Steven Pienaar

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Could be, I'm fundamentally against such a move due to the genius that handed Benayoun a three-year deal.

I understand that view. Hardly anyone was impressed with that deal. However in terms of how this season is going - This is perhaps an intelligent deal. Pienaar has demonstrated his quality this season, he's ready to go, there's no need to "adapt". He can come straight into the team and do that job at hand. I don't see him lasting longer than 3-years though. He may even be gone by next January.

[Kostas 1,468]

hindsight is a wonderful thing ,,,pienar is possibly insurance against more midfield injuries

Cole, Ballack or even Belletti would have been insurances too.

.... and of course it was easy yo know yossi would pick up

a serious injury

Any injury was easier to predict than the daftness of starting the season with 16 senior outfield players.

I don't see him lasting longer than 3-years though. He may even be gone by next January.

Why don't we look for a loanee then? Not to mention that we've got 3 midfielders of our own out on loans, they may not be as ready as Pienaar but playing them would be better considering their future with the club, kinda like not playing Borini when the club knew he was going to leave.

And don't get me started about Kakuta..

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Why don't we look for a loanee then? Not to mention that we've got 3 midfielders of our own out on loans, they may not be as ready as Pienaar but playing them would be better considering their future with the club, kinda like not playing Borini when the club knew he was going to leave.

And don't get me started about Kakuta..

I was actually thinking about the loanee thing while I was typing that. But there-in lies the problem. Because this is the only player who is available and who is a good match we don't have a choice. It's either buy and sell later - or let him go and look elsewhere. There's no point in bringing in a loanee from abroad because there's no time for them to adapt. The likes on Mancinenne and Cork won't be recalled either.

If I read Tottenham had signed him but agreed to loan him to us, I'd be delighted. It'd be the best solution. Like what Genoa did. They bought K.P. Boateng from Pompy, then loaned him out to AC Milan - Also giving them an option to buy. It'd be a great sort of deal for us.

[Kostas 1,468]

I was actually thinking about the loanee thing while I was typing that. But there-in lies the problem. Because this is the only player who is available and who is a good match we don't have a choice. It's either buy and sell later - or let him go and look elsewhere. There's no point in bringing in a loanee from abroad because there's no time for them to adapt. The likes on Mancinenne and Cork won't be recalled either.

If I read Tottenham had signed him but agreed to loan him to us, I'd be delighted. It'd be the best solution. Like what Genoa did. They bought K.P. Boateng from Pompy, then loaned him out to AC Milan - Also giving them an option to buy. It'd be a great sort of deal for us.

Fair enough. While I'm not of the opinion that two wrongs make a right it looks like we have to be happy with a 3m wrong that will help us fix our monstrous squad problem.

I just don't get how can anyone be delighted with this signing.

[CFC58 22]

Does anyone know what his current wages at Everton are?

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Fair enough. While I'm not of the opinion that two wrongs make a right it looks like we have to be happy with a 3m wrong that will help us fix our monstrous squad problem.

I just don't get how can anyone be delighted with this signing.

Yeah "delighted" is perhaps a strong word. I'd be more.. Content. Because we'd be buying a player who, until the rest of the season, would be a good asset to have. Beyond that though.. Well he'd be unneeded. Imo.

[Madmax 9,219]

January isn't the time to look at the future. That's for the summer. In Jan you try short term moves that will help you see out the season. Simple logic.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

January isn't the time to look at the future. That's for the summer. In Jan you try short term moves that will help you see out the season. Simple logic.

I'm sure Edin Dzeko would disagree

But I understand what you mean

[Madmax 9,219]

I'm sure Edin Dzeko would disagree

I'm sure he doesn't give a fuck as long as the fat pay cheques keep rolling in.

[Kostas 1,468]

Does anyone know what his current wages at Everton are?

I'd like to know that too. The only thing I was able to find out is that Everton offered him 50-60k per-week bout a year ago so he doesn't even earn that much at the moment..

[Cloudy 6]

We had £20 million bid rejected for Neymar in the Summer and Luiz a couple of days ago. I think it's more about finding the right player to spend the money on rather than not wanting to.

The self sufficient rule is stupid it won't be till like 10 years until the club has to be fully self sufficient, I think it starts at something like 80% then goes down 10% each year. So say our loses are £100 million we only have to make £20 million to be eligible to get into Europe. (I think this is right anyway. Someone correct me if I'm wrong)

There are no percentages in the rules, just hard numbers. We're allowed to lose 20 mill in each of the next 2 years then it goes down to 10. You can spend anything you like on transfers as long as it comes from revenue and not someone's wallet. Problem no 1 is that we are currently losing 40 mil per year and problem 2 is that our revenue has gone down 20 mil in each of the last 3 years from 280 mil to 240 mil. Having got rid of some expensive players last summer we're probably running at 20 mil loss this season. The board has probably allocated 20ish mil in the budget for transfers but the days of spending 50-100m are over.

[Clevemayer 764]

Pienaar is a decent player and for 3M pound I would be the first one to be absolutly delighted...

his value is way over 10 Million Pounds and for 3M this is a fantastic peace of business....

he has a good injury record

gives his all in any game

could fire up Anelka and malouda (can play anywehere further up on the pitch)

he is tricky fast and has a decent passing

only thing to argue about is, how can we sell someone like corky and buy a player for 3 Millions? this dont gets into my head...