[Albion] The Ridiculous Tedious Striker Situation

[Tommy11]

Yes.. I know it has been discussed now for many years, and yes ....im so bored about about the same discussion, but last night again is just proof that we need someone who can finish. It is getting absolutely ridiculous now.

Yes, I know the clubs stance on buying young and developing. Yes, I know about the "attacking false 9's" who can play in the position and FFS yes I know about how expensive a proven striker is - but the fact is, we we not going to move on as a PL club, sneak into Europe and possibly win a cup without strikers.

We have never replaced Glenn Murray, we have let go of Andone, Locadia, Maupay, Connolly, Zequri (loan) - yes, most of that list were crap - but we have replaced all of them with one striker - Undav - who I won't even waste another word discussing. Welbeck....injured again.

So what are we doing here? Im lost with it. If we go through another window without getting someone in then we are going to struggle. Plus, Trossard and Mac Allsiter look likely to be wanted and leave.

Before people start banging out about how lucky we are to be in the PL, and look where we came from - I know, I was there - standing out on Rainham End on a cold Tuesday night losing 0-1 to Barnet with 900 people. I get it. But while we are in the PL, I wouldn't mind making a go of it, possible getting into Europe ( how good would that be, traveling abroad with Albion fans) and maybe winning a league cup. Why not?

Our chairman is a gambler, but he is not taking enough risk or balls for me to push us on.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Sometimes we go weeks or months without scoring at home and we need a fistful of strikers. Sometimes every other bugger in the side apart from the designated strikers weigh in with a shitload of goals fired in from all over the place.

As a not very bright man once said: it is what it is

 

[zefarelly]

Everyones given up talking about it as it's never going to happen

like you grow out of looking at Italian super cars

well, some of us do.

 

[Tommy11]

It is what it is

Taken from the book of Potter

 

[Weststander]

It’s been the eternal squad weakness. Costing us countless games.

But the club and Lallana feel very differently …. Lallana was uncharacteristically furious with those who say we should sign a reliable striker in a Radio Sussex interview after a win, I think it was Chelsea.

To paraphrase.
“Those who say that are talking rubbish. Those players don’t exist, at our budget”.

 

[kevo]

Undav, for sure, isn't the answer.

 

[Cornwallboy]

I totally agree and feel frustrated as you but realistic enough to realise unless we get seriously lucky through either the academy or the transfer market we are never going to have this 'proven PL striker.' How many are there in the PL? Salah, Kane, Vardy, Haaland, are they going to want to come to Brighton? The foreign market we can't compete in in terms of fees / wages, evidenced by the fact Datro Fafono is going to Chelsea despite rumoured interest from us.

Even if TB does gamble and decides to spend 70m and 200k a week on a striker, someone who can command that salary wouldn't want to come to us as other PL clubs would be in for him who no doubt could offer more in terms of fee and wages.

 

[southstandandy]

Fergusson needs to be given a chance. We won't buy a striker in January so why not give Fergs an opprtunity.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Undav, for sure, isn't the answer.

And Welbeck is a temporary sticking-plaster

 

[Luke93]

Strikers certainly don’t grow on trees, and finding one ‘ready’ is often expensive. The frustrating thing is the current approach isn’t cheap either. Brighton are trying to pluck a cheap striker who’ll grow into a quality striker at PL level. Trying to almost get lucky with a purchase that’ll appear good value when that player flourishes.

If we take the fees for Enciso, Undav, Andone, Locadia, Zeqiri and Sima we could well have got, say, just 1 Callum Wilson from Bournemouth instead and paid his wages. There is always an element of risk though. Singing just one ‘proven’ striker is no guarantee they’ll return consistently. Maupay for example looked to be good value at one stage, but now he’s lost form he does not. Strikers are also at risk to injuries like any other footballer, and can render the investment worthless.

It’s worth noting how other clubs have approached this. Many fans of rival teams will feel the same as us. West Ham have spent big on duds. Saints spent many years with the likes of Shane Long barely scoring. Fulham stuck with Mitro, who had several poor years at PL level. Leeds got lucky with Bamford, who had 1 PL goal from 27 games before his breakout season, and has been injured and out of form since.

I don’t think the Brighton approach is necessarily wrong. It spreads risk amongst many options and does find genuine bargains. We’ve seen it work for other positions and some of our cheap attackers look cranking value (Mitoma). Others will continue to develop too, I think Enciso and Sarmiento have the elements to become good players. Welbeck on a free, despite his drawbacks of injuries and prolificness, is also a quality player. But, Welbeck needs help to lessen his work load now. We can’t wait for youth players to develop when our senior striker roster is so limited now. It’s about time the approach is altered to mix developments to genuine options now.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Undav, for sure, isn't the answer.

Without going big in the transfer market then breaking our salary structure, Undav is the answer.

I'll qualify that in as much as Undav is the affordable, bit of a risk whether they will be up to it or not, market we fish in for that end of the pitch.

Where we have had considerable success in spotting MacA, Caicedo, Cucu, Mitoma, Mwepu, we've not had that same nose for a striking bargain equivalent - and that is probably down to it being a far busier end of the market for scouting and interest that you have to dig a bit deeper, and take a bit more of a risk.

Is Undav the answer to us qualifying for Europe and pushing for top 7 or 8? No.

Is Undav the answer to a prudently run business seeking to operate within it's means in a sustainable financial structure, with self imposed salary limits and transfer spend - yes he is, and he is likely similar to risks we'll have to continue to take at that end of the pitch.

