Perryqhill
Striker
gordon was the better keeper i'm not saying otherwise but 9m for a great keeper who could never stay fit or a solid goalkeeper and 500k who you could depend on....
you can't tell me that gordon was better than fulop and a 9m striker?
I don't think Fulop was solid tbf, though we could have bought one who was relatively cheaply. Easy to criticise Gordon too but looking individually at his injuries:
He had broken bone which wasn't picked up by xray. Keane insisted he played when he didn't want to and he made the injury worse and it was picked up = extended time out.
Defoe basically stamped on his arm - time out. He had a plate in his arm when he came back and he was in absolutely tremendous form at the back end of the season. The following season on medical advice he had the plate taken out and immediately his arm broke in the same place, resulting in him having to have a plate put in again and costing more time out.
The last one was a knee injury. It was persistent for a while and possibly needed operating on. IIRC he had an exploritory op and visited a specialist, who suggested to strengthen it and play on, but it ended up making things worse. He did rather than having it operated on, but it cost him his career here and a year or two or his career.
Three things which kept him out ages, but largely could have been avoided. If I was going to criticise him it wouldn't be for the injuries, it would be I didn't think he was the strongest goalkeeper at times, but he was a tremendous keeper and leagues ahead of Fulop.