Nix Transfer Speculation 2019-20

Where is Steve-O...

Maybe we need a missing persons thread for lost forum members, where are they, what happened to them and will they ever come back?

Bit off the main topic but the J-League looks very fun. Good crowds

That's because when nothing bad was happening, he just stayed away

But he has struggled to replicate that goal-scoring form upon his return to the top-flight, going 17 consecutive games without scoring in 2019.

Bit of a worry

I just reaallllly struggle to get on board with these types of signings. Hasn't really scored goals for a couple of years and now he's gone up to J1 can't score at all. 

Surely there's a Championship side or something somewhere with a prolific striker who wants to wind down his career and come to beautiful Wellington? Haha.

I have a feeling that this Japanese lad, if signed, will prove to be of similar value to Stein Heysegums at the time he was here.  In other words, a good journeyman who will provide a level of goals quantity wise at about pass mark level but no higher than that and wont set the league on fire.

Stein had/has a significantly better CV than this fella though.

Just got confirmation that Varas' club denied his release due to two of their other strikers getting injured. Takasaki looks to be our number one target now

stein could not head the ball

He couldn't, but he was still one of our best import strikers imo :)

Well that's an interesting question, I thought.

Though I thought we only did not-a-strikers

I can't think of more than five genuine import No 9 or 10 strikers; 

Krishna, Kalu, Greenacre, Dadi, and Stein 

(did I miss anyone? see note on other players at end of post)

I'd put Kaluderovic (9 goals in 22 appearances) ahead of Stein (15 in 48) 

(and think we'd have got much more out of Kalu, but for the coaching disaster).

I think possibly I'd also put both Dadi and Greenacre ahead of Stein, and definitely Krishna.  

So I'd rate Stein more like 4th or 5th out of five. 

Stein just struck me as a neat and tidy plodder. 

Greenacre did more work, though had a lower scoring rate at 19 from 84, 

Dadi scored five goals in 10 appearances including 5 as sub.  And was a lot more entertaining (good and bad, who'd forget that bicycle kick and the penalty miss).

vs Stein's 15 in 48 on one foot and without a head

Just an opinion

And Smeltz (not an import) (28 in 60) in another league ahead of all of them except the later era of Krishna (33 from 98).

I think of Sarpong, Totori, Cunningham and Ifill as more wider players than genuine No 9 or 10 strikers, yes?

If you think of 'striker' as anyone playing in the final third, than the list grows considerably and Stein would definitely be in the top half of that list

Agree pretty much with your assessment. Perhaps only one missing is Sheridan. Ricardo Clarke in the not-a-striker category?

It really does seem to be hard to attract a international strikers. 

Nah.

We got a lot of quick, forward facing players: Ball, Devlin, Davilla, Piscopo, McCowatt, Waine, Sotirio, heck even add Libby and Louis in there. This guy looks like a good back to goal link up player, with some goal threat.

I like it. 

The average weekly salary per league is reportedly (I can't validate the googled source):

EPL £51000

Championship £11000

League One £2300

League Two £1100

Multiply by two and you get an understanding about one of the barriers to getting high quality imports.  A good League 1 striker will earn somewhere north of NZ$230,000 per annum.

$230k salary isn't much of a barrier for us if they are good enough, at any time I'd expect we'd have players on more than that given the salary floor is currently 2.9 million.

The thing is though, if a striker is going great in League One, is reliable, a good age, not plagued with injuries etc, they have a fair chance of being able to push to play into the Championship or other high paying places that is even harder to compete with. Someone isn't usually going to come here if their career is going swell, unless they are at an age where they want to move on, like Ifill, Taylor. 

Also, League One teams have recently been outbidding the likes of Rangers & Celtic to players, so there is some big money floating around in that league that even there we can't match.

I don't think Stein was a striker, even if he was often used as one. More naturally suited to being a wide forward or attacking mid IMO

Wide forward forced more centrally by a knee injury and a resulting lack of pace.

Our transfer target (Takasaki) got into a car crash last week.

https://www.yamaga-fc.com/archives/185145

the thoughts of him in japan are that he is passed it

like Paul Ifill was supposed to be?

Is the foreign player limit 4 + 1 AFC player or is it just 5 foreigners max?

Even if Ifill was supposed to be past it, he still had EPL and high level experience. 

The Japanese league is far quicker and more technical than the A League though. He may now be better suited to this league

first post for maybe a year . What's the latest . can't be bothered reading all 2500 posts i've missed :) . Anyone other than a used jap striker on the cards before 15 oct ???

Sorry in advance 

Also looking forward to our first game !!!!!!!!!

Edit : Where is the " Where's chefmivec " thread ? i was worried some of you might have missed me hehehe

It's never been 4+1.

It's just 5

Japanese imports are awesome until you need to use the GPS

Surely though 4 + 1 and 5 are the same thing?

nope, 5 imports from anywhere is current, I think the 4(from anywhere)+1 (AFC) was talked about last season or the season before as an options going forward.

Would it be fair to say that getting a signing by week's end is now looking unlikely?

Can you prove it?

J2 isn't.

aparently clayton lewis is all but done. Reliable sauce

excellent

Glad we picked him up, we've got a lot of depth now

Geez, can't remeber a season where we've had so much depth and Kiwi depth at that!!!

Maybe he's not amazing, but he's got a different skill-set to what we got. And we're a week out.