[wba1978]

Not overly impressed with the videos of this Metz striker Habib Diallo we are supposed to be looking at.  The only thing you could say for certain looking at them is that he is lucky with deflection's.  Josh ???

His facts & figures from last season look OK though - was it 12 goals from 26 games "in a struggling team" (where have I heard that before)?

Looking at it, the deal is us paying £6m for the season loan which would be paid back if we go down. Not sure what the final fee would be on staying up but that sounds like the sort of deal we'd be interested in, wouldn't it?
Wages on top, obviously, but it sounds ideal to me!

Not sure when Spurs have just turned down a 1.5 mil Euro loan bid for Deli Alli from PSG (not surprising), OK, they turned it down, but I am sure if you are doing a comparison.  In terms of looking at the numbers, I have only thought that is of any use, if the numbers are from comparable leagues with comparable players.  We would not be looking at a L1 player who was 50 in 46 and think he could do it in the Prem and I am not sufficiently familiar with the French league to figure out whether the numbers would be of any use.

French Ligue 1 had a Champions League finalist (PSG) and 2 semi-finalists (PSG and Lyon). Lyon finished mid table and knocked Man City out in the quarters. So on paper, you could say Ligue 1 was a better standard than the Premier League last year. So the numbers are worth taking into consideration. At the very least the numbers show you that the lad knows where the goal is, he also scored 26 in Metz's promotion year in 18/19.

That said, a lot depends how a player fits into a style. Look at Peter Odemwingie, he came from the Russian Premier League which is considered inferior and in his 3 seasons there, his best goalscoring season was 10 goals. On paper, that would mean he would struggle to score in the Premier League. Yet, when he came he was a revelation and bagged 15 in his first season and 10 in his second.

Incidentally, Odemwingie scored 5 in 29 in his last season in French Ligue 1 before joining the Russian Premier League.

So the numbers can be deceiving. Sometimes you get someone bag loads in an inferior league and flop and other times you get someone actually do better in the Premier League. It's a funny game!

All that said, Diallo wouldn't be my choice as in the Metz games I watched last season, he didn't have the look of a natural footballer. That said, on the flip side of the coin, I saw Slimani for Monaco and he looked fantastic and provided a couple of phenomenal passes to assist goals in the games I watched. His goalscoring record was really good as well, yet his name has gone down like a lead balloon with our fans for some reason.

Diallo would be much more of an asset, considering Slimani is 32yo.  
Personally haven't seen Diallo play, (accept on Youtube), and haven't seen Slimani since Leicester days, but I would go with the younger man.
Realistically how many years does Slimani have left?  He may keep us up this season... But is that what it's all about? (I suppose so?)
Build for the future I say, and if we do go down, we may have enough to come straight back up?
And if not...?  
At least we can balance the books...