Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Arsenal move for Wolves’ Kevin Doyle
Tuesday 18th May 2010, 11:00AM BST.
Arsenal have lodged an enquiry for Wolves’ star asset Kevin Doyle – as the club refuse to give up on £2.5million Aruna Dindane.
Long-term interest from the Gunners in the’ £6.5million club record signing has been firmed up to the player’s Irish-based advisors.
But, although prepared for a third successive summer of speculation surrounding their long-term friend, the player’s aides remain confident the 26-year-old will stay at Molineux, unless the interest turns into a bid.
Villa, Everton and Tottenham have also had Doyle on their radars for a long time and will watch the situation with interest. But Doyle is happy at Molineux and is not actively seeking a move away.
Instead, the former Reading striker, who is back in Ireland about to start preparing for internationals against Paraguay and Algeria towards the end of the month, wants to see the club bring in some quality signings.
Bolton claim to have stolen a march on Wolves for one target, amid reports the Lancashire club have agreed a reduced fee of around £2.5million with Lens for Dindane.
The 29-year-old is thought to be due at the Reebok Stadium for talks today, after the clubs agreed a fee and boss Owen Coyle persuaded him the Trotters were a better bet than Panathanaikos.
The French club were forced to drop their £4million demands with neither Wolves, Blackburn or Bolton willing to pay that amount. But Wolves have not yet given up on the deal, despite having not yet agreed a fee.
While Dindane is a confirmed target, Wolves continued to be linked with strikers.
But the club have denied any interest in Burnley’s £7million-rated Steven Fletcher and Glasgow Rangers’ Bosman free agent Kris Boyd.
However, they are aware Stoke’s Dave Kitson – a former Reading team-mate of Doyle’s – and Blackburn’s Jason Roberts are available.
Elsewhere, Southampton have been mentioned as being interested in buying back midfielder Andrew Surman for £1.2million, and Wolves would be prepared to do business.
But the club have had to rubbish a story claiming goalkeeper Matt Murray may have to retire.
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PLEASE………don’t buy Kitson, nor Roberts. We would all hate to see Doyle go – I have rarely seen a payer with a better touch and ability to play that lone striker role. Wolves really must be careful not to be a victim of second season syndrome and skilfully trawl the market for additions that do not smash the wage structure. Once we do that we are …. on a slippery slope. Sive Mick came the team ethos has been paramount. He must know this would all slip if we pay some newcomers inflated wages. I bet Mick will trawl a few gems from his World Cup visit.
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20 mill Vega boy and he’s yours..
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Would Mick sell for £8 million? I think so.
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Arsenal are moving in because of the new british player quota rules. How much is he worth to us though? No point selling him for 10mil as we are only 3.5mil up on the deal. I would want 15mil Traore permanently and Wilshere on loan for the season.
Over on the dark side grerat to see the Tescos releasing their best players, makes me laugh how their chairman tries to cut the wage bill after promotion!
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As i said last time does a contract mean nothing these days ? arsenal can offer 50 million for him as far as im concerned he is on contract to us ??? correct me if im wrong please do!
were suppost to be building a good prem club if we sell doyle will be the stupidiest thing yet!
at least here you will get first team football every single game and the fans love you down here if you go to arsenal your never going to take van persie’s place your just going to be warming the bench and the fans wont love you like we do cause they have that many good players that you will be no one come on mick keep him here!!
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Dindane – not good enough. Iwelumo is better than Kitson. Roberts is average and does not score. Let’s see a bit of AMBITION!!!!!!!!
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Hardly a move for Doyle an enquiry. Ok if a bid has been lodged. But I hold no fears KD won’t be at Wolves next season. I know that, KD knows that and so do the E&S.
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4. I don’t think you’ll find that Doyle is British!
I personally think (and I really hope I’m right!) that Doyle’s agent is probably talking this up to try and secure an improved contract. Remember he took a big pay cut to come here and now we have secured at least another years sky money and Doyle has proved how good he is at this level, he probably feels he is worth a bit more. He has certainly shown that on merit he should be the clubs top earner by some distance. As I said, I hope I’m right!
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but if we are interested in doyle going then i would swop him for that young striker carlos vela and a few million on top ;)
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I hope Doyle stays but can we blame him if Arsenal actually put a bid in?
I wouldn’t sell for less than £15M thats for sure.
I just hope that if he was to go, we’d actually compete. If the above is true, it looks like we’ve missed out on Dindane – probably because of wages and transfer fees.
Please Wolves, don’t fall into the usual trap and not spending on quality. Blues have already agreed a £6M deal for Foster and are lining up an £8M move for N’Zogbia!
