Bale has shown his eye for goal, he has scored the most goals in Europe from outside the box last season, he was close to hitting that magic number of 30. So do we need that world-class striker if Bale is moved up front?
After some conversations with other fans it’s an interesting point to consider.
From the transfers coming in you could argue that this is exactly what we are shaping up for.
Although the major target in fans eyes was for a striker, if AVB moves Bale up front is that problem then solved? Looking at the players being signed Chadli and Paulinho you have to wonder if this is the case?
In pre-season last year Bale was deployed up front and again in the competitive season. We cannot question Bale's ability to lead the line. However for me this is an easy way out.
Ade is likely to go which leaves 1 recognised striker in Defoe. Yes he will be working his backside off to get into the World Cup squad, but we cannot rely on him alone. Ok so then we move Bale up there to join him, but then we are losing that driving force in midfield and goals. Chadli is not the player that can fill that massive void (yet), but the likes of Bernard could. If we were to sign this wing wizard you can bet that we are moving Bale upfront.
Ok I will accept that many will moan that Bernard is to small, but we thought that about Lennon. The only issue with Lennon is not his stature or ability it is in fact his consistency and ability to stay fit. I would also point out that Juninho for Boro was of similar size and managed to set the EPL alight.
If Bale moves up front that mean’s that his tally will move from being accounted for under the midfield to the strikers. So it still does not add the goals that we dearly missed last season. We would still need a new player capable of 15 goals + a season to come in (whether it be up front or midfield). Bernard is a good candidate for that, but really it still highlights that we need a striker.
However this is the absolute final twist if you will. Christian Eriksen of Ajax is certainly available. By moving Bale upfront we could replace his loss in midfield with Eriksen at the peak of our midfield. This may be a cheaper option than buying Soldado, but it still will not cover up that we would need another striker.
For me no matter how we look at it, dress it up or pick at it, we need another striker. If we increased the quality of our midfield we must still have 3 strikers we need to be able to trust to get the job done. Ade needs to feel loved and playing every game to get the best out of him, as that won't happen he has to go to Turkey. So we will need a reliable striker to partner JD and Bale (if he's deployed there).
As I keep pointing out it's kind of a catch 22 scenario which all points back to the fact that we need another striker.
Rather than getting worked up ask yourself this:
If we landed the likes of Bernard and Eriksen for our midfield and the likes of Lopez (Lyon striker) would you then be happy? Although to me it’s not the most straight forward of options, it could be the magic key.
Strikers: Bale, Lopez and JD
Midfielders: Bernard, Chadli, Lennon Eriksen, Paulinho, Dembele, Sandro, Dempsey, Sigurdsson, Holtby, Townsend, Falque, Carroll and Ceballos
Defenders: Fryers, Assou-Ekotto, Naughton, Vertonghen, Dawson, Caulker, Stewart and Walker
Goalkeepers: Lloris, Gomez and Friedel
Its certainly not the worst looking squad and I think the players there would be more than capable of building on last seasons performance, but again I still have to wonder how it would look with Soldado's name in amongst them all?
The squad is beginning to take shape looking to be molded into AVB's image, but remember I have not included Adam smith (as I expect him to be loaned out again) or Ade, Khumalo, Huddlestone, Livermore and Parker, as I seriously expect to see them being sold off (which should make us as least £20million or is that wishful thinking?).
We have a lot of young talent coming through, but I will highlight that there is an abundance of midfielders and some defenders, the strikers like Kane, Obika, Coulthirst and Coulibaly are either not ready or not good enough to take a first team squad place.
I am quietly confident though that we will be happy with what we get come the closure of the window.
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