Best time to make a move: when we were linked with him last week, the hacks were quoting a £50m fee...
English tax + Chavs slapping a sell-on clause means that £40m is likely an opening bid, although with Brighton pocketing £50m for Benedict White last summer that is surely going to nudge upwards very fast
...so I just noticed that Mino "****" Raiola is agent for both Stefan de Vrij and Alessio Romagnoli With any luck, his being in hospital has lessened the power of the mind-control chips - although Romagnoli is probably a write-off for this window with Simon Kjaer's injury
We’ve been linked with Peterborough youngster, Benjamin Mensah. Also linked with Lewes young winger, Ollie Tanner. Both presumably for the U23s.
Tony Mowbray has said he's looking at taking Dilan Markanday on loan to Blackburn for the rest of the season Good, the Loan Watch thread is looking a little bare these days...
Blackburn close to signing Markanday for £500k and add-ons taking it to over £1m with a sell on clause. **** this stupid ****ing club.
Markanday to Rovers is apprently close. Permanent deal worth up to £1m according to Dan Kilpatrick who is pretty reliable. I'm just going to go straight out and say it: The fact that our 'state of the art', multi million pound academy has produced the grand total of Oliver Skipp in the past 6 years is nothing short of shambolic. It's all well and good being told that we can't pump funds into the first team because they are being invested in other projects for long-term success, but when that success is clearly not happening the whole thing comes across as a con. Cameron Carter-Vickers going out on his 17th loan is probably hailed as an achievement by whoever runs our academy. When you look at the boys coming through at the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham, Liverpool and Leicester, it is clear that we are miles behind. Yet no one seems to talk about it.
So to summarise, **** recruitment and **** development. Maybe we should just stick to property development (though even that was over budget and behind schedule)
So you're saying that we should be bribing kid's parents with jobs to get them to sign for our academy like Chelsea routinely do?
Lilywhite Rose has already pointed out that his fee equates to about 5 weeks of Ndombele’s wage. We’ve got **** ****s like him, Lo Celso, Dele etc stealing a living whilst another one of our best prospects are set to leave the club because they evidently don’t see a future here just as the others didn’t. This club is in the absolute mud, we can’t seem to sign sign anyone decent, “there’s never any money”, we’re ripping fans off and we’re wasting our own talent like there’s no tomorrow. Shambles, absolute shambles.
Don't usually get angry at players moving on to get regular game time, but this seems the club is about to let go one of our most promising young players - they are about to shoot themselves in both feet ! Unless there is something going on behind the scenes we don't know about. If there isn't its a bloody stupid decision.
We produced Noni Madueke who we..... oh yeah he left for nothing and we were linked with him in the summer for £25m plus.
No. I'm saying we should be honest about the problems at our club. Our failing £150m academy being one of the biggest.
Madueke, Edwards, Binks and now Markanday. Four of the best talents our academy has produced since Kane and Skipp and they’ve all left for absolute peanuts. Not forgetting the likes of Griffiths and Bennetts too who we also had quite high hopes for at the time.
****ing incredible Does bring Contes abilities into question as well, because he surely wouldn't have agreed with this if he valued the lad?
It probably wouldn’t have been in his hands. Markanday’s deal ends this summer and I imagine he’s chosen not to renew as he’s been one of the best players in our academy for a while now yet had just 10 mins in the first team away at Vitesse under Nuno. Jose, Nuno and Conte should’ve all given him minutes, especially when considering how many chances we’ve given to Dele, Lo Celso, Ndombele, Bergwijn etc and I reckon whatever our contract offer was, was likely a **** one knowing us and so he’s thought “**** it, I’m out”. Guaranteed games in the Championship at Blackburn or rotting in the U23s at Tottenham where he’s been severely under appreciated? I know what I’m choosing.
He could of easily played against Morecombe, I wouldn't of minded playing him over Lo Celso against Chelsea. Their has been plenty of opportunity to give him game time this season.