 

[Reddleman]

People saying ‘where do these strikers come from’ simply need to look around teams at our level. Top end championship strikers can and will score 10-15 goals a season. We had it with Murray and to a slightly lesser extent Maupay. Look at last season tops scorers, when you remove the big hitters many of them came from championship level, Watkins, Pukki, Bowen, Ivan Toney.

So let’s go get Diaz or someone else at that level. I guarantee, 100% they will score more than the 0 league goals Welbeck and Undav have managed.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

I totally agree and feel frustrated as you but realistic enough to realise unless we get seriously lucky through either the academy or the transfer market we are never going to have this 'proven PL striker.' How many are there in the PL? Salah, Kane, Vardy, Haaland, are they going to want to come to Brighton? The foreign market we can't compete in in terms of fees / wages, evidenced by the fact Datro Fafono is going to Chelsea despite rumoured interest from us.

Even if TB does gamble and decides to spend 70m and 200k a week on a striker, someone who can command that salary wouldn't want to come to us as other PL clubs would be in for him who no doubt could offer more in terms of fee and wages.

Fafono is costing 8m certainly not out of our league and I doubt his wages are near our top earners.

 

[maltaseagull]

Undav, for sure, isn't the answer.

I bet you Toney would have been worth a punt .......................................................................

 

[Tommy11]

People saying ‘where do these strikers come from’ simply need to look around teams at our level. Top end championship strikers can and will score 10-15 goals a season. We had it with Murray and to a slightly lesser extent Maupay. Look at last season tops scorers, when you remove the big hitters many of them came from championship level, Watkins, Pukki, Bowen, Ivan Toney.

So let’s go get Diaz or someone else at that level. I guarantee, 100% they will score more than the 0 league goals Welbeck and Undav have managed.

Yes, Diaz would be my choice too. Exactly what we need

 

[Bold Seagull]

Strikers certainly don’t grow on trees, and finding one ‘ready’ is often expensive. The frustrating thing is the current approach isn’t cheap either. Brighton are trying to pluck a cheap striker who’ll grow into a quality striker at PL level. Trying to almost get lucky with a purchase that’ll appear good value when that player flourishes.

If we take the fees for Enciso, Undav, Andone, Locadia, Zeqiri and Sima we could well have got, say, just 1 Callum Wilson from Bournemouth instead and paid his wages. There is always an element of risk though. Singing just one ‘proven’ striker is no guarantee they’ll return consistently. Maupay for example looked to be good value at one stage, but now he’s lost form he does not. Strikers are also at risk to injuries like any other footballer, and can render the investment worthless.

It’s worth noting how other clubs have approached this. Many fans of rival teams will feel the same as us. West Ham have spent big on duds. Saints spent many years with the likes of Shane Long barely scoring. Fulham stuck with Mitro, who had several poor years at PL level. Leeds got lucky with Bamford, who had 1 PL goal from 27 games before his breakout season, and has been injured and out of form since.

I don’t think the Brighton approach is necessarily wrong. It spreads risk amongst many options and does find genuine bargains. We’ve seen it work for other positions and some of our cheap attackers look cranking value (Mitoma). Others will continue to develop too, I think Enciso and Sarmiento have the elements to become good players. Welbeck on a free, despite his drawbacks of injuries and prolificness, is also a quality player. But, Welbeck needs help to lessen his work load now. We can’t wait for youth players to develop when our senior striker roster is so limited now. It’s about time the approach is altered to mix developments to genuine options now.

It's interesting because Newcastle also spent £40m on Joelinton for 6 years worth £27m in salary.

His return for his first 2 seasons as a centre forward was 6 goals in 69 appearances. He's basically played the best part of 100 games for the Geordies before suddenly he does look every inch a £40m / £5m per year player. They've had to wait a while for that transformation to happen though.

We have experts writing Undav off after 8 appearances.

 

[Jesus Gul]

The French/Senegalese fella at Salernitana (ex-colleague of Estupinian at Villareal?) Dia would be great in my opinion. He's been linked to West Ham and Everton.

 

[Cornwallboy]

Fafono is costing 8m certainly not out of our league and I doubt his wages are near our top earners.

Good points but I guess if you've got a choice of us or Chelsea for similar wages you'll probably opt for Chelsea. Lets face it if us and Chelsea ended up in a wages auction there is only going to be one winner.

 

[Tommy11]

It's interesting because Newcastle also spent £40m on Joelinton for 6 years worth £27m in salary.

His return for his first 2 seasons as a centre forward was 6 goals in 69 appearances. He's basically played the best part of 100 games for the Geordies before suddenly he does look every inch a £40m / £5m per year player. They've had to wait a while for that transformation to happen though.

We have experts writing Undav off after 8 appearances.

Newcastle signed Joelinton at 23 and of athletic pedigree. We signed Undav at coming up 26 and far from athletic. Miles apart, and ridiculous comparison. Undav simply not good enough, technically & mentally.

 

[Luke93]

It's interesting because Newcastle also spent £40m on Joelinton for 6 years worth £27m in salary.

His return for his first 2 seasons as a centre forward was 6 goals in 69 appearances. He's basically played the best part of 100 games for the Geordies before suddenly he does look every inch a £40m / £5m per year player. They've had to wait a while for that transformation to happen though.

We have experts writing Undav off after 8 appearances.

A good example of how complex the situation is with many factors at play. Joelinton underperformed for 2 managers and looked overvalued. Took a game for Newcastle under Howe where Newcastle went down to 10 men, Howe shuffled and put Joelinton in midfield, and he hasn’t looked back since. Helped by the whole club getting a lift with other excellent investments around the pitch.