Summer '08: Ins and Outs

My quick two cents worth......we are not signing Carson. As nice as it would be, his price tag as of last week was 10 million pounds. We are never going to pay that amount of money for a keeper. Heck, I am not even a huge Scott Carson fan. He is quite overrated in my eyes.

 

Because "unseasoned" when used to describe Carson means a 22-year-old who's already got ~75 Premier League games (including a full season for a team that qualified for Europe) and ~30 England U21 caps (including being England's starter in the UEFA U21 tournament last summer) under his belt, while "unseasoned" when used to describe Stockdale and Batista means guys who have played less than 50 games in League Two and never any higher in the pyramid.

 

Let me also add that while I do not think we will sign Carson, I am not convinced that Batista is the answer either. He has a shot down the road to become a good keeper, but for the present, I am of the belief that he is not ready for Premier League football. Had we been relegated I think we would have seen Batista in goal full time. But, as it stands we did not get relegated and unless we re-sign Keller, I think we need a new keeper. Who exactly that keeper is, I am not sure.

 

I'm willing to go with Keller again. He had more good games than bad games, and we can probably resign him relatively cheap.

 

anyone know what'll happen to our favorite pretty-boy runstrom? he's got the same goldy-locks as bullard but with better teeth!

 

I would guess he stays in Germany or goes back to Sweden. I cannot see him playing for Fulham again. He never really got a chance, but I am not sure under this regime if he will anytime soon.

It is interesting talking about players like Runstrom, Leijer, Zakuani, Batista and some of the younger, less experienced players. Had Fulham been relegated I think you would have seen more of these guys in the first team or at least on the subs bench in most matches. However, I am not sure they have the quality to play in the Premier League just yet.

 

there is talk about us going for Andreas Isaksson as well....yet another GK. Does this mean Keller is for sure gone?

 

Isaksson dominates on my PES team, so we should definitely sign him =)

 

I should add that I think a guy like Carson is probably going to be too expensive for us to sign (or, more to the point, too expensive for it to be wise for us to sign him), what with the "young and English" effect. I'm just saying that IF Liverpool were to let him go at a cut rate, I think he'd be an appealing choice. (But for other clubs as well as for us.)

Is Isaksson broken after Boro hung 8 on him in the last game of the season? He's got a bunch of caps for Sweden so he couldn't be ALL bad.

 

I like Isaksson and I believe he's available on a free. That's better business than 10M for Carson.

 

I just want to know what's going to happen with Boca...can't have the USA Captain sitting pine next season.

 

Is there anything much more anti-climatic in the footy transfer world than talking about Keepers?

As HD says, just sayin'.

 

By the way, if I could allow myself one "I told you so":

Who has two thumbs and was the first to suggest signing Keller last summer? This guy.

 

I'd give you a few more props if you had not suggested him as the backup keeper! :wink:

 

I say see you later! If that's the type of commitment this guy has let's find someone else. Took him an entire season to wake up anyways. Good riddance!

 

Well, true, but in 2006-07 Niemi saved our bacon on numerous occasions, and an experienced backup was what was needed rather than someone who would supplant Niemi as the starter. When Niemi had problems this past season, Keller was exactly the type of player we needed to step in for him.

Happy to let him go if he wants out and someone wants him, but not for a penny less than the £6M we paid for him.

 

Kamara is the only plaer we have that can change the game. If we lose him, we really need to find another player that can do what he does(On a more consistent basis of course). I really don't wanna lose him. I think his problems were more of Sanchez playing shit football, rather than him just going through the motions.



I read that Anton Ferdinand is available. Would be a quality buy and help us defensively. I rate him more than Hughes.

 

Fulham has been reportedly snooping around Liverpool for their former RB Steve Finnan. Finnan's 32 years old now and has been replaced by Arbeloa as the starting RB for Liverpool. The ball park figure Liverpool is looking for is around 2 million pounds.

Would this be a short term replacement or does he have enough left in the tank for about 3 more season? In my opinion, sign him now. He is still quality and he could put crosses into the box with accuracy and ease.