In the most recent Wolves Blog Poll, we asked which position you felt Mick McCarthy most needed to strengthen over the summer and 53% of you stated that we need reinforcements up front.
I personally think the main priorities are a decent left-back and an attacking wide player, but admittedly we are short on firepower, so a decent striker would certainly be welcome.
Of course the summer has barely even begun and we’ve already been linked with a handful of names, so I thought I’d run the rule over each of these early targets to see if any of them fit the bill.
Steven Fletcher
Proved a good acquisition for Burnley at £3.5 million, scoring 8 goals in the Premiership and a few more in the cups. Will almost certainly be available if a club is willing to stump up the cash, but if the price is anywhere near the quoted £7 million, I think we should look elsewhere. In saying that, he’d be a good addition to our squad and would certainly fit comfortably into the ethos of young and hungry. Interest in the Scotland international has been denied by the club, but I can still see him becoming a Wolves player.
Realistic target rating: 7/10
Nicky Maynard
He’s scored bags of goals in the Championship for Bristol City and is rumoured to be attracting interest from a few top flight sides, including Wolves. It would certainly be a massive gamble for any club in the Premiership to pay big money for a striker that is unproven at this level, regardless of how well he’s done in the second-tier. Mick McCarthy already has one Championship golden-boot sitting on his bench and I can’t see him splashing out upwards of £4-£5 million on another one. I know I wouldn’t.
Realistic target rating: 5/10
Robbie Keane
We’d all love to see Keano back in a gold shirt and he’ll definitely be on the move from White Hart Lane this summer. But can Wolves realistically get him? I’m not so sure.
We’d probably pay the fee, which I’d guess would land somewhere between £5-£10 million, but wages would certainly be a stumbling block. I’d imagine he’s raking in a bare minimum of 50k a week at Spurs and I can’t see us being generous enough to get Robbie somersaulting back to Molineux.
If we could somehow get him, Keane would be a wonderful addition, but I have serious doubts that he’d be happy competing for a place, particularly if Mick opted for the 4-5-1 and persevered with Doyler up front on his own.
Realistic target rating: 4/10
Aruna Dindane
Many will disagree with this, but I think Dindane fits the bill quite nicely as a solid summer target for Wolves. He scored 8 Premier League goals for Pompey despite only playing in about a third of their games. He’s pacy, skillful and can also play out wide, which means he covers two important areas of weakness in our squad. He’s also available for peanuts, which is probably why so many teams have been linked.
OK, his agent is our old friend Willie McKay and he’s given every indication he’s more interested in the almighty dollar than football itself, but I still think he’d be a quality addition to the Wolves squad and we should seriously pull out the stops to get him.
Realistic target rating: 8/10
My brief thoughts on the best of the rest:
Frederic Piquionne – Worth a gamble. 7/10
James Beattie – Bad attitude but potentially still very good. 6/10
Dave Kitson – Hasn’t proved himself at Stoke. No thanks. 3/10
Jason Roberts – Could do a job in my opinion. Wouldn’t be a popular signing though. 5/10
Freddy Eastwood – Just kidding.
What do we all think?
Why not get Bully back, he’s as good as some of those mentioned above!!!
Wolves supposebly (my spellin ) have a policy of not talking about any signings until they are a done deal, as leaked information will inflate the price, or alert other clubs.
My theory is that is all bollocks, they want to sign players on the hush hush so we fans don’t get to vent our spleens on crap until it’s too late, and shit has been signed, ie Hoff, Surman etc etc etc.
I think we should wait until after the world cup, see who has been good and who has been bad, and who is not crocked, and go from there. I bet Ballack’s potential trade in price has dropped, and I hope Drogba’s does as well, coz he’s one ugly arrogant bastard……………let’s hope the cowardly lion doesn’t go after him, or I will have to stop going to games!!!
FOWB
I went to Bully’s last game, the friendly against Villa. Much as I loved him when I was lad I sincerely hope we can find someone nearer the peak of their playing prowess to lead the line with King Kev.
Also Clive, with all due respect, I doubt the venting of spleen on internet message boards would have much effect on who we sign, irrespective of what the club say about who at what time.
