Fulham have been offered the chance to sign Christian Poulsen, the Denmark midfield player, from Juventus. Poulsen, who has also played for Seville, rejected a £6 million move to Fenerbahçe.
So says the Times window watch (confirmed stories.
Ever since the 1986 World Cup I’ve been excited by Danish footballers.
Watch and enjoy! Michael Laudrup’s goal is simply beautiful.
Poulsen had nothing to do with that – it was 23 years ago – but still, triumph by association. They really could have won that tournament.
We are also linked with Marouane Chamakh of Bordeaux. Interesting…
Were you excited by either of our two Jensens? Claus was ok for the five games a season he was fit, I suppose.
Good that we’re finally looking like getting some numbers in. O’Hara interests me. And I think if/when we get that quality striker (Crouch or whoever) it’ll be easier to feel relaxed about the coming season.
My nightmare scenario is that we don’t really buy anyone, Roy goes on about the squad being thin, throws Europe and eventually guides us, via lots of games with only ‘0′ and ‘1′ in the scoreline, to a safe 14th place.
Comment by JamieR — July 20, 2009 @ 8:38 pm |
I had a load of time for Claus Jensen, even if his name wasn’t of the classic 86 style: Preben Elkjaer Larsen. Is that a name or what? Christian Poulson is a good, proper Danish name, so I have high expectations.
Comment by weltmeisterclaude — July 20, 2009 @ 8:54 pm |
Spooky that we both hit ’submit comment’ at the same time there, Rich. I’ll be very, very surprised if we get Poulsen. He’s already stated he wants to fight for his place at Juve, although I suppose Roy’s rep might make him give us a second glance.
Comment by Dan — July 20, 2009 @ 8:56 pm |
Claus was a really classy midfielder in his days at Charlton. I had truly high hopes for him. Thought he would be one of the best players to have played for us for years. Great technical player. Shame about the injuries.
Poulsen would be great. But I’m growing increasingly skeptical about these rumours that have us signing high-end talent from Italy. Roy’s Italian contacts have so far yielded only the loan of Olivier Dacourt, and that likely at a pinch after he bit Hull’s hand off in the Bullard deal. He seems much more interested in unearthing gems from the scandinavian leagues and buying local. As with everything with the man, it’s fundamentally pretty boring but sound.
Jamie’s comfortable 14th place with no exciting signings sounds about right, and really not all that bad at all in the grand scheme of things, so long as there has been genuine development of the squad and youth team.
Comment by rjbiii — July 20, 2009 @ 9:04 pm |
Jamie – The fact that you omitted the other Jensen shows just how terrible he was. I *was* excited when Claus came, but injuries robbed him of the chance to show us what he could do, as he has since admitted.
Got a gut feeling that we won’t get Crouch. Your nightmare scenario is actually similar to mine, although describing 14th place as a nightmare now shows just how far we’ve come in such a short space of time. It’s clear that we haven’t done what I would have been very tempted to do had a been in this position and that’s use Europe as a chance to help us kick on by signing a few big money players.
Comment by Dan — July 20, 2009 @ 8:54 pm |
The thing that is starting to concern me is not the lack of big money signings, but the lack of young players being signed. This season seems a great chance to bring in young players with potential, much like Tigana did in the first division with Saha, Malbranque, Boa and Fernandez. The first team is settled but lacking support in a season where we will have a large number of fixtures. The timing seems ideal to begin developing for the future. Unless our youth squad is suddenly a lot better than I understood that it was, this could be a wasted opportunity.
Comment by rjbiii — July 20, 2009 @ 9:09 pm |
I didn’t mean big money in the sense that we splashed a lot of it around on a couple of big names, but that we spent our transfer budget on targets who might be able to take us further forward.
Your point about bringing in your younger players is a good one, but I think with the way the modern game’s finances are it would prove very difficult as we would priced out of signing the best emerging talent. Just look at how much money Bordeaux are demanding for Chamakh and Toulouse for Gignanc. Tigana was able to bring in the likes of Saha and Malbranque relatively cheaply (for about £6.5m for the pair if I recall correctly) because he’d managed them before – or was aware of their potential – and their clubs were willing/looking to move them on.
Fernandes came on loan as he’d burnt his bridges at his club due to an attitude problem that Tigs wasn’t able to solve as we found out at a cold winter night game (was it Burnley?). We’ve got a few really good prospects in the youth teams and the reserves but it’s a lot more difficult for youing players to break through now. I’ll be interested to see how Brown, Smalling and Milsom go this season.
Comment by Dan — July 20, 2009 @ 9:19 pm |
That is definitely a good point about the price of young players. Everyone does seem to want to do an Arsenal these days. But what can a small club do otherwise to create a sustainable business model? The Bolton approach of trying to unearth old-age Bosman gems seems far less stable.
Roy has proven himself very capable of turning mid-career cast-offs into quality players with Pantsil and Hangeland to the fore. Hopefully the same will happen with Riise and Kelly. There is still value to be had out there if you are a believer, as I am, that opportunity and coaching are at least as valuable as talent once you’ve reached a certain level (with, of course, the exception of the uber-talented players that we will never be able to get). While we have a quality coach, I’d like to see us source some of the best young players from the championship and other low leagues to see whether Roy’s magic can pay off.
