Dominic Solanke

“He will bring a slightly different dynamic to our frontline. He has the ability to hold up the ball, link play and is technically very gifted.

“He is good in the air from crosses, has good physical presence and the ability to move as well. All-round, he is a very good player.”

Isn't that Mousset ?
Eddie doesn't do plan C. A and B should be enough.
 
I’ve seen Solanke a couple of times for the U20 team that Cook was part of and a couple of sub appearances for Liverpool. Got to say that I am disappointed that we have signed him. On the plus side he is young and I am hoping that he can be moulded into a decent striker. On the negative I just didn’t get the opinion that he would score on the ratio of goals to chances that we needed. Very happy to be proved wrong.
 
I'm surprised by that. I've been watching England age groups a lot since we signed Cook, and have been very impressed by Solanke. Him and Calvert Lewin kind of alternated between being the main man, and they both seemed to put away a lot of chances. Given Calvert-Lewin's obvious ability to step up to first team football, I'm not that worried about Solanke. I also said earlier that the Brighton slection reminded me that only Wilson (and King a bit) have that natural goalscoring ability/hunger/knack, so I could easily just be hoping for the best from him
 
For me he is currently another striker who will need a hatful of chances before he scores. He certainly isn’t the finished article but then neither is Wilson but his return is still good enough to keep us in the mid-table mix. I think it could go either way with Solanke. Either he can still improve, does so and then we will make a fortune on him when we sell him or he will be sort of okayish and will do a job sometimes. Certainly don’t expect him to be terrible and I expect him to get plenty of game time, even if only as a sub to mix up our forward options. With current inflation of player prices he would have to be really awful or get nobbled permanently for us to make a big loss I would imagine. You’d have to think that he has potential so the risk is really in how you see the odds of him fulfilling his potential I guess.
Good to have him in the squad as a replacement for Defoe for now at least.
(y):banana:
 
I just looked at the numbers to check I'm not kidding myself, and I know it's only kids football, but England from U17 (Euros win) through to U21 he's got 34 goals in 61 matches. I know the Liverpool numbers look bad, but although it says 24 matches, he's only had 600 minutes, so not exactly sustained runouts
 
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cockbeard said:
I just looked at the numbers to check I'm not kidding myself, and I know it's only kids football, but England from U17 (Euros win) he's got 34 goals in 61 matches. I know the Liverpool numbers look bad, but although it says 24 matches, he's only had 600 minutes, so not exactly sustained runouts
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Could well be that he needs to be playing regularly before he gets in the groove. If that’s the case he needs to make a good first impression here to ensure he gets a run of games. If not he could suffer the same fate as Mousset, which could see him on the road to nowhere. So let’s hope he hits the ground running, gets in the team and impresses early on - once he’s fit again obviously ! As ever with forwards, a lot depends on confidence and match sharpness. Success breeds success. Fingers crossed he gets the game time he seeks here with us ( unfortunately that’s not a given ! ).
:utc:
 
On the optimistic side.....at the very least it's a striker with a fresh start who offers something different for Eddie to try and for us to be hopeful about .....or he could be good at putting away chances provided by Fraser or Brooks and have enough power to breeze through a Saints or Leicester defence. Can't wait for the show to hit the stage! And if Clyne can help shore up the holes and damage at the back ...we are singing!
 
BillMcgarrycherry said:
On the optimistic side.....at the very least it's a striker with a fresh start who offers something different for Eddie to try and for us to be hopeful about .....or he could be good at putting away chances provided by Fraser or Brooks and have enough power to breeze through a Saints or Leicester defence. Can't wait for the show to hit the stage! And if Clyne can help shore up the holes and damage at the back ...we are singing!
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Yep. Eddie already saying that Solanke with his size offers something different. You would hope that means he will get opportunities to play, preferably though not just from the subs bench as a plan B big target geezer. I hope he impresses in training and shows something a bit different to be in contention for a starting spot. You would imagine he came here expecting to get more game time so I hope he makes the effort and gets his reward. If not I fear he may start to lose motivation and we may never see the best of him. But if he has a good attitude he might be prepared to be patient, we’ll see. Would be nice to have bought at least one player from Liverpool who fulfilled his promise :giggle:
 
Liverpool won’t have played to his strengths he will have had to fit in to their style as a sub coming on. I won’t judge him on those stats.

That said there have been plenty of people that have played well at a England youth level and disappeared so those stats could also mean little.

So...it’s a gamble with a good chance. The positive side for me is I’d say he is a better striker at his age than Wilson was. He is probably a better striker at his age than King was. When you consider what Eddie has achieved with both of them my gut feel is it augurs well.
 
Neil Dawson said:
Liverpool won’t have played to his strengths he will have had to fit in to their style as a sub coming on. I won’t judge him on those stats.

That said there have been plenty of people that have played well at a England youth level and disappeared so those stats could also mean little.

So...it’s a gamble with a good chance. The positive side for me is I’d say he is a better striker at his age than Wilson was. He is probably a better striker at his age than King was. When you consider what Eddie has achieved with both of them my gut feel is it augurs well.
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Agree. If he comes here with a good attitude and a willingness to work hard and learn, he should do well. For me that is the risk, whether or not he has and maintains the right attitude.
 
cockbeard said:
I'd guess at three and a half, that's been the standard for winter signings recently, summer being either three or four
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Just googled it and most websites are just regurgitating the club’s “long term contract”. I’ve yet to find anything more precise. Odd.
 
thegazzyb said:
Yep. Eddie already saying that Solanke with his size offers something different. You would hope that means he will get opportunities to play, preferably though not just from the subs bench as a plan B big target geezer. I hope he impresses in training and shows something a bit different to be in contention for a starting spot. You would imagine he came here expecting to get more game time so I hope he makes the effort and gets his reward. If not I fear he may start to lose motivation and we may never see the best of him. But if he has a good attitude he might be prepared to be patient, we’ll see. Would be nice to have bought at least one player from Liverpool who fulfilled his promise :giggle:
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Supa will teach him a few things and knock him into shape.
 
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