[Archived] Transfer Talk Part 3

[G Somerset Rover]

Gayle to Bristol City for £6m?! Sell Rhodes for £14m and get Gayle in for 6m!

Would be the ideal scenario but we only have Degsy's word for us coming out of the embargo immediately should Rhodes be sold.

[scotchrover]

Crawley fans opinion on Hope Akpan:

1) Were you shocked that Hope made the move this window, or did you half expect it?

Cant say I was surprised in the slightest, we knew he only had 6 months left on his contract and quite honestly he was far too good for League 1. I expected a few bids for him, and also I hoped to sell him this window as Id rather see him leave for a fee rather than next to nothing.

2) What are his strengths?

He is tireless, and will put 110% in to every performance on the pitch. He knows how to make a challenge, and is a special player in the fact that he chooses at what temp a match will be played at. Hope can also provide a fantastic range of passes, and knows where the back of the net is.

3) What are his weaknesses?

Probably the fact he gives 110% every match, sometimes he tries too hard and you can see when the game is not going his way he gets extremely frustrated. Akpan is a great tackler but at the same time he can make some horrendous challenges, I wouldn't call them malicious, more mistimed or naive.

4) From what I have been reading, his disciplinary record isn't the best, does he have an attitude on and possibly off the pitch?

Don't read in to it any more! As I mentioned previously, yes he does make some poor challenges, but I think this is down to his age and the position he plays, lets call it inexperience. Hope is a player who plays with his heart on his sleeve, and he will commit to the cause, sometimes this boils over to a crunching challenge, Id rather that than a midfielder who is scared to put a foot in. He was sent off against Portsmouth this season, but quite honestly it was a shocking decision, I don't know many Crawley or Pompey fans who will say it was a red card.

Off the pitch I would say he is generally a model professional, I live local to most the Crawley players and have seen many on a night out, however, I have never seen Akpan. He did have one incident off the pitch, when he was charged and fined by The FA for a homophobic tweet. Hope did claim innocence, stating it was a younger family member who got on to his twitter account, we will never know.

5) Akpan is at the tender age of 21, do you think he has the potential to play in the Premier League now or probably in a few years time?

He is good enough for the Premier League now. Reading of course face a fight to stay in the Premier League and with signing Hope I think you have increased your chances in staying up. He will not be scared to go toe to toe with some of the world's best midfielders, and he certainly wont be scared to let them know he is there. I reckon between now and the end of the season Hope will pick up 3 yellows and one red, but he is also going to score 2 league goals.

In years to come, with the greatest of respect to Reading FC and the fans I think Hope will move on to an even bigger club, he started at Everton and I can see him returning and becoming a first team player. You have signed a truly special youngster, and just for the fact that you have signed him, I have adopted Reading FC as my Premier League club. COME ON YOU ROYALS!

He sounds a half decent player, but ANOTHER midfielder though? Really?

[Neal]

Just hoping he can be our Tettey (Norwich). We've seriously lacked some muscle, fingers crossed this lad will do the dirty work.

[J*B]

Akpan - the new Mokoena.

[tomphil]

Akpan - the new Mokoena.

This team could do with an 'axe' in there sometimes. Anyone having a wager on how long it takes him to see red ?

[J*B]

This team could do with an 'axe' in there sometimes. Anyone having a wager on how long it takes him to see red ?

I'll go 21 minutes.

[Gav]

Akpan won't be very good or he'd still be at Reading on a much better contract than a club under embargo can offer, so lets not kid ourselves here.

The 'Hope' is he can give the side something we've missed in the last 2 seasons, maybe a bit more fight in the middle of the park? because he's not going to give us goals looking at his record.

I wish the lad well, but bloody hell we're desperate

[Tom]

Akpan - the new Mokoena.

If there's a new anything we have needed it was a new Mokoena!

[tomphil]

I'll go 21 minutes.

Hell is he that clumsy lol ? I was thinking games not mins

[J*B]

Hope Akpan he's gonna break your legs?

[broadsword]

It's the Hope that kills ya.

[JHRover]

Akpan is one I am cautiously optimistic about.

Whilst he seems to have lost his way at Reading since Clarke took over there he is still a good age, has time on his side and has played a lot of games at Premier League and Championship level.

I imagine we must now be close to our maximum numbers in terms of the squad size limit, but I still think that we need to bring in a striker to go with Rhodes. I'm hopeful Koita will be a good addition and with his size alone he will cause problems for teams, but I would still like another option in the event Rhodes misses some games or leaves. If he does stay he is going to be carrying the burden of having to score a lot of goals for us.

