Yahoo News Troy Parrott transfer 'would tick a lot of boxes' for Stoke City
It is no secret that Stoke City will be in the market for a striker or two this summer transfer window but who or what kind of striker should be top of Jon Walters' and Steven Schumacher's shopping list remains open to debate.
Giving their view from the terraces are Stoke supporters JON OWEN, from Seabridge; LIAM HALL, from Dresden; and RICHARD JAMES, from Blythe Bridge. Agree or disagree? Have your say in the comments section. Want to join the fans’ panel? Get in touch via peter.smith01@reachplc.com
'We need a Kieffer Moore-type to lead the line'
Jon Owen: I've hoped we'd be in for Kieffer Moore for a number of years, and while he probably won't be available this summer, someone of his ilk, to really lead the line, would be perfect.
I always think the best we've looked since we came down to the Championship was when we had Steven Fletcher as a focal point up front. His physical presence helped get the best out of Tyrese Campbell and Nick Powell, and it's something I hope we can replicate with Junho and Manhoef playing off a target man type.
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'Data can find the right striker to suit our system'
Liam Hall: I'm not particularly interested in how many goals a striker has scored previously, of course a good record always helps but they tend to either cost a premium or you have to sign someone on their way down and we've been down that route and failed too many times before.
What I really want us to do and I'm confident in the new data-driven era that Schuey is big on, is find a striker that will fit the system he intends to play. Look at Carlton Morris and Adebayo at Luton, their goalscoring records weren't great at mostly a lower level before Luton, yet they've both scored plenty since moving there because they were signed to fit a system. We've seen it ourselves in the past, Stein/Sheron/Thorne were all plucked from relative obscurity.
I'm sure names like Cannon, Stansfield and even Delap will be talked about a lot on the Oatcake and Twitter and one of those could be the answer if available and attainable. I just hope we're looking far and wide for a man to fit the system to a tee, someone who can score goals but also bring the likes of Bae and Million into the game, as they will both be looking for 10+ goals each this season I'm sure.
'I'd love us to go for Troy Parrott'
Richard James: The issues we had up front last season have long been a problem that had appeared impossible to solve. We’ve spent money, we’ve not spent money. We’ve signed potential and we’ve signed experience. They’ve pretty much all failed to put the round, white thing between the two wooden posts however (with the very odd exception).
Thats not to say it’s easy and I certainly don’t hold all the answers but ideally I’d like us to go out and get a striker who has actually been in goal scoring form rather than a player who showed glimpses of that three or four years ago. With that in mind, the player I’d love us to go for is Troy Parrott. Fabled as the next Harry Kane a couple of years ago he has just had an excellent season in the Dutch top flight scoring 17 goals for a team ultimately relegated.
To me he ticks a lot of boxes. He’s the right age, got good experience for a 22 year old and appears to be a very good finisher of all types of chances. How much they'd want for him is a different issue.
Another player who I like the look of is Tom Cannon who you’d expect not to feature too much following Leicester’s promotion. He had an excellent loan at Preston but having signed for the Foxes with a back injury, never had a chance to kick on last season. He looks a sharp forward with good movement and a player who can finish by taking chances early. A season-long loan could be good business in my opinion.
Adding both of those two would hopefully increase our current firepower immeasurably and make us a real handful with Junho and Manhoef supplying the bullets. Simple then. Over to Super Jon and his team now….
