[Albion] Solanke

[um bongo molongo]

I know this is unlikely to be popular, and am 100% not in the know. But I just have a hunch we’ll go for him. Rumoured we were in for him before he went to Plucky, and would be known to Ashworth as one of the standout stars of the strong England youth teams. Hasn’t really happened for him but made some bad career choices, and it did seem to be clicking right at the end of the season. In theory has all the attributes we need. Still only 22, and was player of the tournament at the u20 World Cup a few years ago. There’s a player in there and I have a hunch Potter and Dan might fancy it.

 

[OzMike]

Done deal.

 

[Jim Van Winkle]

Pass. Hard pass.

 

[spence]

No. Next

 

[Sheebo]

Everyone’s gut will be ‘no way’ after his disastrous spell at plucky. But you do submit a case which deserves discussion and is always a possibility. Just think his confidence is shot to pieces personally.

 

[vagabond]

It’s not a new idea... been brought up here a few times.

There’s obviously a good player in there, but i do wonder if a season in the Championship may do him good.

 

[albionfan37]

Everyone’s gut will be ‘no way’ after his disastrous spell at plucky. But you do submit a case which deserves discussion and is always a possibility. Just think his confidence is shot to pieces personally.

He scored a few at the end of the season I think there’s a player in there and he’s different from what we have I’d take him on loan with a buy in clause if he passes muster

 

[OvingdeanSeagull]

No, god, please no. We've gotta be aiming a lot higher than that.

 

[Bwian]

The new Benteke. No thanks.

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[macbeth]

maybe there's a player in there. maybe he's just had a random purple patch and is still shitehouse (*cough* locadia *cough*). nobody knows. but we need someone who can score goals for us now. we have plenty of 'prospects', we don't just need competition with maupay, we need someone who can go toe to toe with him for scoring goals. solanke is not that player.

 

[peterward]

Man U, Arsenal, England. 29 years old, proved fitness in last few months.possibly wanting new PL club, Goes by the name of Danny Welbeck

 

[Coach_Carter_92]

I'd say Bournemouth are likely to sell some of their prize assets (Wilson, King etc), so would probably keep him

 

[The Fits]

We are still a team that needs to take a punt on players. Just like we are doing with Lallana who is obviously a very exciting signing but there are concerns about both his age and his injury record . Just like we’ve done over the last couple of seasons with players from unfashionable European leagues or teams. To an extent just like we did with Lamptey.
The most obvious thing to say here is that Ashworth will know about him so if he feels like he’s an option I think we can back him although clearly at the moment it’s just hearsay and speculating.
But if you try and not be too critical about him and just talk about the positives there is a lot to like - his record for all of the England youth teams up to the under 21s is excellent, since lockdown he’s scored three goals, he’s got great physical attributes and offers something different to what we currently have. Don’t forget he’s already played for England so the England setup clearly rate him. Klopp must’ve seen something in him to sign him. Howe who has made some weird transfer decisions admittedly, paid a decent amount of money for him. He is 21 or 22 so fits in with the kind of profile that you would expect Ashworth to go for. I just feel like if we could get him for around that price Bournemouth paid it could be worth the risk . It is after all the same amount of money we paid for Ali J. There’s always an element of risk with strikers - You’ve only got a look at the amount of money certain teams have spent an absolute gash over the last couple of seasons, But I reckon if you were told you could sign a young England international striker for less than £20 million, in the current climate you’d think that it’s worth a punt. Of course Ashworth, and to an extent Lallana, will know more about him as a player and personality than all of us. We also have a ready-made mentor in Murray.

 

[Justice]

I’m praying Ashworth knows more about football than than the OP.

 

[BadFish]

I will leave this with my current barometer :

If Ashworth and Potter are keen and [MENTION=30242]spence[/MENTION] is not then I am in.

It is the holy trinity of scouting as far as I am concerned

 

[HastingsSeagull]

The problem is if he wanted to come here and fight for a place on 20k a week and cost 5 million he could. But some idiotic club would pay 20M for him (like BMuff did) and give him 60k-80k wages. We have prospects already what we need are a couple more experienced characters good enough to start and to let our own 20-23 year old players improve while buying the best 15-18 year olds.

 

[um bongo molongo]

Here’s the list of Golden Ball (player of the tournament) winners from the u20 World Cup since 2005:

2005 - Lionel Messi
2007 - Sergio Aguero
2009 - Dominic Adiyiah
2011 - Henrique Almeida
2013 - Paul Pogba
2015 - Adama Traore
2017 - Dominic Solanke
2019 - Lee Kang-In

Clearly no guarantee, but there’s some fairly decent players in there... I don’t disagree his confidence is shot, but if anyone is going to rebuild it, it would be the only Premier League manager with a Masters in Emotional Intelligence. Bournemouth will need to sell, their financial model is screwed, and he can’t be worth what Bournemouth paid given how it’s gone in the last few years. Of course it would be a punt, but at ~£10m on probably manageable wages I suspect we might be tempted. I also agree with others, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves and assume we no longer have to take punts. We’re not Villa or Leeds after all. Established prem strikers are hard to come by. Exhibit A: Looks like Callum Wilson is going to Spurs (where he’ll no doubt not have to take a cut in his £100k+/week wages). I also remember lots of posters poo-pooing Tammy Abraham after his poor season for Swansea in the Prem when we showed interest. Whatever happened to him, eh?

 

[stss30]

It's a fair shout, Ashworth clearly knows the ins and outs of the entire England setup so if he rates him, it would seem like a goer.

Another option would be Ollie Watkins at Brentford, if they don't get promoted via the playoffs. There were recent rumblings that he has an £18m release clause in his contract, and he combined well with Maupay in their time together there.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Where's the barge pole ?

It's hard to think of a worse signing.

Abysmal.


Would much rather Gyökeres got the squad place.

 

[um bongo molongo]

It's a fair shout, Ashworth clearly knows the ins and outs of the entire England setup so if he rates him, it would seem like a goer.

Another option would be Ollie Watkins at Brentford, if they don't get promoted via the playoffs. There were recent rumblings that he has an £18m release clause in his contract, and he combined well with Maupay in their time together there.

Agree he should also be on the shortlist if the Bees don’t go up. Watched their game against Barnsley and while he didn’t have a great game, there’s clearly a player there and seeing him skin defenders a couple of times, we could certainly use his pace.