[Archived] Nicko's Thread

[Eddie]

Pinto's a loan.

Lopez is free.

Grella is crap.

[roverfanuk]

Where is Nicko i wonder?

With regards to the Andrews Grello saga, i would say, as long as were getting them both for 5 million and no more. We should have more than enough for that right midfielder, striker, reserve goalkeeper and defender if need be!

My worry is we wont have anything left if needed for January...

[Hughesy]

Another trialist on his way in

Hot prospect

[bats]

Daily mail reporting that sunderland are to make a 10 million bid for McCarthy to play up front with cisse! I hope that is true!£!£!

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Daily mail reporting that sunderland are to make a 10 million bid for McCarthy to play up front with cisse! I hope that is true!£!£!

Just the first 2 words of that sentence blow the theory...

[Hughesy]

Please be true @ £10m he has to go! Replace him easily with that sort of money.

Heard that the club that made the offer last week for Joe Ledley was Everton - apparently a cracking talent.

[Berg04]

Find it funny on all this Grella bagging. Have any of u whiners watched any of his games in the serie a or for australia at all? His game is perfectly suited for rovers, puts in 100%, has a very accurate long passing game to complement RSC and can play centre half if required. Much more classier than what the axe or vogel has offered us in the past. I actually thought of him and christian poulsen when Rovers announced they were looking for a quality holding midfielder. Poulsen going to Juve will definitely make the serie a great viewing this year tho won't it? haha

Imo Australia's best defensive player over the last few years. Sign him up now while he is still under the radar.

[Hughesy]

Healy Bid Submitted - Hopefully Benni bid will follow

[roverfanuk]

Healy Bid Submitted - Hopefully Benni bid will follow

I really dont understand Sunderland, they have about 3 different squads worths of players?

Why would they bid for Benni when they already have; Djibril Cissé, El-Hadji Diouf, Daryl Murphy, Michael Chopra, Kenwyne Jones, David Connolly, Anthony Stokes and Rade Prica.

They are going to end up with a bigger strike force then Royal Mail...

[modes98]

My worry is we wont have anything left if needed for January...

Prices are always inflated in January, make the majority of the buys in the summer.

[Mozzer]

10million for benni mcarthy cant be true

[Sandiway Blue]

I really dont understand Sunderland, they have about 3 different squads worths of players?

Why would they bid for Benni when they already have; Djibril Cissé, El-Hadji Diouf, Daryl Murphy, Michael Chopra, Kenwyne Jones, David Connolly, Anthony Stokes and Rade Prica.

They are going to end up with a bigger strike force then Royal Mail...

And there lies your answer.

Cisse has only just come in,spit the Diouf is more of a right midfielder and as for the rest...well to be honest i wouldn`t have a single one at Ewood.

[Hughesy]

Think the rest are either injured or not even talked about. Cisse and Connolly are the only strikers they have available.

[joey_big_nose]

And there lies your answer.

Cisse has only just come in,spit the Diouf is more of a right midfielder and as for the rest...well to be honest i wouldn`t have a single one at Ewood.

I would take Jones, but admittedly he is injured at the moment.

[Mozzer]

ciise, jones and mcarthy-has to be said, that would be a pretty decent set of strikers..

[Cally]

Cisse is woeful, with even worse hairstyles.

[Sandiway Blue]

It might just be me,but i think Jones is overrated as well.

[Oklahoma]

Oh for crying out loud. It should be Andrews OR Grella, not both.

I was quite excited about the Bentley money, I thought we'd replace him with someone good (though not as good as Bentley obviously) and use the rest of the money to bring in quality elsewhere. As it stands, we're going to have a far worse starting eleven, but we'll be more bloated with average players than we already were.

I agree too.

For that kind of money, he could get better players actually.

But it seems that those are the more advanced deals we have currently.

and if recent form is anything to go by neither is mccarthy.

Can we apply the same logic to Joaquin?

[Sandiway Blue]

and if recent form is anything to go by neither is mccarthy. screw it thats a dreadful strikeforce. sunderland for the drop?

I would agree if there weren`t so many clubs qeueing up to be relegated.

[Eddie]

I don't mind Andrews. Grella for 4ish million seems a total waste. Such an average player.

[Veevs]

I dont get the run of Ince and transfer bashing bit again lads..

Sounds to me like Ince is building a team that will work for each other, and will follow the Band Of Brothers style approach and work together as a team (akin to the spirit of ManU and Arse) rather than a mixed up bunch who don't know each other.

