The Summer 2018 Transfer Window Rumours and Deals

[Waltersgotstyle 307]

Coulibaly was linked with PSG last summer - such was his reputation.

[trublusince1982 243]

10 minutes ago, craig said:

Ligue 1 teams are far, far better than SPFL teams.  Riyad Mahrez was a Ligue 2 player......

Going by his interview not so sure he would have even signed for a Scottish team if wasn't for Gerrard. Step down league wise

[Rousseau 10,602]

30 minutes ago, craig said:

If going 4-3-3 and one of the midfield 3 is a "10" then you effectively have 8 players for 3 positions, 10 when Dorrans and Rossiter are fit - that is too many IMO.  Options are great, but we need (could still happen admittedly) more striking options.

 

The 3 up front right now would, effectively, be Morelos (or Sadiq), Candeias and Murphy - the only back up would be Middleton (untested at that level) and maybe Ejaria - because Windass is ineffective when playing wide.

 

I think we look much, much stronger in midfield now - but we need forward and creative options.  It does appear that Gerrard/Allen have gone down the route of trying to make us a team whereby the mantra of "if you don't lose goals you don't lose games" and that actually makes sense, particularly when we were the leagues top scorers last season.... if you can continue that whilst being tighter defensively then you have to think you give yourself a good chance.

 

But I just cant help but think that we need more forward options - we badly need a natural scorer - someone like a McCoist or, dare I say it, a Boyd - someone who instinctively knows where the net is and finds it - Morelos, despite his goals, is not that guy.

I'm still not sure it's too many. You can't just have 2 players for each position, each carbon copies of each other in terms of role. We have options now.

 

Halliday will be on his way, and Dorrans and Rositter will be bit-part players. 

 

We can agree do disagree there. 

 

I agree, we most definitely need more options up front; we're very short.

 

Is Rudden ready? He looked OK on Thursday, a penalty-box striker.

[DMAA 3,658]

33 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I don't think it's worrying. I think the player profile is encouraging

I agree with this, I’m glad we’re signing a French/African 22 year old and it’s encouraging that we apparently have a clause to sign him permanently in the contract. It’s a  risky strategy when they don’t have the pedigree though especially when Aberdeen’s success has largely been built on an ultra low risk strategy involving signing and loaning players who have a track record of performing in our league. 

[craig 5,199]

4 minutes ago, DMAA said:

I agree with this, I’m glad we’re signing a French/African 22 year old and it’s encouraging that we apparently have a clause to sign him permanently in the contract. It’s a  risky strategy when they don’t have the pedigree though especially when Aberdeen’s success has largely been built on an ultra low risk strategy involving signing and loaning players who have a track record of performing in our league. 

What I like about our strategy is the "option to buy" - it allows us to walk away if they don't work out.  It is a very smart strategy which should be used more often by more clubs.

[craig 5,199]

25 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I'm still not sure it's too many. You can't just have 2 players for each position, each carbon copies of each other in terms of role. We have options now.

 

Halliday will be on his way, and Dorrans and Rositter will be bit-part players. 

 

We can agree do disagree there. 

 

I agree, we most definitely need more options up front; we're very short.

 

Is Rudden ready? He looked OK on Thursday, a penalty-box striker.

10 players for 3 positions is still too many, regardless of variations - we cant say that Rossiter will be "bit-part" - he is out for 2-4 weeks with a rolled ankle, despite his injury record that hardly consigns him to the scrapheap.

 

To be clear though - I am happy if we have that many midfielders.... but only if we strengthen the frontline - there is little point having tons of midfielders and only two recognized strikers in Morelos and Sadiq.  Would have preferred that one more of those midfielders was creative as we see to have a lot of midfielders, but few with the creative spark needed (though I guess we do have Candeias, Murphy, Ejaria and probably even Arfield & Windass who can create).

 

If we bring in even just one more striker (a natural goalscorer please), and assuming we go 4-3-3 where the front 3 is a striker and 2 wingers - then we should be set I think.

[SteveC 150]

We won't have too many mifldfielders, not nearly. At least four will be hospitalised for large parts of the season and most of those not injured will be suspended.  We'll  be playing people out of position to cover by November and have to bring in emergency replacements in January. 

 

If we are anywhere even near the chance of a title at the split, we will get another horrendous run of fixtures and all midfielders will get suspensions.

 

We  will have none left to play for us in May and be complaining about lack of midfield cover. 

 

CheeryLoyal aka Realisticloyal. 

[Gonzo79 15,292]

We still don't have a creative midfielder.

[pete 2,499]

3 hours ago, trublusince1982 said:

Any news on what is happening with Pena?

Pena has been lent out to a team in Mexico I thought.

[DMAA 3,658]

23 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

We still don't have a creative midfielder.

Harry Wilson is the only name mentioned who’d add that dimension. A journalist called Phil Hay claimed that if he was going anywhere it would be to us. As well as seeing if he’s ready for their bench maybe they’re keen to see if we pass our first few Europa league hurdles first too.