We’re going to need a forward who can deliver reliably and ruthlessly. Despite being the only team in the Prem to feature four double-digit scorers, we lack that one player who can change a game week after week with a stunning goal. The committee-approach of the 2012-13 season certainly worked in terms of the sheer number of goals we’ve scored, but we still limped through far too many games when we just couldn’t unlock a defense to score–across all competitions, we failed to score in nine matches and scored a single goal in 18, with predictable impacts on points-dropped and progress in various cups. I won’t dredge up those numbers. I don’t want to live that much in the past.
When it comes to the pasts of the players we’ve been linked to, however, it’s well-worth a closer look. Sadly, it looks like the most “available” player, and the one who carries the most impressive resumé, might also be the least desirable at least in terms of our needs: David Villa. He’s far and away the oldest of the bunch at 31, and although he’s played at the highest levels of football between the Spanish national team and Barcelona, these are factors that might inflate his stats. Simply put, Barcelona’s dominance of La Liga has been so complete that its forwards find far-more opportunities to score than forwards at other clubs might. His market-value has plummeted from a high of £44m in 2011, due in part to injury, his age, and concerns over his longevity. He might represent a nice addition to the squad, but he might have to accept a second-string role–I’m not sure he’s willing to change clubs without upgrading his role. Then again, with the arrival of Neymar, he’s almost certainly going to drop further down in the pecking order.
At the other end of the spectrum, at least as concerns age and experience, is Christian Benteke. He has only one season of top-flight action, this past year with Aston Villa, but has made the most of his time. He almost single-handedly dragged the Acorns away from relegation, scoring 19 goals despite being the focus of each opponent’s defense. Aston Villa has apparently slapped a £40m asking price on him with interest from Spurs and Fiorentina making the headlines lately. That might say something about those club’s concerns regarding Bale and Jovetic, respectively. If they’re willing to meet that price tag, it might indicate that Bale and Jovetic each have one foot out the door, and the clubs plan on using their transfer fees to finance Benteke’s move. If Aston Villa is serious about that price tag, he’s become ludicrously overpriced. Too bad. Among the current four, he’s been my first pick for a while. I see Aston Villa’s priorities, though: use that asking price to keep Benteke or use that transfer-fee to finance some new transfers.
I guess I’m tipping my hand a bit by now addressing Jovetic. I’m still not sold on him. No offense against Serie A, but I just don’t feel like Jovetic has dominated opponents there as he should in order to justify his current asking-price. Once you look past Juventus and AC Milan, there’s a sharp drop-off in quality (according to the Euro Club Index). His thirteen goals this year are good for 11th-best in Serie A, which again doesn’t make me drool as much as I’d hope. If I’m going to knock Villa for his injury, it’s worth noting that Jovetic has one of his own, one only described as a “cruciate ligament injury”. Whether it was a tear or something less serious, he does seem to have bounced back nicely, but whether he’s risen to the levels we’re looking for and would have to fork over to get is still an open question in my book. At a starting price of £26m, he’s feeling a little over-priced.
Even with Higauin, who has all but sworn on a Bible that he’s leaving Real Madrid (which should deflate his value just a bit), I’m not salivating. He’s been a good player for club and country. Despite having to play in Ronaldo’s shadow and having to platoon with Benzema, he’s still managed to average 0.44 goals per game, not enough to set the world on fire either, but more than Jovetic’s 0.3 despite Higuain being his club’s 2nd or 3rd choice attacker and Jovetic being his club’s 1st-choice. Even after we repeat the caveat we used with Villa above–that Real Madrid, along with Barcelona, co-dominates La Liga in a way that might inflate players’ stats, Higuain now emerges at the head of my list. He’s proven himself but isn’t ageing, he’s high-priced but not exorbitantly so, and he speaks both French and Spanish. Okay. So two of three of these carry a bit more weight than the last one, but it’s still worth noting that his ability to communicate with Giroud, Cazorla, Arteta, and others is a factor to at least keep in mind if not front and center.
I’ve come to the end of this, then, having not quite convinced myself as to which of these four we should put at the top of our list, so I doubt I’ve swayed anyone who’s come this far with me. I apologize, but maybe it’s a sign of a bigger issue: should we not step up our ambitions to pursue another bigger name? I don’t want to see us going after the likes of Ronaldo or Rooney, necessarily; I don’t want to devote so much of the club’s finances, personality, or locker-room oxygen to someone quite that big. It might stifle other players as much as it inflates our wage-sheet or goals-scored. Still, a step-up from the current batch could split the difference. Lewandowski? Cavani? Any other suggestions?
