[Archived] Mr X - Guess Away

[trs]

Franco Di Santo is a 20 year old striker in the Chelsea first team.

In a superstar team he has been handed the number 9 shirt and has already received rave reviews from people within the camp.

Forgive me for my ignorance but who else did anyone think we were getting by spending little/no money? A hungry striker looking to do well is an excellent idea and if Roque leaves I think this could be a stroke of genius.

Correct!

[Eddie]

If there is no option to buy then I'm not too excited. Getting in a 20 year old on loan for one season, even one as talented as he may be, just won't help us much. We'll be back in the same boat next summer.

[savage90]

Course it will help us...any loan signing is about immediate help everyone knows were on a tight budget.. its the right kind of deal for us and im pretty sure this loan will be bolstered by 3 or more new permanent signings.

[Ewood and I Would]

Nicko if you are about is there any truth in Sam Allardyce looking at Kevin Kuranyi - been linked a few times to him.

It's a possible but there will be a queue.

The target you are working on is better anyway...

I don't think this Franco geezer is currently better than Kuranyi and I certainly don't think a year's loan is better for us than signing the German permantly, personally.

..but then I think Tugay is better than Graham Alexander so what do I know?

[Guest benmaxwell]

I still think Di Santo is Mr Y. Until Nicko say's otherwise, this is my guess...

If Di Santo is Mr X, then who is Mr Y...

[DeadlyDirk]

he is an excellent signing. no doubt abt that. i think people are more ###### off at nicko more than anything as he built this signing up too much but if we didn't have nicko and it was announced that we sign di santo on loan then we would all be estastic.

To be fair nicko is just doing his job/us a favour by giving us little snippets that we demand on a daily basis! Were the ones who built it up, nicko mentioned we were after a striker and can't say much more about it for now, then people started guessing the likes of Toni, Guiza, Huntelaar (Okay that one was me) etc and everyone got a bit over the top.

My initial reaction was one of discontent but the more I think about it, it's not so bad. At one stage or another Avram Grant has fancied him, Owen Coyle has fancied him, now Sam Allardyce fancies him (God this is one attractive lad!). While at Chelsea he has featured (Although it was a couple of sub apps) for both Scolari and Hiddink as well so it wasn't just Grant who saw something in him.

The other positive is that this is an addition to what we have, technically we will now have (Assuming we get FDS) Santa Cruz, Roberts, McCarthy, Derbyshire, Di Santo, as well as the likes of Rigters and Gallagher so it will give us a lot more power when letting players leave etc and making sure we get the right money for them.

I just hope we have an option to buy at a set price otherwise it just looks like were planning short term again, and if we don't it'll be sod's law that he does well then goes back to Chelsea and is now a £15m striker or something!

As long as he isn't our forward option to Danny Simpson he'll do alright!

[Lurid Coat]

So, basically, he will only join us if he doesn't impress Ancelotti. Hm.

[DeadlyDirk]

One of the holdup's by the way could be work permit related, I'm pretty sure even if he has one at Chelsea he needs to apply for a new one should he go to a different club, can't see it being too much of a problem if he got one before though as he is surely now more of a name and has a higher pedigree with Chelsea apps etc than he did before.

Plus can't see him really turning us down when he isn't getting much of a game at Chelsea, although surely we would have to make him some promises about first team football.

Scratch the work permit stuff, I thought his name sounded a bit italian and yes he holds an italian passport so doesn't need a work permit, the hold up could well be waiting to see what Carlo thinks of him then.

I thought it might be Luca Toni, but if you say he's been mentioned already, that rules him out.

Well I found it funny!!!

I'm just surprised nobody guessed it was Di Santo, seemed like a player someone would have mentioned.

[jodrell]

how come we never spotted Franco when we where signing carlos?

would be good if it were a loan with a view to buy, as it sounds like he might not be high up in the list of forwards for chelsea.

I think he had signed for Chelski before Carlos came. Also Ince knew his agent and asked if he could find someone similar to Franco and recommended Carlos.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Do remember we are signing 2 strikers before getting rid of Derbs. If we get Di Santo, it'll be VERY good business. It'll be a shame if we can't get him on loan with a view though, he'll probably come good.

On our budget though, this is a really promising signing and the way forward imo.

EDIT: Oh yeah, Nicko has said repeatedly he's NOT a Roque replacement. If we can get him onto a loan with a view, he would probably be our Derbs replacement and eventually Roberts/McCarthy as they are getting on now. He could have said that in the paper to sensationalise the story perhaps?

[Ewood and I Would]

Mr X T-Shirts now on sale

[modes98]

I'm so glad the Luca Toni story is out, sorry I mean Di Santa Cruz. Chelsea paid a decent fee for this guy and he's very young. The obvious worry is that he won't perform in his first season, but you don't win the raffle if you don't buy a ticket. hopefully we can get him in as Chelsea have bigger fish to fry.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

In all honesty, Nicko can't be blamed for the mass hysteria on here. It was inevitable once people started guessing Luca Toni, Podolski and Miroslav Klose. Realistically, we are never going to sign them so building the signing up into something he's not just made it an anticlimax.

[Amo]

If there is no option to buy then I'm not too excited. Getting in a 20 year old on loan for one season, even one as talented as he may be, just won't help us much. We'll be back in the same boat next summer.

