It's not a sensible risk though. If used your philsophy and kept the remaining players in the last year of their deals it would be catastrophic if we didn't go up. We'd have to replace them without any money though. At least by selling the we're likely to raise a fair few quid. 8-10 for Robertson, and similar for Abel.
Abel is actually one I'd keep over Robertson. A virtually guaranteed 20+ goal a striker would be more expensive to replace than what we'd get for him. Letting Davies, Elmo, etc leave is different and it isn't a big deal if they leave.
He isn't good defensively. I think that vast majority would agree also. How many goals did he cost us last year? 5? 10? It's easy to say with hindsight that Cairney shouldn't have been sold, but by his own admission he said that he only grew up once he left. He's developed into something that few could have foreseen at the time and I hope he gets his PL move this year.
I can't think of a single goal Robertson directly cost us. Can you cite one or two since you think he cost us 10?
I can think of 2. The Mahrez one which whoever was in goal for really should have stopped it and was probably more at fault anyway and giving away that daft penalty against whoever it was. How many superb last ditch tackles, blocks and interceptions did he make to prevent chances in comparison? A **** load. I think 90% of people could see how talented Cairney was and what he could be when he left and was probably the point where the vast majority realised Steve Bruce is a dunce. He didn't develop because he wore a different colour shirt, he developed because he was playing games. Something that fat **** wouldn't let him do in favour of that useless little ginger midget and even his ****ing son.
I think the club want rid as they see him as a saleable asset. Therefore the £8m has probably been leaked from the club.
I don't agree with your evaluation. It seems others don't either, given the clubs linked with him, I'd suspect they don't think he's a defensive liability either. £8m is **** all given the money sloshing around the PL these days.
It doesn't say anywhere in the BBC article £9m + £3m add ons. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...p-join-crystal-palace-leicester-opt-sell-12m/ The telegraph says Leicester rejected £9.5m from Palace, why would they then sell for £9m. We know how tenuous 'add ons' can be.
He's realistically been linked with Burnley and Watford. He's a bottom 6 defender in my opinion and the clubs with substantial interest in him appear to illustrate that
It is duck all for a player of Robbos calibre, but at the same time we've no idea what's going on behind the scenes and who's interested. Personally I would think a few are but who knows. He's a year left on his contract, extension activated, he's better than us whether we get promoted or not so IMO unlikely to sign a new deal regardless as I'm sure he'll have plenty of options as a FAT. If Burnley are the only club willing to part with cash then he's worth what they're willing to pay. It depends what happens with other player sales as to whether that's a decent £8m or a bad one. We might just need it and a defender isn't the toughest position to replace.
Well yes, Watford finished 17th and Newcastle are newly promoted with big question marks over whether Rafa will stay. I consider both bottom six sides. There's only been substantial interest from Watford and Burnley hence why I used the term substantial. He's never going to Liverpool in a million years, he's worse than Moreno for a start.
I've had a little think of goals Robertson's been liable for. So far I have the two penalties he's needlessly conceded against Liverpool and Man City. There was the daft one against Leicester as mentioned and the second goal away at Spurs. So I'm at 4 and I've only just started looking...
So you're including penalties given away not his actual defending ability. So is Clucas a **** player too as he conceded a penalty? The Leicester goal was hardly his fault, anymore than any spectacular goal is the player's fault. Though there were some who tried to blame Jak for Xhaka's worldy so I suppose some will try to do it.
£8m is even worse when you consider the sell-on. In my eyes we'd be better if we went for straight player swaps, see if we can pick up 2 or 3 fringe players for him.