I can’t see Santa Cruz getting many games ahead of Bellamy, Adebayor and Tevez, surely worth a cheeky bid?
I would imagine Santa Cruz will be on ridiculous wages. Also, I have a suspicion Bellamy might be leaving Citeh this summer. Probably to Cardiff if they come up
Suggest you look up previous blogs with regard to clockwork mice.
FOWB
Eastwood is a good shout. Let’s get McIndoe to sort out our shortage of wingers whilst we’re at it 😉
I would most expect Fletcher to sign for us. Dindane’s agent is McKay, so he’s probably jsut using us. Not sure about him, decent player but 29 years old.
Eastwood and McIndoe are fantastic ideas! Bring back Frankowski too.
I will suggest we will got NONE of the players mentioned above. What we WILL do is sign another glut of lower league and the odd has been , then we will sift through them in the hope at least 2 come good.Sound familiar?
Oh Dazza, have ye no faith????????
No, nor me!!!!!
If we don’t sign the right number of quality players this summer, and get rid of the dross, we will never be a Premier team, and will not deserve to be.
All this talk about improving the stadium is fine and dandy, but lets face it, most of us who’ve seen hard times would stand in six feet of shit to watch us win the title, with good players, rather than sit in velvet luxury, with waitressly ( that’s a good word, innit?) served drinks and food, and have the best stadium in the fourth division. ( cant get me head round this championship , one two leagues bollocks.)
Lets take a chance or two, and go for broke, and ride the wild horses, or what evere the expression is.
Can y’all tell I’ve been on the Boddingtons tonite?
Ha, Ha, fuck ’em all.
FOWB
FOWB
Totally agree once more Clive. We paid 6.5mill for Doyle, we got a class act because we paid for such. Mope around dilly dallying over the Surmans, Halfords, Friends, Hills , Shackells and Hills of this world, and you have seen exactly what you get…DROSS. We still need an alka seltzer type clearout, but wouldn’t you have thought this would have happened by now? I reckon we will retain most of the deadowood, because they are on medium term contracts, and, because no-one else wants them…we are stuck with them. We need to spend 20 mill on 3 more class acts….STOP FANNYING AROUND !!!!
Of all those names i’d only want fletcher, well and keane but we weren’t willing to pay the price In january so why would we now?
I think Beattie would probably be the best fit with Doyle – but I just wonder if he is past it!
The option to play Dindane out wide is good too – and at £2-3million I think its fair for a 29 year old.
Prefer both to Kitson any day of the week – just image how his hair would clash with our new home shirt! (and he’s been sh*t for stoke ever since they signed him!)
As for signing any Championship strikers – surely MM must look at SEB (and all the others before him Chopra, Healey, Earnshaw, Nugent et al) and realise the risks involved.
I see Blues are being linked with Bothroyd from Cardiff today – lets hope they get him!
Our main problem is that The Cowardly Lion will never admit he’s wrong, and keeps faith with the likes of Keogh, Ward, Iwelumo etc etc just coz he thought they once were any good and how can his wonderful backroom staff make mistakes in scouting as well???
New slogan for the summer………..
Clear out the fuckin’ dross, McCarthy!!!!
Subtle, aren’t I?
FOWB
Over half of you think a centre forward is a priority? I would say after GK it’s the position I’m least concerned about. 4-5-1 with Doyle, where does this other guy fit in?
Beattie has tried at Southampton, Everton, Sheffield wotsits, and how many other places. He is too old, and has never stamped any authority, long term, in the Prem, so why is he mentioned?
And Fletcher wears pastel blue boots. I dread to think what colour his jockstrap is. Probably tartan, to keep his balls in check!!! The old ones are the best.
FOWB
Does anyone else feel that we finished the season pretty strong and I personally don’t want to see any big time charlies coming into the team and fucking up the brilliant team spirit that I feel we have. Mick has built this team up with players that have got something to proove and I for one want him to carry with this philosiphy. Maybe hunt fits into this bracket because he’s been relegated a few times and wants to proove he can play in a team good enough to stay up, but I think the likes of dindane, beattie and even keane will only be coming to us to pick up a wage. I pay a lot of money to watch wolves every season and would much rather see my money go to players who actually care about the club rather than how big their bank balance is. I know it’s a cliche but that’s how I feel and if it means we get relagated for signing honest players then I’m happy with that. How gutting was it when we gave henri camara a chance in the premiership, vote him player of the season and then he fucks off with our money. Not interested in those sort of cunts.