That’s £14M on 2 players – thats what we’re supposed to be doing, 4-5 quality signings! We’ve not been linked to anyone of that calibre yet other than Keane who probably aint coming.
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Its quite simple if we are trying to follow from clubs like everton, and other mid table teams then do the same slap an overpriced value on him like 20million if some one pays it then its good business if not he has 3 years on his deal with us so either way its good for the club.
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Once the Gooners have shown interest Doyle will bound to have his head turned by the lure of Champions League footie. They are obviously trying to comply with the new regulations, so they must pay the price. So lets price them out, £25m or go away plus a player in exchange
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8. Doyle may be Irish but the new homegrown player rule doesn’t mean the player has to be British, it’s something like if they’ve been with British clubs for 3 years by their 21st birthday. As it happens Doyle came to England when he was 22, so u are right, but for the wrong reason. You should also read up on Doyle’s agent, as he doesn’t actually have one.
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We’ve got to at least double our money on him. Don’t except anything less than 13mil, and even then i think he’s a bargain when you concider liverpool paid 20mil for Keane.
Personally i would prefere Piqionne instead of Dindane as well.
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8 – doyle hasn’t got an agent.
it’d have to be stupid money as far as i’m concerned. 20 million plus. fail to see how we’re gonna get anyone equally good/better.
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Everton never wanted to sell Lescott or Rooney for that fact. But as you know if someone comes offering a silly amount of money then not even the bigger clubs can hide from it.
Luckily Man City arn’t looking for a striker anymore but if they were we’d be in danger.
Saying that it would seem Morgan has ambitions to break in amongst the top half of the league eventually and when he does he will need to start signing players of doyles class anyway so we might as well try and keep him whilst we got him.
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Arsenal would have to offer at least 15m for us to be interested. I cannot see that happening, Doyle is a great player but would he get many games at arsenal? Van Persie, Arshavin, Eduardo and bendtner would all be ahead of him. I’d be amazed if it were to happen.
On our own transfers, I’ve heard that we could be looking at Connor Wickham from Ipswich with Ebanks Blake going the other way as part of the deal. Personally I’d hate to see Ebanks Blake leave but Wickham looks real quality for his age. I’d love to see them both here next season. Definitely not Roberts or Kitson, but Fletcher or Boyd would be welcome additions. Whoever we sign I’m still sure they will be fighting to partner Doyle up front next season. UTW.
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Charles N’Zogbia would be a terrific signing for us,if Wigan are prepared to do business Jez should be in there with a bid.
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This is a bit of a nothing story.
Arsenal, along with a number of other top clubs, get associated with all sorts of players via the media every day. If the top clubs bought every player mentioned in the papers, they would have a debt crisis worse than Greece.
An enquiry is not a bid, and even if there was one, I would expect it to be rejected unless it was a ridiculus amount.
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8. He qualifies as a british player as he has been in England for over 3 years. Also, he does not have an Agent, he deals with transfers etc himself, he is a rare breed of footballer who is not greedy just happy at being a premier league footballer at a big club. He also had a considerable pay INCREASE when he joined Wolves, he was on 12k a week at Reading he is now on 22k plus a goal bonus.Id ask the E&S to delete your comment mate!
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ManchesterWolf
Iwelumo- 87 goals in 340 games in Scotland, Denmark and the Championship and below.
Kitson- 102 goals in 287 games including a better goals to games ratio than Doyle at Reading.
How many times have you seen Dindane play? 8 goals in half a Premiership season for a struggling side. Not even the great saviour Robbie Keane has scored more than 16 in a full Premiership season.
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wolves should slap a stupid high price on doyle like £25million +,aresnal can afford that and they can throw in a couple of their fringe player aswell and wolves will think about it.they are only after him cause of the rota system coming into force next season.
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If we sell Doyle, they have gone against everything they have said.
We need to establish ourselves as a top flight team,and selling our best player does not help us towards that. unless they come in with a silly bid of 20m +.
we need to bring in 4-5 quality players, forget dindane , kitson , roberts etc, they are all toilet.
if the squad does not improve we will without qustion go down next year as the teams coming up are far better then the ones that went down.
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We,re back in the rumour factory. Lets hope the Jason Roberts and Kitson rumours are without foundation. I hope Doyle stays and if not we need to do a sharp deal for him. The jury is out on Hunt but he defo won’t come if Doyle isn’t here.we should be trying to tempt the better players from the clubs above us not paddling in the relegated mob. N’zogbia destroyed us at home and if the Blues can afford him and his wages why can’t we? Don’t spend £40m on the ground until we have an established middle of the table team.
