Player Focus: Attacking Targets for Promoted Clubs - Odemwingie, Graham, Bendtner, Sagbo

Promotion to the Premier League is an almighty achievement, but a daunting one at that. The prize money in itself not only gives an indication of just how vast a challenge lies ahead, but also of the level of investment that is needed to stand any chance of survival. Of course, such investment needs to be in the right players. Reading were underprepared for life in the top flight, while QPR overspent vastly and in the wrong places. Neither ever truly threatened to stay up.

Cardiff, Hull and Crystal Palace join the elite in the top flight this season, and all three will be keen to avoid the same mistakes as those teams that have failed in recent years. New signings will need to be balanced with caution, as the newly promoted teams seek to secure another year in the riches of the Premier League. Thus, this summer is a vitally important time to all three clubs and the most necessary area to strengthen for each will be up front. Scoring goals in the Championship is one thing, doing so in the Premier League is another.

While Cardiff have already brought in Andreas Cornelius from FC Copenhagen, at only 20 years of age he is largely unproven, and at a club record £7.5m he is something of a risk. A tactic that can often bear fruit for promoted sides is to sign out-of-favour players who want out from teams who were in the top flight last season. Usually, their current employers want to remove such a player from their wage bill and that can mean relative bargains for potential suitors. Plenty in that mould have been linked with moves to the three latest additions to the top flight, and could possess the potential to supply the goals to fire a side to safety.

Peter Odemwingie

The Uzbekistan-born Nigeria international effectively ended his West Brom career by inexplicably driving to Loftus Road at the tail end of the January transfer window in an attempt to force through a move to QPR. After no offer was accepted, he was disciplined by the club and played only a further 105 minutes - all from the substitutes bench - between then and the end of the season. Fans turned against him and he fell out of favour with the coaching staff. His attitude will have put off many a potential suitor, though his footballing qualities cannot be denied and newly promoted sides have no time to be picky; all three have been linked with him of late.

Able to play centrally or on either wing, Odemwingie is a versatile and tricky attacker who can create as well as score goals. In 13 starts in the Premier League last season, he scored 5 goals and set up one more, adding 2 more assists when appearing from the bench. The most recent was hardly his most glorious season, though; his 10 and 15 goals in the 2 campaigns previous give a better indication of his capabilities. 26 of his 30 Premier League goals have come from 130 shots from inside the box, meaning he converts 1 in every 5 chances he gets inside the penalty area. Also completing 1.2 successful dribbles per game last term, he did so more often than any other West Brom player and while his presence off the pitch may not be too sorely missed, on the pitch he will certainly be able to make a difference for whichever side he ends up at.

Danny Graham

After Charlie Austin's prospective move from Burnley fell through, Steve Bruce has been forced to look elsewhere for new striker options, and he has this week declared his interest in Swansea-hit turned Sunderland-flop Danny Graham. A successful first season in the top flight saw Graham bag 12 goals as the Swans' top scorer, before he was touted in some quarters for an England call up. This term he managed only 3 goals in 18 appearances for the Welsh side as he battled it out with Michu for the starting berth up front, before he was shipped off to the North East to try and help out Martin O'Neill's ailing side.

After Steven Fletcher's season-ending injury, Graham went on to make 13 appearances without scoring a single goal, despite having 16 attempts on goal in that time. Sunderland stayed up rather in spite of Graham than because of him and Paulo Di Canio could well look to offload a player that he probably wouldn't himself have purchased had he been at the helm in January. Di Canio is certainly looking to strengthen his squad and may look to cash in on the striker before his value depletes yet further with - potentially at least - yet more goalless months. Some might have thought that Graham just couldn't adapt to O'Neill's style of play, but he continued his dry spell under Di Canio too and it may be time for him to start afresh somewhere else. Also linked with Palace, Graham looks set to move on this summer.

Nicklas Bendtner

13 of the 24 Championship sides scored more goals than Hull City last season (61 goals) and it is no surprise to see Steve Bruce hunting more than just one attacking addition to his squad. Having managed Nicklas Bendtner at both Birmingham and Sunderland, he is well-acquainted with the Dane, though that is arguably a reason to question his interest rather than accept it.

Once touted as the next big thing, Bendtner has failed at Arsenal and it should be time that Arsene Wenger does his utmost to offload him on a permanent basis this summer. He has been out on three loan separate spells in his 8 years in London, but has failed to impress all that much in any of them. His most recent - at Serie A champions Juventus - saw him earn just 9 appearances, 7 of which came from the bench. He netted with none of his 12 shots, hitting the target on 4 occasions (33% shot accuracy).

The Dane is an egotistical player, and will not call into question his own abilities, instead wondering why teammates are not creating good enough chances for him to finish. He would be mistaken in doing so, though, having missed his only 2 clear-cut chances while at Juve, and scoring just 3 out of 12 such chances in his time as the main striker at Sunderland the season before. He top-scored for the Black Cats that season with just 8 goals for a largely unexciting side, and would not be the fresh, new, dangerous addition to the Hull squad that they require. He may well think of himself as too good to be fighting relegation as well and could be a disruptive figure off the field as well as lacking sufficient influence or ability on it to keep Hull in the Premier League.

Yannick Sagbo

One potential import to the Premier League could be that of Yannick Sagbo from Ligue 1's Evian Thonon Gaillard. Newcastle have had much success bringing players in from the French top flight in recent seasons, and Hull and Palace are rumoured to be looking into bringing Sagbo in this summer. The Ivory Coast international has fallen down the pecking order behind Saber Khelifa at Evian and is reportedly available for transfer. With 6 goals and 4 assists this season, Sagbo is a big and strong striker who is prone to the odd heavy challenge; a tally of 9 yellow cards speaks for itself. 

He is good in the air, winning 2 aerial duels per game this season, whilst also being extremely ambitious in his play, attempting 17 of his 60 shots this season from outside the area. Having scored 5 of the 11 clear-cut chances that fell his way, he takes chances when he gets them, and could well be a welcome acquisition to either Bruce or Ian Holloway's side.