Think your losing the plot a bit here KP with respect. A player that breaks up and instigates?...Mulumbu has been doing that for the last three years! Cant see that there would be that much difference between Jacob and Morrison/Dorrans other than the position they are asked to adopt. they are all Midfielders who pass the ball. Jacob is of interest because of that, he is well drilled in that position and the club want someone who can come in and do that job straight away.
Fact still remains that we lack a real powerhouse player with the legs to get all over the pitch and dominate games by imposing himself. Arguably the most influential player in the PL last season? Ya Ya Toure.........................I rest my case
Mulumbu is not an instigator of attacks, more a terminator of them before they've even started. Even the head of the Official Mulumbu Fan Club would struggle to call Mulumbu a creative player whilst keeping a straight face. Mulumbu is a great player - fantastic work-rate, very aggressive, very physical, very strong, great tackler etc. but on the ball he's poor. Once he wins the ball he has a very bad habit of either running into trouble and losing it or misplacing a simple pass. Scharner was virtually the same. Mulumbu and Scharner both did a good job of getting forward supporting and sometimes even finishing attacks in the 2010/11 season, but it was mainly Thomas, Brunt, Odemwingie and whoever played attacking midfield who did the creating.
By 'instigating attacks' (which was probably not the best description I admit) I mean someone with a steady head who has creativity and vision to dictate the game from a deep position and who can make things happen by playing telling passes long and short, not just someone who can pass it 5 yards. Dare I say it, a 'Pirlo' type player. We're missing a player like that I feel, and the fact that he is apparently a very good destroyer also means we won't lose much defensively by having him in the team. Win win. It's possible Dorrans or Morrison could play that position since they're both very good passers and good defensively, but their talents generally lie in going forwards so they'd arguably be 'wasted' playing there, and there's no guarantee they'll adapt to/learn the role quickly enough. Brunt and Dorrans have both played the deeper role before and neither of them looked particularly impressive there. Attempting to fit square pegs into round roles rarely works in football, if you want a player to fill a certain position/role then you should buy a player who specialises in that position/role rather than trying to make a player who doesn't specialise in it work there.