[Pedro]

If there's a new anything we have needed it was a new Mokoena!

Manager? ☺

[davulsukur]

I will give him his chance in a Rovers shirt but i am not holding out much Hope (if you like).

We certainly need a ball winner but with blue eyed boy Lowey and new signing Guthrie, not sure where he will feature. Also, leaves Lenihan out in the cold a little bit.

Someones for for chop now, surely?

[unleaded]

http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/466237296-janoi-donacien-of-tranmere-rovers-contests-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QTF8DXZnSLNN4yudpzOi0oiIcPux9Cr%2B1Bodbn8zJFW9aXuBhG%2FBVd2KBOY70v3yyw%3D%3D

Rovers need a tall/ strong Right back as current 2 are too small ... It's one of the reasons we struggle at the back

The Righr back position has been our let down for the past 2-3,years ....The manager needs to correct that

Henley is like a schoolboy and too weak ....

Janoi Donacien From Aston Villa would be ideal ... Can play in Center & is a strong Right Back ...

[RevidgeBlue]

Interestingly Guthrie also comes in for a fair amount of stick on the Reading MB's - imparticular his tracking back - TBH I put it down to fitness, but his tracking back on Saturday wasn't brilliant - always seemed to be the much maligned Lowe putting in the blocks etc

Must have missed that. I remember him steaming into one cracking block tackle in 90 mins.

Which was one more than usual.

[tomphil]

http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/466237296-janoi-donacien-of-tranmere-rovers-contests-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QTF8DXZnSLNN4yudpzOi0oiIcPux9Cr%2B1Bodbn8zJFW9aXuBhG%2FBVd2KBOY70v3yyw%3D%3D

Rovers need a tall/ strong Right back as current 2 are too small ... It's one of the reasons we struggle at the back

The Righr back position has been our let down for the past 2-3,years ....The manager needs to correct that

Henley is like a schoolboy and too weak ....

Janoi Donacien From Aston Villa would be ideal ... Can play in Center & is a strong Right Back ...

Henley did alright back end of last season and he has pace which you need at full back. Didn't have a great game on Sat but surely he can settle down again. No point having a 6'2" full back who can't run, we had Keane there and Baps also Lowe, all not bad one on one with the physical stuff but all of them skinned regularly because they were/are slow.

[blueboy3333]

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/settled-hope-akpan-happy-appreciated-8014539

This article is from last October so Akpan must have been playing well then.

[windymiller7]

Yeay! Go Bob!

[RevidgeBlue]

Will Akpan even get a game or will he simply be behind Guthrie, and the previously established triumvirate of Lowe, Evans and Williamson in the pecking order?

Very odd to me, makes giving Williamson a new contract and signing Petshi seem completely pointless.

It would also seem to indicate that none of the youngsters will have an earthly of getting any game time.

"Blackburn Rovers Academy - the place to be" (as long as you don't harbour any aspirations of ever turning out for the first team)

[tomphil]

Could he be coming to play along with Guthrie and some of the previously established ones being moved on and the youth etc staying as back up ? Or is this just the new area of weekly rotation instead of the defence and strikers....

[joey_big_nose]

My guess is he will go straight into the team when match fit and play alongside Guthrie. I doubt we would have committed to a two year contract for him to warm the bench.

Suggests Gaz may be losing faith with Lowe... Or perhaps with Jason's injury record is expecting him to breakdown at some point.

[broadsword]

Suggests Gaz may be losing faith with Lowe...

BLASPHEMER!

[Iceman]

As long as Lowe is out of the team, then I'm happy with that. Marshall can also cover at RB if need be, so Lowe ,Evans and Williamson can look on for a bit. Akpan alongside Guthrie in front of the back 4.

Raya

Henley Duffy Killa Olsson

Guthrie Akpan

Conway Marshall Barrow

Rhodes

Still think Marshall can make a good creative midfielder, tucking in nicely behind Rhodes.

[tomphil]

My guess is he will go straight into the team when match fit and play alongside Guthrie. I doubt we would have committed to a two year contract for him to warm the bench.

Suggests Gaz may be losing faith with Lowe... Or perhaps with Jason's injury record is expecting him to breakdown at some point.

He'll not lose faith just yet not until he's tried him right back, left back, both centre half positions, right wing. If he fails them there's a job available in the keeper dept waiting !