[Archived] De Pedro Signs

[LDRover]

My only real worry is that our track record in non-Scandinavian footballers new to the country has been one of 100% failure (to the best of my memory); mostly due to failure to settle:

Donis

Perez

Valery

Grabbi

Yordi

Suker

Baggio

The only ones to thrive either came from somewhere colder (Berg) or were already acclimatised to the UK, usually at somewhere colder and wetter:

Tugay in Glasgow

Arentoft in Newcastle

To change this trend, I would hope that someone of importance in the club is demanding to know what will be done differently this time to help the guy ( and presumably a family) settle in?

On the plus side, the presence of a seemingly happy Campo over t'hill in Horwich might be of benefit.

So I'd like to suggest that De Pedro forsakes the Ribble Valley and lodges with my Mum and Dad in Tockholes; so he'll be nice and close to his fellow Spaniard. And with the Black Bull, Rock, Vic and Royal to choose from; he won't have any reason to complain about the lack of somewhere to eat out.

Our record with Scandinavian footballers (Berg apart) isn't too clever either.

Frandsen

Andersson x 2

Andresen

Bohinen

Dahlin

Pedersen x 2

As for the signing of De Pedro, great to finally have a left sided player.

Strange that we've gone down this route after Souey's 'Johnny Foreigner' jibes but from the sounds of the apparent wages being paid and the fact it's free we're looking at a low risk signing. Something that could not be said if we'd shelled out 2 million plus on an unproven Norwegian youngster.

[Ossydave]

Where are Newcastle waving £3m at us for Neill when you need them?

Apparently they've dropped interest in Neill and switched their attention to 5M rated John Curtis and also the 8M rated Damien Johnson.

[Tony Diamond Inc]

About the age/past his best argument:-

De Pedro will be 31 in August - We got him for free

Ryan Giggs will be 31 in November - How much would he have cost?

Robert (Johnny Foreigner) Pires will be 31 in October - Was he available on a free??

Whether or not De Pedro turns it on in the Premier League remains to be seen. What cannot be argued is that this is an outstanding bit of business by GS/JW. Effectively it's a no lose situation, as he WILL be better than Douglas/Thompson/Reid playing in that positon

Edited June 17, 2004 by Tony Diamond Inc

[mattym]

Yes this is good news, hopefully being a left winger De Pedro will be able to stop Emertons woefully long croses from the right going out for throwins and knock em back into the mixer for someone to get on the end of

Edited June 17, 2004 by mattym

[den]

If he can blend his sweet left foot, with using them both to get back in front of Mickey Gray when needed , then alongside Cole and Stead when required, then he'll do ok.

If not, he'll have to get used to the bracing Morecambe air. That'll be an experience for him.

[baberg]

Finally a left sided midfielder!

I would have liked to snap up Gamst Pedersen, simple for his youth and scope for improvement and such. But, the fact that we got De Pedro on a Bosman does make business sense.

I hope MGP doesn't go somewhere and tear it up, but oh well..

Welcome Javier.

As a Tromsø fan I am pleased to keep MGP in the club for the whole season (we lead the Norwegian PL, good chances for playing European football next season...). On the other hand, everybody understands that Morten will be sold, the only question is when. I certainly hope "don Pedro" will do well in Rovers, but he is obviously not a solution for the future. So why not buy MGP now, and let him stay in Tromsø until the end of the Norwegian season? His price-tag would of course be lower if Blackburn agrees to this.

This autumn he will play for Norway in the WC-qualifications against Italy etc, and no doubt he will play well. As a Rovers fan I would hate to see him being bought by ManUnited or some other rich club when next winters transfer window opens.

Edited June 17, 2004 by baberg

[Bobby G]

I doubt we have the money and even if we did I dont think we would pay for another left winger who wouldnt play for us until the end of 2004 if he does oust Javi.

[Jordan]

Javier de pedro

Javier de Pedro na na na na, na na na na.

To the tune of lets all have a party.

[rover6]

Just to say that Sukur left Blackburn because he fell out with Souness after the Man U game. It wasn't to do with money or failing to acclimatise - which was the story spun by Rovers.

The guy madly celebrating that goal against Fulham didn't look like someone desperate to leave the club.

[greggyk]

Just to say that Sukur left Blackburn because he fell out with Souness after the Man U game. It wasn't to do with money or failing to acclimatise - which was the story spun by Rovers.

The guy madly celebrating that goal against Fulham didn't look like someone desperate to leave the club.

Yeah, and what person did he celebrate it with?

And what a supprise, at the time we had sukur, you were slating him, now your on his side!

[Martin]

I am just glad we might have someone who takes a decent free kick. With Fergie returning and now de Pedro being touted as abit of a free kick specialist we may have a chance of regularly getting the ball over the wall and on target.

When the opposition get a free kick I can see no other outcome other than a goal. Conversly when we manage to get a free kick my main worry is that when the ball hits the wall do we have enough people back defending our goal.

I am now excited about August.

[Siriwan]

It's almost a crime that Javi doesn't speaks english, if you have in mind that he probably took the decision of leaving to the Premiership on January or probably before. He has had a lot of time to learn the basics! BTW, have you heard new Liverpool's coach Rafa Benítez? Funny...

