For me the priority must be midfield. Some names I've heard that I wouldn't mind are: Whittingham, Stewart, Koren and Butterfield.

After that defence: possibly Chester from Hull and another RB to compete with Pelts.

Up front someone who gives a different option. Maybe a big fellow, but not really got a name. Heskey would be a gamble and probably a bit expensive.

It seems Villa are releasing Heskey, and it has to be assumed that he won't get a Premiership club or anything near Prem wages. At 34, he couldn't realistically expect to play all the time either.

Based on him not costing too much in wages and being willing to not start every week (or maybe most weeks), he could be the right man in the right place at the right time.

I'm not at all convinced we'll get anyone from Hull; the owners there appear to be easily insulted and quite beligerent, and neither should we pay over the odds for a player - been there, done that, seen the consequences. If Hull are willing to play ball then fine, otherwise leave them to wallow and don't waste energy on them.

As for other players, I don't expect us to be signing players like Whittingham. I expect us to be signing players who few of us have heard of but fans of their current club think have potential and don't really want to see them go.

If players from Hull go the new manager and suggest that they are not comitted to the club, then any new manager will want to have players who are 100% behind what he is trying to do. Just like pearson is clearing out those who doesn't feel are up for the fight. I think we will get Koren and Chester.
Vardy is likely, plus this Fryers lad from Man U.

I have in mind the same priorities as Joby: midfield, defence, attack

Midfield: we need a decent CM (Koren) and another Marshall-style winger (Stewart). Whittingham would be too difficult to bring in and would be costly, Butterfield is being looked at by Newcastle - dont think we stand a chance against that competition.

Defence: Possibly another CB (Chester / Fryers) depending on who leaves and a better RB. Can see Taft being introduced to 1st team this season.

Attack: Another clinical finisher / back up CF (Vardy), if Beckford goes I would like to see Waghorn be given a chance again

“I expect us to be signing players who few of us have heard of but fans of their current club think have potential”
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Dungeon,

I don’t disagree on that, but it is the easy reply to a thread like this. The harder reply is to think of a few names of the type of players you might like at the risk that you might get shot down by others. I would love it if we signed an unknown from Burton Albion who turned out to be a better player, and better value, than Koren from Hull, but it’s somewhat a statement of the obvious.

I think when we have been talking about prospective players coming in, most of us have been taking in to account players who may leave for one reason or another.

But if I was to look at the present squad from a quality perspective (under the assumption no-one under contract would be leaving), I would probably be happy with just the addition of a good winger and central, creative midfielder.

As mentioned on another thread, Kightly and Hammill are both about to be out of contract at Wolves, so would could fill these holes with no transfer fee.

With the prospect of Vassell not having a contract and Schlupp not being fit, Cox on loan would be a bonus.

Nick Powell of Crewe would be our solution to the wing; he will, however, go onto far bigger and better things than us I think. CM, I like Ben Kay of Huddersfield; big, strong, difficult to get the ball off but expansive when does. Class act in League One.

I think one of the big priorities this summer is not loosing Kasper..... one of our stand out performers this season!

we all list these players (not just this thread) that we think we should / must sign / promote from the youth team to improve our squad, but what do really know about them?

Most of us only see them play 1 or 2 times a yr - possibly another 1 or 2 that we catch on tv, some (l1 and l2 players) never. So what are we basing our reasons for wanting to sign them?

They happened to have a good game when he played against us?
Leroy and Steve on the FLS say they are good? (they say every one is good)
He scores cracking goals now and then?
He had a good season once?
He's good on football manager?

I'm interested. I mean its quite possible that people around the country are saying their club should sign gallagher or wellens or dyer based on the reasons I mention above, yet only us that see them every other week know that they have quite major weaknesses to their game and most of us would quite happily sell to a NPC rival.

When we're on the inside is it fair to say we tend to let a players weaknesses over shadow strengths and when we're on the outside we tend to ignore or believe that there isn't weaknessess? Was only a few months ago (brum away on tv I believe) Robbie savage descibed wellens as the best midfielder in the league. We know he's probably not the best in our squad.

Discussing what posistions need improving or what players we should keep is a good debate but when we start discussing individuals it becomes almost fantasy like - a bit ike discussing what we'd do if we won the lottery

A reply with the risk of being shot down. For you joby

Thanks (ok)

Fair comments ibelieve but if we aren't able to throw around a few ideas about who we would like to come to city then we wouldn't have anything to talk about on here!

We wouldn't be able to engage in debate about who might improve the team, at the end of the day until someone is actually signed we all know very little! But its still worth having discussion about.