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If wolves cash in on Doyle then I can see us not bringing in the quality to supplement the loss. Saying that Arsenal already have Eduardo, Van Persie, Vela, Bednetar, Walcott, so really I cant see Doyle leaving to warm the bench. Also arent Arsenal after some french lad on a free???
I think Arsenal are testing the water but Doyle has said he is happy at wolves and want to see wolves bring in better players so why would he want to leave if he has alreasdy quoted that he is happy to stay.
Plus I doubt very much Morgan will want to deal with whinger Wenger.
So I think we all need to take a chill pill!
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Roll on the world cup so that the media can have other players to speculate about.
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13 & 20. I have read up on it and you’re right Sleachy, to be classed as homegrown you need to have been registered with an English or Welsh club for at least 3 years before your 21st birthday. Something Doyle was not-the point I was making to 4.
20. I’m pretty sure Doyle did take a paycut to come to Wolves. I’m sure McCarthy has quoted this several times.
Point taken about Doyle not having an official agent so I’ll use the term ‘Irish based advisors’ if it keeps people happy.
My point is that, as many agents (or indeed ‘Irish based advisors’) are known to do, the people advising Doyle could have generated this story themselves in order to push Wolves into offering Doyle a better contract. I think this is something he has thoroughly earned given his performances this season. The people advising Doyle know that now that we have stayed up for a season we are hopefully looking to push our wage limit up a bit. They just want to make sure that their man doesn’t get left behind with this. I might be totally wrong but that’s what I think and hope. The next few weeks will tell.
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Doyle is quality but come on he still isnt anywhere aa good as van persie and co. Arsenal are in the same position as us and need players to IMPROVE their squad not just make it bigger….
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Come on Wolves show that ambition and tell Arsenal DOYLE NOT FOR SALE .Please don`t go for Kitson,go for N`Zgbia,Cheap inexperience is no longer wanted by the fans and you must admit thy do deserve better.
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he loves it here so why would he want to leave he said last night, as Wolves will soon be a top 4 club and Doyle know that…..
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4 and 8. Sleachy 13 is correct The 8 homegrown plyers do not have to be British, just have to have been within the English/Welsh club regime for three years prior to their 21st birthday.
They can be any nationality.
Now correct me if I’m wrong but I dont think Doyle falls into that category.
There seems to be much confusion on this new ruling. The E&S, with Martin Swain’s vast knowledge of the football world, ought to do an article to explain to those who are unsure.
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Neither Kitson nor Roberts are the answer.
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doyle is a good player but he is no where near good enough to play for arsenal, they need him when they are about to sign chamack. i think doyle is a man of his word, remember at the start of the season when he said other clubs had put offers to him after he spoke to wolves but came to wolves as he gave his word he would join. Aparently arsenal were interested then.
i hered rumours going around stating that villa want carl henry?
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I would swap Doyle for Arsenals Van Persie, or Manchester United Ryan Giggs tomorrow, and throw 6.5 million to who ever buys Doyle
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wolves will probably accept a bid from arsenal anywhere from 8 million upwards, dont buy into this we will buy a few quality players thing until we’ve got them, all im seeing so far is us linked with cheap squad fillers, dindane no thanks, kitson no thanks, roberts no thanks.
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31 Bertie is correct on the ruling. Also correct about Doyle. He was born in Sept 1983 and moved to Reading in the summer 2005 making him 21 when he came to England. Therefore will not be considered home grown
He is one of the foreign players. As opposed to Elokobi who from Cameroon but played in England 3 years prior to his 21st Birthday.
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Arsenal have no intention to buy Doyle. The so called interest is merely a petty act of revenge by Wenger to try and unsettle the player. Wenger and McCarthy clearly despise one another following Old Traffordgate and the cheating employed to get Karl Henry sent off at the Prawn Sandwich Stadium No 2.
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without Doyle’s quality and work ethic we are doomed.
we need a striker to partner him Dindane could be hit or miss??
maybe go for somebody who is proven who might want to come back to england…
Djibril Cisse, Obi Martins, Sinama-Pongolle or even Colin Kazim-Richards. just suggestions. all have played in england before and know what its about.
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I think Jason Roberts would be a good signing. Maybe we could make a cheeky bid for Kevin Davies.
We have to be realistic. If we had £100 million to spend we still wouldn’t be able to tempt a Torres or a Rooney.
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20. It’s actually 5 years but yeah you’re right.