Well for me there is only a few strikers in the very top bracket ronaldo messi falcao and cavani. Only one of them is available. In the next bracket comes rooney rvp lewandowski aguero neymar of which 2 are available. Then we come to the bracket that arsenal are shopping in higuain benzema villa benteke jovetic michu tevez dzeko the thing is I think this is the very bracket where walcott giroud and podolski sit. So for me we need to try very hard to obtain cavani rooney or lewandowski. The difference between a 25m player and 35m+ is only 10m and probably 100k a week. We have just saved 10m a yeqr by giving frees to squillaci arshavin and denilson. We could save that again by giving frees to chamakh bendtner and park and raise another 5m by selling santos. That would give us the world class striker we need without having touched our £70m war chest. So then we need to land 4-5 more players a dm a gk a rb a cb and may be a winger.
It's a bit of a balancing act, isn't it? Ronaldo and Rooney are I think too high-maintenance. I think Lewandowski would be a great addition (in your middle bracket). He'd be an ambitious move for us. We don't need another one from that 3rd bracket you describe. I do think Walcott will climb out of that bracket towards the next one, not that he'll join it. Between his growth and the addition of a Lewandowski, we'd look dangerous indeed!
Lewandowski is going to Bayern Müchen. I don't think that there is anything we could say or do to steal him from them. But it does mean that there will be one of the two Bayern strikers available.I disagree with the premise that we need a 30 goal striker. I am happy with goals by committee. The committee was very good this year with the strong likelihood of improving next year.What we need are more away goals, more goals against the top teams and for at least one midfielder to join the committee and toss in a half dozen or so goals.
I'd love to have Lewandowksi (I wrote about it here. Until Bayern announces he's signed, he's still available. Maybe naive of me, but I'm hoping. I do agree that the goals-by-committee approach worked, but only well enough to scrape by into 4th. With Mourinho likely to join Chelsea and spend, Man U trying to land Ronaldo, I believe we will struggle to keep up, much less close the gap, unless we spend (much as I hate to admit it).
Well for me there is only a few strikers in the very top bracket ronaldo messi falcao and cavani. Only one of them is available. In the next bracket comes rooney rvp lewandowski aguero neymar of which 2 are available. Then we come to the bracket that arsenal are shopping in higuain benzema villa benteke jovetic michu tevez dzeko the thing is I think this is the very bracket where walcott giroud and podolski sit. So for me we need to try very hard to obtain cavani rooney or lewandowski. The difference between a 25m player and 35m+ is only 10m and probably 100k a week. We have just saved 10m a yeqr by giving frees to squillaci arshavin and denilson. We could save that again by giving frees to chamakh bendtner and park and raise another 5m by selling santos. That would give us the world class striker we need without having touched our £70m war chest. So then we need to land 4-5 more players a dm a gk a rb a cb and may be a winger.
It's a bit of a balancing act, isn't it? Ronaldo and Rooney are I think too high-maintenance. I think Lewandowski would be a great addition (in your middle bracket). He'd be an ambitious move for us. We don't need another one from that 3rd bracket you describe. I do think Walcott will climb out of that bracket towards the next one, not that he'll join it. Between his growth and the addition of a Lewandowski, we'd look dangerous indeed!
Lewandowski is going to Bayern Müchen. I don't think that there is anything we could say or do to steal him from them. But it does mean that there will be one of the two Bayern strikers available.I disagree with the premise that we need a 30 goal striker. I am happy with goals by committee. The committee was very good this year with the strong likelihood of improving next year.What we need are more away goals, more goals against the top teams and for at least one midfielder to join the committee and toss in a half dozen or so goals.
I'd love to have Lewandowksi (I wrote about it here. Until Bayern announces he's signed, he's still available. Maybe naive of me, but I'm hoping. I do agree that the goals-by-committee approach worked, but only well enough to scrape by into 4th. With Mourinho likely to join Chelsea and spend, Man U trying to land Ronaldo, I believe we will struggle to keep up, much less close the gap, unless we spend (much as I hate to admit it).