This isn't a knee jerk reaction.

 

I have been thinking of options open to us in the January window for the midfield role. We need a tall, strong and skillful defensive midfielder considering we have small lightweight attacking mids. We need somebody who can put his body on the line and boss the midfield. The person should be able to support attack and create goals from deep.

 

Many of the big names may either not be available or be very expensive. However I read it somewhere that Diame may be available and his buy out clause is just £3.5m. Yes, he is not a big name but how many of the big names may be available or affordable?

 

IMO, he is worth a risk. Skillful, fast, strong, cheap, 25 years and a PL experience this can be a bargain.

 

 

Check out how he's using his strong body to body-check opposition players:

 

One we could have got for free in the summer right?

 

Give this to Wigan, they know how to produce, or rather improve, players to a good Premier League standard.

We got Victor Moses from Wigan and he has proved a bargain for us.

£3.5m is a bargain, Even if he peforms the same as Mikel it wouldnt matter because hes cheap, I think he would be top draw for us, Stronger, Faster and more mobile than Mikel

Every time I see him play he has been one of the best players on the pitch. I'm no mikel basher but I think if we got diame in he would be a major upgrade on mikel. He has skill, strength, power and put's himself about. Would be a massive bargain for any top side in my opinion.

 

Looks like it won't happen in january though because he is out for 12 weeks. I would 100% be making an enquiry to west ham though and letting them know we are interested.

We'll see how many top sides are interested in jan, because none were in the summer and I doubt its changed.

Diamé isn't a defensive midfielder, in fact I would argue that he is a less good Ramires. Although he is more cautious than Ramires (bearing in mind that that may be caused by playing for teams who spend a lot of time on the back foot), he is more of a box-to-box type (athletic and strong as you said) than Mikel whose role is primarily built around intercepting opposition passes and circulating possession.

 

That said I am generally a big fan of Diamé (probably a bit less so now he's swapped Wigan for West Ham) and I think he is a decent player, but I doubt he'd be much more than cover for us. We could use extra bodies in midfield, but we should probably be looking at pure 'destroyers' rather than more attack-minded players, which we already have in abundance. I heard a rumour that Ferguson was interested in signing him a couple of years ago, but turned him down due to an underlying heart condition.

We'll see how many top sides are interested in jan, because none were in the summer and I doubt its changed.

 

His heart problem was the turn off. Having said this, he still worth the risk considering that he is cheap and even his salary cannot be more than £30,000 a week (just a thought).

 

Let us even look at it a certain Kanu Nwakwo of Nigeria had heart problem in 1996 when he was with Inter Milan but shortly after that problem he played for Arsenal for 6 years without any problem and went to West Brom and ended his career in Portsmouth. That is about 16 years of post heart surgery soccer career.

but we should probably be looking at pure 'destroyers' rather than more attack-minded players,

Should be looking for leaders IMO

Are Senegal out of the ACN? Not a massive follower myself but do we not pose the same problems we have had in the past with losing African players in jan/feb?

I bet there is a young African/French lad playing in France, Belgium etc who is a barnstorming player who just needs to be gambled on. Mark my words. Didn't Celtic pay buttons for Wanyama from the Belgian league?

hmmm - another player has a halfway decent game against us so we get a detailed thread, complete with the obligatory  scout's best friend Youtube clip, abiout how we should buy him NOW!

 

But we aren't the spoilt brat fans that other teams' supporters call us, are we?

No thanks, plus he's out for a while with a hamstring tear. Its much different injecting some drive into a hit & hope Wham side, then playing for one of the top teams in Europe. Granted he had a good game vs us & y'day vs the wall pushers, but before that he had been dropped because of poor form. 

hmmm - another player has a halfway decent game against us so we get a detailed thread, complete with the obligatory  scout's best friend Youtube clip, abiout how we should buy him NOW!

 

But we aren't the spoilt brat fans that other teams' supporters call us, are we?

Ahhh......but you are forgetting, that the 1st line of the post was "this is not a kneejerk reaction".....

 

Seems like whenever i read that line, the stuff that follows is usually just what it claims not to be.

