A surprise rumour doing the rounds is that Roy Keane is considering making Smoulds an offer he can’t refuse to bring the services of James Perch to Sunderland. £850k is the figure being touted, and frankly, that does seem like a good offer for the utility player who hasn’t really made much headway in breaking back into the team this season after supposedly being moved into a rightback role.
I have a lot of time for Perch, he’s in danger of ‘doing a Thompson’ by being too versatile, since breaking into the side we’ve seen him play in pretty much every position across midfield and defence. Originally a centreback, we’ve probably seen him most in a central or right-midfield role. I must admit, in Smoulds’ position, if a bid of that amount came in I’d be pretty tempted to consider it – particularly since he doesn’t seem to be featuring in our first team plans.
Not that I’d want him to leave, of course – I do think he has a lot of potential, and before the season started stated I’d like to see him given a run in a regular position that he can develop properly into. The rightback berth seemed the most logical choice for this, although Chambers (last couple of games notwithstanding) has been doing a good job in that position, so it makes it tricky for the youngster to find a way into the side – particularly when we’ve strengthened in midfield so heavily this season.
In other news, Hamza Bencherif and Felix Bastians have had their loans spells with Lincoln City and Chesterfield extended, although Hamza won’t be allowed to feature in our forthcoming cup tie with the Imps. And Leicester City defender Clive Clarke, who collapsed during half time in the abandoned cup tie, attended Forest vs. Oldham and is in good health, and looking to return to training later this month – which is great news.
Filed under: News
If Sunderland are interested in Perch then that should surely tell us that he is a player worth holding on to. I like to see full backs who can play football and get forward and attack and I’m sure he would provide this at righ back. I wouldn’t want him to be yet another talented academy product sold on.
you can’t hold on to players in this division if they are any good, FACT
Is he really worth holding onto though? Yes he has great commitment to the club and he puts in a lot of work on the pitch, but I’ve never thought highly of him technically and his passing all to often lets him down. As for the calls to put him in at right back – I think Chambers has made that position he own since he’s been here. If he was pushed into centre half to accommodate Perch then I think we’ll see as much backing off from Chambers as we do from Brecks. And as NFFC alluded to in an earlier article perversely Perch doesnt get forward that much from the right back position. I would have thought he would be better taking on the defensive mid role. Lennon will be leaving the club whether its sooner or later but would be a good player for him to learn from.
But right now – he’s an ok player to have at this level but he’s not close to being Premier League standard. If we can get £800k+ I’d snap Roy Keanes arm off and use the money to invest in a decent centre forward.
> you can’t hold on to players in this division if they are any good, FACT
FACT, putting “fact” in your sentence makes it so!
FACT, Forest are going up. — please, let it work!