[Albion] So how much will it take to land Dembele?...

[empire]

We won't pay the wages he will get offered elsewhere I suspect

 

[chaileyjem]

We definitely are, did you see the sky interview after the game yesterday? Hughton had the opportunity to rule the interest out but chose not too.

Here's the transcript - make your own mind up.

Is up top your main priority this month

CH: No . I wouldn’t say that. What we want to do is make sure we have the best squad possible and there were certainly parts of our game today, areas we still need to improve. [Conceding from a set play ] and our offensive play was good. If we can add to that in this window, then certainly we will.

One player you are being linked with is Moussa Dembele.
Can you shed any light on that at all ?

CH: No. I’m very aware of all of the speculation and certainly at this moment . Thats all it it is.

 

[Napper]

money will speak and we wont pay what others will.

To land him we'd need to pay top dollar wages as we are in the 4 least attractive clubs to play for in the league

 

[Postman Pat]

None of those paid a record fee well in excess of their previous record plus they were all at clubs that could afford the mistake, as with Norwich we cant.

Schevchenko was a record signing at the time for any English club, and is still the 3rd highest signing Chelsea have ever made.

If we want to sign a top quality striker we will need to smash our transfer record (again!), what are you suggesting we do instead? I don't know if Dembele is the answer, or any of the other 50 strikers we have been or will be linked to in the next 30 days, some players work and some don't.

I am pretty confident that with the recruitment team we have in place now we have a better chance of getting it right than we did in the past. If they think Dembele is the right man then so be it.

I just wouldn't be claiming CH can't spot a striker due to one poor decision he made 5 years ago.

 

[Megazone]

Here's the transcript - make your own mind up.

Is up top your main priority this month

CH: No . I wouldn’t say that. What we want to do is make sure we have the best squad possible and there were certainly parts of our game today, areas we still need to improve. [Conceding from a set play ] and our offensive play was good. If we can add to that in this window, then certainly we will.

One player you are being linked with is Moussa Dembele.
Can you shed any light on that at all ?

CH: No. I’m very aware of all of the speculation and certainly at this moment . Thats all it it is.

Sounds to me like the deal's pretty much gone through. The biggest clue in this is CH stuttering when asked about Dembele.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

Here's the transcript - make your own mind up.

Is up top your main priority this month

CH: No . I wouldn’t say that. What we want to do is make sure we have the best squad possible and there were certainly parts of our game today, areas we still need to improve. [Conceding from a set play ] and our offensive play was good. If we can add to that in this window, then certainly we will.

One player you are being linked with is Moussa Dembele.
Can you shed any light on that at all ?

CH: No. I’m very aware of all of the speculation and certainly at this moment . Thats all it it is.

Thanks Jem, that doesn't sound like " We clearly want the player" as was posted earlier. But I wouldn't expect CH or anyone ITK at the club to confirm or deny any transfer rumours. BHA don't do that sort of thing.

Time will tell if there is anything in this or not.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I think Dembele is playing a dangerous game and Gordon Smith is right that the Albion is the perfect fit for him.

34-year old Glenn Murray has scored 6 goals in the league and missed a penalty. In addition - according to the BBC Top Scorers page - he has a better Prem minutes per goal ratio than Vardy, Mahrez, Sanchez and De Bruyne.

The service IS there for Dembele and if he'd been in Glenn's boots and bagged, say, just 3 more goals than him in those 20 games then he'd be up there with the likes of Firmino, Lukaku and Morata and into megabucks territory.

 

[chaileyjem]

Sounds to me like the deal's pretty much gone through. The biggest clue in this is CH stuttering when asked about Dembele.

ha ! thats my poor transcribing. there was no pause between "at this moment" and "thats all it is"

 

[chaileyjem]

Thanks Jem, that doesn't sound like " We clearly want the player" as was posted earlier. But I wouldn't expect CH or anyone ITK at the club to confirm or deny any transfer rumours. BHA don't do that sort of thing.

Time will tell if there is anything in this or not.

Yep. Whatever is happening , CH is very circumspect about his public statements during transfer windows. He'd never say that x or y was a target.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

Like I said, I was playing devil's advocate to an extent.

However, this thread is predominantly about Dembele who is not (yet) a decent Premier League striker. I would be very surprised if we sign one (a DPLS.) The market we are operating in will not be the same as top 6/7 Premier League clubs and the targets I would expect us to have (similar to the last window) are not going to have THAT many better offers than we would make as it's only really the remaining Premier League clubs (plus the likes of Wolves or another Championship club gambling on promotion) that will stump up the cash.

Fair comment, Bozo.