I'm not basing my opinion on youtube clips or the one game he played against us. I am basing it on the fact that everytime I see him play on tv ( which has been a fair amount lately) he stands out head and shoulders above others. Not saying we should immediately go out and buy him but he is worth keeping an eye on.

 

Doesn't always have to be an expensive big name player for us to be interested. There are bargains out there somewhere and I reckon this guy could be one of them. 

perhaps the FSW might get xabi alonso! i heard he's interested coming back to england!

Theres a lot of better players in his position we should be looking at

Theres a lot of better players in his position we should be looking at

 

Can you please name them and their probable price tags?

Can you please name them and their probable price tags?

 

Fellaini, Vidal, Inler, De Rossi, Marchisio, M'Vila and Moutinho off the top of my head.

 

All would be more expensive than Diame no doubt, but we already have Romeu, Mikel, Essien, Lampard, McEacheran and Ramires as CM's, we don't need another decent player, we need a top class player and yes that does cost money.

This is a joke the guy is out for 6 months that all...we lose mikel for another 2 games (one of which is Leeds) and then a month in jan. why again does that mean we need to spend obscene amounts of money on a midfielder? Typical RA fans

Because our midfield options are thin

Because our midfield options are thin

Are they really though? We have 4 I can think of off the top of my head who are on loan, 1 is back in jan and the other 3 have recall options. We have Oscar, lamps, Ramires as well as Cahill and luiz who have both played in midfield at some point this season. We do not need to spend money to cover a months absence it's just ridiculous. Money does not solve everything hence why Utd are top of the league

Cahill and Luiz are CB's and should never be played in midfield. We lost Romeu, so we have mikel and lamps and ramires to play the 'holding' roles of midfield. Mikel is suspended/going away, romeu is out for the season leaving TWO players for two positions. One more injury and its tickets. We need bodies. We haven't needed bodies for the past month, we've needed it for like 2 years. We've had to play OHM to death because we have no suitable backups that will do a job. We have an amazing first 11 and hardly anything to come off the bench to change up a game or provide reliable backup to rest players. We have deep defensive options and that's about it.

 

Your united reference doesn't hold any weight. They have a deep enough squad, they already spent the money. Just because they already spent the money and don't need to now doesn't prove that you don't need to spend money now to compete.

Edited December 12, 201213 yr by Stim

Cahill and Luiz are CB's and should never be played in midfield. We lost Romeu, so we have mikel and lamps and ramires to play the 'holding' roles of midfield. Mikel is suspended/going away, romeu is out for the season leaving TWO players for two positions. One more injury and its tickets. We need bodies. We haven't needed bodies for the past month, we've needed it for like 2 years. We've had to play OHM to death because we have no suitable backups that will do a job. We have an amazing first 11 and hardly anything to come off the bench to change up a game or provide reliable backup to rest players. We have deep defensive options and that's about it.

Your united reference doesn't hold any weight. They have a deep enough squad, they already spent the money. Just because they already spent the money and don't need to now doesn't prove that you don't need to spend money now to compete.

My united reference is because at one point they had 3 CBs out but I didn't hear them clambering for money to be spent on a cb. A lot of fans have become very spoilt at this club and forget there was a time where if we were in this situation We could not simply go out and buy we had to make the most of it. We are fortunate we have some talented youngsters who are able to come in and do a job for us and gain some experience. Also what do we tell romeu when he comes back? 'Sorry bud but we have just give mikel a new 5 yr deal and signed a 20/30 million pound player so enjoy some time with u21s'. We need to give youth a chance at this club

Edited December 12, 201213 yr by Fearnley

Huh? 3 cb's out and they could still field 2 full time cb's of course they won't, didn't stop the club from still buying smalling and then jones a season later. They had a massive injury crisis and STILL could field a capable team. We have 2 midfielders and 1 striker out and our squad is almost at its limit. How is it comparable?

 

Then you want to replace them with kids who have no top flight experience and expect to RELY on them. Don't talk about the past, in the current reality we need squad players and you don't have to be a spoilt fan to see that. We have something stupid like 17 outfield players. We are playing 21 year olds for 90 minutes 2/3 times a week because they have no one to rotate with. Factoring in form, fatigue etc and we have laughably small options.

Edited December 12, 201213 yr by Stim