Transfer window, Payet and Bilic

So one week to go in the January transfer window and just the one deal done - Jose Fonte.

I think he will be a really good signing for us. He has a lot of experience and is a leader. He and Reid should form a formidable partnership.

Meanwhile, the Dimitri Payet saga goes on…. For me, we just need to get rid of him. If that means taking £25million instead of £30million, so be it. The club's morale is worth the £5million 'hit'.

To refuse to play for the club that has given him so much is unacceptable and there is no way back from that. He was idolised by the whole club, the fans sung his name every game and Slaven Bilic adored him.

Do you remember back in the Euros when Bilic was a pundit for ITV and he celebrated Payet’s goal by jumping on the table? Fast forward a few months and Payet refuses to play for him.

Well since all this has come out we have won 3-0 and 3-1 and you can see that it has brought the whole squad together. In a way, the Payet situation has been a blessing; the fans have been fully behind the squad and the manager.

I don’t care if he comes out and ‘apologises’ (Or the PR department tells him what to say) - he is done at this club for me.

Moving on from Payet and we have yet to sign a striker, which we have needed for what seems like an eternity. Simone Zaza was brought in but wasn’t good enough, Jonathan Calleri? Not convinced at all. And Ashley Fletcher is one for the future.




So once again we are relying on Andy Carroll to stay fit and we all know that is a dangerous game. I find it very frustrating that the transfer window opened 24 days ago and we still haven’t brought someone in.

We have been 'close' to signing Scott Hogan from Brentford for the last couple of weeks, yet reports say we are haggling over the transfer fee. We also made a ridiculous bid for Jermain Defoe which was never going to be accepted.

Another position we have needed strengthening for a while is right back. However with Sam Byram back from injury, Mr Sullivan has given us a subtle hint on the official website that we won’t be buying a right back this month. Im not sure what has happened with Arbeloa!

A recent report from Deloitte says that we have the 18th highest revenue in world football at £143.8million. What I would like to know, is where this money is?

We've moved into a bigger stadium with 52,000 season ticket holders, we sold the Boleyn Ground and the only real money we spent in the summer was on Ayew, the rest were loan deals and free transfers.

So why are we making ridiculous bids? Is it just so the board can say "we tried" again?

Why are we haggling over two or three million for Hogan? £15million is small fry in today’s market. Look at Middlesbrough for example, they have just spent £16million on Patrick Bamford and Rudy Gestede, two players who have struggled in the Premier League.

Crystal Palace paid Leicester £12million for Jeffrey Schlupp and are about to spend another £12million on Patrick Van Aanholt. The transfer fees these days are ridiculous but it is what it is, we as a club have got to get used to the fact that £15million isn’t so much for a player anymore.




Another player we have been linked with is Robert Snodgrass. Who looks like a replacement for Payet. Snodgrass, really? Is he the sort of signing that will improve us or take us to the next level?

Is he a better player than what we have? Feghouli, Antonio, Lanzini, Ayew? If he comes in I'll get behind him, but I'm not convinced at all. For me, we should be looking at players like Gylfi Sigurðsson. Whether Swansea would sell this month is debatable but we should be replacing quality with quality.

One thing we should have learnt from last summer is that quantity over quality is not a good idea. Our team has pretty much remained the same as last season, as the summer signings were not good enough.

If we have to wait until the end of the season to bring that quality in then so be it – although we have been promised this before. One week to go, let’s see what happens!

I would also like to say "well done" to Karren Brady. I am normally quite critical of the Board, especially on the promises they made with the stadium move! But meeting with fans last week was a great idea.

It shows that they are looking to bridge a gap between the Board and fans. It was feeling as if we were getting a bit 'detached' from the club, so it is really positive to see her reach out to fans and organise the meeting. I hope this continues!

I would like to finish by saying that I am so pleased for Slaven Bilic over these last couple of weeks. You could see he was under pressure and the Payet situation really had affected him. But two massive wins have got us looking up, instead of over our shoulder.

The players have stuck behind him and so have the fans. I hope we can continue this form now and that Bilic is rewarded with a new contract soon as he is the perfect manager for us in my opinion. 'Super Slav'.


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