I got a little distracted; the point I was trying to make is that if we didn't sign Dembele or anyone before the window opened or on the first day that doesn't in any way mean the club have missed a trick or been negligent. It might come as a shock to some people but, unlike everyone on NSC, not everyone is desperate to play for Brighton and Hove Albion.

 

[MattBackHome]

Here's the transcript - make your own mind up.

Is up top your main priority this month

CH: No . I wouldn’t say that. What we want to do is make sure we have the best squad possible and there were certainly parts of our game today, areas we still need to improve. [Conceding from a set play ] and our offensive play was good. If we can add to that in this window, then certainly we will.

One player you are being linked with is Moussa Dembele.
Can you shed any light on that at all ?

CH: No. I’m very aware of all of the speculation and certainly at this moment . Thats all it it is.

The lovely thing about that transcript is that you can just hear CH's velvety smooth voice purring it out.

 

[Bold Seagull]

None of those paid a record fee well in excess of their previous record plus they were all at clubs that could afford the mistake, as with Norwich we cant.

PEOPLE NEED TO REMEMBER THE CONTEXT HERE

They sacked Hughton with 32 points on the board and 5 games to play with them 5 points above the relegation zone.

In the previous 6 games to Hughton getting sacked after defeat at home to West Brom, Norwich had won 2, including home to Spurs, and drawn 1.

Following the sacking they lost 4 and drew 1 and were relegated. Hughton didn't have a sequence that bad all season.

Rickey VW was only £8.5m, not a huge transfer fee even by standards of a few seasons ago BUT did demonstrate the restricted budget Hughton was working under. As a U25 year old RVW he'd scored 28 in 55 games for Sporting CP, and 26 in 64 for Utrecht. Post Norwich he's actually gone on to score 20 in 32 for Vitesse, and has 7 in 10 for Basel. Yes Norwich and the PL didn't suit him, but he was far from this huge mistake people appear to believe, Norwich weren't even the lowest scorers when they sacked CH.

They then get relegated again. Shambles. The fans that screamed for Hughton to be sacked from the Norwich terraces - laughable: I trust they're enjoying their 10 Championship defeats and 13th place over the new year. As with some of our fans, remember who we are and where we've come from.

 

[Betfair Bozo]

Fair comment, Bozo.

I got a little distracted; the point I was trying to make is that if we didn't sign Dembele or anyone before the window opened or on the first day that doesn't in any way mean the club have missed a trick or been negligent. It might come as a shock to some people but, unlike everyone on NSC, not everyone is desperate to play for Brighton and Hove Albion.

I'll be devil's advocate again! We don't know if the club has missed a trick - we are not privy to the dealings. Personally, I have complete faith in Tony Bloom to do the right thing in terms of risk and reward but you can't expect that of everyone. It is definitely the case that the last window didn't go to plan and I am sure any lessons there will have been heeded. You can't do much about failed medicals or last day collapses but you can insist it doesn't go to the last day or you'll have to go elsewhere. I will be very surprised if we are not back in for Andone and I will be even more surprised if we were prepared to wait for Depor to bring in a replacement this time.

 

[perseus]

CH said it is 100/1.


But Rodgers hasn't said he is going to stay. So he might go somewhere like Monaco?

 

[Bring back Bryan wade!!]

Thanks Jem, that doesn't sound like " We clearly want the player" as was posted earlier. But I wouldn't expect CH or anyone ITK at the club to confirm or deny any transfer rumours. BHA don't do that sort of thing.

Time will tell if there is anything in this or not.

'At this moment, that's all it is'

Why would he say 'at this moment'? .......

 

[Bodian]

I think Dembele is playing a dangerous game and Gordon Smith is right that the Albion is the perfect fit for him.

34-year old Glenn Murray has scored 6 goals in the league and missed a penalty. In addition - according to the BBC Top Scorers page - he has a better Prem minutes per goal ratio than Vardy, Mahrez, Sanchez and De Bruyne.

The service IS there for Dembele and if he'd been in Glenn's boots and bagged, say, just 3 more goals than him in those 20 games then he'd be up there with the likes of Firmino, Lukaku and Morata and into megabucks territory.

Love the inference that Glenn is possibly comparable to De Bruyne!!

 

[fleet]

Chelsea no longer interested - I didn’t know they were!

 

[Bwian]

why haven't we simply got this sorted prior to the window opening so we can just sign the paper work and we done with it. We've known since August that we need a striker. The ground work should have been completed./

We've known since April that we need at least one, preferably 2 strikers.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Simontheseagull]

£20m + a pint of lager and a packet of crisps would do it.

 

[fleet]

£20m + a pint of lager and a packet of crisps would do it.

What flavour crisps? The devil is always in the detail!