Sol to sign for Turkish side....

Dunge - I would hope that Hall had a character that meant, if he had failed, he would be more motivated to get back there and prove himself.

And the Palace fans seem to think quite highly of him as well from their season in the PL. I think that, as cover, he would do fine.

Don't doubt he'll go Arrrrr, but as I said, the original rumour related 1m Euros/800k to what SOL would be paid per year, the Mercury then misread this rumour from the Turkish press and printed that he would be sold for 1m Euros/800k.

Original quote

"The Black Sea Storm have agreed to pay the 27 year old powerful defender €1 million a year on a three year contract."

A representative from the club then stated they had agreed the finances with the player, but had not discussed fees with Leicester City.

It's possible, but would be a big coincidence if the transfer fee was the same as reported amount they are planning to pay Sol, particularly after the Mercury made an obvious error in their reporting.

I think several ITK and websites have assumed the Mercury is correct and not checked the original source.

We'll probably never officially be told the fee anyway.

Fourth Official says that it's being claimed in Turkey he has agreed a 4 year deal. Real shame if true IMO.

For all his bombscare moments and flambouancy, there is clearly a very good player in there. I personally don't believe Centre Back is his best position, and I would've liked to see him been moulded into a modern defensive midfielder, the kind that tackles, heads, sprays the ball and runs forward with the ball.

Sadly, changing a player's position takes time, effort and commitment from the manager. Something NP is unwilling to do with any of Sven's signings. Bamba out now, and it won't be long until Peltier, Beckford and Konchesky follow.

And who will Bamba's replacement be? Likely another hoof merchant.

This isn't progress. This is called going backwards.

God Bless Mediocrity

Foxello - Fourth Official and John Percy (perhaps the only two relaible tweeters) have said we will go back in for James Chester to replace Bamba. A cultured centre-half who likes to play the ball out of defence and schooled at Man Utd. - hardly a hoof merchant.

On the other hand, you could say that his replacement has already been signed in Ritchie De Laet - another ball playing centre back from the Man Utd academy.

Not a bat in hell's chance will we sign Chester. We may well 'go back in for him' but Hull hate us and Pearson and will just over-inflate his transfer fee to keep us at bay, as they did with Stewart. We'll more likely end up with Chambers or someone of his ilk.

As for de Laet, I think he'll be Peltier's replacement rather than Bamba's.

I too don't think we'll get Chester. It was more to illustrate the point that the type of defender he's going for isn't a long-ball merchant.

Even the midfielders he's signing (Drinkwater, James) are players who like to keep the ball on the floor and spray passes around.

I truly think we might see a more possession orientated game next season. When NP left us, he built a side at Hull that played passing football (at least according to the Hull fans on not606) and I think he's doing the same here.

I did not see any evidence particularly to the latter part of last season that NP wants his team to play a 'possession orientated game'. Infact, it was quite the opposite, as we were giving the ball away every 30 seconds because the back 4 were just hoofing it up front! So I really do struggle to even comprehend us playing anything remotely attractive or progressive next season.

As for the Hull fans - most of them on not606 are absolute tools, so I wouldn't give them much time tbh.

Absolutely devastated about this... IMO on an individual level he was our best CB by a mile - probably premier league standard in all fairness. As someone else has said we shouldve invested more time and effort into finding his perfect CB partnership.

Yes he did have his odd erratic moments, but people also forget how he would drive us forward when all our other defenders would play the boring and uninspiring backwards / sideways pass. His dedication and determination was also on another level (I remember when we played Real Madrid and he ran back with their pacey right winger at the time - not ronaldo, never gave up, and put in a huge tackle and won us the ball back)

As someone else said, we could have got a lot more money than this (wasnt it rumoured Blackburn were after him for 2 million last christmas!?) and yet again, the club are being so wasteful and erratic.

Foxello - you weren't looking hard enough then. Morgan looks suprisingly good on the ball to me and Bamba always liked to play out where possible. The problem was with the movement and the team linking up. While we were better at this under Sven, there was no backbone and little effort to close down or win the ball back; this is imperative in the Championship.

Has Bamba left yet - why does it take so long to become official?