That's not what I was referring to. You were insinuating that Dembele wouldn't fit within the mould of the squad due to Allassani and Jones behind ahead of him in the pecking order. That's where I'm questioning your logic because, despite his talent, you nor I have any idea if Allassani can cope with the standards required of League One. Furthermore, Jones is still recovering from a serious injury that requires, at times, beyond a years worth of recuperation. It's a 46 game season minimum, do you automatically not think that there won't be any injuries over the course of that period? Look at last season for a point of reference. The fact we were lacking in out and out wingers meant that we were forced to play our naturally central players (Bayliss/Shipley) out of position on the wing. Do you really want a repeat of that next season? Bayliss struggled whenever I saw him play wide right, leave him in his natural position where he can shine.
But back to referring to your use of stats once again. His stats don't reflect his quality I'm afraid. Grimsby were an awful team, they had every right to be relegated this past season but survived by the skin of their teeth. Granted he had off games but Dembele is only 21 years old, the amount of expectation put on him after the first few months of the season would've likely been overwhelming. This combined with Premier League interest in the run up to the January transfer window ultimately turned his head and no he wasn't the same player after he didn't get a move. This is clear from his stats as he didn't score a goal after the end of November. But this also coincides with their woeful run of form of 20 games without a win. Can't really put that all on him can you. It's a team game. For instance, Maddison was dreadful after the January transfer window in the 2015-16 season. Did that make him an average player? And he got his move to a higher club so he had no reasoning to play poorly. Although he's no JM, young players can't be expected to perform week in week out.
Not sure it's necessary to explain myself but for starters I have friends who are season ticket holders who have all stated that despite the fact he's a primma donna and his end product could do with some work he has a great deal of potential. Secondly, I kept tabs on him after the away game against Grimsby at the start of the season as he impressed me and from what I read in reports and the odd game I managed to catch it's clear he could be nurtured into a top player at a higher level.
I'd be happy if we managed to secure his services personally but clearly you don't agree.
Quite wish washy and anecdotal if I’m honest.
Look, I’m not raising questions about his ability or potential per se. What I am doing is voicing my concern that I just can’t see where he fits in exactly as well as taking exception to the assertion that he is a ‘top player’.
The reality of the situation is that we’d have to spend a significant amount of money on him. For me, it’s not worth it because we have plenty of talent ourselves who are at least as good as him. In terms of squad role, I don’t think we need his type of winger — Jones and Allassani fit that role. For me, we need a traditional winger type who hugs the touch line, takes players on and gets balls in the box. Jones can do that on the left, but we lack a right footer who can do that. Dembélé is primarily a left winger. Frankly, we don’t need a player like him, he’ll cost more than we could afford, and he isn’t better than what we’ve got. I’d rather us sign a experienced L1 player who we know can perform well at L1 level.
You’re right that we don’t know how Allassani will do, but it’s a transfer that is low risk, high reward because we didn’t spend a lot him at all. He’s got fantastic pedigree and appears to have had rotten luck thus far in his career. Dulwich’s manager more or less said that he went for next to nothing (they could’ve commanded a decent fee, but kept because he was essential to their promotion chances).
You’re fixating on Dembélé a bit too much. My points applied to all the ‘linked players’, who appear to be plucked from thin air. None of them have respectable records in L2 or above and my argument is simple:
none of these names make any sense if our goal this season is promotion to the Championship. For example, Adam King played 7 games for Mansfield last season... how on Earth is that the kind of player who’d even push for first team?!
