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Baggies step up hunt for Zheng
Thursday 14th August 2008, 11:28AM BST.
Albion will step up their pursuit of Charlton midfielder Zheng Zhi next week after China were dumped from the Olympics.
The China captain will head back to London in the next few days keen to sort out his future after several weeks of speculation.
And that could spark increased urgency in the Baggies’ talks with the Addicks over the 27-year-old, who is valued at around £2m by the south London club.
Zheng is near the top of Albion boss Tony Mowbray’s wanted list as he looks to further strengthen his squad before the end of the transfer window.
But the transfer had been put on the ‘back burner’ due to the player’s involvement in the Olympics in his homeland.
But China’s early exit could now speed up the pace of discussions with Charlton boss Alan Pardew under pressure to reduce the wagebill at The Valley as the Addicks count the cost of missing out on promotion to the Premier League last season.
The clubs have been negotiating for a while over Zheng, who joined Charlton permanently a year ago for £2m, although behind the scenes they say reports last week of a formal bid being rejected were wide of the mark.
Zheng is seen potentially as the specialist defensive midfielder that Tony Mowbray has been keen to add to his squad.
Mowbray has discussions ongoing over several other players. He still hopes to recruit West Ham defender James Collins either on loan or in a permanent deal before the end of the transfer window. But the Wales international is currently in the final stages of recovering from a knee injury.
And Mowbray is a confirmed admirer of Rangers midfielder Kevin Thomson but reports from Scotland suggest he is not on the Ibrox ‘for sale’ list.
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Hi. First time poster
Does anyone (non dingle supporters please!) know much about Zheng or Collins?
Recon we’re nearly there so long as Moore or Miller steps up to the plate
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i dont want any of them except kevin thompson i see the other 2 as more of what we already have maybe not even up to that standard. save the money on the other 2 and put a decent bid in on kp!!!!! BOING BOING
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I here Reading are now listening to offers for Bikey the centre half. I know we were rumoured to be interested earlier in the season. Collins is a bit injury prone and even now wouldnt be available for a while.
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How do the E&S know who is on ToMo’s list – let alone where on the list they are ??
If Zheng is “near the top” of the list then who is top – and where do all these unknown signings come from ??
If Zheng can play a holding role in front of the CB’s with cech on the left, Koren Jonno and either Mozza, Kim or Dorrens wide right then we look a lot tighter than last season (at last).
Thompson on the right would be another great signing – and I still reckon we will sign Ameobi up front.
I just hope to see us play 4-4-2 as often as possible.
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Fear not, Zheng Zhi is quality. charlton fans love him. He can tackle, defend, pass like a maestro and has excellent technical ability and high skill levels (hence the mowbray interest) on top of that he is an established international and captains his country. He is prem quality and the sooner he signs the better.
Collins on his day is what we want, question is will he get back to the player he was. If he does then its another quality signing.
Thomson unlikely but with Rangers starved of the CL money they thought they were guaranteed then they may sell.
Point that nobody seems to mention is that we need two more strikers. 1 to replace KP and 1 in addition to last year as we need a bigger squad and more options, and most importantly of all 1 of them needs to be an established name not another up and coming striker who may or may not make it.
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1 – You’re not that Stan fella who was celebrating his 100th Birthday are you?!
I thought Zheng looked average last season in the matches against us. Didn’t make mistakes, but didn’t exactly catch the eye either (I know he scored against us in the Cup, but that’s about all I remember from him)….if he’s playing the holding role in midfield I suppose it’s a job you don’t really get noticed if you’re doing it well though.
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Baggyboy100
Welcome, let me be the first to warn you that now you’ve signed up you’ll be refreshing the pages every 10 minutes, christ knows how im still in a job but hey all for the good.
I’m excited over the claims of Tomson and Boyd and think that Zheng could perhaps be a decent rotation player but I really dont see first team status in him just yet. Looks like we arent gonna get anyone in before Arsenal so our boys will have to take on the giants as they are now. However with so many out of the Arsenal squad is it really that far fetch’d to think a draw is possible??
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DEKKER
I agree, all of the so called links to players and yet i think we need to get a striker with top flight experience in asap, maybe on loan.
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Sign Zheng, Bikey, Zigic and then either song, taarabt, boyd, saha, kezman, dindane, faye, collins on loan!
Sat Prediction – Ars 0 – 1 Wba (Miller 74mins Pen)
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Nearly there, although I’d say we still are short of a class act up front.
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9 – Lee. I really hope to dearest, dearest God you’re right about the result on Saturday.
Get them all in, let’s go mental! ha ha!
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BoingBoing666 – spot on. I spend half my life on E&S pages these days!!
Hoping we get Zheng as every time I’ve seen him he has been quality. Not too sure about Collins though. He is shaky for Wales and even shakier for West Ham. Really, really dont think we need him. I’d rather play Dean Kiely outfield at centre half than sign James Collins!!!!
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It has been rumoured that West Brom are chasing the Real Mallorca midfielder Borja Valero, along with his two team-mates Oscar Trejo and the Portuguese central defender Nunes, for a total price of €17 million euros.
El Mundo has stated today that Valero and Trejo have already agreed to join the Midlands club. The price for Valero is €6million, and West Brom are trying to get Trejo’s price of €10million reduced (wholesale prices maybe?)
But the latest news is that Rafael Benitez is intending to hijack the Valero deal. Aston Villa have told Liverpool that if they don’t come up with the £18million for Gareth Barry by 19.00 tonight, then Martin O’Neill will play him in their UEFA Cup tie in Iceland this evening, thus making him cup-tied for Liverpool’s Champions League games if he is sold.
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Zheng Zhi is definitely on his way out of the Valley and that is why Charlton signed midfielder, Nicky Bailey from Southend yesterday. I think Zhi will be a useful addition to our squad and has the potential to be another TM gem. The more intriguing question is whether Albion are the other Premiership team talking to Zigic of Valencia at the moment. I really hope it is. If we can get Zigic, Zhi and Collins (on loan) we won’t be far away.
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Charlton are preparing to sell Zhi which is why they signed Nicky Bailey yesterday from Southend. The real question is whether we’re the other Premiership team talking to Zigic. I really hope we are. If we sign Zhi, Zigic and Collins (on loan) we won’t be far away.
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i think its time for us all to stop saying who we would like to sign and weva we beleive the players we are linked to are gd enough for our team and jus wait and see as we all trust in tony mowbury, zigic wud be gd tho i have doubts we are the club tho but like i sed all we can reli do is wait and see
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I thought Mallorca looked good on Saturday in the 1st half. They controlled the tempo well 1st half, but we looked much stronger 2nd half when it was a bit more cut and thrust. I didn’t buy a programme, so dunno if these guys were the one’s that looked good players to me….their CF looked like a good player though.
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Never fear……. the future is bright and blue n white……………….BOING BOING
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According to reports in spain 2 mallorca players a dun deal.Baggies have matched sell clause in contracts of both players.
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For the Gary Megson fans among you, (and that includes me with reservations), there’s a superb article in ‘The Independent’ newspaper today. You can read it via THIS site. There’s one bit that curled me up…if Chairmen, players, supporters are cheating on the club, he brushes them aside. What he really means is if they see things differently from HIM!
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