£15 million on 3 players who do you buy?

[midnitefooty]

Hmmmm, this is a tough one...

My list would be more focused on bringing fresh talent to bolster our squad than to provide immediate starters, though these players could potentially become starters. I am a bit biased being a Korean and all ethnically. Also, it does go over the 15 mark a bit, but nothing that couldn't be lowered by selling players or waiting until we have more money.

Perhaps I've been too impressed with Chungy, but I would love it if we could get both Dragons [Apparently, Yong is the Korean word for Dragon and as you can see "Chung Yong" and "Sung Yong"] in Bolton and get back that Double Dragon combo that FC Seoul used.

1. Ki Sung Yong; £6-8 Mil
- Ki Sung Yong is an attack minded center midfielder who can play extremely well placed crosses and passes. We sign him and he'll be one of our main playmakers for sure. Not to mention his defensive abilities have been steadily improving in a physical and perhaps brutish SPL. He's been of great form of late and he's a freekick specialist. And he's a year younger than Chungy. I feel the two would have really good chemistry on the pitch seeing as they played together since the FC Seoul days and play together on the national team. Only problem is, I doubt Celtic would sell for less than 8 mil. I feel he has more potential than Stuart Holden and I daresay more ability. He could contribute a decent amount defensively, but that has been Muamba's strong point anyway. The two would make a great pair in the center midfield. [Speculating 6-8 mil for the lad from Celtic; Part of that can be paid by selling Sean Davies, Tamir Cohen, Mark Davies or Holden]

2. A Young Winger (Alexis Sanchez, Eden Hazard, Nicolás Lodeiro, Lee Seung-Ryul, Sotiris Ninis, Arda Turan, Tony Krus, André Ayew); Anywhere from 2.1 to an excess of 20, depending on the player [Never know with these young players.]
- We need to replace our aging wingers with some fresh faces. Martin Petrov only has a few years left and Matt Taylor is old too. Lee Chung Yong seems to be only real young player (under 25) in the winger department. Another winger with pace, potential, and ability like Chungy would be a dream and can you imagine watching the Wanderers with so many attacking options?! (Drool) There is some risk with these youth players, but if they're not yet ready for the Premier League, we can loan them to lesser Premier League, Ligue 1, Eredivisie, or Championship Teams. However, I reckon these players could give Petrov, Lee, and Taylor some tough competition for that starting spot either right away or in a year or two.

3. Either A Young Striker or A Young Defender (Striker: Son Heung Min, Yoo Byung-Soo; Defender: Joel Matip, Tommy Smith)
Son Heung-Min is rated to become the next Franz Muller after scoring a prolific 9 goals in the preseaons (a notable winner against Chelsea). After recovering from a 2 month metatarsal fracture from the Chelsea game, he sparked interest by scoring 3 goals in 5 games and became the youngest HSV player to score a goal in the Bundesliga. Only 18 years old, the signing could be either really expensive or around average. A great addition to an aging Striker department [Although we do have 3-4 Youth Prospects like Tope, Danny, Tom]. He has shown great potential and I feel he's been tested enough to know he's a real gem to have. [Hamburg intends to hold onto him, but we may be able to entice a loan and once he shows how great he is, we'll dish out the cash. Otherwise anywhere from 4-10 in my book]

Yoo Byung-Soo is the current lead scorer of the K-League, a title usually held by a Brazilian or another South American import. He has matured greatly in one of the most prolific strikers ever produced by Korean at the young age of 22. Although he remains largely untested in terms of European competition, I have a feeling that he may become one of the Korean national team's top strikers along with Son Heung-Min. He is not well known outside of Korea and has had only 1 national team appearance at the end of a match. Remember, this league is the same league that Lee Chung Yong came out of and Chungy had gotten top assists in this League (Though Chungy was determined early on to be a great player and played with the National side's U-17, U-23, etc. and Yoo has not). He definitely is somewhat of a risky signing, but will come extremely cheap with his obscurity and Korean clubs willingness to export a Korean player to a European league no matter the price. The same age as Chungy, this signing could be either a hit or a miss (recalling the fate of a similar Korean striker Lee Dong Gook, joined Middlesbrough and had a decent run, but nothing spectacular. Dong Gook was noted for his lack of work ethic and earned the nickname "The Lazy Genius," by the Korean press. He later got the top scorers in the K-League in 2009, a year after leaving Middlesbrough). However, I feel Yoo exemplifies that classic Korean work ethic that Chungy and Park Ji Sung has. He trains and works hard. After seeing his growth from his 2009 to 2010 season (14 to 23 goals), I feel like he could shine in the European leagues. [0.5-2mil]

