You've got me all wrong milkyboy. That was just a phase my mother inflicted upon me when I was but a mere whippersnapper. Tie dye is where it's at these days
What does Ben think to the new away kit ? That's if he's still talking to you after making him turn up for work Monday morning ? Ps; Bet he didn't
Looks like we are deffo selling Costa to his old boss Espirito Santo at Al-Ittihad. How much will we get as his contract runs to 2024 his value is £5m
Obviously it's best he moves on but most fans forget he played 40 + games in our Championship winning season. I'd call that job done as we achieved exactly what the squad he was part of was supposed to
Then why, in your opinion, didn't they ? IMO, we got as much for Raphinha and Phillips as we could. Leeds can play hardball when they're holding all the cards like their refusal to sell Harrison to Newcastle despite a reported £33m bid. Raphinha and Phillips wanted to leave and in both cases we really had only one buyer. So we sold for what we could get rather than wait a year with unhappy players and sell for half the price next Summer.
You mean Phillips...2 year remaining on contract. Raphinha...2 years remaining. Harrison...2 years remaing. Those cards ? Hope you're not a poker player Poly
Yes, those cards. The difference is/was, that Raphinha and Phillips wanted to leave, Harrison doesn't. Harrison might sign a new deal and probably will if a suitable one is offered to him. Raphinha and Phillips wouldn't. If you disagree, what evidence do you have that either Raphinha or Phillips would sign new deal if the club refused to sell for what Barcelona and Man City offered ? I assume you lose a lot more often than you win when playing poker.
As you say we sold players who weren't willing to extend their contracts. Let's see what happens regarding Harrison as at the moment your view that he doesn't wish to leave is just pure speculation. Your point was that we hold the cards more with Harrison than we did with KP & Raph and can therefore play hardball but contractually their positions are identical.
Not really, we've turned down a reported £33m bid for him. If Harrison had basically told the club that he would not be signing a new deal, it would be accepted in a heartbeat while there was still time to get a replacement. Do you really think we turned Newcastle down in order to squeeze more money from them ? Caveat: Of course there is a point when it becomes impossible to refuse (I think it's around £40m in his case). The club doesn't want Harrison to leave, whereas it was resigned to losing Raphinha and Phillips this Summer. It's naïve to think we could have just ignored Raphinha's and Phillips' wishes, the same way that Liverpool and Man Utd could ignore the wishes of Suarez/Coutinho and Ronaldo respectively. And while you can say they got a hell of a lot more $$$, that was pre COVID. Bottom line is that I don't think we could've got any more for them. We do; Harrison doesn't want to leave. That's a whole world of difference. Contracts of only 2 years are worthless when trying to make an unhappy player stay.
So why didn't Leeds take that ? Three guesses As I said, we really only had one buyer for Raphinha - sure Liverpool may have shown an interest as might have Newcastle Arsenal definitely showed interest as did Chelsea, but Raphinha didn't want to go to any of those clubs. He wanted to go to Barcelona. So in effect, we really did only have ONE buyer.
… in both Phillips and Raph’s case, the players took the competition out of the marketplace by insisting on one club. They left the club with the ‘choice’ of I’ll sign for this club or no-one. The club has to weigh up keeping an unhappy and depreciating asset… or doing the best deal they can with that club. So when people say we feel we ought to have got more for them it’s because other clubs were willing to pay more for both players… which is what has been reported in both cases. As for Harrison not wanting to leave and Leeds turning down Newcastle offers? We may not yet have their final offer… and we’ll only know what the club and Jack want if he signs a new contract.
Poveda will be gone soon and I hope its a straight sale. Pointless loaning him out as he still has 2 years left on his contract and he valued at £2m now but less in a years time Lewis Bate and Stuart McKinstry need to go out on loan
When he showed me it he said it’s cool isn’t it? I asked if he wanted one and he said no thanks, make of that what you will. He got in about 11 Monday and said he felt absolutely fine (and looked ok to be fair). He left early, about 3, and slept on the sofa until I woke him up at 7.30 with his dinner, make of that what you will
