January...who would you like to see added or leave..merged

[FFC1987]

Also is Hugo not a lump we could put up front? Great work ethic, bundles through players and generally puts in a shift.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Also is Hugo not a lump we could put up front? Great work ethic, bundles through players and generally puts in a shift.

I think he's going to get a fair run at the starting role when he's healthy (should be soon, no?).

[ltd-ffc]

Also is Hugo not a lump we could put up front? Great work ethic, bundles through players and generally puts in a shift.

I think he's going to get a fair run at the starting role when he's healthy (should be soon, no?).

personally think his work ethic is good but he is more of a channel runner like bent or a AJ. (my opinion)
think in these times we could do with a target man like a pog or zamora

[ToodlesMcToot]

bardsley could be a good option he does put in a shift.

shame we are not in a better position to offer michah richards a way out for 1st team footy.

all would be forgotten in my eyes if dempsey came back on loan and bagged few for us his shift work alone is worthy of signing him. I would be gutted to see him anywhere else.

hopefully rene can get either anderson/buttner/zaha or as many as he could on loan or anderson permanent maybe.

how much if any at all do you reckon we have available for us.

i do see January window as a huge opportunity to offload riise on a free and berba for a few mill would seriously lighten our wage bill in order to bag few people.

Really do think we missed out big time on huddlestone last window.

Well, I don't know how a Dempsey loan would fare or how he'd get on with the club and fans. But, the one thing that I do know is that the days of  zero shots on goal would end.

[Julius Geezer]

No more short-term fixes. This policy has failed. We need to invest in younger players with sell-on potential. Obviously, this would require a greater outlay, but it's more sustainable than building our squad around 30-somethings. Dembele is the perfect example. Bought for 5m at 23 y/o, and sold for double this 2 years later. We should also consider those who are out of favour at their current clubs. Bertrand, Buttner, Naughton, Cork, Rodwell, Anderson, Allen, Long etc. would all improve our squad. We could even dip into the lower divisions or overseas markets. I'm sure that Will Hughes and Tom Ince could make the step up. We have been a Premier League fixture for over 12 seasons and we need to show some ambition to extend our stay.

Agree with every point you make. Kahn needs to realise that sustainability is more than just extra seats and cheap/old players. Southhampton are the best example of a team that wisely invests in youth - Llana, Clyne, Shaw, Rodriguez etc are all examples of names mentioned on this board years and years ago - but we chose ageing 'names instead'...

and the difficulty now is to either sign the good youth that will fight for us (hopefully) and the proven ageing names who could possibly make us do a QParse.

Like I said before, they need to be players who are hungry to prove a point in the PL.

Players with mental strength and resilience.

We've seen in recent years with West Ham and QPR that players reputations and past glories don't mean sh*t.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Also is Hugo not a lump we could put up front? Great work ethic, bundles through players and generally puts in a shift.

I think he's going to get a fair run at the starting role when he's healthy (should be soon, no?).

personally think his work ethic is good but he is more of a channel runner like bent or a AJ. (my opinion)
think in these times we could do with a target man like a pog or zamora

The infuriating thing is that Berba can be that. He's got such control and is so strong on the ball. We shouldn't need a target man.

[ltd-ffc]

bardsley could be a good option he does put in a shift.

shame we are not in a better position to offer michah richards a way out for 1st team footy.

all would be forgotten in my eyes if dempsey came back on loan and bagged few for us his shift work alone is worthy of signing him. I would be gutted to see him anywhere else.

hopefully rene can get either anderson/buttner/zaha or as many as he could on loan or anderson permanent maybe.

how much if any at all do you reckon we have available for us.

i do see January window as a huge opportunity to offload riise on a free and berba for a few mill would seriously lighten our wage bill in order to bag few people.

Really do think we missed out big time on huddlestone last window.

Well, I don't know how a Dempsey loan would fare or how he'd get on with the club and fans. But, the one thing that I do know is that the days of  zero shots on goal would end.

Me either but I would forgive if he came back and contributed to our cause and kept us up.
I would put my money on him getting more shots on target in one game than the rest of our team have in our last 5. How many shots is that 6 or 7 tops haha

[ltd-ffc]

Also is Hugo not a lump we could put up front? Great work ethic, bundles through players and generally puts in a shift.

I think he's going to get a fair run at the starting role when he's healthy (should be soon, no?).

personally think his work ethic is good but he is more of a channel runner like bent or a AJ. (my opinion)
think in these times we could do with a target man like a pog or zamora

The infuriating thing is that Berba can be that. He's got such control and is so strong on the ball. We shouldn't need a target man.

agreed I just cant understand his attitude at all I can remember he was like it at the arsenal game to some degree so its not just a recent thing 2nd game of the season following a win you would think he would be buzzing.

[BlaWhiArmyyyyyy]

Also is Hugo not a lump we could put up front? Great work ethic, bundles through players and generally puts in a shift.

I think he's going to get a fair run at the starting role when he's healthy (should be soon, no?).

personally think his work ethic is good but he is more of a channel runner like bent or a AJ. (my opinion)
think in these times we could do with a target man like a pog or zamora

The infuriating thing is that Berba can be that. He's got such control and is so strong on the ball. We shouldn't need a target man.

agreed I just cant understand his attitude at all I can remember he was like it at the arsenal game to some degree so its not just a recent thing 2nd game of the season following a win you would think he would be buzzing.

He wants to be a playmaker now. Even when we line up in 4-2-3-1 we just end up 4-2-4 as Berba just drops in to Ruiz/Taarabt's position. And hes so slow on the ball in his build up that the oppo get bodies back in. I remember a quote a while ago where he said he started off as a 10 and he enjoyed playing there.

