £14m, what's an extra £5-7m on top of that to get a player who could make a real difference?

I'm just tired of us settling for second rate players who can't take us up a level.

I agree...but for £14m you should get a bit more than we got for Djibs anyway...Kuyt for £10m is looking decent but we need someone top class alongside him now, and none of the current '£7m and below' lot look like it. So why not spend near £20m and have our no. 1 strikeforce set for the season?

[Dhav]

You only get what you pay for.

We bought Cisse for £14m, what's an extra £5-7m on top of that to get a player who could make a real difference?

I'm just tired of us settling for second rate players who can't take us up a level.

To think of what we might have got for that money and we ended up with that piece of ****

[Farside]

i dont think we need a new striker..Kuyt, Bellamy and Crouch offer us plenty of options. Maybe a youngster who can come on and inject enthusiasm late in games. That Gonzalo Higuin lad that we have been linked to sounds like he will be worth a shot. Big wraps on him in Argentina.

The one thing we lack IMO is a creative player who has the ability to unlock defences from an attacking position.We have lacked this for years. Our strikers have zero supply generally, and are often forced wide to get the ball. The one moment this year where i thought that was superb was Luis' litlle chip through to Crouch against West Ham. That was a great goal. We need to score more like that.

Im not that unhappy with our team as it stands, we have a very good squad, they just need to gel IMO.

That's what Bellamy is supposed to do. He is not and out and out striker. He is better going at defenders.

[ningnangnong]

To be honest I dont think we should have loaned out Pongolle.

I agree.

I'm a big fan of Pongolle, all he needs to do is build up a bit of strength and work on his finishing, and i reckon he'd be a pretty useful asset.

[Rich]

OK, let's say that we have a very good season, and just miss out on the prize. Rafa goes to the board and says "Look lads, we are virtually there, I only want one player - a world class finisher - give me £25m for him"

Eventually, Parry and Moores say "100% backing, we agree. Here's £25m"

What happens next?

[Shaggy]

What happens next?

What happens next? We spend the money on a striker who we are all convinced will score the goals to fire us to the title. He fails abysmally, is sold on for a huge loss, and resumes scoring goals for fun as soon as he pulls on his new strip.

That’s pretty much what always happens, isn’t it?

[Rich]

I know that, and you know that Shaggy.

But all this talk of blowing a whole summers budget on David Villa (for example) seems crazy, when he doesn't look suited to the premiership, isn't a 'clinical' striker, and would arrive with far too much pressure on his head that would almost guarantee that he'd fail.

[Shaggy]

Villa at that kind of money would be far too much of a risk for me.

[Rich]

I suppose then, the next logical question would be. Given a limitless supply of money to throw at one person. Who would you pick to bang in the goals?

I cannot think of any one player that would guarantee success and the magical grail of 20+ league goals a season.













(Henry - that's it!)

[Shaggy]

I suppose then, the next logical question would be. Given a limitless supply of money to throw at one person. Who would you pick to bang in the goals?

I cannot think of any one player that would guarantee success and the magical grail of 20+ league goals a season.













(Henry - that's it!)

D’you know I was thinking exactly the same thing. There’s not one striker, Henry aside, who I’d be confident would notch us 20+ goals a season if we had unlimited funds. Not one.

Just goes to show how difficult this is.

[Rich]

Exactly, and as you say, we've been burnt so many times recently, you can understand the club not wanting to put all their eggs in one basket.

[dww]

I would add Van Nistelrooy to the list but beyond that it is difficult to see. I still want to see our current players given a bit of time. I think they would look a lot better if as a team we were performing more.

[Rich]

You see, two years ago, I'd have agreed that RVN offers a minimum of 20 league goals a season. Now I'm not too sure.

[dww]

Last season for the mancs he was out of favour and still scored 21 in 35. He obviously isn't as good as he was but he is still a very dangerous forward who has adapted to the PL.

[Harv]

Villa would be a disater for that type of cash....i watch him alot. While he is talented he would get smashed by the Premier league defences. He is weak in the air aswell. If we were to sped that sort of money on someone i would go for Torres or Huntelaar.

Torres and Kuyt would be a great combo, fat chance of it happening though

Huntelaar on the other hand is a possibility, and the boy scores goals for fun. He would be my choice if we were to splash the cash.

I highly doubt we will spend over 10mill though.