To round off the week, a week where I failed to post really, I'm going to recap on what has been a busy one at Thorp Arch.
Amdy Faye
The first piece of news this week was the slightly surprising loss of Amdy Faye. Although he's not really played enough for someone at his stage in his career, as Simon said:
"He really needs to play more games than he's been able to, and opportunities have been limited for him."
Amdy has probably decided the best option is to move in a bid for games in his career's twilight. I say its a surprising loss as currently we're a little short at CM with Kilkenny away with Aus. until probably the end of the month. This however will no doubt be rectified in the transfer window as Grayson is surely in the market for a midfielder. (City fans commenting on Michael Johnson appearing for their reserves remarked he doesn't look like he's been away, and he looks a lot leaner now he's back in full time training.)To the point, he didn't turn out to be the tackling enforcer we all dearly want in the Leeds midfield, despite one good showing vs. 'Boro (away) he didn't seem to be up to the pace or up to what Grayson required from him.
Zac Thompson
Second this week we managed to sign a young midfielder, Zac Thompson, on a free having been on trial after release from Everton earlier this season. He's been here before, originally before Christmas, and Grayson obviously rated him enough to give him a go until the end of the season. No lose situation here really, if he's good enough he stays past the summer and we have a talent picked up on the cheap. He plays in the centre of midfield, and featured in this week's 3-1 reserves win against Scunthorpe.
Loanees
Briefly, as I did an article on Grella and Lubo a week or so ago, our loanees have returned. Grella stays until we find a club for him to go to as it seems Carlisle may be struggling to afford to take him back. But, he's not staying here:
"There's no point in him being here if he isn't going to feature at this moment in time, but he's a good player and a good goalscorer, and he's looked sharp since he came back.
"The loan spell has obviously done him good, but at the same time I don't want him not playing."
I can't say I'm a Grella fan. He has shown brief glimpses of talent but his lack of profile in front of goal at the club so far has limited my praise for him. Somma seems to be what we should expect from a talent who can offer the club something - scoring 7 this season so far. Although young, I'd hoped more goals would come for Grella. With our current striker glut, I really can't say I'm sure he'll play for us again in the foreseeable future.
Lubo, however stayed briefly. Grayson advertised the fact he was loaned out but available for a permanent deal and it seems Carlisle have overcome the stumbling block of him being on "big, big wages", as Greg Abbott said. He was released by mutual consent, no doubt allowing Abbott to bring him in. We weren't going to get anything like the 500k we spent on him after 3 seasons in League One. I have to say, when he came in on loan during the relegation season, he was a revelation. When played alongside the right centre back partner, who could instill a bit of confidence in him, he looked very good. He looked good far too sporadically, though, during his time at the club. Which is a shame, as at times, he definitely did fulfill his potential, but perhaps not 500k's worth of potential. Crazy money really for such a player. Personally though, I can't see why we paid upwards of 300k (apparently) for Collins who is no clear improvement, whilst Lubo was frozen out. A bit of a shame really.
Nunez
He's staying until the end of the season. This is a good sign of talent as, despite not playing much (2 sub apps) Grayson obviously rates Ramon (the attacking midfielder/striker) enough to see a little more of him. In his time here hes played several Internationals for Honduras and is currently away at the Copa Americana for them. He seems a direct and attacking player and from what very little anybody's seen of him (mainly the Cardiff drubbing at home) he seemed to be willing to run at defenders and added a bit of a spectrum to our passing - he found our wide players quickly and from distance at times which impressed me. Whatever talents he has, Simon has seen them and his given him a chance. Personally, I doubt he'll feature anything other than occasionally from the bench as we look to bring in reinforcements in midfield, and we're already stocked up with attacking players.
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