A Defensive prospect like Cahill would be nice. I expect Joel Matip and Tommy Smith to be bargain signings if we try to get them early on. [Maybe 1-6 mil]

Long winded but better than Torreses or that other chap I suppose.

Ki - Mostly agree but I don't rate his defense and a lot of times he is just too relaxed on the ball. He needs to learn to think and act quicker or he'll never adjust to the pace of EPL. Moot point since he won't come cheap.
Son - Do you really think HSV would give him up? Even as a loanee? His value has tripled since the preseason. So again, moot point.
Yoo - Top scorer in K-League. Big deal. You mentioned Lee Dong Kook, the man with the honour of being voted as the worst player in Middlesbrough history. But, he was top scorer in the K-League and League MVP last year. Meaningless.

If you really, really, really have to suggest a Korean, go with Ku Ja Cheol. Imagine having two Holdens in the middle.

[RobbieSavagesLeg]

I thought we were on about Roy Keane.

[Chobot]

To midnite footy:

Ki - I think he'll be able to adapt to the EPL just fine. Again I'm not saying these guys are immediate buys, but when we get 15 mil to spend on a player which probably won't be for a while. He'll be older and more mature by then. Also Muamba is our Defense-minded center back, but his attacking ability is seriously limited (which is why we have Holden). And again I agree with you that he's expensive. 6-8 (maybe even higher with his current form and age) is pretty expensive, but remember we can sell players to offset that. I'd say we could get some good deals out of the current Center Midfields we have that we don't really need.

Son - Watching HSV's last game, I do agree. But as I stated before, it would be hard to get him, but I can dream haha. I thought we might be able to get him early on, but last game just showed that he seems to be one of the better players, rather than a young player getting some playing time. I'm sure he'll be heading to some rich EPL team eventually (either the Big 4 or City).

Yoo - Yoo Byung Soo and Lee Dong Gook are COMPLETELY different players if you watch them play. Also Lee didn't get the top scorer until AFTER leaving Middlesbrough. His pre-Middlesbrough performances in the K-League were erratic scoring 11 goals at most in one season usually getting around 7. Not to mention Yoo Byung Soo is 21 years old, Dong Gook was 27 when he joined Middlesbrough and was 30 by the time he earned the K-League top scorer award. Dong Gook also suffered constant injury. Then he had an ACL injury that he never really fully recovered from. After the injury (+ not to mention the whole spell where he was left out of the World Cup squad), he really lost his flair. I would not use Lee Dong Gook's history to make a judgment on Yoo's ability rather a warning on how Yoo may fair. Yoo Byung Soo is, in my opinion, one of Korea's few clinical finishers.

Ku - Ku Ja Cheol is definitely a great player and you're right I should've mentioned him. He'll end up in the EPL soon and for relatively cheap since he's coming from the K-League. Probably a better option (financially) than Ki.

Side note: Though Holden is a solid player for us, I am awed by Muamba's defending ability (look up a video of him in youtube). Really top class Defensive Midfielder with very clean tackles. I'd rather have Muamba than Holden in my humble opinion.

On Coyle creating the future:

Well Rodrigo is a loan and I doubt that Benfica would let him go. I have yet to see if Alonso is any good or not, but he has load of potential being so young. However, something could be said if Real Madrid (who has load of money) was willing to let him go. Either we paid a lot for him or he isn't Real material [Not to say he may not be Bolton material]. Holden is a great, solid player, and he's still relatively young at 25, but I feel Ki is better or at least is more talented.

