Marina Hyde in the Guardian laments the transfer deadline. I can see where she’s coming from: if every name thrown around ended up at the Cottage we’d have a very bloated squad, mainly full of players who have a similar ability to those they’re notionally brought in to replace.
Word was that Newcastle had an interest in Helguson, to which I would ask: why? Oh, he’s not a bad player, but nor is he a good one. If you want someone to run around and look busy and maybe score a goal here and there then yeah, why not? But there are a lot of players who can do that, and with a bit of diligence surely better can be found.
Which brings me to David Nugent, Preston’s celebrated young forward and a player that we’ve been hearing about these last few days. I’d sooner gamble on a player like Nugent, untried at the top level, than on some average but familiar “name” player. Fulham need to do something to persuade the ball to go into the net more often, and a natural goalscorer (I should check this, but as I recall Nugent’s good at goals) is needed to do this. Whether we find this in Preston, Togo or the lower leagues, I hope we find him. And let’s thank god again that Wigan dealt with Emile Heskey in the off-season so that others might not have to deal with his ‘menace’, or whatever it is again that he’s supposed to do up front (it’s not scoring goals is it?).
Right, back to deadline day. Who knows what’ll happen, and let’s not forget, if it doesn’t happen now it can still happen in January.
Here’s Marina Hyde to finish off:
Deadlines, it hardly needs a journalist to suggest, are not generally anticipated with eagerness. And yet I cannot recall a cut-off point to which I have looked forward to as much as the stroke of midnight tonight, when the transfer window will shut, with any luck crushing in its steel-framed embrace the fingers of a few players, agents and managers whose vocabulary does not stretch to understanding the word “contract”.
PS If West Ham can bring in Maschereno and Tevez then you have to think Fulham might have found a way to do something on these lines…. ah well. I have faith…
