Wiess Return

[eaststand]

I know he only has one year left to run on his current deal but Marwood was quoted recently as saying that himself and the coaches at the club believe that although he hasn't quite developed as quickly as they might have liked, they still believe he can become a world class player.

Doing a bit of a 2+2=5 journo tott up; what i reckon is going on is that we have offered Hazard terms of roughly 100k p/w, explained that he will not be put in line with current earners and top players like David Silva, Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero and most certainly won't be getting near the wages of Tevez & Yaya as he hasn't proved himself fully yet so he will not be getting any more out of us. The entrance of Chelsea and more than likely a better set of terms has probably damped our chances of him taking our offer. Hence todays rumours that we've switched our attentions to Javi Martinez who although i think will be a quality player and it would be a good move, i think at £25 million and for the amount of adapting he'll have t do to fit in in the prem it would represent a bit more of a gamble than the Hazard move would.

If Hazard doesn't come in, the way i see it is Adam Johnson clearly isn't rising to the challenge or really fulfilling the potential he has and with him being 23/24 next season i can't see there being a world of patience being left for him to start getting himself to the levels of aerobic & anaerobic fitness required of a prem footballer. He may very well want to start every game but i think if he looked himself in the mirror he knows he'd be nakered after 4 consecutive 90 minutes and thats not just because he lacks match practice. With regards to his performances, i do think he is one of a couple in our squad (meaning Dzeko) that do suffer by the way we play and the fact that when they do play, we don't adapt to play to their strengths. With Johnson we don't get the ball out wide to hi often enough so his starting position gets narrower and narrower when he's coming inside to get the ball. This is a problem, especially when he plays wide right, because when he does finally get the ball, he's one real trick/strength that he can go either way is eliminated because he's already inside and he's nullifying his own threat without the full back really doing anything. I'm pretty sure thats what Mancini has told him 100 and odd times. So maybe it's time to bring Wiess back, let them both duke it out for their place in the squad, maybe in doing so i might force a sink or swim situation where one of the two pushes on and comes out the better player for it.

Plus I'd be able to stop moaning about CL quota's because Wiess is classed as trained by club!

I also hope this rumour of Swansea wanting to take Guidetti on loan is true because i think it would be a great move for all involved.

[geemcfc]

How's Weiss got on over last season? Any stats for us to stew over?

[trautmansdropkick]

In the Manchester Evening News yesterday it said:- "He became a key figure with Espanyol, scoring twice in 28 appearances".

To me, he had all the talent and skill in the world BUT he had too much of the "Sturridges" about him. "This is MY ball, MY skill, MY world" - and no one else exists. Let's hope that Espanyol have kicked that out of him, if so (and ONLY if so) I'd give him a chance between now and the end of this year to prove it.

At one time, (widely known on this site) I viewed Tevez in the same way BUT since he has come back he has become a team player and I for one have now welcomed his re-inclusion into our squad.

[eaststand]

But in a sense TDK, they are only traits we need him to lose if he was to be starting, if we use him from the bench as an impact player, we need him to demand the ball and get on the ball, beat a man and attempt to make things happen. We've looked, barring the last game of the season, a little lacking in impact from the bench at times (that should have been coming from Johnson) and i think he's the type of player that could bring something different and make things happen in the last 10-15 minutes of games that aren't going our way. He can beat a man from a standing start and that ability is few and far between in our current squad who all favour the 'pass it around them' route. As Johnson hasn't been providing that enough this season i think that is exactly why we're after Hazard, because he's a healthy mid-point between silva/nasri's and Johnson/wiess's. But if he doesn't come then we need a plan B because i feel our attack could do with a pacey winger that can beat a man.

[eaststand]

And if the Spanish media are to be believed, a fair few spanish clubs including Valencia & Athletico are interested in taking him on if Espanyol don't take up the report £3 million agreed option to buy him (expires June 31st), apparently we'd be looking for around double that from others if they don't. First bit was Spanish meida, second from the 'city_watch' twitter account.