der Berliner

Changes to the OP ... IN - Cedric itten OUT - Jermaine Defoe Will wait till there is something more concrete about the Stephen Kelly loan rumour.

Maybe we offer Hearts the chance of a "lucrative friendly" game?

From the Kicker article ... a rather level headed view: More recently, the 25-year-old only had a place on the bench, during the 0-0 against Augsburg and 0-0 against VfB Stuttgart: Fürth would have needed goals for a win, Itten has proved that he can get them, and yet coach Stefan Leitl refrained from using the striker from the bench. It simply did not fit - at the latest after Leitl turned away from his offensive, courageous approach (of last season and early on this season, DB) to the game and concentrated on stabilizing the defense - at the expense of the attack. Only one of three Fürth players who can have more than one goal of the season. Therefore, a separation makes sense, six months before the originally intended end of the loan. And that although Itten was one of only three players in the Fürth squad who have scored more than one goal all season. He scored in the 1-3 defeat against Bayern and in the 1-2 against Eintracht Frankfurt, only Branimir Hrgota (four goals this season, including three penalties) and Jamie Leweling (three) got more. Itten's "problem": He's a penalty area striker with good finishing qualities, but has to be served in the penalty area. Yet, the Shamrocks managed to get into this dangerous zone less and less recently and when they did, it was via counter attacks. Thing is, he is a Hateley type penalty area striker and we hardly played to his strengths, but time and again hoped that our left and right attacking player would come up with the goals to support Morelos. I do hope that GvB sticks to his words and changes the line-up according to the oposition at hand, rather than doing the same "4-3-3" over and over again. That aside, Itten won`t cost us a penny (and can`t be loaned anywhere else).

Just demand that everyone entering the ground has to have had a shower within the last 24 hours and there will be enough empty seats at the Scumdome.

Some murmurs that once Skov Olsen`s valuation by Bologna and Rangers are aligned, the Dane will be in Glasgow. The Italians thought of pounds while we of Euros, when the 7.5m were debated.

DR (link only for reference) reports that Middlesbrough might want Simpson. There is also some rumours that we might want to grab the Arab`s goalie Siegrist on a pre-contract, but I`ll give that runour another 24 hours or so. OUT - Jack Simpson - Middlesbrough - LINK (10 Jan)

Update on the Souttar rumour, plus Dutch-CH and Colombian striker links added: IN - John Souttar - 25, CH, Scottish, contract till 2022 - LINK (05 Jan) new LINK (09 Jan)- TM IN - Danilho Doekhi - 23, CH, Dutch/Suriname, contract till 2022 - LINK (09 Jan) - TM IN - Frank Castaneda - 27, ST, Colombia, freebie - LINK (09 Jan) - TM

You can`t exactly get your head around this, even over here. We`ve had 15k supporters in outdoor arenas and 5k indoors - double-jabbed and mask-wearing. They now have reduced this outdoors to no spectators whatsoever, while indoors it is reduced to 2k (incl. staff), at least in sports arenas. So we have 2k people tomorrow at the Mercedes-Benz-Arena ice-hockey game, all people doubble-jabbed, mask-wearing and having to provide a negative test valid for tomorrow too. And obviously rather strict health protocols all around the arena. While it is quite beyond me, why large football stadiums can`t have 5 to 25k spectators spread across the stands, the main argument against it is that outside the stadium distance-/health-restrictions won`t be adhered to. For reference, the MBA has a capacity of 14.5 (ice-hockey) to 17k.

A few "defensive" things ... - James Sands arrived in Scotland and Rangers without a fan or reporter even noticing it. (Though someone having hospitality treatment at Ibrox yesterday was adamant that he saw Sands, et even our German admin refrained from posting the info from this FB group chat.) Some feat by the club. - Helander, Balogun, Simpson ... have had their troubles this season, and Balogun`s and Goldson`s contracts end this summer. Whether the Patterson etc. money will allow us to be more flexible in the wages structure (if we actually want that to happen) remains to be seen. - Bassey has been used as a CH of late and that side of defence looks okay and will probably get better, not least with Barisic getting back to his best. - James Sands is a CH by trade and can step straight into the team (though he might get a few sub appearances to get used to the Scottish game first). - Leon King has now been promoted to the first team squad (and for a reason), again, in the CH position - Souttar would come in a low or no fee, normal wages and some good form too - the risk is limited. Thus, it might look to be the end of the road for Simpson, whereas it is anyone guess with regards to Balogun beyond the summer. Goldson is a bit of a conundrum, yet we have yet to hear of any solid interest from England et al. All in all, what matters most is that we looked decently covered in the CH positions for the rest of the season, not least when Souttar would be added to the current squad. Should Helander return and Balogun gets fit again, we`d also have cover for either fullback position with the latter and Bassey. As for Lundstram ... I would assume that his wages are pure guesswork (and even if not, was agreed to by SG and Ross Wilson) and why he gets so much IMHO unwarranted animosity is beyond me. He`s been placed alongside Kamara every now and then and IMHO he`s more the Arfield type of combative midfielder who likes to move forward every now and then. As a DM, Kamara and Jack are possibly better, but in nigh all of the games that I saw Lundstram, he did okay. Or at least not worse than anyone else on the pitch. Sometimes it is baffling how people remember all the bad stuff one player manages to do on the pitch and kind of ignore his overall play, while it is the complete opposite with others.

