I don’t think de Jong is a great fit for his undoubted quality. You don’t want to fork out marquee $ for half a season. There are also questions around the work rate which rely on having Grant doing the job of 1.5 men.
I’m not sure how much staying here would appeal to him either. I’d think he was hoping our good record with sports science AKA “managing the meat” in previous years to give him an injury free season to get him back to a decent European level. However, we’ve clearly gone back to the pack now.
I am not so sure Corica sees it that way. I think he quite likes De Jong and Reza. I have a feeling he will want to keep both and hope the De Jong turns amazing next season.
He has class and skill but still lacking the work rate and enthusiasm to stay in this team. We are better off with going back in the lottery and trying to sign 3 new foreign players.
I suppose that as long as he’s still strong he could still do a job - it’s not like there was any pace to lose. If you look at it as replacing Reza’s place with Bobo, then it might make sense, as he’d offers something different to Alfie.
The football world is a big one. Surely we can find another good striker than just going back to Bobo, who a year later certainly won’t be the force he was, especially after the year he’s had in Turkey.
If Bobo comes in well within the cap, given his age, then I’d take him. Would be happy with him coming off the bench. Having said that, I feel like we’ve kinda moved on.
Also many of Bobo’s goals were dependent on reliable crosses from our full-backs. The left side has been so ineffective this season in doing just that. Bobo would be lucky to score 10 goals if he came back, and that’s being generous.
I think part of the left sides issues with crossing is that they dont have anybody to aim at. Love Bobo, but feel like his time with the club has come and gone. Not sure how useful he would be at 35 after 12 months of barely featuring.
I would take Bobo for 1 season in cap, he will likely be more effective than Reza. If it allows us to get a marquee creative midfielder to replace Adrian then that might work. Also, how are crosses from the left any worse than from the right?
More, who would you have as a back up that’s Aussie and a proven commodity. Granted Bobo hasn’t done much in Turkey, but at the same time, he didn’t have an amazing year prior to coming here (6 in 29 games). Plus we also have Rezza as back up at the moment and we still managed to finish in the top 3 (hopefully second)
The difference is I don’t think we intended Reza to be backup, he just hasn’t been as good as we hoped.
But in terms of other Australians, I’m not sure who is on the market but it’s not like there aren’t Australians capable of scoring 4 or 5 off the bench out there. I can’t see Bobo at that age contributing much more than that.