Say said striker helps us to a high finish next season. That means more revenue for next season.

[Guest benmaxwell]

I think most people lept on the 'better then Kuranyi' statement.

Still not sure why that was said.

[Iceman]

I kind of remember either Nicko, or somebody saying it will probably end in some sort of anti climax.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

I kind of remember either Nicko, or somebody saying it will probably end in some sort of anti climax.

That's because everybody built him up to be a world beater. Nobody would loan out a world beater, and we can't afford one either.

[nicko]

In New York...and I thought the Americans were noisy.

Di Santo is a terrific young player - as good as anything you could possibly get.

Great in the air, good on the ground, agile and athletic. He would play for most teams in the Prem NOW if he was not at Chelsea.

The deal is ideal for your circumstances. You can sign him BEFORE Roque leaves without having to spend - that was the point I hinted at back some weeks ago. Obviously if Roque goes he would be in the side. Roque didn't play much last season, did he?

Rovers have had to agree with Chelsea that di Santo WILL play. There is no point in him going somewhere and warming a bench.

There is a big queue for him but Rovers have the first refusal...which is as good as it gets.

Chelsea's heirarchy are happy for him to go, but they want to let Ancelotti have the final say. That is why it was delayed like it was.

The player WILL go where he is told. His agent WORKS for Chelsea, so there is no great problem there.

Chelsea see him going out and coming back as a first-team starter.

You would be lucky to get him. Of course, if you don't want him I now a man who does...

So he is Mister X, Mister Y will get his own thread soon. Remember Derbyshire is being stopped from going until TWO strikers come in...and that is even before the Roque equation.

Have a nice day.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

I don't really like the idea of being a Feeder club, but if he is as good as reported, it's good business. We are paying nothing for it, I assume?

If Roque leaves we are looking at 3 new strikers, correct? I get the feeling Big Sam wants 5 in total.

[Amo]

Nicko - Would Chelsea have the option to recall him?

[Shevchenko]

So wait...I should return my new Rovers Luca Toni shirt?

[Ewood and I Would]

Di Santo is a terrific young player - as good as anything you could possibly get.

Great in the air, good on the ground, agile and athletic. He would play for most teams in the Prem NOW if he was not at Chelsea.

Didn't you say similar things about Danny Simpson last year?

Rovers have had to agree with Chelsea that di Santo WILL play. There is no point in him going somewhere and warming a bench.

Great, so if he's a flop (ala Simpson) we're under some kind of contractual agreement to play him anyway? Sam shoud be 100% free to pick the players he wants, our line up shouldn't be dictated by Chelsea!

The player WILL go where he is told. His agent WORKS for Chelsea, so there is no great problem there.

Doesn't mean the lad will be happy about it though and if he's not are we really get the best from him? Secondly I'm sure a player can refuse to go out on loan if they don't want to...well they bloody do on Footy Man' anyway

Chelsea see him going out and coming back as a first-team starter.

Ahhh isn't that nice....for Chelsea!!!

You would be lucky to get him. Of course, if you don't want him I now a man who does...

Then I seriously worry for our club if we're lucky to be a training ground for an undeveloped talent.

Sorry for being so underwhelmed here but I just don't see the benefit to us past him coming here being a revelation and gaining us a couple of PL places which would add a tiny amount (in PL transfer terms) to our next budget. We're signing a player who is not the finished article on loan so he either does badly like Simpson and we're stuck having to play him because of the contract we have we Chelsea or he does amazing then leaves at the end of the year giving us teh same problem we have now but for next season.

We need to be looking at SIGNING players for 2.5-4 mil and selling them on at a big profit later, i.e. RSC, Bentley and (could have vs should have) McCarthy after his first season. That's why I don't understand why we're not going for Sturridge. Free like this guy but would sign and likely make us a profit in the future.

Loans should be used to filling gaps as short term measure and not to help a big club nurture a future star which this deal sounds like to me.

[Guest benmaxwell]

Right so were selling Roque and Derbs, and bringing in a loan player and a lesser player to replace them.

Can't help but feel thoroughly underwelmed by this.

Nicko, i know this is the wrong topic to ask, but i wanted this off the back of the above.

Are we selling Cruz and using the money we get for our midfield, or are we so utterly down on money, that we are having to sell Roque and bring in loan signing and a cheap option Y?

Where will we be reinvesting the money we bring in is i guess the point im trying to make?

[gumboots]

he is an excellent signing. no doubt abt that. i think people are more ###### off at nicko more than anything as he built this signing up too much but if we didn't have nicko and it was announced that we sign di santo on loan then we would all be estastic.

No I wouldn't cos I've still never heard of him. I wasn't expecting a big name. I wasn't expecting it to be a splash the cash job or anything like that but a foreign player in the mould of Samba or Nelsen i.e. somebody nobody had ever really heard of. This guy's at Chelsea which as someone said means he can't play against them when we meet in the league. If he's any good he'll go straight back after the year. O wasn't excited by the story because I knew it would be like this and I'm not excited by the player because I have no idea what he's like. He may be good and if it's what we can get then we'll have to take it but excitement - no.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Right so were selling Roque and Derbs, and bringing in a loan player and a lesser player to replace them.

Can't help but feel thoroughly underwelmed by this.

For Gods sake read what he says.

Derbs out and 2 players in.

If Santa leaves, another in.