Comment by rjbiii — July 20, 2009 @ 9:31 pm |
Roy’s all about the system, and I presume someone like Greening would, by now, have the wherewithall to settle into a system and do a job. Younger players might just require too much attention, might be the chain’s weakest link, might compromise things. I’d like us to pay more attention to this side of things but I can see why we don’t.
Smalling is clearly earmarked for the first team but I wonder if anyone else is up to scratch. Scandinavia (and the US) still present the best opportunities for players I’d guess, purely from a lack of adjustment perspective.
Incidentally, when I was writing about Michael Owen a few weeks back I had half a mind to talk about Crouch but figured he’d be out of reach. The two share similar traits, namely they’re very much known quantities, players with good attitudes and a history of success in the English game. Interesting how things have developed.
Comment by weltmeisterclaude — July 20, 2009 @ 9:33 pm |
I’m surprised about Roy’s interest in Crouch. He’s certainly a top player. But I wonder if he has the mobility to be the all-action forward Roy demands. If we get him, it will be very interesting to see whether the system changes at all to accomodate him. Interesting, also, to have Crouch — who has long been used incorrectly to ping balls up to even when at passing teams (like Liverpool) — in a system that really stresses keeping the ball on the ground and doesn’t encourage wide-play all that much. It will be the ultimate test of whether Crouch indeed has a “good touch for a big lad” (or whatever the comment we always heard about him was).
Comment by rjbiii — July 20, 2009 @ 9:38 pm |
I’ve always felt that Crouch’s touch was unappreciated by most. The only times he has ever surprised me was when he delivered a delicate lay off or controlled an awkward ball with either foot.
I ignored most of the early chat about him, but I’m very much hoping we get him now.
Thanks for the video, by the way. Classic stuff. I’m off to Google-land to find the rest of the team lineup for that match.
Comment by HatterDon — July 20, 2009 @ 10:47 pm |
Just had a look at Crouch’s passing stats for last season. Of Premier League forwards only the following had more successful passes per 90 mins played than Crouch (23.94 per 90 mins):
Keane (25.25), Bellamy (25.25), Kalou (25.38), Santa Cruz (26.23), Bendtner (27.57), Adebayor (29.03), Arshavin (29.9), Kamara (30.09), Rooney (30.41), Kuyt (31.03), Tevez (32.49), Robinho (32.89), Berbatov (34.6).
That’s some pretty impressive company!
Comment by rjbiii — July 21, 2009 @ 3:29 pm |
I once had an entertaining discusison with my mates n which two of us agreed (he was a charlton fan) that clause jensen was the best technican in football and ould have been a world beater had it not been for injury.
We might of been exaggerating a little but he was a good player none the less. Would love to see Poulsen come here, even if it is unlikely to happen, would add some real class and even more industry to our side.
Comment by Fulfan — July 20, 2009 @ 9:01 pm |
I really think we all need to be patient with the (lack of) signings up to this point. Look around the league: with the exception of ManCity, no one has signed anyone really.
That may be because of the recession, the impending income tax, or because managers are figuring out who and what to get. But by about this time last year we had only signed Schwarzer, Gera, Kallio and Andranik — all as free agents. (Zamora and Panstil were signed too by this exact date, but I think you get my point.)
We even had Davis, Cook and Healy appearing in friendly’s for us — and did right up until the season began.
After the first Europa League match, I expect Roy to start wheeling and dealing. Like the rest of the league.
Comment by timmyg — July 21, 2009 @ 1:35 am |
And no, I’m not counting Owen as a marquee non-City signing despite the fact the British media did.
Comment by timmyg — July 21, 2009 @ 1:37 am |
Claus Jenson, fit, was a wonderful player but that was a rare sight.
Niclas Jenson was a regular for Denmark and looked good for them but was fatally short of pace for the Prem. He’s high on my list of most disappointing signings.
IMO Roy Hodgson is the best manager we’ve ever had but he is cautious and conservative in the extreme. His priority will always be a tight, hard working, defensive unit which will be hard to beat and gather up enough points to stay clear of relegation.
I was surprised he considered Barnes and Delph but not surprised he passed on them – too flashy and unreliable.
Crouch is absolutely proven as a Prem striker and if we can get him I’d be delighted. For all the press and message board stuff though do we actually know that we’re trying to sign him?
Comment by Tony Gilroy — July 21, 2009 @ 7:28 am |
Yes. Roy came out in the press and said that he was interested in Crouch. Of course, he said that Crouch was one of many, but this is more than your usual rubbish rumour:
http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=161903
Comment by rjbiii — July 21, 2009 @ 2:12 pm |
Rich, I’ve just spotted this collection of photographs from Denmark’s 1984 European Championship campaign:
http://politiken.dk/fotografier/historiskefotos/article737239.ece
Granted it is two years before your fascination started but might interest you.
Comment by Dan — July 21, 2009 @ 7:32 pm |