sorry, game of opinions and all, but that’s utterly ludicrous. only player who’s looked remotely competent as an attacking force for a decent period of time across the season as a whole. we’d be about 17th without him. our attacking ability fell off a cliff when he got injured
Yup.
All the reports say £30m was spent, and so far he's scored 19 goals. If by the end of the season he adds another couple and is on 20+ then I think you have to put that in the bracket of 'you get what you pay for'. A striker who scores more like 30+ goals costs a LOT more than £30m these days. You also have to remember he's still only 22 and this is only his 2nd season in a top division, so far that I think he's doing just fine.
This is the thing. People say the penalty goals count I say they don´t count in the same way. Its a free 0.7 xg opportunity you get and a lot of people in here could score one which would never happen with open play goal. Some seasons we wont get as many cheap penalties as this one. He is as you say 22 and new in the league and far from terrible not opposed to him staying but I´d be fine with him going if replaced properly
Joaoa Pedro himself won at least half of them.
Fair enough, each to their own. Maybe I rate his ability with penalties as a bigger plus that you do. We've seen plenty of Champions League and Europa league players miss them this week! For that his 100% record with them must be considered impressive. & if over the next season he develops as a player, continuing to score the penalties but also adding a few more open play goals then that £30m starts to look like a very fair price to me especially when you look at what others are paying for strikers and how many goals they've scored this season.... Havertz £65m, scored 10 goals. Richarlison £60m, scored 11 goals. Nunez £85m, scored 18 goals. Jackson £35m, scored 13 goals, Haaland £85m, scored 31 goals, Isak £65m, scored 21 goals. Palmer £45m, scored 23 goals. With those figures £30m for 19 goals, and at only 22 with plenty of room to develop starts to look like a good signing for me.
I like your analysis. A few buts
To wit, he's still the Europa League's third top scorer, after Aubameyang and Lukaku, whose teams are still in contention, despite not having played since Marseille at home in December. Has to count for something as well that at 22, he's much younger than either the 34 year old Aubameyang or the 30 year old Lukaku yet holding his own.
He is injured for SUCH a high percentage of his career. He cannot be seen as reliable cover.
Feels like we are going to need to make a bit of room on the squad. We probably can't keep players who's fitness is unreliable, sadly.
He is obviously in exile for a reason.
In a season full of unexpected injuries, Lamptey missing about three-quarters of the season so far as measured in minutes was utterly predictable.
Tariq is 23, and he's already missed getting towards 100 games through injury.
Agreed - I would prefer less, but higher quality signings.
