11 Apr 2025 14:04:13
Ekitike scored a great goal last night and his general play was ok. You can see he is very talented with quick feet but he’s not physical at all. I reckon he needs another year at least before he’s ready to start for one of Europes best teams. £65m seems risky but I guess the worry is the price will only go up.
11 Apr 2025 15:15:15
It's interesting, I'd never seen him play until we got linked with him. Now I think after watching him the player he most resembles is Alexander isak.
When Bobby left isak was available for about 60m or so but people thought he would be too lightweight for premier league. Turns out centre of gravity is more important than muscle mass and isak does fine.
I don't think ekitike would be a 25 goal a season player, but 20 is achievable in the right team and under the right manager for the same reasons isak is doing it.
11 Apr 2025 15:29:17
He really isn't physical in the slightest, he is tall but not good in the air, he is more of a quick and skilful forward who loves taking people on and dribbling but does not welcome duels or contact. I would not think that he's the sort of striker that we necessarily need, he thrives in transition and running at defenders in open space.
11 Apr 2025 15:30:27
Yeah not very physical mate.
Big worry for me is the lack of pace. You’ve got to have one or the other in abundance for this league. Seems a very average striker. Not what we need right now.
11 Apr 2025 15:51:48
If we are going to see both Nunez and Jota go and the club see etikite as one of the options then I’d ideally want the other to have had PL experience. If we can get good money for Jota and Nunez then perhaps invest in Cunha and etikite - different types of players. I’d also not be averse to Delap either as I think he could turn into a very good player.
11 Apr 2025 16:06:48
I only watched 20 mins seen the goal not putting the kid down after 20 mins just looked like a skinny gakpo .
11 Apr 2025 17:19:12
Don't want to douse anyone's fires but both Barcelona and psg (the standouts in champs league this season) don't play with big powerful forwards. Both play with a bunch of skinny kids and are tearing it up.
Salah himself was a 'skinny lightweight kid) when he arrived
You don't need to be fast or powerful, you need to read the game well and have good movement. When Ronaldo (Brasil) lost his pace after knee surgeries he relied on excellent reading and movement. Some players were never fast or powerful (baggio being a good example) and did fine.
The idea everyone needs to be a giant who can run fast is narrow-minded to me. Traore is both powerful and fast - anyone want to sign him?
11 Apr 2025 17:38:07
Isak isn't big but he is strong and holds his own in the box. I don't think we need a big bruiser but we need somebody who is strong and offers presence in the box, can handle contact and attack crosses. Isak can do that as well as the cute technical stuff, that's why he is an elite number 9. We don't have a striker who can occupy the back line by offering something in the box and who is constantly looking to run in behind, which makes our attack that much more predictable.
11 Apr 2025 18:18:09
Still think we should sign Liam Delap, on an 8 year contract.
11 Apr 2025 20:01:43
100% agree with scouse_john.
Gakpo v 2.0.
11 Apr 2025 20:15:04
Langland - I watched Delap at a Hull game last season and remember thinking he is one to watch. He is going to be very good and will no doubt score lots of goals in the right side.
11 Apr 2025 21:06:18
Don’t need big powerful centre backs in the Spanish or French league either …. but it certainly helps in the prem.
12 Apr 2025 01:57:05
Also nevada, I'm pretty sure lewandowski is barca's center forward lol, hardly a skinny kid.
12 Apr 2025 03:55:10
I agree with Ron and Patrick
We should look at Delap as he will be one for the future.
Question in summer is do we buy a older established striker like Nunez and try and convert him from the style of play he is already comfortably playing to our style OR buy a young player and mould him to our way?
I think Delap playing for us will flourish, will score more goals and also hold the ball up for other players too. 22yrs old, played 30 games this season and scored 12 in a less than mediocre team, he would do well in most teams. Doesn't Man City have first refusal on him though?
12 Apr 2025 06:14:46
You could get Cunha for a similar price and he has proven he can do it in the league already - that’d be the smart signing in my opinion.
12 Apr 2025 06:54:01
I would much rather get Cunha at release clause price quoted.
12 Apr 2025 07:35:36
@Patrick he's not a skinny kid but he's very slow and not massive either.
Messi and maradona were both midgets and not turbo speed (but not slow) I guess my point is that we place way too much emphasis on physical attributes in England. It's the reason the national team never wins. Spain wouldn't think twice about picking a slow small forward with excellent technical abilities. Xavi was pretty small and slow yet ran the game from the most congested area on the pitch.
12 Apr 2025 09:14:00
He is not good enough. Lanky with no pace. Not good enough for a dynamic side like ours.
12 Apr 2025 10:52:40
Is there such a thing as a number 9 in contemporary football who is small and slow with excellent technical abilities? Because that's what we're talking about here, so maradona, xavi and Messi are not really that relevant. Spain often picked morata up front, who is good in the air, has pace, offers great work rate making dummy runs and constantly getting in the channels, he isn't an excellent finisher or anything but he has number 9 qualities. Torres was the standout 9 for them for many years and he was hardly small, slow or weak (okay, you can say villa was small and skilful, but he also excelled in dropping deeper outside the box to create for others), in fact he was pretty much the exact opposite in all three regards.
Lewandowski is one of the elite players of the last decade inside the box, his presence is such that defenders are always scared to death that he's inside the box or making a run in behind into the box, Barcelona have scored a lot of goals this year because he's made space for others simply by running into the box.
My point is not that we need a hulk who can run very fast (although incidentally I think the player hulk himself was a top player who was great on the world stage and could have played for huge clubs if he wasn't so obsessed with money) but somebody who can handle contact in the box and provide us with presence and a focal point up front.
It's not really rocket science, look at how city play without haaland, they are like half the team (of course that's because pep has made them so reliant on him being in the box), look at arsenal struggling without a number 9 who can attack balls coming into the box, look at Chelsea without Jackson throwing himself about, pressing from the front, running tirelessly and making a nuisance of himself physically.
As for England's focus on physicality, I don't know how true that really is, the likes of Saka, Trent and Bellingham are surely as good as anybody from a technical standpoint, the reason why they haven't performed in recent tournaments doesn't have all that much to do with technical level as far as I can tell.
12 Apr 2025 10:57:51
I should also say that I'm not knocking ekitike, I have watched him quite a few times honestly and I'm not sure the isak comparison is that accurate. Firstly we don't know how ekitike would do in a team that doesn't put an emphasis on transitional football first of all, and secondly he might look like isak in terms of profile, he is tall and skilfull and relatively quick, he can drift into wide positions or occupy central ones, he likes taking defenders on, but physically he does not offer what isak does off the ball. That is my point and I:m not sure why that should be controversial.
12 Apr 2025 17:24:35
I agree with Seano. For the reported release clause of circa £65M, you get a Premiership proven striker who would fit seamlessly into our side. It's a no-brainer.