The bid was made last week they said no, not selling. Good.

Sicario2 - Tier 1 we don’t have CF. We could spend the next several years looking for one. Stick this guy in. And then deal with the rest of the squad - namely getting another winger and renewing Rice, Saliba, Gabriel asap

    Claudius Go take a look at Watkins goals plus assists numbers for the last 5 seasons.

    This is an outstanding argument if you believe that humanity is going to find a cure for aging within the next 2 years.

        Sicario2 - Tier 1 I just don't agree with those notional percentages

        I think the margin of difference between those three scenarios is much thinner than you're making out - more like 15%/10%/5% as I see it.

        Beyond this season, that 15% decreases whilst that 10% increases.

          Mileage is more important than age. Ian Wright anyone?

          • Qwiss

          • Post #983

          Watkins is a bit on the old side but he's one of the best available strikers. Currently he is better than Sesko and he's miles better than Tel. I'd rather he was 25 but this idea that we shouldn't sign a ready made striker because it'd stop us signing some fantasy people have who may not end up signing for us anyway needs to go away. It wouldn't make a difference to going for Tel either, for starters he's a winger and Watkins is a striker. £60-70m is not a figure that stops us doing business in the summer, especially after the break even of last year.

          Watkins is a box striker though. I hope Arteta realises that because if asks him to play like Havertz it wont work. He is not someone I want to see dropping into midfield a lot. I really want Arteta to be after Watkins because he's recognised we need to let our striker focus on being a striker.

            They told me the reason we didn't sign anyone in the summer was because there were no world class attackers available and now we're going for Watkins in January. Something tells me they've just realized that they were terribly wrong not to sign one.

              • Qwiss

              • Post #985

              Claudius Kanes 31 now and still banging them in. Lewa is 36.

              Watkins scored 19 league goals last season and had 18 assists. They are numbers our strikers can only dream of.

                Claudius 60+m for a not great 29 year old PL striker seems crazy to me but perhaps this is just due to the market state. I also have my doubts how he would fit in stylistically.

                    QuincyAbeyie there’s literally like 2-3 strikers better than Watkins in Premier League. Who are all these top strikers who were wandering around waiting to be signed?

                      • Qwiss

                      • Post #989

                      Claudius you know Arteta loves that high aerial rating.

                        This makes sense. Don’t think we are in competition. Villa are the only team with 2 decent strikers. They have FFP issues, and he’s an Arsenal fans. We can be bully them like PGMOL

                        Qwiss

                        This is like Vardy all over again after waiting around trying to find the right striker. Hopefully, it doesn't turn out the same. We're in a desperate situation and I suspect once we learned that Sesko was not viable, we moved on.

                          • JazzG

                          • Post #993

                          People may not get as excited but if we do sign a 20/21 year prospect we need to remember it will take time for them to become a top striker. Are we willing to give them the time to develop?

                          So do we sign a prospect or we do we sign someone who is ready to go now and might help us win the title? £60m considering his age is expensive, he’ll probably drop off within 3 or so years but it is what it is. He’s reliable, scores goals and generally injury free. If he was 24 we’d be talking £100m+ for him incl the English player premium.