[Archived] Nikola Kalinic

[den]

One more point to Ricky about Diego Forlan - in all honesty I thought Forlan looked a superb player from day one. He couldn't score for toffee admittedly, but he was and still is a superb footballer. Great first touch, fast, vision, can beat a man and is a real handful for any side. I'd have had him at Ewood straight away. Proves my point doesn't it?

[The Harwood Yankee]

There's not many jobs where you get to start on a top salary but sit things out for months until you feel 'ready' to do the job you're being paid to do. Imagine if a top surgeon signed a big money contract at a hospital then said 'I'll just sit around for a few months til I've settled in and then I'll do some operations.' God, these footballers are mollicoddled! If he's not ready then dont pay 6 million quid and stick him on a top salary! Simples!

[LeChuck]

There's not many jobs where you get to start on a top salary but sit things out for months until you feel 'ready' to do the job you're being paid to do. Imagine if a top surgeon signed a big money contract at a hospital then said 'I'll just sit around for a few months til I've settled in and then I'll do some operations.' God, these footballers are mollicoddled! If he's not ready then dont pay 6 million quid and stick him on a top salary! Simples!

But relatively he's not on a top salary. Why are you comparing him to a top surgeon? It makes no sense. If you want to use the bizarre comparison then he's probably just come out of med. school and is on a 1/4 of what the top surgeons are.

£6 million nowadays only buys you potential which needs nurturing. Take a look around the Premier League; the proven strikers that moved on (Bent, Crouch, Santa Cruz) all went for mega money, whilst the others who went for a similar fee to Kalinic (Frazier Campbell, Christian Benitez etc.) are all taking time to find their feet.

Huge Rodallega is a great example of why it pays to persevere with potentially good players, he came at a similar price to Kalinic too. It took him five months to score his first goal for Wigan after arriving last January. Now he's settled and accustomed to the English style he's looking like a great signing.

[The Harwood Yankee]

But relatively he's not on a top salary. Why are you comparing him to a top surgeon? It makes no sense. If you want to use the bizarre comparison then he's probably just come out of med. school and is on a 1/4 of what the top surgeons are.

£6 million nowadays only buys you potential which needs nurturing. Take a look around the Premier League; the proven strikers that moved on (Bent, Crouch, Santa Cruz) all went for mega money, whilst the others who went for a similar fee to Kalinic (Frazier Campbell, Christian Benitez etc.) are all taking time to find their feet.

Huge Rodallega is a great example of why it pays to persevere with potentially good players, he came at a similar price to Kalinic too. It took him five months to score his first goal for Wigan after arriving last January. Now he's settled and accustomed to the English style he's looking like a great signing.

Fair play LeChuck that's a good answer to my post. And I hope you're right that Kalinic will come good with time. If he's still no closer to being a Premiership starter in January then I'll start to worry. We've been bitten before with the likes of Grabbi. Let's hope Kalinic just needs a few months before he's leading our attack - he was our biggest signing of the summer and regardless of what anyone else is spending if a club of Rovers size have spent 6 million quid he needs to be making the subs bench at least!

[brfcs5359]

But relatively he's not on a top salary. Why are you comparing him to a top surgeon? It makes no sense. If you want to use the bizarre comparison then he's probably just come out of med. school and is on a 1/4 of what the top surgeons are.

£6 million nowadays only buys you potential which needs nurturing. Take a look around the Premier League; the proven strikers that moved on (Bent, Crouch, Santa Cruz) all went for mega money, whilst the others who went for a similar fee to Kalinic (Frazier Campbell, Christian Benitez etc.) are all taking time to find their feet.

Huge Rodallega is a great example of why it pays to persevere with potentially good players, he came at a similar price to Kalinic too. It took him five months to score his first goal for Wigan after arriving last January. Now he's settled and accustomed to the English style he's looking like a great signing.

Thats a good point.

[AggyBlue]

nichola has scored a penalty against a team with ten men,missed a sitter by all accounts,if thats the sign of a 6million pound player he's doing great,in the real world he is a waste of money

Which sitter was that, the header that hit the bar?

