Before I even begin, remember this is my own opinion – I am not saying it is the right one!
Nothing official has been confirmed by either party, nor have any club commented but Sulley Muntari has all but signed for Inter so I am led to believe…
Muntari had a hit and miss season last time round, although I do believe that he is a quality footballer and probably would have been much more consistent this time round and a big hit in the premier league – which to be fair he hardly bombed did he as he was always getting rave reviews! – but he is being sold for the greater good… at least I hope!
That said, and as I have said plenty of times before, and I will say again a £10m plus offer could have seen us ‘bite the hand off’ that was offering it, and that appears to be what we have done for anything up to as much as £12.7m! And I think this is the right thing to do to be honest.
By selling the Ghanaian it would not make us a ‘selling club’, it would be a great deal that represented a huge profit in an investment that is too good to refuse. But it would make us a selling club if another of our ‘top stars’ were to follow, which hopefully will not be the case.
By selling him we ‘could’ buy Shaun Wright-Phillips – who as good as he could be and I would like us to sign is one that I still have my doubts about, so I would not want us to pay anymore that £9m absolute tops! – the central defender that we want, and do need – Younes Kaboul? – and also keep Pedro Mendes. ‘If’ we can do all, or most of this we will be fine…
The main worry for me, should we sign Wright-Phillips, is we would go from a very big, very powerful midfield to a much smaller, less physical one – and a midfield that might not be as willing to get up and down and help out the defence as it did last season?
Lassana Diarra is a small man, but is powerful but Mendes does not have that bite in midfield that Muntari does. We do have Papa Bouba Diop, but I am not sold on him at all. He was good for his first few games but has been fairly poor ever since, although to be fair being played on the right did not help him! Richard Hughes has that bite, but lacks the quality that we need, same applies to Sean Davis, although he does have slightly more about him.
As said Muntari could have come good this season as he is a fantastic footballer but I think it was a risk we could not afford to take, as I feel he lacks the discipline that we needed. If used as cover on the left he would have left us exposed as he drifts into the middle too much and too often, which to be fair is his favoured position.
‘When fit’ Glen Little, although a right footed player could do what Niko Kranjcar does and play on the left I reckon if needed. I also have this theory that if we get a new left back, maybe even if we do not, we could use Hermann Hreidarsson as a left sided midfielder in order to rest Kranjcar – not ideal I know but he has played in midfield before and can, and will, get up and down the pitch to do the job. It would just be the delivery and his presence in the final third that worries me, but then again this would only be an option now and again.
The main thing that I do know that I want to see is actions taken to bring those in that we want, and keep harping on about signing ‘if we could afford them!’ I do not want us pissing about dragging on negotiations or waiting until the last minute to sign players.
We said we needed to sell before we could buy, we appear to be on the brink of selling Muntari – and at a healthy profit – so now look like we have raised these funds we needed, lets see them reinvested back into the side with this quality we want…
PLAY UP POMPEY!
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