This is fair enough of course and picking them up before anyone notices them during the tournament can only be a good thing as we try and pick them up before they become noticed by the whole of Europe. The only real question is, who are they?
If you click this link, press play, let it buffer a bit and fast forward to approximately 14 minutes in you will hear exactly what Pardew said about it all. If you can’t be bothered then then real juicy bit is as follows.
“There’s certainly one or two players who are going to the European Championships that we’d like to secure before they get there because we think they’re going to do well there.”
I known it’s a bit early for speculation and such as we still have a few games remaining this season, but I can’t help being intrigued by it and wonder who the likely candidates are.
The first thing is that I don’t think one of them is Erik Pieters. He’s out with an injury at the moment and is by no means certain to be playing for Holland in the summer, even though I do still think he’ll end up here.
In fact a brief flit around the players we’ve been linked with over the least few months doesn’t reveal much either.
Douglas? Maybe, although he is yet to be called up to the Holland side so it’s probably safe to assume that he won’t all of a sudden be included in the squad for the European Championship.
Jan Vertonghen? A possibility, although I believe he’ll be off to somewhere like Arsenal, and from listening to him it would appear that is where he wants to be heading.
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa? Again a possibility, but again he’s not had a full international cap and I can’t see the French taking an untried and untested 22-year-old to the Euros. It’s only England that do that kind of thing!
So any more suggestions? I honestly haven’t a clue who Pardew could be talking about although I think it’s safe to say that we’ll have been watching them for some time now and that they will have been thoroughly vetted by our immense scouting team.
Let the guessing begin!
TOONSY pardew has also said two players have agreed to come to sjp weather we got into europe or not a few weeks back,could that be a ploy to get the players he really wants sort of giveing them a gee up to make there minds up,who they are is a right guessing game 😕
icedog(Quote)
Marvin Martin! Sochaux are likely to be relegated and he wants to leave.
Would love Vertonghen too!
Not heard anything about Cissokho recently, could still be a possibility.
tomlkier(Quote)
i think they may be on the fringes and he is bigging them up
alanthedog363(Quote)
Marvin Martin? 😉
Newkie(Quote)
just hope its not douglas i dont rate him very highly 🙁
icedog(Quote)
Cabaye’s pal Debuchy is probably worth a mention too 🙂
tomlkier(Quote)
No chance of Vertonghen if it’s a player from ajax it’s the other lad Toby Alberwield or Alderwield who can play centre half and defensive mid.
Pieters, not sure on as he is injured like said and was injured last window when we were interested, although we allegedly tried for him last summer. But we allegedly fired up the chopper for bryain ruiz one time and bid for the zog…..
Hope it is a left back so we can put Santon on the right where he looked miles better than simpson and much more confident on the ball, as in it’s not a hot potato.
Or play santon on the left of the front three if Demba goes, I think he could be a good winger he looked good going forward
Pardiola(Quote)
PARDIOLA maybe because he started off being a winger in italy 😉
icedog(Quote)
I heard that Icedog but wasn’t sure it was true. You can get away with being a full back in italy or spain, but as gareth bale found out, it’s a lot tougher over here. He could be our version of bale but better looking
And I got the belgian lad’s name wrong it’s Tobias Albertine Maurits Alderweireld
Pardiola(Quote)
Pardew was on about Xisco’s new contract extention I think you’ll find 😉
richietoon(Quote)
PARDIOLA glad you spelt that and not me mate,you would have had nee chance 😉
icedog(Quote)
RICHIE 🙂
icedog(Quote)
My XI v Chelsea to accomodate Ba, so he isn’t on the wing:
————————Krul—————————-
——-Perch——Coloccini—-Williamson——
-Simpson———————————-Santon-
————————-Tiote—————————
———Cabaye——————–Ben Arfa——-
——————-Ba———-Cisse——————
Opinions ❓
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Bring Jonas on for either Simpson or Santon near the end.
