Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

- Wanyama

If he is done then the club has to do things GRACEFULLY
(which includes financial settlement) . Not his fault his legs have gone,
so I expect the club NOT to do the dirty on him just to get rid.

- Llorente

I am hoping that he will not find a new club in "pension mode" , and
will accept the new contract offered. He may not play much, but there
are no doubt more Citeh/Ajax CL nights to come for/from him.

 

No new WHL distractions nor financial constraints this summer.
Which means no excuses.

I suspect that the Lo Celso saga will be the defining statement of the
relationship between Pochettino and Levy, just as the Moutinho saga
in 2013 seemed to be for AVB and Levy.

 

The player holds the cards and can sit out his time with us, if he chooses. Any deal would have to be good enough for him to take accelerated receipt of a lesser sum, in lieu of 2 years on the sidelines with us.

The club would rightly expect a discount on the remaining payments due under his contract, by allowing him to find alternative employment elsewhere and lost interest in putting a significant cash sum up-front. There's no question of hounding him out unless he breaches his contract, of which there is no indication.

I've heard it said that he had suitors last summer (from abroad) but he wanted to stay so that he could gain UK citizenship, which is now available to him. Maybe that might open up avenues to him and allow for a move or even to retire, if he wishes?

 

Taking a leaf out of Spurf's book and reading things at face-value, the face-value status of our squad as it is at time of writing is imho as follows:

- Solid step forward in strengthening CM by signing a player who we have been tracking for a good few years. Not a panic buy (which Sissoko probably was, ironically), not a knee-jerk hope for the best buy (GKN, Njie), but a well-researched, thoroughly thought-out strategy and as such I am confident that despite coming from a ****e league, he will be a success. I would say the same about Sessegnon, despite the poor season he just had.

- A risky level of reliance on unproven youngsters. Yes, it could be a master-stroke, but we are positioning ourselves so that first-choice RB is one of two players who have played fewer than 6 PL games in the position each. Our back-up striker is a highly talented 17 year old who hasn't played a single game at senior level, not even in the cups. Our back up for Winks is an 18 year old with 3 senior starts under his belt. Our new 4th choice CB is a 20 year old with no senior appearances under his belt either. All of this could fall into place really nicely and the young guns could be a revelation. But why people aren't at least a little bit nervous about it is frankly beyond me.

- As per last season, our current squad as it is will still see players chronically overused. We don't have proper back-up or competition for Eriksen or Alli, beyond a player who has been injured for a cumulative total of 3.5 years of his time in England.

- As PNP has mentioned, as things stand we will be losing 2 core players next summer and a 3rd will be turning 34 (Jan). To delay the inevitable and not take the opportunity to bed-in replacements this season would be catastrophic. City are doing just that this year by bringing in Rodri as a successor to Fernandinho. Not having a Toby replacement might be ok because we have Dave and Dier and maybe Tanganga will come good. But we'll need a Jan successor sooner rather than later too. We'll be losing him on a free. A player of his quality will cost a fortune to replace. Same goes for Eriksen. So the choice here seems to me to be, using players we've actually been linked with as an example to illustrate: Joachim Andersen & Lo Celso as long-term replacements in those areas, spend a year adapting to the PL and hit the ground running in 2020/21. Total cost = £80-90m. Or, leave things to stagnate, Toby, Eriksen and possibly Jan leave for free next summer, total cost to bring in replacements who are already at the level they can hit the ground running = £180-190m. If that's good business sense, let me know.

- There is still far too much deadwood at the club. The likes of Onomah, Edwards, CCV and Georgiou need to be sold to the highest bidder. Wanyama and GKN need to be offered to clubs for pennies, just to get them off the wage bill and open up spaces in the squad. There is zero point in retaining any of them for yet another season of inevitably going round in circles with meaningless loan deals. It isn't fair to the club or players themselves.

With all of that said, if the window closes and the above status quo hasn't changed, I will be apocalyptic. I make no apologies for that. I will probably for my own good and for the wider benefit of the Not606 community remove myself (again) from the forum (stop cheering guys ).

If the window ends with:
- Eriksen signs a new contract
- Deadwood cleared out
- Rose leaves
- Sess and Lo Celso arrive

I will be very, very happy. We're not asking the world. All of the above is definitely possible for a club in our position.

 

I generally agree but I do wish people would stop referring to players as deadwood. Those you list have done nothing much wrong and are contracted to the Club. They deserve our respect and understanding not being treated as a form of slave labour.

 

Those youngsters you mention CK won't all be in the team at the same time, so for them to be back-up to the back-up player, in my view is good and will give them the experience. We have all been screaming for KWP to be given the spot and now is his chance. Foyth has played internationally in that position. I for one am happy at the RB situation.
Parrott will only get playing time behind Harry, Son and Moura.He is not our first choice behind Kane.
Yesterday, we started without Moura, Dele, Sissoko, Dier and Davies. All first teamers. Capable of playing in various positions.
I wouldn't be unhappy to keep GKN as he always shows some ability although Georgiou is a worthy alternative.

