08 Dec 2017 09:36:54
Ed, What's your opinion regarding Dembele in January. Keep or sell?
Keep - Returns to previous form, stays injury free, makes French squad, signs new improved long term deal. Profile and price tag continues to rise.
Sell - Take into account what we paid for him and injuries, receive huge profit that might allow us to rebuild, buy Edouard.
{Ed007's Note - There's no way we'll sell Dembele in January but I do expect him to leave during the summer window.}
08 Dec 2017 10:48:58
I think the club will get the best price if they wait until Summer, simply because there will be more clubs interested because of the mass movement of strikers in the main window.
It will be a blow to lose him before the CL qualifiers, but in all honesty, he has had several injury problems and missed many games.
In any case, I am sure the club will be preparing to lose him and Armstrong - and maybe others, and hopefully will have prepared some sort of contingency plans for targets and replacements?
{Ed007's Note - I said when Edouard signed that if he impresses he will be Dembele's replacement. The player will have been here a year and settled, the Club and the support know what they're getting and if he keeps banging in the goals the fans would be happy enough to see Dembele leave and us spend the £7ish million on his replacement who will have hopefully already proven what he can do for us.}
08 Dec 2017 11:05:08
That's pretty much my line of thought there Ed. I haven't seen much, but from what I have seen, and as you say he continues at the rate he's at, Edouard looks a taylor-made replacement. AND, that SHOULD leave us plenty spare change for a couple of key additions in other areas.
{Ed007's Note - Did you see the other night the Anderlecht player that just bounced off Edouard as he tried to tackle him? Do you think maybe him coming on instead of LG was to give the lad a taste of CL at CP and after his first hat-trick show him if you play well you'll get game time with us, maybe Brendan doing a bit of forward planning in the recruitment department?}
08 Dec 2017 11:24:21
Well hopefully he starts banging the goals in and come the summer time we have a bidding war. After last weekend i would he more than happy Edouard and it was great to hear him say he loves it at the club and wants to stay long term. Once a Bhoy i was Armstrongs biggest fan and felt let down by his short term contract id be happy to let him go in January. On current form Ntcham looks a better player and i also can't wait to see more of Kouassi.
{Ed007's Note - I wouldn't be surprised to see Armstrong move on in January and hopefully that means Kouassi stepping up to understudy Brown/Ntcham but I think we'll bring someone in else either in January or the summer to replace Armstrong and keep the 4 options for the 2 spots.}
08 Dec 2017 14:38:32
Jan no the best time to buy we all know that so are we going to stick the the CB we have or replace with someone substandard. I think we can wait cause let's face it Europe is a dead loss. I think we can get away with what we have till summer then strike early in the window what do use guys think?
08 Dec 2017 13:58:26
He hasn't looked anywhere near the same player Ed, probably 2 decent games since signing the contract. Its a pity because last season he was brilliant, i hope we cash in asap. Do you think McGinn is that man we will try to bring in. Also something we probably all forget now is Ajer can also be used as backup in midfield. Whether the players mentioned are able to step up to European level i don't know but they can certainly hold their own in SPL.
{Ed007's Note - Just going by his performances and body language I don't think Armstrong wants to be here, there's definitely something not right there.
I don't know if it would help McGinn coming in as 4th choice for us, he'd be best served spending another year at Hibs under Lennon and playing every week. By 2019 Brown will more than likely be playing less games to prolong his career and hopefully Kouassi will have grown into a player and McGinn would get more game time.}
08 Dec 2017 14:00:10
Also good point about Edouard coming on Ed.
{Ed007's Note - (yes)