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Is “opinions” a striker from the academy?
richietoon(Quote)
Richie
aye hes one of those promising players that can be part of a twelve man team, positioned just above Ba 😉
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Instead of ‘in the hole’ he’ll be ‘in the goal’ 😆
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Richie
Andy-I’d rather not alter our defense that much on the back of one bad performance, plus Chelsea won’t play 3-4-3 so they shouldn’t overrun our midfield so much. If we were playing Ba through the middle I’d go for
Simmo-Will-Colo-Santon(possibly Jonas)
——–Tiote——–Perch
Benny———————-Cabaye
——Cisse——Ba———-
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie
Chelsea have pace, which I worry about most when it comes to our defence, don’t think Jonas would keep up with Sturrridge/Kalou/Malouda. Williamson annoyed the hell out of me against Wigan, how he was beaten to the ball by moses for the first goal when neither of them jumped is beyond me 😕
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Chelsea do have some pacey customers, I think its more than likely they’ll start with Sturridge on one of the wings and he could be dangerous…which is kind of why I’d be happy for our formation/players to stay the same. The reason I wouldn’t switch to 4-4-2 is because its not just the formation that has made Ba play worse, he literally is on bad form. He can still score/play well on the left, just for whatever reason he isn’t.
-have Jonas the roaming defensive mid to shadow Sturridge depending on which wing he switches to, grab the ball off him and try and start a counter. The counter attack will be very important for us..
if Chelsea have Lampard/Mikel holding and Terry/Bosingwa in central defence then Benny could definitely cause them all problems.
Newkie(Quote)
Andy…in that case, I’m all for that formation
richietoon(Quote)
BTW guys
I well reccommend ‘the avengers’. Was awesome, my film of the year, an I loved war horse and the hunger games (Sherlock holmes was also very good).
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Richie
😎 😉
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Definitely not a back 3 with Perch in it Andymag. I agree with others who want to keep a back 4. We aren’t mobile enough at the back to field only 3. Willo is very slow indeed so we need to keep a solid 4. We could use Ferguson to cover Sturridge as he has pace but he hasn’t developed his defensive game enough. I think Pardew will stick with Jonas as defensive midfielder with Tiote while Cabaye and Ben Arfa try to push up. Ba and Cisse up front. If we get an early goal we have a chance but Torres is starting to surge now and they have a huge amount of confidence after beating Barca. I would take a 1-1 draw happily.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Well we know we’ve been looking in the French, Dutch and German leagues and obviously the players have to be in the tourney. I would also suggest that given recent history, it may be a player we haven’t been linked with so, let me have some speculative fun (:
Ola John- Liberian born Dutch left winger. 19 yo from twente. About 5’10 and pacey with a decent cross. Breakout year for twente and had 6 assist for holland during qualifiers.
Robert Lewandowski- 23 yo polish striker from Dortmund. Stands about 6′ and also has a bit of pace. Can play on the wing or up top and I believe he’s also a lefty. Has two years left on his contract and has netted 28 times in 66 games for Dortmund.
Mats Hummels- 6’3 center back also from Dortmund. This I believe is a long shot though I haven’t heard his name being toss around anywhere. He is considered on of the best CBs that Germany has to offer at still only 23.
Mario Mandžukić- 6’1 croatian striker who can also play on the wing ( seems to be a theme:) been linked with a couple of prem clubs already. Has lots of guile but sometimes seems lazy.
Dejan Lovren- 6’2 CB from Lyon. Consistent player though may not be athletic enough for the prem. Still only 22.
Kyriakos Papadopoulos- 6′ 20yo CB that can also play as a DM. Not your typical Greek defender. Has class in abundance even at a young age. Has 2 yrs left at shalke
Christian Eriksen- 5’9 attacking mid from Denmark. The 20 yr old is a classic number 10 with skill and vision. He can also rip it from distance and has been compared to some of the best mids that have come out of holland. Has 2 yrs left at Ajax.
Olivier Giroud- 6-3 striker from Montpellier. Probably out of our reach at this point and doesn’t need the euros to boost his rep. Has taken league one by storm and is your modern target man. Would also challenge cabaye’s current “dreamboat” status at the club.
