[Archived] Johan Vogel

[den]

That is incorrect... The summer Shearer ended up leaving Zidane was the name constantly being linked with us.

I know he was linked, but we never had the chance to sign him. i.e, rovers never agreed a fee and Zidane never spoke to rovers.

[brfc4ever]

That's great news.

Who is he?

LMAO

[USABlue]

The thing that concerns me most is that both of these players have had trials at Sunderland, and while there is nothing wrong with that, I just wonder why we were not in there first?? Surely we should be getting first choice on these sorts of players??

Seems a touch lazy from our scouts, just getting cast offs who are seemingly not good enough for teams way below us in the league??

I would not let that concern you, football history is littered with examples of players who were released/not picked up or otherwise deemed unsuitable, by one team only to go on to have distingushed careers or play well at another club. We have a few of these within our very own squad. It seems to be what we do well so don't lose too much sleep over it.

[rover6]

He does not mention the Axe!

Hughes admits the addition of a natural holding midfield player in his mould would be an asset to the squad.

Why the change of heart? Hughes couldn't get enough of Mokoena before the ACN. I remember a quote from Sparky, describing the strength of his squad, saying that it's difficult to leave a player like Mokoena out of the team...!

He added: "The guys who play in there have to have that ability to retain possession for you because, on occasions, they have to receive the ball in key areas of the football field, and if you are not comfortable in possession then opposition teams can exploit that and very quickly get at your back four.

Damn right! These sentiments seem to leave Mokoena's future at Rovers in doubt.

The thing that I am most worried about Hughes' cautious/torturous (depending from whose perspective) approach to trialists is that another club will swoop or the player will get fed up with the uncertainty and leave, like Didier Agathe.

I'm not concerned about Fortune but Vogel, imo, is potentially a really good addition to the team.

[philipl]

Didier Agathe?

Did we miss something?

The news as I read it in the LT piece is clearly that Sparky has simply said that they both need to get fit and he is giving them every support and assistance in getting fit at Rovers before making a move which is potentially for more than just this season end.

I would guess that there will be a pre-contract agreement in place which gives these two clubless players world class facilities and support (including nursing Fortune through his current pull) and who knows some spending money and expenses covered in return for some sort of first option. If for no other reason, the club's insurance position has to be protected in case they get crocked by a Rovers player whilst building up their fitness.

[RoyRover]

I'd be happy with Vogel signing for us. He's got lots of experienced, playing at the highest level of club and international football. He would add more depth to the squad and could well be the holding midfielder that we've been looking for. As for Fortune, I'm not so sure. He wasn't able to cut it at Bolton or Sunderland, so I wouldn't have high hopes for him.

[Jan]

He was at the game today. He, Bruno Berner, Hedgehog, Martin Olsson and Ryan Nelsen were in the sky box. He's quite short compared to the others!

[Torgeir]

That is incorrect... The summer Shearer ended up leaving Zidane was the name constantly being linked with us.

Apparently the story goes that we wanted Dugarry but Bordeux would only negotiate if we took both but Harford didn't think we needed both.

I think we actually tried to sign Dugarry but he opted for Milan although he was impressed with the Blackburn setup. He couldn't turn down a club like AC Milan though...