Clayton's Mbappe?
The one you get when you're not getting one.

At this stage we look to have agreed a fee, but so have a few other clubs. One report somewhere says he is after a club that will give him first team football, so any deal is some way off yet.

all for it. get some quality yoof in. we're going to need it by the looks of things

We'll have an opening when Sanchez goes, and he can play alongside Iwobi who can fill Ozil's spot,
and AW will revert to his preferred 4231 so as to play Walcott as RWF.

1:20 into the video, i had to laugh when they were 4 against 1.
e: imagine if he missed

Looks like the sort of player who will excite and frustrate in equal measure. Will he get a work permit though?

Yup.
Going by that video, he seems the complete opposite of a Wenger player.
It's almost as if he has so much confidence in his ability that whenever he receives the ball, he assesses the situation then picks the most difficult option.
Either that or the Dutch league is shit.

The Dutch league is shit, but he doesn't play there. Not that the Belgian is any better.

Looks like a diving ball hog tbh and if he ever makes it here then the AFCON will fuck us over every two years.

Don't want.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

The Dutch league is shit, but he doesn't play there. Not that the Belgian is any better.

:boris: Sums up my ignorance about him.

When not even his Youtube video is impressing, then I'm starting to get sceptical.

Some perspective needed.
A 19yr old striker with a £6.8 million price tag, in 2017, is a punt.

He has a release clause so we haven't actually agreed anything, and reportedly most the big clubs in Europe are chasing him, barring the really big boys.

I've flicked through his youtube video and am not keen but he scored 12 goals in the Belgian League so that's not bad. Probably worth a punt.

Lukaku scored more in that league when he was 16 years old.

he was joint top scorer with 22 goals from the wing. thats pretty good for a young player even if it is in the belgian league

lukaku was already built like a middle weight boxer at 16 so its not worth comparing the 2

Yes he did. From the wing in a struggling team too, by the sound of it.

I like the look of this bloke. Maybe we can't sign the actual Cuadrado, but Henry looks like he has similar traits. Let's bring him in and see if he's any good in a real football league.

The Belgian league is structured in two steps. You play 30 games during the first step and then it gets divided into Playoff 1 and 2. Which category you end up in depends on where you finished. The teams ranking 1-6 play eachother for the title and the Europe spots. Those ranking 7-15 play eachother in order to determine who gets relegated. Both steps are considered parts of a normal league season I think.

He looks like he has something about him anyway. It'd be nice to get someone who can beat his man. We could do with an exciting young striker in the ranks so I'm all for bringing in players like this.

For sub 10m it's a no brainer so long as he's not expected to go straight into the starting XI.

Ornstein has poured cold water over this, says there is nothing in it.

Sounds surprising indeed, Sky rarely jump the gun.

banduan wrote:

Sounds surprising indeed, Sky rarely jump the gun.

Sky Sports News, the last bastion of transfer rumour integrity.

A friend in uni rang them up and said he saw player X going into a Club. And they ran the story.

My comment was in relation to sky not jumping the gun but yes you're right agents have the journalists numbers on spoed dial.

Has a bit of Ousmane Dembele about him.

Ornstein has said that he has been told by the club that the stories about us being interested in this kid are completely fabricated. Sounds like it might be his agent trying to extract as much m9ney as possible from whichever clubs are legitimately interested.

I'm struggling to be impressed.
I know he's young and the price quoted is only £6.5m but that's all i see.
A £6.5m striker.
No more, no less.

Shame because that pace, quick feet, close control and eye for a goal would be a snippet at 7m.

That's the thing though, he may have an eye for goal but his finishing leaves a lot to be desired with so many weak and scuffed attempts in that video. He is pretty quick (not blistering but quick enough) and does seem to dribble well but looking at him I get a lot of Gervinho-esque vibes from him. Someone with pretty good feet, pace and trickery, but too tunnel visioned to make the right decision more often than not, and without the deadly finishing that can make a playing style like that worthwhile.

However this is just talking about his ability as it is now, which granted isn't really fair. He is still young and can improve a lot over the next few years. Hopefully he can translate his dribbling abilities to English football and improve on his decision making and finishing with age and maturity. So for 7m or so then yeah taking a gamble on him seems like one we should definitely take, so long as he isn't expected to be anywhere near first team material.

On the one hand Welbeck tells me I should care about strikers who can't finish, and whether they'll ever develop to be efficient. But Giroud suggests an inefficient striker can improve there and the more important thing is to be able to create a chance, which Onyekuru seems capable of.