[ltd-ffc]

Also is Hugo not a lump we could put up front? Great work ethic, bundles through players and generally puts in a shift.

I think he's going to get a fair run at the starting role when he's healthy (should be soon, no?).

personally think his work ethic is good but he is more of a channel runner like bent or a AJ. (my opinion)
think in these times we could do with a target man like a pog or zamora

The infuriating thing is that Berba can be that. He's got such control and is so strong on the ball. We shouldn't need a target man.

agreed I just cant understand his attitude at all I can remember he was like it at the arsenal game to some degree so its not just a recent thing 2nd game of the season following a win you would think he would be buzzing.

He wants to be a playmaker now. Even when we line up in 4-2-3-1 we just end up 4-2-4 as Berba just drops in to Ruiz/Taarabt's position. And hes so slow on the ball in his build up that the oppo get bodies back in. I remember a quote a while ago where he said he started off as a 10 and he enjoyed playing there.

so true he tends to get in a strop if something does not go through him usually leaving bent isolated and being a pointless body up top

[FFC1987]

Southampton is always being used as the pin up but certain things happened there which currently won't happen here. A lot of those named players plyed there trade in the lower leagues with the club and gained vital experience doing this. I think someone else on here mentioned some had played as many as 100+ competitive games before making the step into the EPL. Now they invested at least 50m in 3 players (Osvaldo,Lourven and Wanyama) and allowed some youths to come through indeed. Saints had a fantasic scouting team picking up some of there players but its a very unique setup in my eyes and hard to try to replicate without getting teh scouting entirely spot on.

[Bassey the warrior]

Also is Hugo not a lump we could put up front? Great work ethic, bundles through players and generally puts in a shift.

I think he's going to get a fair run at the starting role when he's healthy (should be soon, no?).

personally think his work ethic is good but he is more of a channel runner like bent or a AJ. (my opinion)
think in these times we could do with a target man like a pog or zamora

The infuriating thing is that Berba can be that. He's got such control and is so strong on the ball. We shouldn't need a target man.

Very true. Maybe Rene can get him to do that. Mind unlike a Ctouch style target man he'd need to receive it to feet, he's not a great jumper.

[Craven Mad]

Southampton is always being used as the pin up but certain things happened there which currently won't happen here. A lot of those named players plyed there trade in the lower leagues with the club and gained vital experience doing this. I think someone else on here mentioned some had played as many as 100+ competitive games before making the step into the EPL. Now they invested at least 50m in 3 players (Osvaldo,Lourven and Wanyama) and allowed some youths to come through indeed. Saints had a fantasic scouting team picking up some of there players but its a very unique setup in my eyes and hard to try to replicate without getting teh scouting entirely spot on.

Mostly agree, but Wanyama, Clyne and Rodriguez were all purchases made in the past year from lower league (scot league<EPL) teams, and they've all been fantastic, and were all purchased at <23years old.. Why couldn't we do the same?

[west kowloon white]

Jol wasn't given 50 million to spend-and ffc1987makes valid points ,seem to remember Fulham linked with a few of the players that ended up there.
Fortunately couldn't afford Osvaldo and will be interested to see how their season pans out now their rigid system has been sussed?

[FFC1987]

Southampton is always being used as the pin up but certain things happened there which currently won't happen here. A lot of those named players plyed there trade in the lower leagues with the club and gained vital experience doing this. I think someone else on here mentioned some had played as many as 100+ competitive games before making the step into the EPL. Now they invested at least 50m in 3 players (Osvaldo,Lourven and Wanyama) and allowed some youths to come through indeed. Saints had a fantasic scouting team picking up some of there players but its a very unique setup in my eyes and hard to try to replicate without getting teh scouting entirely spot on.

Mostly agree, but Wanyama, Clyne and Rodriguez were all purchases made in the past year from lower league (scot league<EPL) teams, and they've all been fantastic, and were all purchased at <23years old.. Why couldn't we do the same?

Yes, apart from Clyne, they paid a premium for both (which has paid off) but still, its not all youth for Saints, they've spent a significant sum and are reaping the benefits from it. It doesn't always work though. Just ask QPR and some of the fan boys on my twitter who insisted when they signed Granero Mbia etc. they would finish in a europa spot....

[FFCByTheRiver]

Will Hughes, Aurtenexte/Daley Blind, Jordan Rhodes and Dempsey on loan. A man can dream.

[FFC1987]

Buying Will Hughes (I plug him every window) would be a sure sign of intent.

[Steven Ageroad]

After reading all the post on who we should buy in January, looks like we are buying a complete 1st X1 which would cost Mr Khan at least £250 mil.

Dream on!

[K33NY]

Dunno if there is a thread about this allready but, thought it might be an interesting topic to bring up to see who people would like to be leaving and brought in, in January window?

[Ordar]

Realistically I dont think we'll be buying anyone, think its more likely to be loans

Well we need to strengthen at centre back, I think that much is obvious. Given the situation, probably not wise to bring Burn back and throw him in, so we'll have to see who's available. What about a cheeky bid for Vermaelen who doesnt seem to be playing much for Arsenal.

In CM we need someone creative to come in and play alongside Parker (or Boateng). Anderson from Utd has been banded about, but he's very similar to the players we already have. Maybe try Kasami there

We absolutely need a striker. I'd be tempted to grab Pogrebnyak or Zamora for 6 months to give us a different option.

Maybe a wide player like De Bruyne or Zaha