If so, it wasn't a sitter. It was beyond the far post, almost on the goal line. I was amazed he even got his head to it never mind direct it back towards goal.

[Hughesy]

There's not many jobs where you get to start on a top salary but sit things out for months until you feel 'ready' to do the job you're being paid to do. Imagine if a top surgeon signed a big money contract at a hospital then said 'I'll just sit around for a few months til I've settled in and then I'll do some operations.' God, these footballers are mollicoddled! If he's not ready then dont pay 6 million quid and stick him on a top salary! Simples!

Top Salary, £28k?

The problem is that if you want a player who is ready to bang goals in the prem from when you sign them and you want no wisk then it will cost you over double what we paid For Nikola.

Examples being:

Darren Bent - £10m, rising to £16.5m, on around £70k a week.

Crouch - £9m + debts, £70k a week but wanted £90k a week to leave London

[den]

Or Roque Santa Cruz for £3.5m, Bellamy for £3.5m etc.

[imy9]

Or Roque Santa Cruz for £3.5m, Bellamy for £3.5m etc.

Roque who had never scored more than 5 league goals in a season.

Bellamy who had never scored more than 9 league goals in a season.

They were very risky signings who paid off. Alfonso Alves scored better than a goal a game in Holland but then flopped, there is no exact science.

The difference with Bellamy and RSC is that Bellamy was used to the PL and RSC had played most of his career in a top class league, enabling them to settle in easier.

[den]

Roque who had never scored more than 5 league goals in a season.

Bellamy who had never scored more than 9 league goals in a season.

They were very risky signings who paid off. Alfonso Alves scored better than a goal a game in Holland but then flopped, there is no exact science.

The difference with Bellamy and RSC is that Bellamy was used to the PL and RSC had played most of his career in a top class league, enabling them to settle in easier.

Top players though at less than £4m? No-one can say realistically that you can't get a good player in for under £6m nowadays. Not one of us knows the entire market.

[LeChuck]

Top players though at less than £4m? No-one can say realistically that you can't get a good player in for under £6m nowadays. Not one of us knows the entire market.

The market is very, very different to when we signed Bellamy, and still different to when we signed Roque due to the number of previously average clubs with masses of cash to spend (notably Man City and Sunderland).

Maybe there was a top quality striker available for £6 million or under in the summer, you're right in saying that none of us know the market well enough to say otherwise. If such a player does exist though, he seems to have evaded the attention of every other Premier League manager too.

No comments on Rodallega, Den?

[Neil Weaver]

N'Zonzi coped better, perhaps he is stronger willed, perhaps its because he has had others around him.

The intangibles are almost endless.

Ive got this T4E and I'd like to clarify for everyone : it's the incredible nurturing talent of his midfield partner, Super Keef

[den]

The market is very, very different to when we signed Bellamy, and still different to when we signed Roque due to the number of previously average clubs with masses of cash to spend (notably Man City and Sunderland).

Maybe there was a top quality striker available for £6 million or under in the summer, you're right in saying that none of us know the market well enough to say otherwise. If such a player does exist though, he seems to have evaded the attention of every other Premier League manager too.

No comments on Rodallega, Den?

Well LeC, have any top strikers moved outside the Prem for less than £6m? - who knows, - it's a world market nowadays. I'm not the one who is saying that there aren't any strikers available from the whole wide world for £6m or less.

As for Rodallega, honestly LeC, I've absolutely no idea about the guy. No idea why he wasn't playing before now. First I heard of him was this weekend on the TV.

OK I've had a look at Rodallega's stats. He's been at Wigan since January - so he's been available to play for 7 months? [taking out the summer months]. He's made 25 appearances for them. 9 appearances last seaon [6 as sub]. So yes they persevered with him, but he was playing pretty much straight away. - who said we shouldn't persevere with Niko?

[LeChuck]

OK I've had a look at Rodallega's stats. He's been at Wigan since January - so he's been available to play for 7 months? [taking out the summer months]. He's made 25 appearances for them. 9 appearances last seaon [6 as sub]. So yes they persevered with him, but he was playing pretty much straight away. - who said we shouldn't persevere with Niko?

