[Archived] Nicko's January Rumour Mill

[stuwilky]

For £10m we could do much better than crouch. Someone with abit of pace would be good. The lad upfront at Seville would be good ha ha!

I dont disagree Hughesy, but give us some names.....

I take it we're supposed to forget the £10m+ promised in transfer fees prior to this window?

Who promised anything at all spencey?

[philipl]

Givet £2m in wages

Diouf £3.5 in transfer plus £2m in wages (quite probably)

£7.5m spent there spencey7.

[beerwins]

jim mk2 hits the nail on the head, football is a team game and our midfield is @#/?, and you are all papping on about crouch, how is he or rsc going to get the balls they need? from emerton , or andrews or a maybe fit dunn or maybe a snails pace grella.

strikers arent nothing without a good midifeld unless you plan to lump it from defence every game, the amount of people getting caught up the striker drama is pathetic to say the least, you could sign the best two strikers in the world, but they wont score bugger all without a good midfield.

I would love to see a vote or poll about what fans think is most needed area to strengthen in the rovers team at the mo.

[JonnyH]

Peter Crouch- the Marmite of football!

[Hughesy]

Id take a bet and say that prior to the Diouf news - most would say right wing?? That is currently being sorted.

Yes midfield is another area - but we aint loaded so we cant just go around buying who we want for midfield - who do you suggest beerwins??

[doctorryan]

Any deal with City has to include Sturridge, period. Opportunities to force a situation where a player with that kind of potential is acquirable MUST be taken advantage of, especially with Chelsea, Villa, The Gunners, etc supposedly sniffing around him. Yes we may lose him in the summer, yes agent's fees are a pain-in-the-a** in these situations; so what!! Make it happen and make Sparky & the Donkey Patrol pay for all of it. These chances don't come around often. As for the £20m, it'll be there in the summer(minus Rocky's £5m cut). If last night is any indication RSC will do the business enough for us in the next few months that someone will come in for him.

And forget Crouch. I'll be the first to admit it(& celebrate) if I'm wrong, but I think it's a terrible idea. String bean is an over hyped bum.

[Fraserkirky]

Any deal with City has to include Sturridge, period. Opportunities to force a situation where a player with that kind of potential is acquirable MUST be taken advantage of, especially with Chelsea, Villa, The Gunners, etc supposedly sniffing around him. Yes we may lose him in the summer, yes agent's fees are a pain-in-the-a** in these situations; so what!! Make it happen and make Sparky & the Donkey Patrol pay for all of it. These chances don't come around often. As for the £20m, it'll be there in the summer(minus Rocky's £5m cut). If last night is any indication RSC will do the business enough for us in the next few months that someone will come in for him.

And forget Crouch. I'll be the first to admit it(& celebrate) if I'm wrong, but I think it's a terrible idea. String bean is an over hyped bum.

Agree with the first part there. Sturridge must be part of any deal for RSC coming from City.

Crouch would be an incredible signing, with cash left-over.

Delighted with talk of Diouf being back on. He's gonna prove alot of people wrong.

Nicko, what's the scoop with Appiah last I heard he was on trial with spurs? Surely on a free we could sort out a deal until summer for him.

[philipl]

Appiah has been training with Spurs all January and there are still huge question marks over his fitness.

Sam apparently said this at about 3.30 Thursday afternoon (quoting from the Guardian):

Allardyce maintains Santa Cruz will be staying at Ewood Park, because he would not have time to find a replacement for the Paraguay striker. "There is not the opportunity now to get the quality of striker we need to allow us even to consider letting Roque Santa Cruz move to Manchester City," said Allardyce. "So for me, he stays, although I can't put it to bed completely until the deadline has passed. It's impossible, from any manager's point of view, to see what happens between now and then. But I certainly wish it was the third of February tomorrow."

The Crouch story, if true, points to Sam being very loose with what he is willing to say. Is the fact that Spurs are the most likely to come up with the dosh let him off the hook?

[andyroversmad]

I would rather have darren bent than peter crouch, Id be happy with £12 millon plus darren bent

[RibbleValleyRover]

Its all well and good saying lets cash in Roque by bringing in say Crouch or Bent, and some cash on top. With only 3 days left of the transfer window what are we going to spend the rest of the money on? We haven't been linked to any central midfielders or a natural right winger (clearly areas we need to strengthen).

The way i see it going down is that we will use our existing budget to bring in Diouf, sell Roque and bring in an inferior replacement in Crouch or Bent and that’s it. The rest of the money will be left until the summer (pointless if we go down) or will be absorbed by the trust.

I'm sorry but with so little time left I think its looking likely we will end up coming out weaker not stronger overall by the time the window closes.

[blue/white]

For £10m we could do much better than crouch. Someone with abit of pace would be good. The lad upfront at Seville would be good ha ha!

