Wigan striker options

Vital Wigan has many contributors from far and wide, regular poster and avid Latics fan Fly Eagles Fly is based in Philadelphia, USA, here he discusses what could be the options for a new striker at the club

Fly Eagles Fly:

So, with the whole we-need-a-striker thing going on, and given the fact that we've not been linked with much, I figured I'd try to make a list of places we could come up with a striker from.

We might not end up with a striker at all, of course, but this is just me brainstorming the possibilities.

So, here goes.

1) A cheap international - there are plenty of these guys out there, the strikers with great strike rates playing in lower or significantly lower leagues.

For example, we've been linked with two so far in recent weeks, in Tenorio and Mputu.

They're inexpensive (or at least not as expensive as domestic strikers in January), but they're also big risks.

You could end up with a diamond in the rough, or you could end up with the next Julius Aghahowa.

2) An MLS player - okay, it falls into the previous category, but these guys seem to do pretty well when they transfer, and hey, added bonus, no need to learn a new language.

With the best option already off to Fulham (though they just got King, maybe they won't want Eddie Johnson anymore? Yeah never mind), there are only two legitimate options right now.

One is Taylor Twellman, a 27 year old striker with 29 international caps who wants desperately to play in England but just had the league turn a 1.25m bid down.

He wouldn't be a starter right away, but he could be a guy to give a chance to.

The other is Brian Ching, a 29 year-old Hawaiian with 25 caps who's put in a lot of time on the international squad recently and who has started for the MLS-winning team two years running.

Both would be good squad players here, at the least, though they admittedly don't have much in terms of potential.

But last I checked most other American Premier Leaguers are doing pretty well for themselves.

3) A Fulham player? - 8m worth of strikers are coming in, right? So someone's going to end up being pushed out. Yeah, probably not though.

4) An EPL mid-table team fringe striker or high-end championship striker - James McFadden, Marlon King, Leroy Lita.

Most could come in and start for us, but many are in a similar 'big, powerful, less finesse, less scorer's touch, most of goals scored shortly after shoving someone out of the way' mold.

All are also worth about 2m and go for about 5.

5) A fringe player for another good team - Maciej Zurawski is a 31 year-old Celtic fringe striker who's been told he's not playing in Euro 2008 unless he can get some regular playing time. Recently linked to LA Galaxy.

Likely, no, but a 6-month loan might not work out badly. Other than that, similar to #4 except they're more accurately priced, but their playing style might just totally not match up with the Prem and they could still be a total bust.

6) High-end striker - maybe foriegn, maybe domestic, someone like Michael Owen, Jermain Defoe or Darren Bent who could be a star, but could really use a Bramble-esque guaranteed starting spot, change of scenery, and removal of pressure that comes with playing for a wannabe top-6 club.

Chances of it actually happening: zero.

7) Exploitation of Bruce's relationships to loan or buy somebody from a top-4 club who will never actually reach that club's starting lineup.

Bruce's Wenger relationship, for example, hasn't produced anything we've been promised so far, like a loan deal or a successful reccomendation, so who knows

Maybe Wenger will feel bad about it and give us one of his won't-acually-ever-play-this-year first teamers like Mr. Nacer Barazite until the end of the season.

Let me know if you have any other ideas.

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