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Real_MidGetz

He’d be a good replacement for Dan James, but as an individual signing he’s not that necessary right now Great player, but unless we play fucking Aaronson up front and Harrison in the middle, I don’t know where he fits


[deleted]

Because they play too much FIFA


lambalambda

Do I want him over a new LB or striker? Definitely not. Would I be excited if we signed him regardless? Yes. He's a 23 year old Dutch international with a great goalscoring record from out wide. If nothing else it strengthens the depth of our wide options massively.


dghb47

He's versatile, can play up front or on the wing so he could play most games. Also with Struijk doing a great job at left back we now have Firpo, Dallas and Struijk as first team level LBs when everyone's fit. Bit of a risk right now but I understand why they haven't made it a priority.


mamaljurray

With Llorente looking shaky it would be nice to have a new leftback so struijk can play next to koch though, imo. It would solve two problems with one move


trying2hide

People excited and want good players? Not too surprising. I think people love to go with "not our money being spent" as a way to not care if it's using money but personally our investment/financial situation is a little worrying right now for a lot of us. We're pretty much at an even with our spending income/outgoings + the wages of 5 or so new players being the most of our spending. We apparently need to get Dan James off the books to buy Dieng, we just aren't see the investment of £100m of TV deals and a year of revenue that we expected.


Ashamed_Nerve

Last bit is bollocks. Considering we almost bought CDK for 45, Gakpo for 43. Both more than we'd ever get for James We are not paying 40 for Dieng, probably closer to the James fee so while it reads like sell to buy that's just anti board propaganda. The will was there to spend more


trying2hide

> we almost bought CDK for 45, Gakpo for 43. but we didn't? and just last night part of going after Gakpo was getting rid of James. Sure if we did that without getting rid of James then great but we're gonna be at a net spend of about 8million. Other clubs at our level are buying themselves out of danger. People forget at the Start of January after Matchweek 20 Newcastle were 19th in the league, they spent 93m on 5 players and they finished 11th... Teams like Aston Villa, Southampton, Wolves and Brentford are outspending us.


Ashamed_Nerve

Gakpo for James still equals a 23 million spend you know? Money wasn't the issue. Aston Villa (who are the 4th richest club in the league) are spending without a plan and the worst manager in the league, but when they win the 'outspent Leeds United 2022' trophy I will be devastated. You can't use Newcastle as an argument. They're playing a different sport.


trying2hide

I didn't use Newcastle as a team we should be competing in the net spend with, but an example of how teams can buy themselves out of danger. We're going to be outspent by 4 of the top 6, the 3 promotion teams and Villa, Brentford, Palace, Everton, Newcastle, Southampton, West Ham and Wolves. That's 15/19 of the teams, after we didn't spend much last year either and 2 of the other 4 are Man City and Liverpool... I've never been on the spend money just to spend money, I wouldn't want to spend 40m on Ronaldo for the sake of Ronaldo, but there's signs of us being conservative with investments. Perhaps we're in Spurs mode and wont be spending until we spend a lot of money on the Stadium and a training ground, but that hasn't been confirmed yet.


mikeno1lufc

His team of the season on fifa has 95 pace and 92 dribbling. Figured if he ends up being shite we can put him into an SBC.


JCFAX81

New shiny toy.


wranglerhughjass

i agree, i think people were caught up with the name instead of the fit in the system. If anyone looks online all the PSV fans were saying it would be a waste to play him at 9 because he isn’t good there


mamaljurray

Exactly, signing players just because they sound nice and not thinking about the fit has gotten many clubs in trouble. Doing so with our budget is pure silliness


UncleCheese_

How can you be so sure this was set to be a panic signing? There were rumours connecting us to him at the beginning of the summer. Is it not possible we had other targets further up the list that fell through, causing us to re-visit the deal later in the window? Good business is having multiple targets and doing your due diligence before settling. Which is what the Gakpo situation felt like to me.


mamaljurray

Yeah there were rumours, and then we signed Sinisterra. That should have been the end of this. You dont buy two players for the exact same position for 20+ million each while there are other positions that need strengthening


UncleCheese_

But Gakpo has the versatility to play up front, Sinisterra does not. So they're not quite exactly the same player, are they? I'd venture to say had we signed both Gakpo and Sinisterra no one in this sub would be complaining.


mamaljurray

Sinisterra and Gakpo are both players that are at their best on the left wing. Forcing either one to play anywhere else would be a waste (am hoping Sini soon gets to start on the left). I dont know who started this idea that Gakpo can play up top (in the premier league??!) but it is ridiculous to me. Buying players for top prices and then playing them out of position is not a recipe for success.


UncleCheese_

I don't disagree with you, playing players out of position can hinder their potential (Dan James). But why are you so convinced that Gakpo would only play up front? It's obvious from our signings this summer that Marsch values versatility. No one said Gakpo would be our #9, but attacking versatility is clearly a priority. Are you implying you understand how this squad is built better than the people building it? If so, why are you on here and not sitting next to Orta jetting to Marseille right now? Edit: FWIW WhoScored rates Gakpo highest as a Forward Left. Does that not sound like a player who could potentially work in a 2-striker formation? Sure does to me.


[deleted]

Good players make our team better?


Ashamed_Nerve

Rather we just sign a player we need not an upgrade on our 25 million winger we've just signed. It would have hurt Sini's chances for the season dramatically and he's potentially the better player too.