Hob Nob Anyone?

Who do you think will be gone by the end of January.

I fear on current form we might lose - in descending order of likeliness - SHunt (almost certain), Doyle (a big bid won't be turned down) and Bikey. 5 excellent wins in a row so I am looking for more creative ways of bringing doom and gloom into the equation .

I'd like to think no-one will go thats why I have voted "noone" but there is a chance that Shunt may leave.

I'd love to say no-one, but I can't erase S Hunt's words from my mind at the end of the summer transfer window.
£5 mil and he'll be gone.

i dont know why everyone is so negative in the expectation that we are going to have to sacrifice some of our match winning formula come january.

playing the way we are now i dont see any reason for any of the players listed to leave and go and struggle in a second rate premiership team. i have never seen a rfc team with this much spirit (which might bely my age) and genuinly think that, even if the club were to accept an offer, the players might think twice before leaving.

or is that glass a little toooooo half full...?

I expect we'll offload someone (Lita maybe?) but none of the above-named. I don't believe anyone's going to come in with 5 million for Hunt. He's good but not that great.

Arch wrote:I expect we'll offload someone (Lita maybe?) but none of the above-named. I don't believe anyone's going to come in with 5 million for Hunt. He's good but not that great.

Problem is, when teams such as Real Madrid are prepared to pay £20M for the likes of Diarra, then £5M for SHunt doesn't seem so outrageous. I'm not suggesting Portsmouth are going to come in for SHunt as a replacement for Diarra, but let's be honest - Diarra is NOTa superstar, by ANY stretch of the imagination.

I doubt we will want to sell any of these players. I think we will keep Doyle whatever and even turn down £10M, so unless someone offers a ridiuculous amount like £15M plus, I am sure he will be here.

N. Hunt will not go but clearly if Everton pay £5M Stephen Hunt will be off. Cannot see us selling Bikey or any of our other key players.

If S.Hunt stays - I think Convey may go somewhere. In fact he may well go anyway if an offer comes in.

We will take what we can for Lita. Obviously we would sell Sodje and Bennett but there are unlikely to be any takers. Apart from that I doubt there will be any business done.

If players go I assume we will try to replace them.

I voted no-one, but thinking about it, I actually think we may sell Lita as we don't need him at the moment (I'm quite sad to say, cos we're doing quite well for goals) and his contract is expiring soon.

SteveRoyal wrote:I'd love to say no-one, but I can't erase S Hunt's words from my mind at the end of the summer transfer window.
£5 mil and he'll be gone.

Agree that a £5m bid see him leave, but I just wonder how the club will deal with a £4m or £4.5m bid too.

If Hunt is making it clear that he wants to leave given the chance then the commendable stance of £5m or you're not going anywhere which the club took in September might be under review...

Leroy Lita(OUT)<--------->Liam Dickinson(IN)

strap wrote:

Arch wrote:I expect we'll offload someone (Lita maybe?) but none of the above-named. I don't believe anyone's going to come in with 5 million for Hunt. He's good but not that great.

Problem is, when teams such as Real Madrid are prepared to pay £20M for the likes of Diarra, then £5M for SHunt doesn't seem so outrageous. I'm not suggesting Portsmouth are going to come in for SHunt as a replacement for Diarra, but let's be honest - Diarra is NOTa superstar, by ANY stretch of the imagination.

You haven't seen Diarra play recently, have you? There aren't many better at his role than him- Flamini, Mascherano, Senna, Essien, maybe Gatturso, that's about it. The touted £18m seems fair for one of such ability at his age. The difference between his ability and Hunt's is more than £13m.

cant see shunt staying. he has said many teams he wants to be in the prem and coppell wont stand in his way when a good offer (around £4 million) comes in.

sam sodje - get out now. what is the point of him?
Leroy lita - for obvious reasons

Leroy
Harps
Sodje
Convey

All possibilities.

S. Hunt as well i suppose.

strap wrote:

Arch wrote:I expect we'll offload someone (Lita maybe?) but none of the above-named. I don't believe anyone's going to come in with 5 million for Hunt. He's good but not that great.

Problem is, when teams such as Real Madrid are prepared to pay £20M for the likes of Diarra, then £5M for SHunt doesn't seem so outrageous. I'm not suggesting Portsmouth are going to come in for SHunt as a replacement for Diarra, but let's be honest - Diarra is NOTa superstar, by ANY stretch of the imagination.

Diarra has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is good enough to be a squad player at Arsenal and Chelsea, despite being let go from both. Real Madrid's original bid for him was a reasonable £9m. Then Man City offered £20m so they were forced to raise their bid to compete. I don't think that any "Man City effect" will influence any transfer dealings involving Reading.

Apologies if this is the wrong thread, but I am more interested in who we can buy in January. If Hunt leaves, who is the only likely departee come the window, then we obviously need a new left winger, especially if Convey is also on the way out.

Is there any other players/positions that could be looked at?

To reply to myself then I still think that we should make every effort to bring in Surman, good technical ability, versatile, good experience despite a relatively young age. Provides the much needed competition for Armstrong. I know people will say Watson as well, but with the emergence of Cisse and Karacan do we need another box to box midfielder??

thirtyyarder wrote:Apologies if this is the wrong thread, but I am more interested in who we can buy in January. If Hunt leaves, who is the only likely departee come the window, then we obviously need a new left winger, especially if Convey is also on the way out.

Is there any other players/positions that could be looked at?

To reply to myself then I still think that we should make every effort to bring in Surman, good technical ability, versatile, good experience despite a relatively young age. Provides the much needed competition for Armstrong. I know people will say Watson as well, but with the emergence of Cisse and Karacan do we need another box to box midfielder??

How about Bouazza from Charlton instead of SHunt if the latter leaves - Bouazza seems to be the only one getting good reviews in a team that is in total free-fall. Also, played a blinder against us when we lost to them .... wonder how much he'd cost?

Royalwaster wrote:

thirtyyarder wrote:Apologies if this is the wrong thread, but I am more interested in who we can buy in January. If Hunt leaves, who is the only likely departee come the window, then we obviously need a new left winger, especially if Convey is also on the way out.

Is there any other players/positions that could be looked at?

To reply to myself then I still think that we should make every effort to bring in Surman, good technical ability, versatile, good experience despite a relatively young age. Provides the much needed competition for Armstrong. I know people will say Watson as well, but with the emergence of Cisse and Karacan do we need another box to box midfielder??

How about Bouazza from Charlton instead of SHunt if the latter leaves - Bouazza seems to be the only one getting good reviews in a team that is in total free-fall. Also, played a blinder against us when we lost to them .... wonder how much he'd cost?

With S Hunt the only first team player likely to leave I reckon Surman and Bouazza are ideal replacements. I agree with you, we should go back again try and sign Surman regardless what happens to SHunt, as he's a class act and good enough to play in the Prem.

Is Bouazza on a season long loan at Charlton? Don't think we'd be allowed to sign him January if this is the case. Although I do agree, he was a class above against us.

Bouazza is obviously a good player, but I think seems very attacking and with him and Kebe on the wings might just leave us a little bit too open for counterattack. However agree that he was class when he played against us at the Valley earlier. Never would happen but if Hunt does leave then I would love to try and get O Hara on loan for the rest of the season, would be a perfect replacement.