Patience is a virtue
So far this summer, the Stoke management team have only signed two players: veteran goalie Carlo Nash and young Belgian midfielder Florent Culovier. Neither will be in the first team next year so still we await the first proper move from Tony Pulis and co. But while many fans will be frustrated at the seeming lack of activity, I say be patient. It is a message that, inevitably, Pulis has given to supporters, but it’s a valid one.
Carlo Nash loves pizza. No really, that is actually him
Early in the transfer season, we’ve heard some crazy sums of money being banded about. Even some of the players the Potters have been linked with have had rather inflated price tags. Carlton Cole is supposedly valued at £12million, and Maynor Figueroa at £7million. And as excited as I am that we are being linked with these players, because they are very good players, I’m wary that we shouldn’t spend this kind of money on them. So Stoke are wise to wait, to negotiate and sometimes say ‘no’ to deals that aren’t right, because whilst we want to have the transfers done soon and the players in the squad in time to get acclimatised to the team, we can’t afford to spend silly money just to get the deal done quickly.
Looking at potential moves, Cole would be perfect for us. We need a big striker to replace Sidibe, who, as much as I love him, doesn’t have the quality for the level we are wanting to compete at, and Cole fits that bill but also has the ability with the ball at his feet. But we shouldn’t pay £12million for a previously injury-prone and inconsistent player.
I think the more pressing issue is midfield. If you look at the stats, we need goals, so naturally you would assume we need a striker. And, with Beattie and Kitson probably leaving and Fuller and Sidibe possibly fading slightly, we do need to build the attack. But I think the main reason for a lack of goals last season was midfield. We saw and have seen that the strike force can score when given the right opportunities, but the service wasn’t good enough. Other than Etherington and at times Whitehead the midfield was average at best. Hopefully, after missing out on Joe Ledley, the staff will step up their efforts to find a quality, creative midfielder.
Dave Kitson looks like a cigarette
But if it takes a while then so be it; we need to be patient and wait for the right deal, rather than paying over the odds just to get our man early.
Submitted by Mike Nussbaum
25/7/2010