BTW, transfermarkt give the fee we got for Patterson as 12.6m (and they are rarely wrong with somesuch). Not that it matters that much to us.

I`ll place him in the transfer thread squad list then.

I wonder who in Bologna would deem themselves bigger than us. 🤣 Heart & Hand have since denied that we made any bid.

Methinks Newcastle have serious striker problems ...

Promoting Tony Weston was 😉 Nah, as I said, we will have contingency plans for each position and should we really bank 20-30m, those plans will see higher quality arrive. Personally, I like Itten and would have played him along another striker far more often. SG didn`t, and whether Gio will is anyone`s guess. Sakala`s drive from the left-attacking position is quite tremendous too, I wonder how a frontline of Sakala - Itten - Roofe might work, with Kent, Wright, Aribo and/or Hagi behind them. Every now and then we could really try a 3-4-3 or the like ... to break down the low-block teams.

Well, loan-fees will be significantly smaller than a straight buy, after all, this chap has a contract till 2026. US-boys are usually technically and physically good and we would see how he developes during the loan. A permanent fee after that would likewise be smaller and you would hope we have banked a few million from CL campaigns and player sales by then.

20m for Morelos would be tremendous. We`d recall Itten, promote Tony Weston as the new Derek Johnstone and give Jermaine Defoe game time. After all, if Dortmund sell Haaland this window, we should even their chances. Back in the real world ... 20m for Morelos would still be tremendous and I assume Wilson and Co. have contingency plans for every player and position.

Huge talent and sad to see him go ... but he won`t get game time and this solution will thus be the best for both parties. Word from Italy that we`ve bid Euro 6m for Skov Olson.

Today we were penciled in to play the Scum in front of 500 people, yet, since their injuries mounted, they embraced the idea of bringing the winter break forward by a couple of weeks ... and the compliant authorities complied (I alwaya laugh at the term Compliance Officer, given how he complied to their will). by the looks of it, they injuries will clear up come February, and I doubt Mr. "60-mins" Turnbull will still be out by then either. In addition to this, they will probably have 3 Japanese recruits ready (even if they have to go into quarantine), one of which is a mean finisher. Maybe Mad Nic allows more people into the Scumhut too. It can be all so easy ... I for one wouldn`t be surprised to see our transfer business drag on till the last week of January, we possible loose one or two important players or Covid comes calling. The African Cup of Nation is also looming ... even though Bassey is not called up and Balogun has withdrawn, AFAIK.

We`ve loaned Middleton and Hastie, sold Jones and let Stewart go. We`ve got Kent and Wright, who are primarily left "wingers", plus Barker. Hagi is not a right winger, even though he is being shoe-horned into that role. Roofe, Sakala and Morelos could all play on either side of a central striker, but are used there rather rarely. Patterson was a right winger in his youth, and I for one want to have a winger on either side providing amo for the strikers (sic!), in addition to a fullback doing the same. I reckon that we try to get one right-sided attacker and do hope that we adjust our system every now and then, playing with a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 with "real attackers" in the opposition`s half.

New link to A.S. Olsson and soe Dutch chap from Leeds IN - Andreas Skov Olsen - Bologna, 21, RW, Denmark, contract till 6/2024 - LINK - new LINK- TM IN - James Sands - New York City, 21, CB, USA, contract till 2026 - LINK - TM IN - Crysencio Summerville - Leeds United, 20, RW, Dutch, contract till 2023 - LINK - TM

No-one bar some slavering fools north of Hadrian`s Wall are interested in what one of their idols has to say. It is in fact astounding how many ex-Yahoos have found their way into the Scottish mhedia machine and who's opinion is deemed important and noteworthy. In turn, you see by the level of former Rangers-players in that same media how credible the whole thing is.

Well, I was more thinking about some Anatolian or other Near East tongue. Quite surprisingly, it is indeed a Turkish version of the Arabic name Akram (The Benelovent /Generous) and an elative of Kerim (which we know). Now back to the important things ... 😉 ... Gudmundsson and Olsson are RWs, BTW.

Looks more solid a rumour ...

Ekrem Konur looks more like an anagram than a real name.

Another link ... Albert Gudmundsson, a right-winger from Ajax, contract till summer 2022. His stats at Transfermarkt