PicoBlog

Good evening Ladies and Gents,

Yesterday I gave my opinions on pretty much every striker we have been linked to in the last 6 months or so. As usual in the football and more specifically the transfer world, things move QUICKLY.

Less than an hour after I released my article A LOT of journalists started to report our talks for Jhon Duran were starting to advance.

Now I’m here to talk about that deal and the positives and negatives around it.

Firstly, Duran is incredibly talented and as I mentioned yesterday I rate his potential and his profile is the style we require, BUT (a very big BUT) he is incredibly inexperienced, super raw and at least a full season if not further behind Nicolas Jackson.

The latter part may not matter too much because if my wish becomes true and we sign another striker in addition to Jhon Duran then we will be sure to see Nico Jackson used predominantly as a left winger/forward.

We ABSOLUTELY MUST sign another striker alongside Duran IF we sign him, he needs to be guided and we cannot put all of our striking requirements on the shoulders of Jackson and Duran.

This for me means that Ivan Toney should absolutely be bought into the club to shoulder some of the burden. I, like Si and Jai have been shouting for Toney for a long time, that idea simmered down in my head recently but now he suits our needs and requirements more than ever.

Toney is a leader, he’s experienced, he is premier league proven and wouldn’t be asked to bag 30 goals in all comps. A steady 20+ from Toney with Jackson and Duran scoring 20+ combined would be sufficient in all comps with the attacking mids and wide players contributing further.

Alternatively even a Dom Solanke would help the situation, we need a starting 9 with Duran used as rotation and cup starter for now, IF this deal goes through.

One of the most important aspects of this Duran deal if it were to happen is the price, 25m and a further more experienced striker alongside him is actually a decent deal in my eyes. Any more than that and him being the sole striking addition makes this horrendous.

It’s teetering on a knife edge between good business and awful decision and we won’t truly know which until the end of the window in my eyes.

At the minute I am against this deal until we know more but again that could change, I have actually changed my mind multiple times through the day on how I look at it depending on perspective and wording of reports.

The social media outburst and overreaction is quite frankly embarrassing if you ask me……

Thanks for reading!

Look forward to hearing all of your comments.

Luke Rushbrook

ncG1vNJzZmirmaW1qrjLoqesrJGhuLSvx56jrJ2RY8C2rtKtmJyjXpi8rnvPaKGhp55isba%2BwKdkoqueqXq1tMCtZJuZlGK8p3nAZqqin56eu6g%3D