As Philipl said, San Sebastián is not really different from Blackburn, a very similar weather and countryside. IMO Philipl had a confusion between San Sebastián and Bilbao (it's neighbour and the city where i was born), wich it's where the industries are. But if you have the will to settle, you'll definitely settle well.

Good luck Javi! Bienvenido a Blackburn!

[AllRoverAsia]

Having just read the posts on this topic I see the usual miseries are still vocal. Expletively boring.

Good signing by Rovers - well done to all invloved.

[philipl]

Siriwan, I know what you mean about Bilbao- that is heavy industry.

The point I was making is that the road out of San Sebastian towards the French border has same sort of built up/industrial look as driving along Philips Road in Blackburn.

[ABBEY]

It's almost a crime that Javi doesn't speaks english, if you have in mind that he probably took the decision of leaving to the Premiership on January or probably before. He has had a lot of time to learn the basics! BTW, have you heard new Liverpool's coach Rafa Benítez? Funny...

As Philipl said, San Sebastián is not really different from Blackburn, a very similar weather and countryside. IMO Philipl had a confusion between San Sebastián and Bilbao (it's neighbour and the city where i was born), wich it's where the industries are. But if you have the will to settle, you'll definitely settle well.

Good luck Javi! Bienvenido a Blackburn!

sueyisnob will not want him to play for us fancy going to a country and not being able to speak the local language.........

[rover6]

Having just read the posts on this topic I see the usual miseries are still vocal. Expletively boring.

Good signing by Rovers - well done to all invloved.

In all fairness, I've backed up why I have a downer on us signing de Pedro.

The same can't be said about your optimism.

[LeChuck]

Having just read the posts on this topic I see the usual miseries are still vocal. Expletively boring.

Good signing by Rovers - well done to all invloved.

In all fairness, I've backed up why I have a downer on us signing de Pedro.

The same can't be said about your optimism.

So a left winger with 20 caps for Spain and very recent Champions League experience isn't a reason to be optimistic?

I don't understand you, I really don't.

[78]

So a left winger with 20 caps for Spain and very recent Champions League experience isn't a reason to be optimistic?

I don't understand you, I really don't.

The same could have been said about Baggio, Yorke, Babbel etc- all whom came with lots of Champions League experience and international experience and neither of them proved their worth.

The main reason I'm not over the moon over this summers transfers is the sudden change in transfer direction -from going for young up and coming players who will have everything there to help them improve themselves and the team- we've gone for people who don't have many seasons left in top flight footy. I believe that older players are needed in a team as their experience will be benefitial to the younger players however all our transfer targets seem to be over 30 and if we go down this road, then it's going to be a huge task in a season or two when they need to be replaced because then we'll have to do another huge overhaul like last summer which may result in another relegation battle if the team don't gel in time.

[Lathund]

The same could have been said about Baggio, Yorke, Babbel etc- all whom came with lots of Champions League experience and international experience and neither of them proved their worth.

Difference being that Yorke had been out in the cold for quite some time. Baggio has lots of caps, but they are a while back and he hasn't played at the top level in a top team for a while. Since his time in the CL and in the German national team Babbel has suffered from Guillame Barres Disease, which kept him out for a year and even had him in a wheelchair for a while. Is it really that odd that he wasn't quite up to his old class after that?

De Pedro on the other hand was a starter for Spain in the WC two years ago, he won (or finished 2nd? Either way it's good) the assist league the season before last, and scored in the Champions League this past season.

There IS some difference.

And even if we aren't completely broke, we don't have lots of money. This guy is proven quality, is available on a free and probably earns less than £15k. I think everyone here would've liked a young, exciting player like Vicente, Duff, or even someone half as good. But these players costs MONEY. A 22 y/o unproven Norwegian costs £2m, had he been in a big league it'd have been £3m+. Then imagine what we'd have to pay... Andy Reid reportedly costs £5m+, and we DONT have that kind of money.

Instead we got a Spanish international with a great left foot and at least 2 more good years in him. I'm not complaining.

We're not all blind optimists, I know that I'm certainly not one, but this isn't a bad signing at all.

[broadsword]

Gordon Bennett, give the poor bugger a chance!

So many armchair experts ... !

[Lathund]

Btw 78, I agree with at least one player on your list and that's Jakobsson. Although unrealistic as he quite recently joined Bröndby, he is just what we need IMO. He's reasonably quick, extremely reliable and consistent (Never makes any big mistakes) and he's a model professional. Not to mention that he's also good going forward, is a good passer, has a good shot and takes a good freekick. A very all round defender and likeable person. Would cost a bit though.

[FourLaneBlue]

Having just read the posts on this topic I see the usual miseries are still vocal. Expletively boring.

Good signing by Rovers - well done to all invloved.

In all fairness, I've backed up why I have a downer on us signing de Pedro.

In all fairness, it's guesswork on your part.

[super_neill]

I have no complaints great signing well done Souness! my faith is starting to go back into GS keep up the good work

[chris]

rather then arguing about how he's going to do lets wait, if a small majority can't get excited and a new left winger who obviously has talent/potential thats their problem, they could be right or wrong, who cares, it ALWAYS the same people! but we don't have a crystal ball so nobody knows

P.S. Actually I do have crystal ball downstairs but it does not work like that

Edited June 17, 2004 by chris

[mode_m]

This is excellent news. I think De Pedro will make a difference with this club, not that my opinion matters too much but I'm stating it none the less.