Coyle has done alright with his signings with Alonso (which I won't judge until I see him play) and Holden (great signing of a unknown player to those of us that don't really pay attention to the MLS). However, LCY and Elmander are Megson signings haha, though Megson never could really get the best out of the players he signed (except perhaps Lee) like Coyle could. I hope Coyle can make some cheap, but quality signing of young players. I am a bit against signing old veterans since they usually want a decently high wage. Though the same can be said of young prodigies. I hope all the best for Coyle in the transfer market.

[Worthy4England]

Side note: Though Holden is a solid player for us, I am awed by Muamba's defending ability (look up a video of him in youtube). Really top class Defensive Midfielder with very clean tackles. I'd rather have Muamba than Holden in my humble opinion.

Up until last weekend, Holden was way in front of anyone in the Prem for successful tackles made according to OPTA stats...

[Lofthouse Lower]

Muamba is playing at his peak, for me. He's not going to get any better, whilst I feel there is more to come from Holden

[midnitefooty]

Muamba is playing at his peak, for me. He's not going to get any better, whilst I feel there is more to come from Holden

Totally agree with this. I don't think it's realistic to think Moo will develop some technical skill in the short or long term. He is a one dimensional player who's one dimension just happens to be very, very useful at the moment.

[Puskas]

This is a thoroughly worthwhile thread and needs to be bumped. N

I'd spend all £15million on Taddy Nowak, tempting him out of retirement. It'd be worth it. He's still got it. An extra yard of pace up here <taps head> [a sentence which doesn't even make fecking sense on any level, but let's leave it for now]

So there you go. Taddy back. On the wing. I'd then bring in Iniesta and Messi on frees - they'd play for nowt because they want to play alongside Taddy, and they'd demand to be allowed to leave. They could learn so much from him.They know this. Everyone knows this. It should happen.

[Lofthouse Lower]

What the fook is 'EPL'

[bettyrasta]

What the fook is 'EPL'

http://www.ethiosports.com/soccer/epl-resultstable/

This'll be the one. Strange how the Defence Force seem to be running away from it...Can't think of any other.

[CAPSLOCK]

This is a thoroughly worthwhile thread and needs to be bumped. N

I'd spend all £15million on Taddy Nowak, tempting him out of retirement. It'd be worth it. He's still got it. An extra yard of pace up here <taps head> [a sentence which doesn't even make fecking sense on any level, but let's leave it for now]

So there you go. Taddy back. On the wing. I'd then bring in Iniesta and Messi on frees - they'd play for nowt because they want to play alongside Taddy, and they'd demand to be allowed to leave. They could learn so much from him.They know this. Everyone knows this. It should happen.

Simpleton

[Puskas]

This is a thoroughly worthwhile thread and needs to be bumped. N

I'd spend all £15million on Taddy Nowak, tempting him out of retirement. It'd be worth it. He's still got it. An extra yard of pace up here <taps head> [a sentence which doesn't even make fecking sense on any level, but let's leave it for now]

So there you go. Taddy back. On the wing. I'd then bring in Iniesta and Messi on frees - they'd play for nowt because they want to play alongside Taddy, and they'd demand to be allowed to leave. They could learn so much from him.They know this. Everyone knows this. It should happen.

Simpleton

Taddy! Fantastic.

You can get those 70s-style shirts they sell in the Unhappy Shop printed, you know. The man there said that it wouldn't stick very well, but it seems ok....

[Lord Kangana]

Do you not have a kitty litter?

[HMX]

[Puskas]

Do you not have a kitty litter?

If you're talking about the stain on the floor, it's red wine.

From some time back.

It doesn't come out easily.

But well done.

[HMX]

Did you position the cat especially or does he/she enjoy the photoshoots?

[Puskas]

Did you position the cat especially or does he/she enjoy the photoshoots?

If you put something interesting down, she'll sit on it.

She had to be moved so that the name could be seen. But I thought I'd let her be in the photo...

[jaffka]

Do you not have a kitty litter?

If you're talking about the stain on the floor, it's red wine.

From some time back.

It doesn't come out easily.

But well done.

pour white wine on it