How about jay spearing
Not good enough for liverpool but more than capable when he was at Leicester. Solves our DM problems

How about Paul Scharner? He's younger than Koren and better in my book plus he's leaving West Brom because he wants to play more games. He'll probably want to stay in the Prem but it's at least worth a phone call surely...

ibelieve,

It seems you are asking why do we bother talking about players who we would like to sign when we are not professional scouts, members of that player's team, fanbase, etc - so cannot give a full account of their game, let alone their proposed contribution to our squad?

I think the answer is pretty simple. It's fun, interesting and we are all passionate about football. These boards are all about subjectiveness and opinions, hence to create debate as opposed to objective and 100% factual statements (although people sticking 'fact' on the end of a subjective statement does seem to be a trend for some).

With regard to external opinions being different on players, in comparison to those involved with the individual's club/fan base; I would say they are more than likely always going to be.

I guess there's an argument that external opinions are less accurate because, as you said, they do not see them playing every week (just as the fan's opinion is less accurate because we do not see them training everyday).

But there is also an argument that perhaps they are not blinded by the subjectiveness of local fans, and in the case of pundits; a further argument that they see more of more players.So I guess it's possible that, whilst Wellens may have been playing poorly, they would know whether it was generally more consistent (and therefore less poorly) than most midfielders in the division.

"A reply with the risk of being shot down. For you joby"
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ibelieve,
I was going to answer more fully, but it looks like Keep the faith1 has already done so much more eloquently than I would have managed.

I think your comments are fair, but we’d have a short thread if we restricted it along the lines you suggest. For example: I could say that we need another right back to replace Peltier. You may agree or disagree, but there are only 2 answers. However, if I said that he needs replacing with a player like Kyle Naughton I might get a few more people agreeing and many more saying that KN is probably an unrealistic target. If I said we should replace Peltier with Kevin McNaughton then the debate would be even more interesting.

I’m actually always surprised by the level of knowledge that some people have about other players. Certainly there are many who have a greater knowledge than me and I often suddenly start taking an active interest in a Barnsley or Doncaster player that I wouldn’t have been interested in previously.

All of this speculation is, of course, meaningless in the end, but it’s the opinions and discussions, which make these forums interesting.

A few names I would like to see us go for;

Scott Cuthbert, Leyton Orient - Former Celtic and Scotland international, been involved in two successive L1 relegation fights but is playing several strands below his level.

Ricardo Rocha, Portsmouth - Experienced, strong and dependable, also able to play out from the back, could do a job.

Kemy Agustien, Swansea - About to become a free agent at Swansea, always liked him when I've seen him, strong defensive midfielder but with technical, passing ability.

Akos Buzsaky - Again soon to become a FA, skillfull technical player, good in the centre or out wide, a more consistent Paul Gallagher.

David Perkins, Barnsley - Must stress, only seen him play once so he could be rubbish, but looked fantastic at Leicester, him and Drinkwater were immense, real chaser and harrier, like Yuki Abe was.

Ross Wallace - Always liked him, quality player, deadly from set pieces but also provides great crosses from open play, we need a left sided winger who is better than Dyer.

Emile Sinclair - Strong, fast and agile, adapted well from transition from L2 to Champ, excellent bench warmer for Beckford and Nugent.

Wow! Some knowledge there Foxello. I'll only comment on the ones I really know much about:

Akos Buzz: Doesn't seem a bad player, but seems to have been around for quite a while without getting recognised by a bigger club. Did he play much for QPR in the PL this season?

Ross Wallace: Good shout I think. I've been trying to think of a left sided player as Dyer has no consistent final ball despite his endeavour.

Another midfielder I've thought of who may be worth a shout is Adlene Guedioura. Looks a pretty composed player with time and space when he gets the ball. I don't know whether Wolves will want to keep him now they've gone down, but he would be worth getting just to annoy the Forest lot who are desperate to bring him back there next season.

.....incidentally Foxello, do you know much about Jacob Blyth from Leamington FC?

No sadly not Joby, though I have heard loads of good things about Jacob Leamington from Blyth Spartans

Whilst we're on the subject of obscure players, another one for the future is the Swindon winger Matt Ritchie. Formerly of Portsmouth, and scored against us in the cup for Dagenham, ex-left back who has turned into a right winger, and one thing we've lacked for donkeys years is a player who can cut in from the right to shoot on his left.

Bilel Mohsni from Southend could be another stab in the dark signing who could come good as well.

http://www.leamingtonfc.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1126:blyth-transfers-to-the-foxes&catid=25:news&Itemid=18

I have always been a fan of mat Taylor at west ham & whittingham is more than good enough for prem league. Scharner is also a good player and would do well with us I think. I do think a right back is necessary but can't think of anyone I could say ' he's better then pelts'. I don't pay much attention to the leagues abroad but I bet there is some cracking players in that market we could get our hands on!