Well maybe too speculative but on some but that’s part of the fun haha. Sorry about the length. It’s an article in itself ha!
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Oh p.s.
Douglas can’t join the Dutch until the end of August so it’s not him and Belgium isn’t in the euro do it isn’t any of those defenders
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
JG good summing up there mate enjoyed the read even if dont know a couple of them 😉
icedog(Quote)
Cheers ice. I know all in passing and I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that some already have a ridiculous price tag on them. I just went by parameters and the fact that I haven’t heard their names linked with big moves yet except Olivier.
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
JG
Know a fair few from FIFA 😆 I would add Subotic – CB from Dortmund on that list. 😉
ANDYMAG(Quote)
@28
Yeah Montpellier want £36m for Giroud and Erikson is so highly rated in holland and in europe that Ajax have slapped a 30-40m pricetag on him.
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Also Goetze from Dortmund, god that kid is gunna be immense, too bad the big dogs are after him and he’s priced so highly.
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Andymag Aye on subotic but Serbia isn’t in the euro.
And there you go I suspected that some might have big price tags. Haha
I just watch players, I don’t call their agents up to talk £ ha
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
I left goetze out cause I actually have heard that they’re asking for big money.
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
ime just wondering if there not a far-easten player in there,sure that would help jabba sales 😉
icedog(Quote)
@32
my bad didn’t read it properly, just thought you were listing promising players from France, Germany and Holland that few have heard of. 😳 😆
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Icedog are you saying Kagawa? Might aswell if we’re dreaming like jerseygeordie is, they’re a bit out of our price range and wage structure
Pardiola(Quote)
Icedog
There’s that kid in Germany that we’re supposedly after, that would be great as he’s young with huge potential, unknown, won’t cost much and will build up our support in the far east. Now the toon just need to sign me up for a bit of South-East asia in their ranks, or scootland, whichever, I’ve got it all 😆
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Pardiloa
No, I think he’s referring to that 19yo that we’ve been linked to, Kagawa won’t leave Dortmund with the form they’re in and the crowd there is bigger than at the Emerites.
ANDYMAG(Quote)
Ice I thought the same when we were linked with that Korean striker ha!
My fav mid-east player right now is Takayuki Morimoto a Japanese striker playing in serie a.
He hasn’t really made a lot of noise in Italy but I think he’s in the wrong league. He has pace power and guile and also see a good hard working lad.
Still only 23
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Pardiola/ I dreamed we’d be in the top 6 this year and we are! 😆
Leave my dreams alone!
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Agree with tomlkier and Newkie, I think one will be Marvin Martin. We were linked with him last summer and now Sochaux are looking like they’re going down, could be perfect time to pounce!
dan4toon(Quote)
aye it was that 19yr old kid i was thinking of, JG now that one in serie A is spikeing my intrest noo and maybe jabba too 😀 ill have to look him up 😉
icedog(Quote)
Andymag I was sticking with the article and thinking of players that pardew might be talking about. He said that he wants to sign them up before they make a splash in the euros.
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Dan my worry aboot Martin is that he might be too expensive. Wasn’t he the bee’s knee’s this summer? Plus wasn’t he leaning towards Spain?
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Ice I wouldn’t be mad at Jabba for that if it ment we got a good player and his shirts sales gave us a bit of dosh to get another 😆 😉
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Jersey. Yeah but I don’t think he will be as much now. If they’re going down they’re not going to get loads and his contract is another year down the line. I think with us qualifying for Europe and obviously our French crew that would persuade him.
I would of said about £7/8 million.
dan4toon(Quote)
@JG
Christian Eriksen Will be awesome, but Danish media are suggestibg that manure have a bid ready. Approx 15 mill punds.
I can’t see us spending that on a player:-(
Eriksen is one of The biggest talents in Europe, and is compared with Michael Laudrup, so Barcelona is also confirmed as interested.
