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:thumbsup: Nowt wrong with a bit of excitement over a new signing, but the hype surrounding him when the news broke was more than a little OTT, I thought. He's a promising prospect, but I don't expect to see him getting much 1st team action this season. Maybe he'll get a couple of appearances...

So from this... To this.... I'm glad you've tempered your expectations a tad :lolol:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3175812/Real-Madrid-lost-prodigious-talent-Jack-Harper-Brighton-seismic-spending-harming-youth-development.html Real Madrid lost a prodigious talent in Jack Harper to Brighton... is their seismic spending harming youth development? Read more...

Which is very encouraging. Lets see what he does against Forest...

Indeed. And they regularly had more than 3 players in the opposition half, something which Hughton may need to look at. As we're obviously not going to be signing a proven Championship goalscorer any time soon, perhaps committing to playing 2 up front would pay dividends for us. Worked well for...

This is true, but again just like with CMS, we're *hoping* he can bag 20 goals a season in the Championship. He wasn't signed on the basis that he'd ever actually managed it before, or anywhere near. He doesn't have that track record. Those type of players always come at a premium we're not...

Absolutely this. Harper doesn't bolster our threadbare strikeforce at all. Not yet. Whilst it would be lovely Roy of the Rovers stuff, we simply cannot expect a kid who's never played a first team game in his life to arrive here and suddenly be the answer to our chronic goal allergy. We need...

We've never signed a proven Championship striker, or (to my knowledge) been seriously in the market for one, that's all I'm saying. We've had some expensive punts, some of which have worked (Ulloa) some of which haven't (CMS / Baldock), but never on anyone who's got a goalscoring track record at...

Inevitably the most difficult and expensive commodity to acquire - and we don't seem willing or able to invest in this calibre of player any more.

I disagree. As far as strikers go, we are not pretty much sorted at all. Baldock hasn't really shown he can cut it in the Championship yet IMO (abeit I accept he's been played out of position most of his time here). He's also a bit of a sicknote. Hemed is an unknown quantity at this time...

No problem with that, chap :thumbsup:

And I'm perfectly happy to see us take a punt on him as well. The likes of Liverpool and Man City swallow up dozens of youngsters a season into their academies, most of whom disappear without a trace without ever having so much as a sniff of first team football, so I don't blame Harper for...

Because its a cheap punt that may or may not come off. They have little market value because they've proved nothing yet - we're investing in that indefinable commodity known as "potential", just as we did with Roland Bergkamp and Torbjorn Agdestein. There's no way of knowing whether Harper or...

Teixeira was on the fringes of the Liverpool squad and had made his 1st team debut for them, he was a little more advanced in his career than Harper currently is with his when he joined us. I think there was less fanfare with Tex as he'd had a less than impressive loan spell at Brentford the...

And how many times has he actually played for Real Madrid ? Its like referring to one of our Academy players as an "Albion striker" - they're not. They're trainees, they're propects with aspirations of playing for the Albion. They may or may not make it in the professional game - there is a...

So do I. I'm just wary of the hype and expectation that's already being heaped on what is, at the end of the day, a youth teamer who, regardless of the club he was representing, has thus far spent his fledgling career exclusively at the arse-end of the Spanish league. He's proved nowt, and will...

I'd expect ITV and the media in general to give it the hype headlines. Just the name "Real Madrid" and everyone starts creaming. But he's not a Real Madrid striker, never has been. He's a long, long, long way from ever having achieved that billing, and I don't think the club are doing him any...

Blimey. There is just absolutely NO WAY of knowing that yet. I think some people just need to calm down a bit. The sheer hype surrounding this kid is getting ridiculous. He's a very decent prospect, but at this stage of his fledgling career that's ALL he is, he's proved nothing yet. I'll be...

I couldn't agree more. He's a youth player who was released from one of Real Madrid's development squads, he's never had a sniff of 1st team action anywhere. But the club seizes on the glamour of Real Madrid and announce him as a "Real Madrid striker" - he's nothing of the sort, any more than...

In which case, we still need to sign a forward of proven quality for THIS season. Hopefully the club are still working on that, otherwise we are heavily relying on Hemed hitting the ground running and being the real deal.