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So that will be the end of that then.Still he will help pay for lots of bricks and mortar.Who needs footballers. Can anyone tell me when ever we have sold anyone for big money have we ever bought in a replacement who has been remotely as good as the player we have sold.
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Roberts and kitson are not good enough for wolves!we need to sign quality that will compete effectively in the premier league!we should build our team around Doyle and not sell him off after a great season.
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Its not just about quality players, its also personality with our current squad we will finish above Albion, Cardiff or Blackpool, Newcastle (no money) Bolton, Wigan. We do not want to ruin the fantastic bond and spirit that the squad have which rules out cocky so and so’s such as Reo-Coker, Boyd etc, go for 5 quality signings:
Nicky Shorey or Armand Traore
Steve Sidwell
Van Damme
Dindane
O ‘Hara
Benitez (loan)
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“Doyle is happy at Molineux and is not actively seeking a move away.” …..but if the price is right, which professional wouldn’t want to better their career with Champions League football. It’s a harsh reality but money talks and if we don’t do something about it and get some DECENT signings in before he goes we’ll be boing boinging between the divisions. Come on Morgan – splash the cash. UTW
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“Owen Coyle persuaded him the Trotters were a better bet than Panathanaikos.” Yeah right and Co-op margarine is better than having a herd of cows in your back garden!
If Dindane can be persuaded of that one, he can go for all I care. They have other problems, like they lack a spine to their team and recent stability in the managerial department as well as on the field.
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It’s only speculation about doyle, i think that doyle will show loyalty to the club, money is the big corrupter in this league even mediocre players get ten of thousands per week.
As for transfers into the club those names being banded about are more than likely going elsewhere as we wont offer the wages they want. Will be players we are supposedly being linked with really improve the playing squad??
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Anyone belittling Kitson is making a mistake. He has excellent touch and vision. As a Stoke fan, I can assure you there is absolutely no comparison with Iwellumo
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Speculation, Speculation, Speculation.
For all the whinging and a griping and a wishfulthinking, you really think anything you say on here is used in board meetings as a basis for meaningful discussion?
“I say Micky old boy, have you seen what #34 reckons today?”
“Jezza me old fruit, sell the boy Doyle and we can employ 4-6-0. Mind you not many are up for Kitson and Roberts, let’s get ‘em both in.”
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Doyle will not leave the wolves this summer unless wolves want to sell him its that simple. The guy is genuine as he has proved in the past he is happy and settled so why would he want go and sit on a bench at arsenal when he can be playing every week and MOM. He has no agent to speak for him, so untill he says otherwise we should be looking for a quality striker to play alongside him not instead of him.
UTW
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agree with many, i dont think kitson or dindane is the way forward
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lee naylor,kris boyd would be a great start,
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Re Murray, get him fit, put him on house arreats to stop him getting a hang nail and get him gone to anyone…use the money to buy more beer and pie’s
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Quite right ‘marrow’ 47!
Ask Kevin Doyle who he would rather play alongside – Kitson or Dindane? No contest.
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Much against the grain if a top 4 club comes in,hell have to go.we should have min of £10 mill.Spend this on Robbie keane and eagles from Burnley.Then spend the other showery,hunt,Nolan,and chopra and Swansea’s ashley williams. = another year in the promist land!!!!we r wolves!!!
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No. 41 We sold Steve Daley and bought Andy Gray! Steve Daley ended up in the sports depatment at Beatties Andy Gray say no more LEGEND!!
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Noooooooooooooooooo!!!
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No.41 Chris Hoggard Remember Steve Daley and Andy Gray!
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doyle ain`t going any were paper talk WOLVES TILL I DIE
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“But Doyle is happy at Molineux and is not actively seeking a move away.”
He might be happy but as soon as there is a bid from a top half prem club a transfer request will be handed in
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If Carlton Cole is worth 10 million, whats Doyle worth, at least double that!
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All this speculation about Doyle is of our own making. I am fed up of hearing Mick and even the legendary Bully banging on about how many clubs would love to have Kevin Doyle.
The way I see it is this… The likes of Liverpool, Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City are all massive clubs. Fans expect star signings. People that are world class and known throughout the World not just the Premiership.
How excited would an Arsenal fan be to find they have bid – say 15 million – for 9 goal Kevin Doyle. Non-plussed at best.
Doyle is at the right club for him. A club that is on the up and one where the fans love him. He is a great professional but not a world beater.
I hope he shows some loyalty (which I believe he will) as we are at the start of a new exciting beginning. Working our way up the premiership. It’s going to be an exciting ride and hopefully Doyle will enjoy every minute of it and be around in 3 years time when we are in the top 8 and challenging for the cups.
