Just read that Emenalo will attend the Nigeria-Ghana match at Watford specifically to watch Inkoom, the Ghanian right-back-sometimes-winger. He's apparently available for 4-6m, is 22, and was a member of the Ghanian side that lost to Suarezgate (he played 2 matches on the wing, but he's more of an R
.
He's young, he's got potential, he's got the physical traits (strong and not explosive, but fast enough to cover the ground), attack-minded, COULD serve as an auxiliary RW, although that's not a reason we should consider. He'd also be cheap, at 4-6m, because Dnipro are willing to sell him because he is consistently targetted by racist abuse by fans and he wants to leave, and that makes him a very intelligent purchase. 4-6m for someone who could become our starting RB in a Ramires-esque fashion (slowly push Ivanovic back to CB and get a regular spot by next season) for the next 8 years or so? Sounds good to him.
It also sounds like if we were to bid for him, we'd be likely to get him. Can't see Fulham or Villa outbidding us, and he's said that if a big club (and he mentioned us by name) comes knocking he'd seriously consider it. We also have a Ghanian in our side which could help him settle.
Admittedly, I haven't seen much of him, but we haven't been linked with anyone for our right side in ages, and he'd make a good purchase on paper. Fits into our current buying pattern, and with Zhirkov gone we have a free foreign spot to give to him.
Right now, I'd rather we got him than Modric.
Assuming Romeu proves an adecuate cover in midfield for Essien (if he doesn't I'd add Parker on loan, as unlikely as it may be), I'd like for us to sign Inkoom for 5m, De Bruyne for 9m (and loan him back to Genk or a Premiership club if he's ready, possibly in January after he's trained with the team for a while), and get that work permit for Rajkovic so he can start playing for us already.
That still leaves 3 areas that need to be addressed, and those are 1. current back-up LW which should also solve our future starting LW issue. De Bruyne could be that guy, but I highly doubt that he's ready, and while we can make due for a year, we need someone to take over from Malou and work the flank wide, with De Bruyne being more of a cut-inside sort of player from my understanding.
2. Advanced playmaker. We could move for Douglas Costa for 10-14m in this window, as well bid around 20m for Ganso. Since it's not a burning need, and we could just as well get one next summer, we could loan Ganso back to Santos until January as he seems to want. Other options would be to try and get Gotze next summer, hopefully with BVB more inclined to sell him (fingers-crossed that they fail to qualify for the CL) or Hazard this winter or next summer under similar circumstances. A short term, highly expensive option would be to get Sneijder, but I'm not as eager on that one as I have been in the past. We could also just hope Piazon or some other academy player steps up (or McEachran gains a few pounds and holds off challenges better), but that's not very likely in the near future.
3. Right wing. All of the above except for Wesley and Ganso would fill in at right wing as well, at least until the 2013 summer window, at which point, if it's still an issue, we could look to spend big on a right winger. With Inkoom coming in and one of Kalou, Sturridge, Kakuta, Hazard, Gotze or Costa playing on the right, we could have the right hand side settled for a while.
Out of all of the options I've said, Hazard is the one I like the most, especially if we get De Bruyne, because I very much fancy an offensive trident or foursome comprising 3 Belgium talents. Gotze would be my 2nd choice.
All of that could amount to:
De Bruyne - Lukaku - Sturridge/Kakuta
------------- Hazard
----McEachran - Ramires
PVA/Bertrand - Chalobah/Rajkovic/Kalas/etc - Luiz - Inkoom
------------Courtois
By the next WC or something, and that would sounds like a good squad (being optimistic about player potential.
But yeah, HIGHLY unlikely, but one can dream.
something FISHY :P