Friday 29 January 2010

Transfer window: 80 hours left

With the loan departures of Vladimir Weiss to Bolton Wanderers and Robinho to Santos, we could probably do with one more attacking wide player this month. We currently only have Martin Petrov, Craig Bellamy and Shaun Wright-Phillips and while they're all good players the first two suffer with long-standing knee problems while SWP is himself returning from an injury. So a fourth option would be very nice if we are to maintain our push for fourth place plus the FA Cup.

There seem to be two names in the frame: Middlesbrough's Adam Johnson, and Crystal Palace's Victor Moses. Both young, English talents currently playing the Championship, they certainly represent better value for money options than Ángel di María. I wrote about Johnson last night but the news seems to be that we have made a bid and the player is keen to speak to us. So we may well tie this one up.

Victor Moses looks more attainable than Johnson - due to Crystal Palace's going into administration - but we are up against more competition. So far Newcastle United and West Brom have both offered Palace £1.5million, while West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Fulham are also interested. I don't know how this will play out - obviously we could outbid these teams by a distance but whether we do probably hinges on Moses' perceived willingness to come to a side where he will be some way from the first team on arrival.

I think we will buy one of these two, and I think it will probably be Johnson. But I'm not sure. We can also expect to see a deal done for Marco Motta on loan between now and Monday evening.

5 comments:

Johnny Crossan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Johnny Crossan said...

It's Robinho not Robson De Souza now he's gone!

Looks like we've signed McDonald Mariga, a 6 foot Kenyan midfielder from Parma with Boj in part ex.

Rios Dos Santos said...

Argh,... i can't find any highlight reels on Youtube for Adam Johnson.. Anyone got any good links?

thomas said...

yea johnny, mariga is gathering pace, few italian journos are reporting it.

Not hit uk media outlets really!

pjdemers said...

Please, please, please, can we buy a creative attacking midfielder who can play centrally?