IMO if Ince is so keen on the likes of Grella there has to be some reason.. my guess is he probably knows Emerton quite well and has that bit of personality to add to the team, ditto for Andrews who apparently has a nack for ending up as a team captain.

Ince has made dunn the Vice captain, for a reason he wants that spirit in the camp and as a local boy Dunn will supply some of it.

I would not be suprised though if he gets one flair player in as well like a Joaquin to have that bit of pizass in there as well, again like ManU and Arse

4m for Grella and 500K for Andrews should still leave us quite a wedge of cash to add the final peices of the jigsaw and still leave us with a small packet of cash for the january window to cover injuries or totally out of form players.

Shame McBennie does not look like he is going, don't trust the mail if that story is going to be in there.. but hey you never know these days and I still have an incling that he will be off.

Yes we will end up with a big squad... but why not? Last season we could not cover all positions well enough, we didnt have enough strength in debth.. I really doubt that will be a problem this season and we certainly have cover and a bit more flair than we did last season.

Personally I would love us to get in someone like Toulalan but we are Blackburn and we need to show success again before we can even imagine getting in the likes of those.

I agree too.

For that kind of money, he could get better players actually.

But it seems that those are the more advanced deals we have currently.

Better players like?... there are not exactly that many DF Midfield types knocking around atm

Can we apply the same logic to Joaquin?

We could if he was not a class player, and remember the whole Valencia team played pants last season..

[Stoic]

Oh for crying out loud. It should be Andrews OR Grella, not both.

I was quite excited about the Bentley money, I thought we'd replace him with someone good (though not as good as Bentley obviously) and use the rest of the money to bring in quality elsewhere. As it stands, we're going to have a far worse starting eleven, but we'll be more bloated with average players than we already were.

More accurately, it should not be Andrews under any circumstances, whether we get Grella or not.

[daren]

It's a fair point, Valencia were awful last season as a team, and Joaquin was marginalised anyway. He was also far better than Luque (who was never given a chance to settle at Newcastle anyway).

To put it in perspective, Spain had some serious players at national level. The right midfield spot was taken by Iniesta, who is simply outstanding, with Cazorla being the right wing backup. Albelda was another casualty of Valencias troubles, Senna took over. Albelda is another very good player, too. The left winger was Silva (outstanding again). The other names were Xavi, Fabregas, Alonso and De La Red, who are central midfielders (and Marchena although he was in the squad as a defender). Again, all top class players.

The point is that Spain had an embarrassment of riches in midfield going into the tournament - Iniesta, Xavi, Cazorla and Fabregas could all do a real job on the right wing, so Joaquin was unnecessary. He can play up front (and has a powerful shot) but Spain were well covered there. Frankly, anyone in that midfield would walk on to most teams in the world. Losing out, especially when the club had such a bad season and the manager didn't favour him, was not much reflection on his abilities.

The real question here is whether or not he would be prepared to come to England. The asking price is a bit fruity for most of the Spanish clubs and the ones that can afford him have quality on the right wing already, and the ones that might want him would have trouble justifying that expenditure on a single player (similar to the situation we find ourselves in, really). If he IS willing to come, he's worth the price and the gamble. Unlike Luque his game isn't just trickery with good pace. He's got pace, a good footballing brain, a good cross, attacks the back post and most of all has power. He's pretty strong and isn't afraid to take a few whacks from what I've seen (and I watched a good bit of La Liga over the last two years). We're in the market for a right winger, and he's definitely a better player than Pennant or Lennon. We have the cash. I think Ince should make a serious go for him.

Lastly, he was basically pushed out the door at Betis because they could NOT refuse €25 million. The same is happening at Valencia, they've made it clear they want to move him on for financial reasons A new start would do him no harm and Blackburn would be like Betis in that we're both relatively small clubs doing very well for ourselves. I think he'd feel at home here (although Betis get bigger crowds). Weather will be a bit different to Valencia or Seville, though!

[blue/white]

Pinto's a loan.

Lopez is free.

Grella is crap.

Good post, Daren... but you yourself said it ....

Puerto de Maria is a far shout from Lancs --- it might prove to be a climate

change too far....

[QOTSA]

According to today's LT, we are closing in on a deal for 4m rated Grella which could be completed before Saturday.................

Not knowing too much about him, that doesn't really excite me or annoy me one way or the other really.

The LT have just picked up on a story that was in Italy on Tuesday which when I spoke to Grella afterwards he denied. He could have been ducking the question but I don't think anything's happening there, at least not yet.