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Our Marquee Man...


heart_fan10

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De Jong is an interesting case. He's had a very disrupted season due to injuries (including injuries which are bound to be one-offs, like a collapsed lung), which might well scare away some clubs that were interested in him, as he himself even said recently: "the only downside of my injuries is perhaps that it is now a little harder to make a transfer" "I had hoped that I had a great season and could be off. In a nice way, last year I just wanted away as some clubs came. Now I will look a little wider, a little less selective indeed". He has also said "In England a lot of clubs won't suit me because I want to go to a club that plays football," he explained. "I don't want to go to a club that doesn't involve the midfield in their play". Maybe a little ambitious still, but isn't that what a marquee signing is supposed to be?

 

On the big player like Ono/Engelaar/Afellay vs big player like ADP issue, I pretty much don't think there's a bad option. Both types of players could be very effective marquees IMO (as I've said with Lampard, I think he would be truly excellent, even if he only played for 2 or 3 seasons). But the club has suggested they want to go the "big player" route, so that's what I'm expecting.

I reckon Van der Vaart would be a great signing because with him you arguably get the best of both worlds, a great player who's only 31, and a name that a good many people are probably familiar with. So maybe Man City will come up with a player like that, a big player who's maybe fairly well known, but not a household name.

 

 

Has he gone 100%? Or are they still trying to fit him in under the cap?

They've announced all the players that have left, and all the players that have re-signed without mentioning him. This makes me think negotiations are ongoing.

 

 

 

The Engelaar situation is curious ATM. The club has tied up every other lose end, with every other player being either signed up for next season or released. JVS has said he's keen to keep Engelaar (although inside the salary cap, with his salary maybe halved), so negotiations could well be still going on. Or perhaps the club is waiting to release the bad news of Engelaar's departure so it can simultaneously release some good news (like the signing of a new player) to lessen the blow. I personally would love for Engelaar to stay. A midfield of Mooy, a marquee like VDV and Engelaar, with a new and much stronger defence behind them, would be my dream scenario.

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I have seen people mention guest players who are allowed to play 10 games and are outside the salary cap.

 

How many guest players can be signed in the season?

 

I believe only one, but not certain.

 

I thought Murfy had said up to 4 can play but not sure.

 

If one then I would assume whoever will be the NYCFC marquee will be that player.

 

If more, maybe a couple of City youngsters could play

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I have seen people mention guest players who are allowed to play 10 games and are outside the salary cap.

 

How many guest players can be signed in the season?

 

I believe only one, but not certain.

 

I thought Murfy had said up to 4 can play but not sure.

 

If one then I would assume whoever will be the NYCFC marquee will be that player.

 

If more, maybe a couple of City youngsters could play

 

 

Going off what I've read, there is only 1 guest player spot a season (as I said here http://mhfcsupporters.com/topic/768-player-contracts/page-12#entry171312).

 

I believe back when the guest player spot only allowed players to play 4 games a season (instead of 10 games, which is now how many guest players play), which was a couple of years ago, clubs could sign more than 1 guest players a season (I think the max. was 2, although it might possibly have been 4). But now it's just the 1 guest player per club for 10 games a season (the only other exemption outside of the main squad are "injury replacement players").

 

Hopefully the Heart squad is good enough to not require bolstering from guest players. But if Heart get the NYCFC marquee for 10 games (as suggested in Australian media), that would be pretty good and welcome.

Edited by Murfy1
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as we all know it's a very short season, and the impact of a quality guest player could be huge. If we have 3 "marquee" players for 10 games, there's a chance we could really dominate the competition and go on a long winning streak (we saw how much of an impact engelaar had, imagine 2 more players of that quality). By adding a high quality guest player to the team, it's maximising our chances of getting as many points as possible during the regular season which means we'll have a good chance of winning the league.

 

The downside of it is that this guest player most likely won't be around long enough to play finals, but if in those 10 matches he has helped us win the league then from there it's only 2 wins away from winning the final (which we should still have an extremely good team that is more than capable of doing so). I'm all for it, and if it's true in that it will be the NYC marquee player, then we should be expecting someone big. 

Edited by heart_fan10
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Out of interest, is it just ten league games that a guest can play? What about the FFA Cup?

