2017/18 Transfer Speculation

Spoiler Alert

You've followed the wrong rabbit, Neo

Was released by his club on 1st December.

Played in the same team as Kaludjerovic, and he looks decent from this video, plus he's young. But the Lithuanian league isn't the best standard in the world, probably around the Handy. He's going to have to have bossed the league in his time there (like Kalu did - 20 in 19) to stand out for us. 

My main gripe is this - we've had del Piero, David Villa, and most recently guys like Cahill, Maccarone and McCormack come into the league - why are we resorting to players released from Lithuania? Every other team in the league this season has brought in at least one player who's been starring in a top league recently, and could easily foot it in a top 5 league. Can't really say the same for us.

http://darksta.com/post/1368364988289003284_1160670888

Someone put some fangs on him. Looks vampiric.

Definitely true that we don't have the cash for truly huge names, but in the course of our history perhaps the biggest player we have ever signed was Huysegems, and by that time he too was a pensioner and living out his days at Lierse, a Belgian relegation-threatened side (1 in 18 btw). Compare that to other sides in the league even just this season - CCM signing established Eredivisie midfielders, WSW bringing in two La Liga regulars, Brisbane signing a striker who captained + banged them in for his Serie A side for the past few seasons as well as a Greek international. Not saying we have to sign Ozil when his contract expires, and I definitely agree with you that reputation =/= results, but maybe we should be aiming higher that Lithuanian rejects? Not to mention a big name could equal bums on seats.

Sarpong had played in La Liga and Eredivisie and he was terrible for us, but Krishna, Riera and Sigmund all came from NZ football and were great for us.

Yeah a big name could equal bums on seats but it would have to be a really big name, and we can't afford a really big name.

Exactly. The club in my opinion needs to spend money to get a big name. We need better players and we need to get bums on seats, or let’s face it, the club is likely to fold. Surely if the name was big enough we would be able to have them outside the salary cap. But I guess who is the question. This may be my Everton fandom coming through, but what’s Rooney doing next year?

I bet new signings can't wait to fly overseas and join that lot of crap we saw last night.

Ok , maybe our owners have deep enough pockets that they could afford to pay the millions of dollars for a genuine top tier star (because just being ex EPL or even an international for a decent country isn't enough to get bums on seats) they have shown zero willingness to spend it. Yeah that is not the same as not being able to afford it but in a practical sense it's the same thing. And from a business perspective I can see why. At best it's a 50/50 gamble you get a guy who actually lives up to the hype on the pitch (based on A League import history).

All reasonable points and the probably $2 million plus that you would have to pay for a marquee player is a lot (but hopefully outside the cap). At the moment I’ll say it’s a lot less than a 50 /50 chance the Phoenix are In the A-league in five years. 

But I do acknowledge this will never happen.

Lets pretend for a moment the owners said to the coach, heres ten million dollars, go and get yourself a marque.

Who would you get and why? 

because i cant see one player being able to make enough of a difference to the team now. 

Losing players during international windows isn't a big deal for me. I'd rather have All Whites at the club. I understand the MLS is a better league but what are the chances of making a play at Bill Tuiloma and Jake Gleeson?

Singh looked good last night. There must other talent in NZ? The first club for a player like Marco Rojas, Kosta Barbarouses or Tyler Boyd. If we aren't winning the league, can we at least develop NZ talent? Right now, we aren't doing either. 

Bit of word that replacements for Finkler and Vidosic are just about done deals. One will surprise.

Steven Naismith released from Norwich

Full blown Scottish. Tis a shame as he would destroy most players in this division.

Not saying I know how he plays, but if we use our international spot on Ljulic i’ll officially lose all hope. Where the fudge is the ambition in signing Lithuanian dropouts to try improve our team? (no offence to the league but it’s Handa level, Zalgiris is the ACFC of the league but still). Naismith sounds brilliant to be honest

Plus, more KIWIS! What’s the point of being the only domestic professional pathway for NZ athletes if we’re just gonna develop mid-twenties journeyman Aussies who will never be good enough for this level anyway? I appreciate Ridenton and Rufer being implemented more but i fear it’s too late for them, by 22 your development’s already slowed down a ton. Let’s just play half the Weenix for the rest of the season if we don’t have a turnaround by say February. 

To be honest, I'd take that money and reinvest it in the overall squad. You can have a fantastic goal scorer but if they don't get service or you're heavily shipping goals (both realistic problems for us), then there's little point if you can't address the core issues. 

Although I agree with the sentiment, you're talking about players who aren't even close to the top of the national league. 

Yeah that’s definitely true, a lot of them sadly won’t get far. More promising ones like (imo) Tongue, Wood, Waine, Ebbinge and co. could slip into the subs or even first team as our season collapses though. Plus we should really be mopping up a lot more talent than we currently are, bringing in the best young NZ talent (McCowatt, Callan Elliott, etc.) so the Weenix can actually begin to perform, and bring players through to the first team successfully - look at Barcelona B for example, even though they can’t be promoted they’re still doing exceptionally in the Spanish second tier and bringing players such as Arnaiz and Aleña into the first team, yet Weenix would be dead last in the national league if it wasn’t for an even sharktier team. Sad to see Marowa rejected :(

Lol but that's because Barcelona has a ton of cash to spend even for teens who will play in their B side and academies everywhere to detect new talent. I also think WeeNix should be doing better but the comparison with Barca is just ridiculous

#unambitious

We already have Kadjulerovic, who is just that. We may have lost Vidosic, another proven goalscorer, and we should replace him, especially that Krishna was unavailable and Singh is just too young to be a permanent fixture (but should get decent time on the park every game if possible).

I agree though that shipping goals is an issue. Having said that, apart from this game, we have not shipped that many since the game against Newcastle.

They're signing an Aussie to replace Dario.

Surprising aussie. Cahill?

No - but surprising Aussie yes.

Geeez .... and I was enjoying a quiet, stress-free, post-football-where-we got-thrashed Christmas lunch, not a care in the world, and now this. I do not need this kind of unfulfilled excitement just after a Xmas roast.

Hopefully it's surprising because they are really good, not surprising because they are really bad. Like, I hope it's not Pavlovic!

Not many sequels are better.

So you have Burns and AK9

McGlinchey and Krishna

Paracki and Ljujic

Bye bye Ridenton finally

Mirjan Pavlović