Ross Barkley?

Is this lad worth a punt in the close season?

Maybe a deal including Rodwell returning could be considered, i'd certainly try to make it happen, as Rodwell's signing's been a joke imo.

Barkley may look at Rodwell and see himself ending up the same. He won't get too many games when he's fighting for a spot in a midfield with Yaya, Fernandinho, Milner, Garcia, Nasri, Silva, Navas.

Even if we played 4-5-1, he'd struggle to get in the side. Having said that, if he's good enough he will. He needs to be able to back himself to be better than the MF we currently have.

Rodwell never gets in the side because he's always injured though Dawg....if he could stay fit for 5 consecutive games, he may get a more of a regular run out.

I'd get rid of Rodwell anyway, complete waste of time, space and money........and a swap deal with Barkley may make Everton think about it.

Topdawg wrote:Barkley may look at Rodwell and see himself ending up the same. He won't get too many games when he's fighting for a spot in a midfield with Yaya, Fernandinho, Milner, Garcia, Nasri, Silva, Navas.

True, but as Dawg says, it's not the quality of his colleagues that keeps him out. That said, even without the balsa hamstring, he'd still struggle. If we're going to raid Everton's squad, I'd have said Baines or Coleman would be better options as we're pretty sparse of quality at the back. Plus those two are capable of banging in the odd goal as well. And they're both homegrown, too, so no sucking up spaces for international superstars.

Coleman won't come as back up to Zab, but i'd certainly have Baines at LB.....maybe throw Clichy in as part of the deal.
All this could become irrelevant anyway if Everton claim that 4th CL spot, because non of them would probably want to move then.

shakencity wrote:Coleman won't come as back up to Zab

Why not? Zab hasn't played in every game and I'm sure he'd appreciate a break now and then. Christ knows, he deserves it after all the clobberings he's taken for us over the years.

Just can't see Coleman coming to City and sitting out 50% of the games, especially considering he's nailed on to start 99% of Everton games.....i might be wrong of course.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-city-eye-transfer-arsenals-3289310

Well if you read most of the papers today, they are all saying Sagna will sign on a free, on a 3 yr deal...so there's the back up for Zaba.

Ah, our feeder club comes to the rescue again! Sagna won't be too bad an acquisition for nothing, and at least he's less likely to collapse in a pile of torn sinew than Richards, even if he's not as good.

Sagna will cost us a signing on fee, probably several million. He's on £50k p/w at Arsenal so we'd offer him better money (say £70k) and a 3 year contract instead of 2.

Apparently, Richards is injured. Again.

Just keep Rodwell for now, we need him for the home growns. Same with Jimmy and bizarrely Clichy.

If Rodders isn't going to be playing we don't need him. He won't affect the HG if he's not playing.

HG does matter because you need 8 of them in your 25 man squad. He's over 21 now so will count as one.

BB, You don't need any HG in your squad of 25. That will leave you with a squad of 17 and any kids you want.

Exactly leaves a squad of 17, so you are disadvantaged without any HG players.

Exactly. I think we'd fare better in multiple competitions if we had a deeper squad.

My point is we don't need players that will hardly get a game just because they are HG. If Rodwell had played no matches this year, he wouldn't have been missed. I reckon he can't have played more than 200 minutes this season (out of about 4,200 minutes we've played).

I think, if Rodwell had been fit, he'd have seen a lot more action than he has. He's only a waste because of his persistent injury issues. Barkley won't have such a problem. I'm wondering what your issue with him is, though. It's he really not worth a punt?

I don't have any issue with Barkley at all. He'll struggle to get into the team for the next 12 months but, if he backs himself, and he's good enough, he could be a fixture for the next 10 years or so.