 

Not sure. This July will be the first time that the FFA Cup has ever been played, so there's no precedent of guest players being used in the FFA Cup. It might be possible, but I reckon the league will be considered much more important, so I'd be surprised if any guest players were used in the FFA Cup in the near future (the FFA Cup is very provisional ATM, so it might well be unlikely that clubs will take it very seriously. For example, I'm pretty sure the FFA Cup will be moved forward a few months after the forthcoming edition of the competition, so the final can take place on Australia Day [Jan 26]. It's not happening this time around because Australia is hosting the Asian Cup then).

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I reckon if there's a spot for the guest player in the finals we might take him back just for the 2-3 weeks.

If City are serous about getting trophies and JVS asks for him there's a decent chance he might skip a week or 3 from MLS regular season.

I'm probably just being a bit optimistic though

Edited by Tbitm
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Out of interest, is it just ten league games that a guest can play? What about the FFA Cup?

Good questions. How does it work in the PL when a player is suspended; are they suspended from taking part in FA Cup games too? yes, and if they have a 3 game suspension the fa cup/league cup games count. Edited by Tbitm
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Out of interest, is it just ten league games that a guest can play? What about the FFA Cup?

 

Not sure. This July will be the first time that the FFA Cup has ever been played, so there's no precedent of guest players being used in the FFA Cup. It might be possible, but I reckon the league will be considered much more important, so I'd be surprised if any guest players were used in the FFA Cup in the near future (the FFA Cup is very provisional ATM, so it might well be unlikely that clubs will take it very seriously. For example, I'm pretty sure the FFA Cup will be moved forward a few months after the forthcoming edition of the competition, so the final can take place on Australia Day [Jan 26]. It's not happening this time around because Australia is hosting the Asian Cup then).

 

I'm not sure whether the rules for the FFA Cup have been promulgated yet. Rules for suspensions, guest players, etc. would have to be standardised across all participating clubs, or otherwise the competition would not be "fair." I mean, could a state league club sign one or more "star" players just for the Cup? - and that sort of thing.

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GK's in the J-League are horrible going by that clip.

East Asians will always struggle to be good goalkeepers, they're at a genetic disadvantage.

 

But I reckon having a small dick shouldn't mean you're automatically a bad keeper.

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http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/1188151/Berbatov-set-for-King-testimonial

with Berbatov all but done with Fulham and the EPL, he might be an interesting option as international marquee.

always look an intelligent player with an ability to score / assist critical goals and always seemed to be a player who could play a part anywhere across the forward line well

You're a few months late. Berba left Fulham in January.

thought he was only loaned out for the last 6 months of his contract but if thats the case then thats the end of it then

Correct, Berbatov joined Monaco on loan from Fulham until the end of the season. and he's off contract at the end of the season (http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25981420). He would be an excellent A-League marquee IMO (although for Heart I do wonder if City would be open to signing a former United player...).

It's rather tough to think of players coming out of contract at the end of the season that could make excellent marquees. 2 names coming out of contract at the end of the season that don't seem to have serious concrete interest ATM from clubs are: Jordi Gomez and Tiago Mendes.

Also on Heart's marquee, I've began wondering if JVS might want a current or former Ajax player for a marquee (like Sibon), or a player that he's coached before (like Engelaar, who I vaguely recall reading was suggested by JVS to the club last off-season). Possible options that might suit could be Lasse Schone (who's off contract at the end of next season), and Ibrahim Afellay or Siemm de Jong, who are both probably ambitious targets, but they have both suffered injuries in recent times (which they both have seemingly recently recovered from) and hence other clubs could overlook them, so either could be a very shrewd signing.

And some other good conceivable possibilities are Cristian Baroni (off contract at the end of next season), Esteban Granero and Niko Kranjcar, both of whom are contracted until the end of the season after next (til mid-2016), but both were loaned out this season and are seemingly out of favour at their respective clubs, and hence could possibly be sold.

I'm pretty unsure which way the club will go on the international marquee. The only thing the club has signaled about the international marquee was the very quick denial that the club isn't interested in signing Frank Lampard (saying such speculation was "absolutely without foundation" a day or so after the article was published). Either way, I reckon we're bound to hear more soon when JVS and Didulica get back to Australia and the A-League season is fully finished after the grand final. Aren't marquees supposed to be well known? I don't know most of the names you mentioned above! :wacko:

If I had the choice of a an Ono-esque or Del Pierro-esque marquee and I had the money of Man City FC, I'd definitely splash out some more cash and get the Del Pierro-esque marquee! Quality on the field AND puts bums on seats a la Ronaldinho, Lampard, Pirlo, Raul (retired?), etc...

