LOCKED: January 08 Transfer Window

Me = confused. Kewell is a quality player but he's been injury-prone of late and seems to be on the downward slope of things. Simon Davies has been one of our better performers this year so I'm not sure why you'd bump him out of the lineup for Bouazza playing on his off side, unless you were putting him in the middle of the park, but he doesn't add the size we've been lacking in that department. Plus we've still yet to see what we've got in Lee Cook. I guess my point is, Kewell would be a good pickup but he doesn't seem to address our areas of greatest need.

Hyppia is old, but he's also huge, a full 5" taller than Bocanegra or Stefanovic, which is certainly something we could use.

Given that Eddie Johnson refused to move to Derby (that was the one, right?) over the summer, I can't see him coming to Fulham, though I suppose the American connection we've got going could weigh in our favor. Plus, realistically, would he get any playing time for ManU? In any event, he's only 23 and freaking FAST, so that's nice. I think one thing the Chelsea game exposed was our lack of pace on both sides of the ball (made more glaring by Bouazza's absence). Omozusi did a pretty good job with Cole, all things considered, but Konchesky had a really hard time with SWP.

 

There had been rumors around the time of the MLS Cup of Michael Parkhurst coming to Fulham. Anybody heard any more about that? Would that be a good move or a bad one? (I saw him play in the Cup, but I'm no judge of football talent--just like LS.)

 

Bornstein might not be a bad pickup. You could switch him and Konchesky, based upon the pace of our opponents Right Winger.

 

don't think Bornstein is premiership ready. yes he has good speed and gets forward, but I dont' think defensively he's good enough. Maybe in a year or two.

 

I like Bornstein & Parkhurst, but I'm not sure either would stand up well in the Premiership right now.

I do believe EJ is ready though and I would welcome him to the club with open arms.

 

I was thinking with Roy's connection to Inter and having worked there before coming to us, if maybe we might have a shot to get some players from them on loan. I'm currently looking at their roster to see if there might be anything there that could help us.

 

It's a testament to this site that there are already 146 postings on a January transfer window thread on the second day of the window.

On the other hand, hurry up Roy! We're already TWO DAYS into the transfer window and I keep looking at the site expecting to see two or three top-level stars have signed with us. Not that I'm impatient or anything...

On Parkhurst, I think Don had a good point. I was sitting about at the center line about 15 rows back, so I had a good opportunity to scout Parkhurst, but I recall having a hard time focusing on him because he did not seem to draw attention to himself. That is good for a defender, I reckon.

On EJ, I am wary in that he might be a gem but we can't take a chance he either has an EPL learning curve or needs an attitude adjustment. We need players who contribute on Day One.

Loans would be fine. It might be the best way to get some good talent in quickly. Ideally, we'd have an option to buy but right now we can't be that picky.

(BTW, have you ever seen a shooting star rise so quickly and fall so quickly at Fulham than Montella? After all, very soon after he got his own t-shirt from the official store, he was on the bench. Reminded me a bit of Chris Shelton with the Tigers a few years ago.)

 

Eddie Johnson would be a mistake. Please no

 

Parkhurst is 5'11", smaller than Bocanegra or Stefanovic or Hughes. Does anyone know if he has the speed to make up for it?

I'm not sure why Don continues to be so down on Bornstein, I think he's got good potential. I still prefer the rumor of Royston Drenthe though - Real Madrid > Chivas USA.

Regarding Inter Milan: Wow, I know some English folks bemoan their top clubs for not developing enough English talent, but have you seen Inter's roster? They have practically NO Italians. Francesco Toldo and Marco Materazzi are great, sure, but everyone else is Argentine or Brazilian or Portuguese or French. In their most recent match, Italian players accounted for a grand total of 53 man-minutes when Materazzi came on for Walter Samuel after he was injured late in the first half. Not that this is relevant, of course, but it's interesting nonetheless.

 

totally agree. who we need is emile mpenza from city. he's got a proven track record of goal scoring, is pacey, and can make an immediate difference. hodgson should get him on loan, as sven seems uninterested in him now.

 

not seeing much on Inter's roster that could be of use to us unless they are willing to part with a bigger name player on loan which I doubt and also doubt the player would come here. The Luis Jimenez guy from Chile on their roster looks good though. A midfielder with some flair...has only appeared in a few matches for them. Maybe they would let someone like him come on loan to us. The guy is the captain for Chile. Worth a shot Roy...work some magic.

 

They just loaned Adriano out to Sao Paulo - serious embarrassment of riches to be able to spare a player of his caliber.

Just about every defender on their roster could come in and start for Fulham, but they've had bad injury troubles there this year, so I don't imagine they can spare anyone.

 

This is an interesting extrapolation on our forwards after just over a half season. Following the players names are their goals per game ratio for their club careers (league games only) and then for Fulham during the current season.

Dempsey - .31 career/.32 YTD
Healy - .27 career/.27 YTD
Kamara- .22 career/.18 YTD
Kuqi - I couldn't find the data

I will be the first to admit that numbers can be misleading. Having admitted that fact, it sure looks like we should not be expecting much more than we are getting from our current strike force. Hopefully Roy can bring in someone with a proven track record for putting the ball in the net.

Stats from http://www.soccerbase.com/players.sd

 

Oh come on, you could've at least come up with "0.00 YDT". :wink:

"MR. BLUTARSKY. ZERO POINT ZERO."

Don, I see your point on Bornstein, but I think SWP exposed lack of pace as Konchesky's big weakness, and while I'll take that in exchange for him being technically sound and not always injured, if the team is to improve in the long run, that needs to be addressed. And as the saying goes, you can't teach speed. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that Bornstein is already 23, so he shouldn't be expected to improve as much as, say, Nathan Ashton, who's only 20 and whose England U20 caps probably carry as much weight in terms of judging potential as Bornstein's USA senior caps, if Ashton can stay healthy (which must be something of a question or Charlton wouldn't have cut him loose).

Wow, that was a long sentence. Sorry.

 

I like Bornstein, but I don't think he would be much help to us right now.

I would definately rather have Marlon King playing sriker than either Healy or Kamara. They just can't seem to score. I have no confidence in either one of them.

 

does anyone know how contracts in the bpl work?

because olaf mellberg is out of contract at villa at the end of the season, would it be possible to take on that expiring contract? or, if sold, would he have to sign a new deal with fulham?

if its possible, like it is here, fulham should do that. now.

 

26 years old, 3 caps for France. Spent a year on loan at Bolton in 2002-03. Was selected the best right back in Ligue 1 in 2004. Considered to be a good crosser (by the person who wrote his Wikipedia article, at any rate). PSG is hovering near the relegation zone, though, and I'm not sure why they'd sell one of their starters at this point, unless we were willing to overpay for him, which we certainly shouldn't be.

Speaking of not being sure why someone would be sold: We've mentioned that Marlon King is rumored to be headed our way, but why would Watford be selling? He's their top scorer with 11 goals this season and they're in line for promotion back to the EPL. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.