Grabban deal still on?

Paul Abbandonato of the WoS has today said that City have agreed a deal to sign Grabban. Im unsure about that but I do think OGS wants four good strikers.

That would give us Guerra, Macheda, Le Fondre and Grabban available week in, week out. If Grabban didn't sign i wouldn't have a problem with bringing Mason into that group and allowing the rest to leave, with the exception of the likes of youngster Healey, who can play in the Dev squad.

I read that article too. My impression is that City have triggered the release clause and Bournemouth are happy with the fee, but Grabban is waiting to see whether interest from PL clubs comes to anything.

Personally, I'd rather have Mason as the fourth striker anyway.

I'm not convinced Grabban is any better than Campbell though i don't know enough about his style of play as a whole to know how he would fit in.

Right now i would settle for Guerra, Campbell, Macheda and Le Fondre as the main 4 with probably Berget next in line and Healey trying to break through from the development side.

If Grabban and Le Fondre both happen then i think the writing might be on the wall for Campbell - unless Ole just wants to overload that position for increased competition.

Campbell is as good as gone by the seems of things. I am not worried about signing Grabban, as I am in agreement with you TDA, I would like to see Mason as fourth choice

Slumdog's Son wrote:Campbell is as good as gone by the seems of things. I am not worried about signing Grabban, as I am in agreement with you TDA, I would like to see Mason as fourth choice

  

BUT I want Campbell to stay. His work rate is impeccable and if he actually got service I think he could really deliver.

I'd be happy to just stick with what we have. We essentially have six striking options now - too many can be a bad thing in terms of team chemistry.

I can't see it happening. As Cyncoedslumdog said the other day to me, it's a shame as Campbell was unwanted by Sunderland and we paid him great wages and gave him a good go in the team but he's decided he wants another Prem team instead.

Arkay Dubya wrote:

Slumdog's Son wrote:Campbell is as good as gone by the seems of things. I am not worried about signing Grabban, as I am in agreement with you TDA, I would like to see Mason as fourth choice

  

BUT I want Campbell to stay. His work rate is impeccable and if he actually got service I think he could really deliver.

Same here. Time will tell but you will be hard pushed to find a more honest and tireless worker than Campbell and he showed that he can score goals at a reasonable rate at this level too.

If we do lose him i just hope it is to a Prem team and because he wants to go - i certainly wouldn't offload him. Mason would be a better option than Berget as a fifth choice striker but it is probably unfair to him to put him in a postion where only an injury crisis or lousy form from all in front of him would give him any game time.

If it is happening, I for one will be thinking it's getting a bit silly, like we've somehow left reality and entered a FIFA seasons mode ran by a 12 year old boy whose ethos can be summarised as 'f*ck defence, let's just score tonnes'

Red614 wrote:If it is happening, I for one will be thinking it's getting a bit silly, like we've somehow left reality and entered a FIFA seasons mode ran by a 12 year old boy whose ethos can be summarised as 'f*ck defence, let's just score tonnes'

It woudn't be the first time a manager has overloaded that postion. Birmingham in 2006-2007 throughout the course of the season had:

Andrew Cole
Mikael Forssell
Camerone Jerome
DJ Campbell
Rowan Vine
Nicklas Bendtner and
Gary McSheffrey

all playing some part during the season - along with a young and unused Sone Aluko in the squad.

The irony is that they only scored a modest 67 league goals that season - 5 less than we managed when we went up. Birmingham's success actually owed more to having the second best defensive record in the league that season.

Toast Boy wrote:

Red614 wrote:If it is happening, I for one will be thinking it's getting a bit silly, like we've somehow left reality and entered a FIFA seasons mode ran by a 12 year old boy whose ethos can be summarised as 'f*ck defence, let's just score tonnes'

It woudn't be the first time a manager has overloaded that postion. Birmingham in 2006-2007 throughout the course of the season had:

Andrew Cole
Mikael Forssell
Camerone Jerome
DJ Campbell
Rowan Vine
Nicklas Bendtner and
Gary McSheffrey

all playing some part during the season - along with a young and unused Sone Aluko in the squad.

The irony is that they only scored a modest 67 league goals that season - 5 less than we managed when we went up. Birmingham's success actually owed more to having the second best defensive record in the league that season.

I'm well aware, managed by Steve Bruce at the time who is undoubtedly the best manager they have had since the turn of the millennia. He wouldn't of left when he did if Carson Yeung hadn't tried to screw him over by moving the goalposts on the contract he had already agreed to renew.

Steve Bruce is actually a really good role model for an example of what Both Malky and Solskjaer appear to be doing wrong right now. His Hull side demonstrated in the championship that they were a side that could control play well and completely shut opponents out of the game. In the premier league with only a few tweaks the team could also accommodate being outplayed yet standing strong defensively and punishing teams on the counter. Being able to use both tactics has probably given them their current success. Malky got the defensive solidarity bit right but forgot the scoring part, Solskjaer seems to of forgot scoring 3 every match doesn't make much difference if you concede four.