Cottagers eye French prospect
Fulham have made a £3m bid for Lens' teenage right back Serge Aurier, according to a report in France.
Le Parisien claims Cottagers officials have made the first move to land the defender, who made 19 appearances in Ligue 1 last season as Lens suffered relegation into the French second division.
Manchester City were briefly linked to Aurier earlier this season while Blackburn and Sunderland have also been credited with an interest in the young Paris-born prospect.
Big spending Spanish club Malaga have also been sniffing around him while Getafe are another club to have been linked to Aurier.
Martin Jol is on the lookout for a new right back to cover for Stephen Kelly after the departure of John Pantsil.
http://www.eatsleepsport.com/fulham/cottagers-eye-french-prospect-1253708.html?#.Tj0iXXPHo98 (http://www.eatsleepsport.com/fulham/cottagers-eye-french-prospect-1253708.html?#.Tj0iXXPHo98)
About a month ago it was rumoured that we were scouting him so there might be something in this. Also, the players age, the amount of games he played last season and the reported fee are almost identical to Kasami and his transfer.
Do we need more defensive midfielders?
We need a good right back and another central forward.
What is deeply concerning is our very poor expenditure in fees. Luck of transfer funds could well prove a real problem.
Quote from: Thursby on August 06, 2011, 12:38:50 PM
Do we need more defensive midfielders?
He's a right fullback.
Quote from: Lighthouse on August 06, 2011, 12:43:43 PM
We need a good right back and another central forward.
What is deeply concerning is our very poor expenditure in fees. Luck of transfer funds could well prove a real problem.
Let's face it, after being reported this year, and last year, that MAF is providing a 20m war chest for transfers, we should know by now that will never be the case. Not sure where we are 'net transfers fees' this window but I doubt we spend more than 8M net. Jol seems to be building for now and the future (assuming all these youngsters are just being bought to 'sell on' once they are good enough to start). Roy built for now.
Agree on the right back and one more central forward. I think we will get both of them though.
How can it be cover for Kelly when Hughes has taken the job?
Long term replacement for Baird or Hughes, whoever playes at rightback. This sort of deal sounds similar to that of Kasami.
Quote from: Mr Fulham on August 06, 2011, 01:03:59 PM
Quote from: Thursby on August 06, 2011, 12:38:50 PM
Do we need more defensive midfielders?
He's a right fullback.
I guess I shouldn't trust this site anymore.
http://www.imscouting.com/players/serge-aurier/ (http://www.imscouting.com/players/serge-aurier/)
I saw the headline of the thread and immediately thought of Steve Marlet :58:
Quote from: Burt on August 06, 2011, 03:56:36 PM
I saw the headline of the thread and immediately thought of Steve Marlet :58:
I hope you had a stiff drink to get over that! :beer:
I think this would be a fantastic bit of business, hope it comes off.
He's a very good prospect and would very much want to join us after Lens' relegation. I'd love this to go through, a brilliant buy for £3m.
defo like the way we are looking for talented youngsters - we have a reasonable first team and having these lads vying for places and available for cover bodes well for the future of ffc 092.gif
Quote from: RidgeRider on August 06, 2011, 03:14:12 PM
Quote from: Lighthouse on August 06, 2011, 12:43:43 PM
We need a good right back and another central forward.
What is deeply concerning is our very poor expenditure in fees. Luck of transfer funds could well prove a real problem.
Let's face it, after being reported this year, and last year, that MAF is providing a 20m war chest for transfers, we should know by now that will never be the case. Not sure where we are 'net transfers fees' this window but I doubt we spend more than 8M net. Jol seems to be building for now and the future (assuming all these youngsters are just being bought to 'sell on' once they are good enough to start). Roy built for now.
Agree on the right back and one more central forward. I think we will get both of them though.
We have already spent 7m and are still in need for 2-3 players. I think we'll spend about 15-20m.
We have offered about 3 million each for a forward and a full back. We seem to be only able to spend another 6 million. Say 14 million if true. Hughes wanted to spend that on one player. A top class forward. We will never know who had the right idea. Hughes clearly wanted Prem success. Jol seems to be building a squad to last.
Quote from: Lighthouse on August 07, 2011, 12:50:25 AM
We have offered about 3 million each for a forward and a full back. We seem to be only able to spend another 6 million. Say 14 million if true. Hughes wanted to spend that on one player. A top class forward. We will never know who had the right idea. Hughes clearly wanted Prem success. Jol seems to be building a squad to last.
i never understand why not spending lots of money means we have none.
the only way forward for fulham is to buy younger players for £1-5m. this French lad sounds just the ticket.
Buying £15m strikers is all well and good but it is not sustainable in any way.
Well we tried for Crouch not that long ago. We never spent the money. Hughes tried to spend on a forward but we didn't, which was part of the reason he left. There is no doubt our lack of good central strikers have been a problem for us for years. I agree it is not sustainable, but it wouldn't need to if we bought the right player in the first place. That's the rub.