He was bought as Heskey's replacement in January and was in and out of the team, very much like Kalinic is with us now. It took him until May to score his first goal. He got two more before the season finished and now has 5 goals already this year, the same as Van Persie.

I just think he's a very, very good example of a foreign player that needed a relatively long time to settle. People have been writing off Kalinic since the first game of the year! I just think you're (and in fairness you are not alone) very quick to judge his ability, arguing that, at 21, he isn't going to improve much and should be playing every game. It's nowhere near that simple, and someone like Rodallega goes to show what rewards you can get if you're prepared to patient. Imagine how our fans would have reacted if our new star striker didn't score for five months.

[Silencio]

He was bought as Heskey's replacement in January and was in and out of the team, very much like Kalinic is with us now. It took him until May to score his first goal. He got two more before the season finished and now has 5 goals already this year, the same as Van Persie.

I just think he's a very, very good example of a foreign player that needed a relatively long time to settle. People have been writing off Kalinic since the first game of the year! I just think you're (and in fairness you are not alone) very quick to judge his ability, arguing that, at 21, he isn't going to improve much and should be playing every game. It's nowhere near that simple, and someone like Rodallega goes to show what rewards you can get if you're prepared to patient. Imagine how our fans would have reacted if our new star striker didn't score for five months.

Great post. Kalinic obviously has good pedigree, his goal scoring record is excellent and he is already an international, this doesn't mean he is certain to make it with us but it suggests that he has the potential. Like Rodallega who, I think, may be a couple of years older than our striker.

Some players settle in straight away, some don't. As another poster said there are a lot of intangibles.

[Tom]

Or Roque Santa Cruz for £3.5m, Bellamy for £3.5m etc.

Surely thats irrelevent as neither of those players were on the market this summer at those values, yes there are a few bargians to be had here and there but thats not to say there always is.

This summer was an awful time to be in the market for a striker

[den]

He was bought as Heskey's replacement in January and was in and out of the team, very much like Kalinic is with us now. It took him until May to score his first goal. He got two more before the season finished and now has 5 goals already this year, the same as Van Persie.

LeC - where is the similarity? Rodallega has played 25 games, Kalanic hasn't started a Prem game yet has he?

Anyhow all this is nit picking because this following bit is completely unrepresentative of what I've said:

"People have been writing off Kalinic since the first game of the year! I just think you're (and in fairness you are not alone) very quick to judge his ability, arguing that, at 21, he isn't going to improve much and should be playing every game. It's nowhere near that simple, and someone like Rodallega goes to show what rewards you can get if you're prepared to patient. Imagine how our fans would have reacted if our new star striker didn't score for five months.

Read back and you might understand what I have said about his ability, the age of players, whether we should be patient [wherever that's come from?] and whether I've wrote him off. You'll find I've said nothing of the sort. None of those statements that you are trying to label me with are correct. That's why there is a disagreement

Maybe when you get that right we could start again. or maybe not.

Surely thats irrelevent as neither of those players were on the market this summer at those values, yes there are a few bargians to be had here and there but thats not to say there always is.

This summer was an awful time to be in the market for a striker

It's as relevant as stating there were no strikers available for less than £6m anywhere.

[DeadlyDirk]

Form and confidence can play a massive part in things, I can see talent in him so hopefully after he adapts a little more to the English game he can still be a hit for us. Salgado has spoken recentley about how tough the premiership is and that it takes time to adapt and he certainly knows a thing or two about football.

Hopefully his goal in mid week will be a weight off him even if it was a penalty, a goal's a goal so maybe it's just the start of things. Far to early to judge him still, it's not as though he's even had a lot of chances. We have a decent run of fixtures coming up with a fair few 'winnable games' so maybe he'll get a bit more of a run out then and we'll have a much better idea of whether or not he's going to make it after he's been here for half a season or so.

[Steve Moss]

Salgado is a football great. If he needs time to settle in, Kalinic needs at least the same, if not longer. And Kalinic's performances to date have been far from poor.

[gumboots]

I think what Graham is implying is, when Kalinic had gone past two defenders he didnt look like he had the pace to go it alone and outsprint the final covering defender.

