Iain examines the merits of signing Andre Ayew and Jese Rodriguez…
If Iain Dowie were playing today, he’d no doubt command a transfer fee of £20 million. How do I know this? Because according to Claret & Hugh we have bid exactly that amount for Swansea striker Andre Ayew. Ayew has a goalscoring record of 1 in 3.82 games. Dowie’s career record was 1 in 3.83.
There’s no doubt, when Swansea played us off the park on the last Saturday of the season Andre Ayew had a great game. He scored two goals and looked superb. But in 35 games for The Swans last season he scored 12 goals. OK, that’s a ratio of 1 in 2.92, which isn’t exactly bad, but do we not think that Diafra Sakho is capable of scoring more than that, assuming he stays fit for the season (and that’s a big ‘assuming’, I know). Now it may be that having got used to the Premier League he will go on to score the 18-20 goals that we want from a striker, and if so I’ll be the first one to cheer, but I if we sign Ayew, I genuinely think we need another striker in addition to Jonathan Calleri, who seems set to sign on loan.
We are also in for Real Madrid striker Jese Rodriguez, not to be confused with his teammate James Rodriguez, the Colombian team captain. Jese is a Spanish product of the Real Madrid youth structure and has been made available by Real Madrid for £15 million. According to the Express he is being offered to West Ham and Southampton and he is keen to come to England. For Castilla, Real Madrid’s B Team he scored 32 goals in 80 appearances and for the first team he has a less than prolific 13 in 63 (1 in 4.85). So again, he’s not going to be the 20 goal a season striker we have been targeting. To be honest, I have never heard of him and when I first about this story I had indeed confused him with teammate James! Now HE would have been a great signing!
A third option could be Mario Gomez. Read West Ham are speculating that we are in talks with him and his club Fiorentina over a £4 million deal. He’s 31 but scored 26 goals in 33 games for his loan club Besiktas last season. Not sure I put much stall by this, but you have to say that amount of money for a striker with his scoring record wouldn’t be a bad deal. For Bayern and Stuttgart he had a 1 in 1.71 goalscoring record and for Germany he’s got 29 in 68. However, for Fiorentina he’s flopped with only 7 goals in 29. That’s why they are happy to see him leave. Personally, I’d take him if we can get him for £4 million
It would be interesting to get inside Andy Carroll’s brain at the moment. All this talk of a 20 goal a season striker must make him wonder where he fits in. I must say I love the thought of a 20 goal a season striker playing alongside Andy Carroll, but we know that Slaven Bilic rarely plays two strikers alongside each other in the conventional way. And if he did do that, where do Payet, Lanzini, Feghouli and Tore fit in? We seem to have an abundance of riches on the wings and in central midfield, but up front and at full back we still have a lot of work to do.