Locked: Summer 2007 ins and outs

If anyone can help keep Reading up with a side lacking in ability it is Coppell. He is a top notch manager and a fantastic motivator. They way his side continued to bounce back from being down in several matches is a testament to their tireless work ethic and ability to play as a team.

Coppell will be coaching at a larger club in the near future. A large club would be foolish not to give him an opportunity at some point in time.

 

Seems there is a player currently having a medical at Fulham although the players name is not being revealed...best guess is Aaron Hughes.

 

Also, various news sources are reporting that we are ready to put in a £4m move for Mido. In my opinion, I'd love to have him at the club...he's a type of player that needs to play in order to show is real potential.

 

Mido...not sold on him at all. Odds are he would score goals, but what a prick. Bit too much like Craig Bellamy for my liking. Plus he just seems to moan and complain wherever he goes.

Fulham isn't looking for nice guys though. They are looking for players to help them win. Odss are Mido can do that.

 

Mido is one of the few strikers we're being linked with that would actually be an improvement for us, IMO. I went through each players' performances over the past few seasons, and came up with a projected goal total for each, assuming each player actually plays the entire season:

Code:

Player 	   06/07 Goals/90 	07/08 Projected Goals/90 	Projected Goals
Pandiani                  .497                      .388                      12.934
Mido                        .138                      .360                      11.999
John                         .099                      .337                      11.241
Helguson                 .184                      .323                      10.761
Harewood                .154                      .278                      9.279
McBride                   .279                       .252                     8.385
Healy                       .326                      .243                      8.084
Kamara                    .601                      .204                      6.790
Runstrom                 .293                      .177                      5.912

Pandiani surprised me...I still don't think we need another 30 year old target man, but he's not nearly as bad as I thought. For the number of minutes he played at Birmingham, he actually did about as well as anybody we have currently.

I wrote a bunch more about my findings here. The one thing I didn't take into account was how good/bad the teams they played for were, but I'm looking for ways to address that too (for example, Healy's numbers were deflated a slightly by playing for a bad team).

 

Those statistics while quite thorough are for only one season. Pandiani plays in a league where goals are scored by the boat load and just don't see him having an impact for Fulham.

Harewood I'm not too keen on, Healy could improve the side, Kamara definitely could add a edge to the front line Fulham's been lacking, if John returns to top form it is equivilant to a new signing and I don't see Helgusson improving but his play staying level. He isn't bad, but doesn't offer a whole lot in attack besides his heading ability.

 

I actually included each players numbers for the past 3-4 seasons, so my projections for Pandiani are based on all of his time at Birmingham as well. You're right though, his projection is probably inflated a bit because I still haven't found an accurate way of translating scoring numbers from La Liga to the EPL.

Speaking of, anybody know where I might find a list of players who transfered from Spain to England and vice-versa?

 

Well I retract my previous statement of the information being based on one season, but I still believe the comments I made about the players listed above to be true.

Great job on the stats.

 

Thanks! Looking at each player subjectively, I agree with most of your assessments, but I tried to keep my personal opinions out of the projections as much as possible. Helguson has a pretty good history of scoring in the Premiership and the Championship prior to last year, and I think he'll return to that for somewhat. There's a good possibility that Kamara turned a corner and "figured it out" last year - he's at an age where that happens to a lot of athletes. If so, I think he's good for at least 12 goals a season or so in the Premiership. However, the fact that he's never done much of anything before last season hurts his projections quite a bit.

 

Kamara is probably beginning to peak. I don't believe it was a fluke and Healy could net anywhere from 10-15 in his first year IMO.

 

true...but i also think Reading play an exciting brand of football and I think that will attract players there. what really hurts them though is that Sidwell is moving on a free...at least i believe he was. correct me if i'm wrong on that. if that is the case though, what tough luck to get nothing back in return.

 

so will this player be announced tomorrow if he passes his medical?

 

Odds are yes. Hughes would be a solid first signing and I doubt many will complain.

 

Aaron Hughes is getting signed to provide depth and competition I think. It's not good that Martin O'Neil doesn't see him in Villa's plans... which means he may suck. At the least he'll challenge for a spot.

What I do like about Lawrie signing all these N. Irish players is that it'll make Fulham more British. That's kind of cool, since Fulham has so many internationals on the team.

 

The Daily Mail is reporting that Fulham are offering 5.5m pounds for Kamara with Heidar Helguson (worth 2.5m) going the other way. I think what this means is that Fulham would pay 3 mil plus Helguson for him. I'm hoping it doesn't mean 5.5m plus Heidar.

Hmm...I guess we'll have to wait but interesting nonetheless.

 

Still seems like a lot for him. *shrug*

If true, I guess it's at least a good sign that LS is willing to get creative with his bidding.

 

I would be would say that is a fairly even deal. If of course it is Helguson and 3 million for Kamara. He is a good attacking option and will be a superior threat compared to Helguson.

If the deal is 5.5 plus helguson...Fulham is getting hosed.

 

Hey All -
I am not sure if I am offbase here, being new to the FulhamUSA msg boards, but it seems that all of these rumors we are hearing and all of these reports are linking FFC to offensive players, when personally, I think it is our backline that needs the overhaul this offseason. Is anyone hearing any reports about defenders coming to FFC? Thanks,
Ryan

 

Aaron Hughes just had his medical in Fulham, Chris Brunt of Sheffield Wednesday and Chris Baird from Southampton has been heavily rumoured FFC making another bid for him.

Those are the defenders that I can remember off the top of my head. All from Northern Ireland Internationals as well, so LS knows exactly what he is getting.

 

Brunt is a midfielder and he's not coming. He has decided to commit himself to the Wednesday for the upcoming seasong. Read that somewhere.