No, he said he didn't appear to have the ball under control, which is why someone questioned how he managed to set McCarthy up perfectly. Do some people on here think you can only score or be allowed to score if you do everything perfectly. Chalk off most premier league goals then. a goal is a goal whether it's a scuffed shot, goes in off someone's left ear or is a penalty against a lower league team with 10 men (it's actually a pen against one man in the nets - you can't have anyone else in the box with you) I don't know at this stage if he'll make it and I have serious doubts as to whether he will, but he scored and set one up so why are we complaining?

[JAL]

No, he said he didn't appear to have the ball under control, which is why someone questioned how he managed to set McCarthy up perfectly. Do some people on here think you can only score or be allowed to score if you do everything perfectly. Chalk off most premier league goals then. a goal is a goal whether it's a scuffed shot, goes in off someone's left ear or is a penalty against a lower league team with 10 men (it's actually a pen against one man in the nets - you can't have anyone else in the box with you) I don't know at this stage if he'll make it and I have serious doubts as to whether he will, but he scored and set one up so why are we complaining?

Point taken gumboots, lets hope for more of the same on saturday, goals that is, wether it be scuffed shot, left ear, or any other legitimate method of scoring .

[thenodrog]

It's almost as though some people on here actually want him to fail. That is an attitude I really can't understand.

It's the same with certain other squad members and the manager imo. Our very own 5th columnists.... The enemy within.

[Tom]

I agree with that Theno, at games I often feel some people aren't suited when Pedersen does well and revel when he does something wrong.

[Paul]

Form and confidence can play a massive part in things, I can see talent in him so hopefully after he adapts a little more to the English game he can still be a hit for us. Salgado has spoken recentley about how tough the premiership is and that it takes time to adapt and he certainly knows a thing or two about football.

Hopefully his goal in mid week will be a weight off him even if it was a penalty, a goal's a goal so maybe it's just the start of things. Far to early to judge him still, it's not as though he's even had a lot of chances. We have a decent run of fixtures coming up with a fair few 'winnable games' so maybe he'll get a bit more of a run out then and we'll have a much better idea of whether or not he's going to make it after he's been here for half a season or so.

Salgado is a football great. If he needs time to settle in, Kalinic needs at least the same, if not longer. And Kalinic's performances to date have been far from poor.

Of Course Salgado is going to talk about the PL being tough. Many say what a great player he is (was?) well if this is the case he should, with his age and experience, have no problem with the PL. On the otherhand he may be an ageing pro, dropped by his former club who has played less than 20 games in the past 30 months? I haven't seen him play so I don't know, everything is there to be proven. I don't recall Beckham (random example of a player moving around a lot) having a problem with settling in Spain, then the USA, then Italy, then back to the US and rumoured to be back in Europe this winter?

I can appreciate a foreign player needing time to "settle in" which I presume means become comfortable with his surroundings, home life, team mates etc but do remember PL clubs employ minders to aide this process. Settling in to an area for most folk means house hunting etc, etc. no PL footballer will have that sort of hassle.

As for adapting to the PL? How can any player adapt to a team when he's sat on the bench / in the stand? I can't judge these players as I haven't seen them live but the longer they stay in the stand the more I reach the conclusion the manager has made a serious error of judgement and has only discovered this once they arrived at Ewood. Di Santo leaves in January so has, at best, 11 more games to play for us. We don't have a striker to replace him so one would assume Kalinic will be asked to do the job. My question is this - if he needs time to adapt and gain experience when will the manager give him the opportunity? January? Other than one, yes ONE, Carling Cup match there is no oppportunity for Kalinic to gain experience unless he plays in the PL.

[gumboots]

Of Course Salgado is going to talk about the PL being tough. Many say what a great player he is (was?) well if this is the case he should, with his age and experience, have no problem with the PL. On the otherhand he may be an ageing pro, dropped by his former club who has played less than 20 games in the past 30 months? I haven't seen him play so I don't know, everything is there to be proven. I don't recall Beckham (random example of a player moving around a lot) having a problem with settling in Spain, then the USA, then Italy, then back to the US and rumoured to be back in Europe this winter?

Beckham's moves have all been to a physically less intense league. Salgado has come the hard way.