Says " Ole Gunnar Solskjaer almost has his squad in place "

Lifelong fan says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer almost has his squad in place

Paul Evans: How I rate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's January transfer window business so far
29 Jan 2014
Lifelong Cardiff City fan Paul Evans takes a look at Cardiff City's winter business as the transfer window edges shut


Ole Gunnar Solskjaer almost has his squad in place

The general perception among the professionals within the game is that January is a very tough time to conduct your transfer business and I often wonder whether the priority at many clubs is to get through the month with your squad intact, rather than try too hard to supplement it.

We are constantly told that there is little transfer movement during the month but Ole Gunnar Solskjær has spent the last few weeks showing that a club can bring in a number of newcomers if the manager is so minded.

It also needs to be said that bottom of the table Cardiff City’s need for new faces is more than desperate than most mind.

Solskjær’s job has been made easier by the fact that two of the new arrivals came from his former club Molde and another only left the Norwegian club last summer.

We are also signing Kenwyne Jones, Fabio and Wilfried Zaha (on loan) in time for them to feature in Saturday’s match with Norwich.

The manager mentioned he thought those three signings would signal an end to his transfer window work, but, intriguingly, did leave himself a get out by following that up with a comment on the lines of “but you can’t rule anything out for certain”.

Certainly, our interest in Wigan centre-back Ivan Ramis and the fact that we’ve yet to field the same combination of central defenders in successive games in Solskjær’s time as manager suggests that, even if it’s not to be the Spaniard, we are still on the look-out for another player at the back.

There are reports that another forward could be on his way as well, so it looks we will, almost certainly, have six or even as many as eight new players available on Saturday.

If we are going to have more than six arrivals, then you’d think that there could well be a fair bit of the January transfer kitty left for Solskjær to use.

In terms of transfer fees at least, it would appear that not much too much of it has been spent.

So, although there have and will be departures from the squad, I think it’s fair to say it’s been improved in terms of quantity, but it goes without saying that the really important question is has it been as far as quality goes?

I believe there are question marks about each of our six confirmed new players.

The three Norwegians are unproven at this level.

After two decent shows as a substitute, Magnus Wolff Eikrem’s withdrawal at half time at Bolton Saturday was a disappointment, but, to balance that, Mats Moller Dæhli made a fine impression in his 20-minute cameo on the pitch.

I might be proved wrong, but Jo Inge Berget’s versatility makes him a candidate to come off the bench to me.




Of the others, in recent years Jones has seldom looked like the player he once was, Fabio seemed to fade from the Old Trafford picture and wasn’t great at QPR last season.

And while Zaha has a big reputation, it was founded on what he did in the Championship.

Potentially though, the three of them can be improvements on what we have and Solskjær can at least be said to have been given the chance to build something like his own side within a month of arriving.

Only time will tell if he’s done a good job in putting it together.

I agree with what you have said but i do have concern/doubts as to IF he was given much money to play with for transfers

Comparing Ole's signings to Malky's signings I would say that we are unlikely to lose money on any of Ole's signings....just hoping that we are not in a position that we would need to sell them.

Good analysis of the 6 signings.

Need a central defender and goalscorer as well as ditching the 4-5-1 away from home. Our full backs are not good enough to double up as wingers.