Buy or Loan ???

We need an experienced Championship striker for a Championship club - Premier League strikers rarely cut it in the Championship and never from the outset

I personally hope we buy Maynard.

I also think we need another so a loan may be an option aswell.

The buy-or-loan decision is only clear when you know who you are talking about.

In a theoretical, almost abstract sense, a buy is preferable to a loan, if only because the player is making an emotional investment in the club and is more likely to give 100%. But that doesn't mean that you should buy a mediocre player for the sake of making a purchase when there are good people available on loan.

As usual, I'm sure there will be a whirlwind of activity tomorrow, and everything can change in a moment, but I can imagine some bizarre situations developing this year. For example, Redknapp doesn't appear to fancy *any* of his strikers right now. On past record, he will sign a couple of players at five minutes to window closure, but is it all going to happen too late for him to sell his unwanted forwards?

Giovani will doubtless be loaned out again, but it's also not out of the question (depending on who Spurs manage to buy and sell tomorrow) that *two* of Crouch, Defoe and Pavlyuchenko might find themselves contemplating loan spells this autumn.

That's how weird things are this year. As things stand, even Berbatov – Fergie has apparently ruled out selling him – may find himself wondering if a spell on the pitch in the Championship isn't better than a spell in Man U reserves!

So it's far from a clear-cut position. If only we could nail the question down to something more precise, the answer might be plainer. If I knew the choice was, say, 'push the Maynard offer to £7m or borrow Crouch until Christmas and review the situation' I'd be much readier with an answer.