Totally agree with your comment on Camara – what great enjoyment I gained from watching absolutely nothing come of his career after he left! Also glad he never achieved his goal of being African player of the year.
I do however think we need to add some talent to the squad. Lets face it 4-5-1 for another season at home wont be very enjoyable for season ticket holders. And it’s also the promise to Doyle that he might have some support next year. Think sometimes you have to bring in the odd big name (and potential ego!) to develop the side and ensure we move to the next level away from the relegation teams.
Look at Blues as an example. Carr, Phillips and Bowyer would be perfect examples of how it can work. Both experienced, Bowyers a complete w*nker but made a massive difference to them. Phillips probably a poor one to bring up as he has been injured, but he got them three points against us!
While we finished well, i don’t think we’ll stay up again without big additions. I personally think we need to drop 4-5-1. Look what happened against Sunderland; worked a treat.
We need a Piquionne type imo. Dindane and Beattie would be welcome too. Not interested in Fletcher anywhere near 7 mill, or Kitson at all. Can’t hack it in this league
Well done Blackpool! And well done Mike Bassett, I mean Ian Holloway – looking forward to your interviews on Match of the Day next season. The one he gave around half an hour after the game sounded like he had been on the p*ss!
As Steve Coppell said yesterday everyone will be thinking ‘thats 6 easy points next season’! It should mean that there are just two relegation places for Wolves to finish outside of. With their current money troubles all we need now is for Man Utd and Liverpool to go into administration and we could be safe!
What’s the bet Blackpool manage to beat us at home in front of their average crowd of just under 9,000! Best league in the world remember!
I am sorry for Dave Jones, but unfortunately the Cardiff fans are so horrible that I’m glad they will not be seen in the Premier League (still not forgiven them for raiding the bars/ acting like animals in the Steve Bull stand a few years ago). With their financial worries I bet they were banking on joining the millionnaires club we are so fortunate to be a member of!
Saw this today:
http://www.sundaymercury.net/midlands-sport/wolverhampton-wanderers-fc/wolverhampton-wanderers-news/2010/05/23/stoke-s-liam-lawrence-issues-come-and-get-me-plea-to-wolves-boss-mick-mccarthy-66331-26501461/
Thoughts on Liam Lawrence?
I think he has got something to add to the team so yes please.
Another week goes by, and no new faces, Mick off to the World Cup soon, what’s going on??
Doesn’t seem much activity anywhere at the moment?
Just a load of sh*t written in the papers bumping everyones price up (eg Hunt).
After the January window I still fear the worst anyway!
I’m betting on another Halford, Hoff and Surman deal ….
All the talk in the papers is just that, talk.
They’ve got fuck all to write about until the world cup starts, so they are sitting around scratching their arses and deciding who to make up a story about next.
Bunch of tossers, they need to get real jobs, like footballers!!!!
FOWB
As Houston is the capital of Mexico, I’m gonna have great fun tomorrow taking the piss out of the messycans about tonite’s result from Wemberlee
FOWB
We pretty much got outplayed though.
Thought Walcott and Johnson both played well, linking up together effectively.
Carrick was terrible and he definitely shouldn’t be going to South Africa…
I see Ward has signed another 3 year deal. Excuse me if I don;t jump up and down and do cartwheels around the room
I may be missing a joke here but if I remember any geography its Mexico City isn’t it?!
On a Wolves related note, anybody else wandering why its taking so long to wrap up this Van Damme deal? The papers (I know!) seemed to be suggesting it was a done deal last week
that was meant as a reply to Clive by the way
Andrew, Texas is full of Mexicans, hence Tex-Mex food. Saying Houston is the capital of Mexico is a bit like saying Bradford is the capital of Pakistan.
Thank you, K, …………I thought it was only Americans and shit fans who were that mentally challenged!!!!!
FOWB