Chowdhury has potential to improve from what I've seen. Just a neat and tidy type , nothing spectacular.
I believe it is good business as they were absolutely toothless last season and this lad looked really sharp for Brentford. Add Josh King from Bompey and they will be far more potent and dangerous this season
I think they have over paid but then if his goals keep them up, I suppose it will be more than worth it. Will be interesting to see how he does. Che Adams took almost a whole season to find his feet after a brilliant season in the championship. Villa dont have a season to wait
Fee seems way too high in my opinion, but a player is worth what a club is willing to pay. Different years, markets and situations (e.g. Ings injury record), but we got Ings and Adams for about £35m while Watkins alone could cost £33m with no PL experience. Big fee and big pressure on him to hit the ground running.
I have gone for Wilson. Reasonable price and he's likely to play every week. Also great record vs West Ham who they play on Saturday. With Fraser and Saint-Maximin on the wings, I think Wilson could have a good season.
See this, if true, pisses me off. Why are we asking £7.3m for Hoedt?! We should be looking to get anything we can get for him on a permanent deal. If someone was to offer £3m then great! Christ, even a free transfer should be considered. https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/18707298.amp/?__twitter_impression=true
I don't let the financial side of the club bother me too much as long as we perform well on the pitch, i'd be much more pissed off if Hoedt got anywhere near our own first team.
I get your point and of course, if we have a brilliant season no one will be looking back and raging that we didnt move hoedt on. But if we did shift the likes of hoedt on for smaller fees then it would mean Ralph has more control/financial freedom to maximise his time with us in the near term. I can't help but worry Ralph will be off in a year or 2 and he will never have been able to have a 100% "Ralph-built" squad because of the wages going to Hoedt, Carrillo, Lemina and co.
Even if we gave Hoedt away in a box for nothing with a pretty red ribbon around it, it doesn’t necessarily free up money for Ralph. It will depend on how the money (fee owing and value) has been accounted for. There is also the possibility we have to pay out any difference in contract should he move on for less wages. it’s never straight forward and no point getting frustrated when we don’t know the full picture. “Control the controllables you must.” Yoda’s cousin Nige, circa 2011/12
This is it. A loan doesn’t resolve it, but if it reduces the cost then it’s money saved. Releasing him we’d have to pay a big sum for the remainder of his deal. If he only had lowball contract offers from clubs trying to sign him then selling him could see us topping up his salary for the next two years. It may well be that this is the best, cheapest option at the moment.
So either loan him to a team who are hopefully paying all, if not the majority, of his wages, or just pay him off shed loads now so he's no longer part of the club? The best option is clearly to loan him, get wages of our books, hope he does well, then when we're in a post-Covid economy next year (praying), a team may be able, and want, to pay our £7m valuation. I also listened to the Total Saints Podcast yesterday and Semmens said when it comes to moving players on, we need/want to get a good move for both us as well as the players we no longer want. Fair play.
