It seems so easy from our point of view, we pick out a player, hear what the asking price is and think ‘yep, I’ll have some of that, but maybe we should knock it down a touch’, or ‘nope, I would not touch him with yours for that amount’.
But what do we know we are only fans – our money only goes towards helping us buy players and pay them!
When Harry Redknapp signed Djimi Traore in January I was not best pleased and expressed these views with an article. I ranted and raved about him not being a good enough signing and why had Redknapp signed him. I later calmed a little and retracted some, with my thinking if he was that bad he would not have played as many times for Liverpool as he had, also saying who are we to question Redknapp after all he has done here.
After seeing Traore I am still not that sure on his abilities as a footballer, but he is a decent enough squad player but I do think it is possibly time to question Redknapp a little more – don’t get me wrong I love the fella but sometimes, just sometimes you need to try things a little differently.
Sometimes you have to throw caution to the wind, Redknapp likes a gamble so why is he so reluctant to take one with us and go out and get a goalscoring striker – he does not have to abandon his policies but why not have a little flutter?
He has explained why he thinks he can ill afford it, but the alternatives are not looking that much more promising really – if at all.
The tried and trusted route can only work for so long, sometimes you have to try something new and trying Marlon Harewood or maybe even John Utaka – not that I know too much about this fella really – is not something new, Harewood is someone Redknapp knows from seeing around the game for years, Utaka is a previous target who is resurfacing as others disappear – so someone he has watched for a while but decided not to go for before, so why now? Answer, because he is known to him.
Pretty much every striker we have been ‘seriously linked’ with is from this same mould, Jermaine Defoe – known to him personally from his time at West Ham same went for Fredi Kanoute. United outcast Alan Smith – known to him from his time in the English game, Mark Viduka, Robbie Fowler and so on and so on all the same, even Yakubu – known to him from his time here.
Those not so well known to him – that you can argue are the better options – the likes of Roberto Colautti, Luis Fabiano, Giampaolo Pazzini not so well known but surely worth a gamble?
Would they be much more of one than Harewood or Utaka – would they even cost much more? Could we even get Colautti plus one of the other two for a few million more than it would cost for Harewood!
The players actually have to want to sign also, but why would players not want to sign? Lets have a go and see where it gets us before they are written off.
We splashed out £7million to sign Sulley Muntari, a household name in Italy and to a lot of European, certainly African nations but even several of my friends do not even know who he is! Again though he is a player Redknapp tracked for a year, so was known to him. He will be a great player for Pompey, but unless we pay something similar we will not get a quality striker it is that simple.
We cannot be held to ransom but for the penny pinching – or should I say million pinching – lets not keep missing out on people and lets go for strikers that will score us goals, even if this means taking a calculated risk – they do not always have to be known to you to be good.
You cannot have it both ways can you – you cannot expect to pick up a goalscoring striker if you will not pay the price, if you will not pay the price you have to take the ‘gamble’ route – which my thinking includes going for a player that is well known to you for a serious amount of money that is known for not scoring that many goals!
Come on Redknapp splash the cash, lay a bid somewhere in the region of £6-10million and get this 20 goal a season striker we all want.
Leroy Lita has been mentioned a few times – ideal candidate, young, hungry and can score goals, £6-8million would get him do you not think? The names are there – if we pay the price.
Does anyone else feel like we have been in this predicament before?
PLAY UP POMPEY!
Share this article