Danishtoon(Quote)
JG too bloody true mate the flak wouldnt bother me,anything to better the toon,(except the name change) but lets not get into that 😉
icedog(Quote)
I would prefer us to sign Young left back Nicolai Boilesen.
He Will be one of The best left backs in Europe.
But i hope we get talent from The french league:-)
Danishtoon(Quote)
Dan- 7/8 might be a steal.
Danishtoon- that’s that then. I can’t see us paying more than 6-8 mil for a mid. Even tho 15 mil for him will defo end up being a great price.
My fav player in Europe full stop right now is Georginio Wijnaldum. Absolute firecracker! And he’ll play anywhere on the pitch. But he just signed for PSV last summer.
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Ice aye let’s not, I’m in a good mood today 😆
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Ice- getting a decent yank in the ranks won’t hurt jabba’s pocket either. Trouble is with the system in the states it’s hard to find quality within the clubs parameters.
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
@JG
I agree with wijnaldum!!!
But we should benefit from The fact that both Cabaye and Benny is on The french team:-)
They must have some strings they Can pull and i hope we Will concentrate on The french market.
Is kalou still up for free this summer??
Danishtoon(Quote)
i would be very suprised if it was a english based player,i think this barnsley kid they were talking about is leading us up the garden path imo
icedog(Quote)
JG aye you have a good point there,as we were heading there again this summer until we got into europe,so he was working on that side of the market imo
icedog(Quote)
Ice- I was down south last week to pick up a truck and was shocked when the owner told me he was taking his kids to soccer practice deep in American football country. It’s growing across the pond and teams are starting to have a youth system which will help development but I think it’s still another 5-10 years away before you start to see the polished young talent you see in Europe and south American clubs.
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Danishtoon I’m not sure that kalou would fit our style of play. But I wouldn’t mind getting him in on a free. He seems to have a good relationship with Tiote.
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Ice and Jersey, Australia might be a decent shout as well, especially with that Curtis Good apparently impressing on trial, lets just hope he’s better than our last Australian centre-half 😆
dan4toon(Quote)
Dan- viduka was class!! Just not for us 😆
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
I had forget about Viduka! I was thinking of Craig Moore 😆
dan4toon(Quote)
DAN4T i dont wish to be a know-all but i worked in aussie coaching young kids for a couple of years,beilive me there are plenty “sweat”shops there turning out footy gear would be hard for jabba to get a large slice of that market unless it went through the aussie f.a.imo
icedog(Quote)
and each state run the game there way if you get my gist 😉
icedog(Quote)
Ice, ah well. Still, it’s good to know we’re looking down every avenue to spot the next top talent.
Speaking of top talent did anyone see Hazards rabona cross yesterday, he’s going to be some player 😯
dan4toon(Quote)
Dan- it’s easy to forget viduka unless you were a physio at the club 😆
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
In answer to the topic I don’t know 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
DAVE your a great help 😉 😀
icedog(Quote)
my starting team for chelsea. krul , simpson(santon) if injured, perch colo, ferguson , barfa cabeye tiote jonas, cisse ba thats playing 4 4 1 1, we have to get at their centrebacks with the regs out.
would anyone else have woodgate back as cover for next season for europe if we could get 20-25 games out of him?
bazza(Quote)
Ice if I have learnt owt from Jabba and co it’s not to try to guess what they’re going to do in the transfer market 😉
Bazza no on Woodgate, whats up you have dropped Willo 😕 I don’t fancy Perch in the defence
Big Dave(Quote)
DAVE of coarse you have learnt sumit,hes going to make money 😆
icedog(Quote)
iv never rated willo,hes a championship player at best,fear he would get run ragged on wed
bazza(Quote)
Bazza 😆 it wouldn’t be the 1st time 😀
Ice don’t forget he has been our saviour and has saved us 😕
Big Dave(Quote)
Willo is perfect for how Chelsea play imo
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Following The manchester game??
Danishtoon(Quote)
Any links for the manure-shitty game?
witters(Quote)
http://www.nutjob.eu/
richietoon(Quote)