AFCB have made three signings already this summer, but there has been no recruits in the midfield area and this could well be about to change as AFCB are said to be in a tussle with Newcastle United to sign Hamburg star Lewis Holtby, according to the Daily Mirror.
Holtby, 26, is a German international player and played 26 times for Hamburg in the Bundesliga last season scoring one goal and making six assists. He is said to be available for £5m, the same price as Fernando at Man City who both Newcastle and AFCB have also been linked with. Holtby has played for Tottenham and Fulham in the past and is also a former Schalke player.
The competition for places at the Cherries in midfield is extremely tough already and Holtby would appear to be another central midfielder that does not get a lot of goals. Howe will want to get a signing in to replace Jack Wilshere from last season, and the real value in signing Holtby is that he has played with Jermain Defoe before when they were both at Spurs. Holtby's qualities mainly seem to be in making final killer passes for strikers to get on to and if he can thread balls through to Defoe with precision and regularity, he would be an instant starter at the Cherries.
 |
| Lewis Holtby during his time at Spurs. |
The competition for places at the Cherries in midfield is extremely tough already and Holtby would appear to be another central midfielder that does not get a lot of goals. Howe will want to get a signing in to replace Jack Wilshere from last season, and the real value in signing Holtby is that he has played with Jermain Defoe before when they were both at Spurs. Holtby's qualities mainly seem to be in making final killer passes for strikers to get on to and if he can thread balls through to Defoe with precision and regularity, he would be an instant starter at the Cherries.
This would put some pressure on Andrew Surman again, and that may not be a bad thing with Surman only just starting to recover from his knee injury which has seen him wearing a leg brace this summer.
Another load of media tripe and speculation that is 'wide of the mark'. Fernando is a holding midfielder and so is Lewis Cook who proved with England that he is a great holding player with stats showing he made more interceptions and tackles than any other player on the field... but also with a great eye for a forward attacking pass once he has won the ball... and if we want a more 'upfield' assist type attacking midfielder. Why go for Holtby when we already have Gosling and Hynderman to battle it out between them... and Wilshere himself will probably also be available for any club who shows ambition and can afford to pay the price! The only position in need of strengthening and attention now is the right side of the back line. With the Ake acquisition much now depends if the manager intends to more often adopt a 3 man back line system similar to Chelsea employing Ake in the central position with a 4 man midfield at home and a 5 man midfield away, or intends to retain 4-4-2.
ReplyDeleteThe midfield this season must include Lewis Cook and Ake can play in midfield as well....however with Arter carrying an injury apparently maybe another midfielder is needed.....it seems that the squad is top heavy and we need to let a few go....Gradel/Grabban/Allsop/Afobe/Marc Wilson/Brad Smith and maybe a few youngsters...Quigley/Lee/Worthington
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you here, though leading up to this season I've disagreed with you. We had so many forwards because it was our first season: the injuries of Callum and Max shows that the depth was necessary.
DeleteGrabban wasn't good enough for us unfortunately, but Afobe definitely still has a place. Allsop and Brad Smith are young too, why transfer them out?
The transfer policy is young potential. Howe has shown that he can grow them Well- heck even King was pretty poor when he came in.
Have faith in Eddie. Not all transfers were good but a lot have turned out better than we could have hoped (including previous seasons)