Quote from: AlFayedsChequebook on August 07, 2011, 01:15:52 AM
Quote from: Lighthouse on August 07, 2011, 12:50:25 AM
We have offered about 3 million each for a forward and a full back. We seem to be only able to spend another 6 million. Say 14 million if true. Hughes wanted to spend that on one player. A top class forward. We will never know who had the right idea. Hughes clearly wanted Prem success. Jol seems to be building a squad to last.
i never understand why not spending lots of money means we have none.
the only way forward for fulham is to buy younger players for £1-5m. this French lad sounds just the ticket.
Buying £15m strikers is all well and good but it is not sustainable in any way.
But we all know we
haven't got any money, don't we?
We've
just about increased our revenue to the point where we can buy the odd player without increasing our debt too much. Any large fees for players comes straight out of Al Fayed's pocket. So in this sense, yes, we could probably technically afford to splash double figures (in millions) on a player but only if MAF is feeling especially generous (we'll have to pay him back eventually I suppose). Otherwise, as you say, it's bright young things from RC Lens and the like.
Always going to be the way for a club of our size.
Quote from: Lighthouse on August 07, 2011, 01:25:15 AM
There is no doubt our lack of good central strikers have been a problem for us for years.
Since Saha left do you think? In 2004-2005 we were fifth in the goals scored table!
Fifth! 2005-2006 was the last time we were in the top half of the goals scored table.
Quote from: ImperialWhite on August 07, 2011, 01:30:08 AM
Quote from: Lighthouse on August 07, 2011, 01:25:15 AM
There is no doubt our lack of good central strikers have been a problem for us for years.
Since Saha left do you think? In 2004-2005 we were fifth in the goals scored table! Fifth! 2005-2006 was the last time we were in the top half of the goals scored table.
I agree. We have never really replaced Saha. McBride and Zamora were fantastic players for us, but they were/are no poachers, no guaranteed 10+ strikers.
Quote from: Lighthouse on August 07, 2011, 12:50:25 AM
We seem to be only able to spend another 6 million.
That reasoning is far too simple in my view.
'But we all know we haven't got any money, don't we?'
We have spent the money on several players. Al has already allowed us to spend. But my point was just that Hughes wanted it spent on one forward and Jol is spending for a squad. When as you say, we have been in need of a striker since Saha. Shame we can't squeeze enough for that forward.
Hughes and Jol had a different idea for the squad. Short term/ long term. Debate is could a forward be better for us than several young players. We will never know.
I'm not too sure if it's about the money. Maybe it's about waiting for the right player(s)....
We were linked with Shane Long by Sky Sports a few days ago.
Quote from: ImperialWhite on August 07, 2011, 01:25:57 AM
Quote from: AlFayedsChequebook on August 07, 2011, 01:15:52 AM
Quote from: Lighthouse on August 07, 2011, 12:50:25 AM
We have offered about 3 million each for a forward and a full back. We seem to be only able to spend another 6 million. Say 14 million if true. Hughes wanted to spend that on one player. A top class forward. We will never know who had the right idea. Hughes clearly wanted Prem success. Jol seems to be building a squad to last.
i never understand why not spending lots of money means we have none.
the only way forward for fulham is to buy younger players for £1-5m. this French lad sounds just the ticket.
Buying £15m strikers is all well and good but it is not sustainable in any way.
But we all know we haven't got any money, don't we?
We've just about increased our revenue to the point where we can buy the odd player without increasing our debt too much. Any large fees for players comes straight out of Al Fayed's pocket. So in this sense, yes, we could probably technically afford to splash double figures (in millions) on a player but only if MAF is feeling especially generous (we'll have to pay him back eventually I suppose). Otherwise, as you say, it's bright young things from RC Lens and the like.
Always going to be the way for a club of our size.
Part of the payback is when we take a young player in, which we have done a lot of the last couple of seasons, and sell them on for 10m, like we did with Smalling, this is part of the payback.
One of the obvious potential benefits to buying young, before they are known gems, is they may end up being good Prem players and will do a job for Fulham, if they turn out to be better than that, we sell them on, and if they don't pan out, they either stay as squad players or we let them go...not so much risk doing business this way as long as you good a really good one every so often.
I really like the direction we are headed under Jol more than Hodgson or Hughes. As has been said, basically, Hughes wanted big 'impact now' players, Hodgson wanted tried and true that would play with discipline and help now, and Jol is looking to build for the future while deepening the squad and making positions more competitive. Ideally with good scouting you can find, develop, keep a few and sell a few for a profit.
We have, apparently, raised our bid.
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lensois.com%2Fbreve-rclens-41584-une-offre-a-la-hausse-pour-serge-aurier-.html (http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lensois.com%2Fbreve-rclens-41584-une-offre-a-la-hausse-pour-serge-aurier-.html)
Quote from: twang on August 12, 2011, 07:42:02 AM
We have, apparently, raised our bid.
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lensois.com%2Fbreve-rclens-41584-une-offre-a-la-hausse-pour-serge-aurier-.html (http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lensois.com%2Fbreve-rclens-41584-une-offre-a-la-hausse-pour-serge-aurier-.html)
I hope this is true, a new RB is needed!