The Torygraph report that Gedson is likely to be dropped from our Europa squad Not really a surprise, considering our non-HG numbers, but once again we are left questioning what the point of loaning him in was other than having a free body to chuck on the pitch for eighteen months
Pumping money into a thoroughly failed regime on the promise of access to oil reserves ?? Reads like a plan to me (I'll take my 'Hunter Biden consultancy' fees in gold ingots if you don't mind) .
Is there no way to terminate his loan? I don’t see the point of him as a footballer and he’s not needed now (was he ever)
The funny thing is that whenever he gets five minutes here or there, the Twitter/Reddit crowd start saying how marvelous he is and he should start - and let's not forget the insanity of saying he could be our new right back ...oh wait, it wasn't the Twitter/Reddit crowd suggesting that one, was it?
Now thinking it may have been an opening move in a long-term goodwill building exercise with Benfica. However if he is not in the EL squad he is a luxury (as he is far from PL std - even if a massive MF injury plague descends) .
To be fair he was decent in the first friendly at RB and given we hadn’t signed anyone in that position at that point it looked like an experiment worth repeating. We did that and he was not good at all, then we’ve signed Doherty and Aurier has raised his game it seems too, so we need never see him in that position again. Tbh I think we’re keeping him around because of the fixture congestion. Wouldn’t be surprised if he is returned in January and I certainly expect him to go back to Portugal in the summer. At this point he’s midfield filler for any EL/Carabao midweek games if we’re light on starters.
He won’t be able to be a filler in EL if he ain’t registered though. **** situation for the guy, I know the club’s paid a fee for his loan but we really should just try and cut our losses and see if we can send him back. Unless there’s a way you can loan out a loanee? Not sure there is but if there’s a way the club should consider it, even if til January just to get him a bit of experience. 8 games in a congested period and just 60 mins of game time in the league cup. Pretty bleak for him.
If the club actually rate Fernandes, then we should look into making his signing permanent and loan him out. They seem to like him and they get to see him in training, while we're restricted to seeing a few minutes here and there. He's wasting his career right now and nobody's benefitting from it.
Add to that the chance that, come January, we might think Harvey White is ready for a shot in the FA Cup ...or we somehow draw Bayern Munich in the third round
The buy clause is about £42m though. We’re never paying that, especially as that’s only a few £m less than the fee Inter were asking for Skriniar. So unless Benfica are willing to negotiate and accept a lower offer (which is possible considering they don’t seem in great financial health) I think the guy is gonna spend a year barely playing before heading back to Portugal.
That situation doesn't suit us, them or the player himself though, so I'd expect them to prefer something else, too. His value is dropping all the time and they're skint. I don't see anything happening with him soon, unfortunately. Most European countries have either closed their windows or they close them today. A loan to the Championship's a possibility, if we were to sign him permanently, but is that a goer? Can't see it.
You’d like to think Benfica are open to negotiation should we inform them we’re willing to make it permanent. Guess the question for both clubs would be how much though? I’m not sure I’d even want us paying £20m at the moment and that’s less than half of the current buy option.
Yeah for the sake of his career he needs to be playing regularly I didn’t think there was a loan fee?
We're obviously not seeing the best of him, so I've no idea what a reasonable deal would look like. He's heavily capped at youth level and a full international for Portugal at a time when they've got a very good squad. He needs to be playing regularly. We don't even know what his best position is.
