Tuesday 2 September 2014

TK Maxx

After the hilarious scenes around the country's Premier League training grounds yesterday, as the increasingly desperate threw money about like bargain hunters in the New Year Sales, we returned today to some form of normality.

Our own club did no business and with that I am reasonably happy. The Andy Delort saga had gone on too long, and frankly, I didn't want him in the end. Good luck to Wigan but 4m Euros was too much, in my view, for a player of his age, with limited higher level experience and who hasn't played in England before let alone the wastes of Wigan. The look on his face as he held the Wigan shirt summed it up for me. It looked like he could smell something very unpleasant. 

The internet was also linking us spuriously with Sylvain Ebanks-Blake and Brian Ruiz. Ruiz would, presumably, be well outside our wage structure and probably the same for Ebanks-Blake although as a free agent I guess there may have been a negotiation to be had. Ebanks-Blake was a player who once impressed me enormously when he was out of our price bracket, but he slowed down at Wolves and after injury had a very disappointing last half-season with Ipswich where he couldn't score in eight appearances, albeit a number from the bench. At only 28 though, he could fit the "something-still-to-prove" cliche and as a free agent we could yet pick him up as a loanee when the window opens on a pay-as-you-score basis.

So, whatever the truth in Ruiz or Ebanks-Blake, we find ourselves rummaging amongst the leftovers amidst the grey goods akin to a visit to TK Maxx. Again, if I am honest, I can live with that. There is still good business to be done and we don't have to suffer the vulgarity of the New Year Sales.

Some Addicks are already crying "what if Igor gets injured?" A concern indeed but only because of his highly impressive start along with the rest of the side. That in itself is a cause for celebration and we should take a moment to reflect and be relatively grateful. 

We did add Frederic Bulot who is another Standard Liege player at the weekend. He is in the same vein as a number of others i.e. a promising young player (23) with international credentials (every youth level for France). We should also remind ourselves that we appear increasingly like the Mother Ship (as Wyn Grant likes to refer to SL as) - we still haven't lost a single player to them. Bulot is a quick left footed winger who can play on either side but prefers the right. I wonder whether this means Gumundsson may shift more permanently to the left and push Lawrie Wilson back as cover for Chris Solly?

Elsewhere it was interesting to see Sannino resign at Watford only to be replaced with haste by Oscar Garcia. Perhaps a good time to be facing the Hornets although Garcia will get an extra week to work with his new team before they come to Fort Valley due to the international break.

4 comments:

  1. The loan window opens next week Dave, so as we kept our Delort money in our pocket, we may well spend some of that on a Premiership loanee (or maybe two)? The Prem clubs will have settled on their 25 man squads soon so that will "release" a whole host of players who we can do a deal on wage-wise. My own concern with Igor is not injury, but that we may well lose him in January for a month or so for the ANC; that is when he must be replaced, either permanently or via a loanee.
    Pedro45

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  2. Sciurus Carolinensis Nemesis3 September 2014 at 12:26

    Ebanks Blake is a free agent so not retricted by the window nor could we loan him from anyone
    The paucity of chances let alone goals from anyone other than Igor makes another striker a very urgent requirement for when he is inevitably injured/suspended or indeed away on international duty. We're currently matching or outscoring our opponents - no clean sheets - suggests we could do with sterner defense too. The loan window and the PL squads' leftovers bin will need to be thoroughly sifted if Charlton is to maintain its decent start.

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  3. I have this srange happy warm glow feeling with everything regarding CAFC at the moment, not had that for a while.

    PH

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