Hughesy...

You reckon Sevilla pine for RSC?

What we could do w/ Kanute at Ewood!

Since Nicko announced his 2330 entry I've been reading the past 6 pages with great anticipation

but I must admit, the payoff was not what had been built up in my mind

As some have mentioned, the outlay and the subsequent pay packet are too great for the return.

If we can conjure up a useful winger to service Roque ---we might as well hold on to RSC.

[philipl]

Just posted the Guardian report of City's final offer on the transfer links pinned page.

It is woeful;

£18.5m NOT in cash

We can buy Ben Haim (it is NOT £18.5m + Ben Haim)

No loans offered

That is their final offer- they have explicitly said so.

So in other words they are not backing Sparky in his bid to get Roque when you consider how overboard against normal valuations they have gone for Bridge, Bellamy and De Jong.

It would be a disgrace if Rovers supinely accept this offer.

All I can say is that Sam's comments yesterday afternoon about it being too late to sell Roque to City and earlier that the valuation is £40m are going to look very silly if Roque is in sky blue on 3 February. None of us could believe a word he says in future.

[T4E]

Can't believe the attitude towards Crouch. He's a very good player indeed, I'll be over the moon if we make this happen.

Mark my words - he'd be a big success here.

[bonger 26]

not to sure bout crouchy sometimes looks quality at being the target man. can hold the ball reasonably well but i think he needs someone of decent crossing abilty to make the best of his height. desparado for a pacey right winger with acuracy. jenas as part of the spuds deal would be alright i think?

[philipl]

Both the Independent and the Sun are reporting Rovers have rejected City's fourth and final Roque bid.

So over to Spurs who have spectacularly fallen out with Liverpool over Keane.

But would Roque want to relocate the family to a club also in deep relegation trouble where his current Rovers wages are also at the top of their wage structure so he gets no pay rise? (Spurs will not want to up his deal because of relativities with Defoe and Pavlyuchenko whom I believe are both on £60K a week). He would get a Cup Final but little realistic chance of Europe.

All the things which Roque said attracted him to City conspicuously do not apply to Spurs who are going to be into sackcloth mode like Arsenal did while they build their new stadium- if they stay up.

Clearly with relegation being such a live issue for Rovers and Pompey and it being all but impossible to get Roque and Crouch transferred in time for the Friday registration deadline, this whole complicated business goes into the fridge until after the games on Saturday as the last thing either Sam or Adams would want is to be missing their main strikers in such critical games.

[hawkiiz]

uhm. rocky or crouch? i would keep rocky. i find it a bit weirf letting derbs go and pay 10m on crouch.

sure he is a good player but not as good as rocky and at 10m plus 90k pw in wages i dont like it. bring diouf and let the rest stay as it is. we can fund him on the money for derbs (if we sell him)

[Manchester Blue]

Crouch i'd be pleased with, like others have said i'm surprised at the reaction but i suppose i shouldn't be.

Diouf would be seriously disappointed. If he was free i''d grudgingly give him a chance. For £3m i think it's a criminal waste of money if so.

[herbergeehh]

Any news on the two Diarra's, Nicko? Mentioned by Kamy earlier.

[roversmad95]

Have I missed something, I even trawled through all the posts from today, have we actually signed Diouf or as it even been reported that we've put in a bid for him? Where's the link to any of these stories?

Until this actually breaks, I think that people need to chill a bit!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport...icle2188869.ece

[Guest Kamy100]

The lancashire telegraph reports that Rovers rejected a fourth bid for Roque yesterday afternoon. It is believed thebid was £18 million. That fits with Sam's comments yesterday afternoon. Rovers still looking at Aluo Diarra.

[Mafioso]

i think he needs someone of decent crossing abilty to make the best of his height.

The way emo and mgp have been crossing of late crouch could be the answer to our problems

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I agree with the guys who want our midfield strengthening first and foremost. However on the striker front I'd rather have Roque than Crouch anyday but if Roque goes I'd prefer Crouch over all the other alternatives mentioned here. There's no guarantee that any of the players from abroad will succeed, at least you know what you're getting with Crouch.

[imy9]

Givet £2m in wages

Diouf £3.5 in transfer plus £2m in wages (quite probably)

£7.5m spent there spencey7.

I am sure Givet's wages are £1 million for the six months that he is here- Nicko confirmed this.

[AJW]

peter crouch is a better footballer than people give him credit for his first touch is every good as RSC its because of his gangly phsique that he looks awkward when he's playing , if i had to critisice him it would be his lack of mobility and for his height he does lack physical strength , he has a decent scoring rate too when playing up with another striker

[colbert]

the two stories in the mirror by Nicko today

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/200...15875-21081624/

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/200...15875-21082150/