As pretty much everyone in football knows, we have a disastrous record of buying strikers under the current ownership.
They have tried and failed, more than 50 times, to bring in the right frontmen, recruiting players such as Mido, Benni McCarthy, Ilan, Pablo Barrera, Jordan Hugill, Seb Haller and Danny Ings. So much money wasted, and so few successes.
The Fullkrug failure and the Duran mistake
The latest epic fail has been Niclas Fullkrug, who signed from Borussia Dortmund in August 2024 for around £27m.
Fullkrug was bought when the board decided they would not stump up the necessary money for Jhon Duran, and it ended up being (another) poor choice.
On paper, he looked a decent option – a strong physical centre forward – but under several managers, he was starved of service, and the set-up didn’t play to his strengths.
In his time with us, he was plagued by injuries (including hamstring and achilles) ending up making 26 Premier League appearances, scoring twice and assisting twice.
We waved goodbye to the “BFG” in January, as he left on loan to AC Milan, where they apparently have an option to buy him at a reduced fee of around £5m at the end of the loan. Another massive loss, another poor buy, another failed striker.
Fullkrug is yet another striker we bought, where we didn’t play to his strengths – something he has mentioned in recent interviews.
Nuno moves on from the Salthouse sticking plaster
Who next? We had the Will Salthouse sticking plaster of Callum Wilson – who now also looks to be on his way, despite doing okay, and being a good option off the bench.
Nuno appears unimpressed by Wilson – as he seems to be with half the squad – and has got his own men in, in the shape of Valentín “Taty” Castellanos and Pablo Felipe.
Castellanos was signed from Lazio for around £25m. As well as playing in Serie A, he has had a stint with Girona – where he scored four goals in a single game against Real Madrid – and also played in the MLS for New York City FC.
Castlellanos brings a high level of work rate and link up play, but is not necessarily known for his goal scoring.
The hope is, he will link up with Bowen and Summerville, creating chances for both, as well as scoring himself.
Future prospects vs immediate survival
Pablo Felipe is a younger, different option. Arriving from Gil Vicente in Portugal for around £22m, he is more of a traditional 9, who was in form for his old club, scoring 10 goals in 13 games.
Felipe looks one for the future and will need time to adjust to the pace and physicality of the Premier League.
To me, he seems a bit of a strange purchase when we need instant firepower to help get us out of deep relegation trouble.
A squad without a strategy
Do we now have the strikers to fire us away from the relegation zone? OR is it too late anyway? Yet again, Sullivan and the board have been reactive, not proactive.
There is no long-term plan or strategy, with what style we should be playing.
We currently have a mismatched squad, assembled by Lopetegui, Steidten, Sullivan, Salthouse, Potter, Nuno, and God knows who else.
If, as seems likely, we go down, Nuno will probably leave, and another incumbent will pick up the reins, probably with a completely different strategy and line up, and we will be looking for yet more strikers.
Be the first to comment