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The key to all this, as we keep seeing reitterated by the E&S reports, is that Doyle wants to see the club show some REAL ambition in the transfer market. If we seriously think that the ‘attractions’ of another season of playing the role of 2/3 players, with his back to goal for 85 minutes of most games and seeing his team mates failing to read his movements/passes; would really outweigh the prospect of playing Champions League football with World Class players- then we’re in for an almighty shock if Arsenal (or any of the other top ten sides for that matter) lodge a serious bid. Forget scrabbling around for the likes of Dindane/Kitson(God help us) and the other mercenaries/no-hopers- start thinking a bit bigger than the relegated clubs (Fletcher excepted- a real prospect,there) and YouTube ‘bargains’! Otherwise, it’s goodbye Doyle, and possibly the start of a slow death next season….
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ok ,ok its silly season time ,bored journalists drumming up newspaper? sales. lol.
as of 6pm nothing of any substance on the respective clubs websites or the european sports channels websites regarding this so called headline.
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Kevin is not British he’s Irish!
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If it is true that Arsenal have lodged an enquiry about Doyle he could very easily go. Contracts or not – any man wanted by a top four club should want to join them. If he is made to stay against his will you then have an unhappy player in the squad. For me it puts more pressure on us to sign some quality players early – either to please him or replace him.
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no55 and 57 Burton, Spot on but that was more than 30 years ago.I was thinking more of Keane,Lescott and even Camara.We replaced Akinbiyi with Robert Taylor.To be fair though we did sell Seyi for £3m and David Jones is miles better.
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Let’s put it bluntly chaps! I wouldn’t swap KEOGH for Kitson or Roberts and as £7 million for Fletcher, the Gunners by the same token should cough up £12 million plus Wilshere! Boyd on a Bosman makes the most sense or Nicky Maynard who I think could score goals at this level. Too much is made of this won’t be any good becasuse he’s from outside the Prem. The two best strikers in the top flight from the 1980′s were Ian Rush and Graeme Sharp, both from clubs outside the top flight.
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If the Saints want Surman why not pick up the lad Lambert? He’s the leading scorer in League One by some distance, what have we got to lose? He could be a good developmental player.
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I dont think lower league striker would do any good in the prem, maybe first half of the season bang in a few goals, but prem defenders arent thick and adapt very quickly,
I really have no idea who to try and sign but think we do need some estblished talent from the prem.
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Trust in mick What a great Manager doing whats best for the club, put it this way we survive again in the premiership he’s the best manager we’ve had since 1980!,
I’m sure Micks quietly confident we can do better.
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If the right offer comes along for Doyle,he’ll be gone.We don’t have the resources to compete.The Premier is not a level playing field.We just have to do the best job we can.
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Where his agent then, like many of you say he’s not got one.
This is selling papers and getting a response, me included. Mr Wenger lay off. Kevin please don’t go, like you have said Wolves have a very good history and I would like us to be force to be reckoned with again and I would very much like you to be part of it.
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No. 4
spot on, with the new rules in place players like Doyle will be on the list of all the top clubs. Its time that we make them bow to our wishes if they want to take our star assets. see how they like it when they cannot compete under new regulations, time to make them play our game.
wolves till i die!
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Arsenal have just signed Chamakh from Bordeaux and “Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed he intends to strengthen his defence this summer after a fifth season in a row without silverware”.
“Going forward we have done very well but defensively we have been average,” said Wenger.
So please tell me why he would break the bank to sign a striker who scored 8 goals last year. This story is ridiculous.
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8carl wolves, sorry mate but Doyal has no agent! one of the few players who does not have to have his bottom wiped or his passport looked after..
like any one money talks and if he is happy here then that will go a long way in keeping him here..
up the wolves
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75 Doyal I like that – how could he abandon us with that name? Loyal Doyal from the Royals
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A striker that took up apart available for under 3 million is Ambrose of Palace, who we should sign immediatly
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If Doyle goes there then he wont get a place in the first team, his a good player but Arsenal have already got a strong striking force. His doing well at Wolves at the moment, we are going to strengthen our squad to give him more support.
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I have a recurring nightmare that our esteemed CEO will sell KD for as much as he can to safeguard his Christmas bonus and then Arsenal will loan him out to another Club to get experience. Can you imagine the horror of Doyle’s next visit to Molineux wearing a Tesco bag? Please tell me it won’t happen
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please don’t go kev
jean in willenhall
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