 

Toby's gone next summer when his contract expires. He's been working towards it for over 2 years. There's nothing to be done abut it at this point but enjoy him for one last season. He asked for a sum the club couldn't afford at the time, so I'm not blaming anyone. These things can happen - see Herrera at United.

Christian Eriksen has probably gone too. Apparently, we've made him great offers (equalling HK's salary) but his heart is set on playing for clubs higher up the food chain. They don't seem to want him enough to pay money for him, so I'm not sure what we could have done differently. We can't sell him to clubs he doesn't want to play for and the clubs he wants, will only take him for peanuts or on a free. Catch 22.

Jan's position will be likely to be addressed after this season begins as it's not critical right now. Given who could be leaving next summer, I'd expect us to negotiate another deal but if he picks up an injury...?

Big Vic is done and there are no takers that interest him. I very much expect we'd let him go for nowt and subsidise his wages to free up a space in the squad. If that's not the case and someone's holding on to him in an unrealistic hope that he is a meaningful playing option, I'll join you in being well pissed off.

The 'dead wood' will go if offers of a sensible sum are received and MP sees no future for them. Again, those players need to accept the move. It's possible that the Sessegnon deal could depend upon Onomah, CCV or others wanting to go to Fulham? It's small beer compared to....

Lo Celso - for me, this is the one. This will define whether we've done good business or ****ed up again.

Along with Ndombele, I see his signing as being critical to moving the club forward. He's a serious talent, who MP really wants and could turn into an absolutely fabulous player. He can play in multiple positions, scores goals and will run and press like Erik Lamela. He's not cheap but compared to Harry Maguire, he's a ****ing bargain and within what we should be able to find, without player sales. The player wants to come and we can afford his wages.....if we **** that up, we are a bunch of amateurs.

 

I and others certainly don't mean it badly PS surely you know that? Wanyama's situation is horrendous and I feel genuinely sorry for him. It's also no fault of GKN that the club thought he was good enough for the PL, nor is it Onomah's fault that he keeps picking up injuries at the worst possible moments.

But to quote the Cambridge Business English Dictionary definition of 'deadwood': "People or things that are no longer useful or effective". That is sadly what they are. Equating highly pampered sportsmen who earn £30k a week for literally doing **** all to slave labour is a bit of a clumsy statement, sorry to climb on my high horse.

 

Slave labour pays bloody well these days then!

 

Whether or not it is meant badly your post effectively says that the Club is failing if it doesn't find a way of breaking its agreements with those players. I would rather we honoured our agreements. Help them find a new employer if possible. I can't see what we can do with Wanyama.

 

If people think contracts shouldn't be honoured there is no point in having them. I did say a form of slave labour and I deliberately used a controversial term to amplify my criticism of deadwood.

 

I don't think anyone is saying get rid of deadwood underhandedly.

It basically means levy shouldnt think he is getting what he paid back for the deadwood.

 

It's a chain reaction though Blue, same thing we see every year but last season more than others. When (not if) Lamela picks up his next 6-8 week injury, we are in a situation where we'll probably have Lucas on the bench and Kane, Son, Alli and Eriksen on the pitch. What happens if, like last season, Kane picks up another ankle injury? Then Parrot becomes first choice behind Kane because Llorente isn't here anymore and we don't have enough decent options remaining at AM to use Lucas or Son centrally. That's all it'll take. Two or three injuries. Lamela's inevitable one, then one to Kane and one final one to any one of our AMs, and suddenly Parrot is either starting or is our only attacking option on the bench. That's a huge responsibility for a 17 year old. I personally think he has all the minerals to be the next Robbie Keane (mk.I not II), but we risk a Vincent Janssen groundhog day if too much is asked of him too soon.

 

They are deadwood though, Power. The terminology may not be to your liking but the likes of Nkoudou, Wanyama, Onomah et al just need to be binned and deadwood is the most appropriate term for them.

 

you take no prisoners do you.

 

Contracts work two ways as well - Players have all the power, we all witnessed Modric, Berbatov and Bale down tools and throw their toys out of the pram, until they got the move that they wanted. No one is saying that any of the players should be thrown under a bus, but if they are no longer a useful asset as a player then the club need to find ways to move them on.

 

Why would Levy think that? He knows that some business decisions go well and sime go badly and has a team of football experts to advise him on values. But that doesn't mean we should always pay what others ask and always accept what others bid.

 

This.

Plus look at players as soon as a ‘bigger’ team come along.

Loyalty works both ways

Players don’t show it so why should the club

 

Does your employer use those terms in discussions with staff? If it did would you recommend others to work there?

 

If the club shows loyalty the players are more likely to.