The players I suggested are more in the Ono or Engelaar mold. That is, they are very good players who would probably make a big splash in the A-League. Also, All of the players I suggested are good ages, nearly all between 25 and 30.

The problem with going after "big names" like Del Piero is that players of that ilk only stop playing top tier football when they are very old. Del Piero turned 38 very early into his first season at Sydney FC, and whilst Frank Lampard would be an excellent signing IMO, he is 35 (and turning 36 in June), and could probably only play well for 2 or 3 or at most 4 seasons.

So that's the main issue with getting "big name" players, they can only play for a few seasons. And Man City themselves have specifically said that they would prefer to get "big players" (like Ono, Engelaar etc.) rather than "big names", and have a "big player" turn into a "big name" by playing very well and helping Melbourne Heart achieve success. Players like Afellay, Siem de Jong, Gomez and Schone could play well for 5 or 6 seasons, or maybe more, at Heart in the A-League.

So that's the appeal of big players, who maybe aren't household names. You can build a team around them. And Man City seem to think that good football and success will put bums on seats as much if not more so than signing an ADP for 2 two seasons (and I think Man City are probably right). So I've just tried to brainstorm "big players" that City could sign for Heart, to keep for more than a few seasons and achieve success. Fair enough!

Personally, I too would prefer a semi-well known player a la Afellay/de Jong who I will enjoy watching and who'll bring us success because ultimately I'd prefer to go to the stadium to watch my team win first and enjoy seeing an 'ADP' style marquee second.

Here I though Esteban Granero and Niko Kranjcar were well knowen names??

Drogba would be great, Klose could be possible and realistic and a gun, there is another Behich getting about too, who I think would be a Finkler type signing, but I haven't followed him for a while ( German-Turkish), so I am not sure where he is, or what contract he is on. I'll try to make sense later.

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The more I read this thread the more I agree with Begiristain. We don't need a (so-called) "big name", we need a big player who will become a big name (in the A-League). As Thomas Broich has become for Brisbane, because he's become part of something that is delivering success.

 

I've been following world football generally for many years, but no specific league or in recent years no specific overseas club. Apart from the really "big names" mentioned on here, the rest of them I have never heard of.

 

What counts for most potential Heart supporters will not be the actual name, but what is delivered on the pitch.

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He's 20, has barely even made it in england yet and whilst he would make a good first XI player why on earth would you have such an obscure marquee?

Well for selfish personal reasons, how well he did in the Europa League with Wigan and that he can do this (and did it nearly every week with Crewe and Wigan)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fXi1vlDmjNs

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_pjKooEfVkI

Still mostly because I'm a selfish bastard :P

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He's 20, has barely even made it in england yet and whilst he would make a good first XI player why on earth would you have such an obscure marquee?

Well for selfish personal reasons, how well he did in the Europa League with Wigan and that he can do this (and did it nearly every week with Crewe and Wigan)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fXi1vlDmjNs

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_pjKooEfVkI

Still mostly because I'm a selfish bastard :P

He's going to a very good in player in five years time.

Going out on a limb to say he will become a Premier League regular in a few years.

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Interestingly enough no one mentions any South Americans as marquees. Given that Manuel P. is from Chile I would presume that he may have a few ideas/possibilities as well. It may even be possible that the marquee may not be known until after the world cup where perhaps a more obscure player playing in a non-European club may shine and be brought to Oz prior to a trip to Man City.

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Interestingly enough no one mentions any South Americans as marquees. Given that Manuel P. is from Chile I would presume that he may have a few ideas/possibilities as well. It may even be possible that the marquee may not be known until after the world cup where perhaps a more obscure player playing in a non-European club may shine and be brought to Oz prior to a trip to Man City.

Where are you Argentinez?

Edited by malloy
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Word from JD's uncle:

- Josh Kennedy almost definitely Aus marquee.

- We have 2.5mil to spend on an international marquee, Joe Cole is a name they're looking at.

The second point has been stated in articles. Not sure what that means about the claim that City don't do any business through the media.

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Word from JD's uncle:

- Josh Kennedy almost definitely Aus marquee.

- We have 2.5mil to spend on an international marquee, Joe Cole is a name they're looking at.

The second point has been stated in articles. Not sure what that means about the claim that City don't do any business through the media.

Any news on OE?
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