He was signed from Ross County. Reckon he’ll be on much a week currently? Not at all. He was a massive part of our promotion. He’s doing the business in this league and will only get better. He’s earned a good deal.
We'll only attract the likes of Stewart, Cirkin, Ballard etc ... ... if they're allowed to leave the club without a huge pantomime every time. As Sunderland supporters we have to realise we're trying to prise good young players, from lower clubs, with the promise of a higher position and more money ... ... just as other clubs will do with out better players. It's just how things are and we just have to play that game better than other clubs, whether we're buying or selling.
Clearly not, now you’re being daft. Would £15k a week be a problem, for a player as good as Stewart? Absolutely not. Let’s just let him go eh?
No-one has said let him go, what are you on about? But you've decided that if he does go, it's a lack of ambition from the club when in fact you've no idea what he's been offered and what he's asked for. If he's asked for £30k should we just pay it to show ambition? Is there a line where you would accept him leaving without blaming the club?
I think the point is that just because Stewart's agent wants a certain figure, and just because another club are willing to offer him a certain figure, doesnt mean that that figure is the right option for us. We don't want to overpay players otherwise its a slippery slope of all players wanting more money. However we should pay players what they're worth, should it be affordable. What will be galling is if a championship club that doesn't have parachute payments, is willing to pay him more. But even then, they may be throwing the kitchen sink at promotion, fail, and end up tits up financially. Personally I think we should be pushing the boat out... but not so far that is unsustainable. And I know thats a bit of a buzz word but its for a reason. Pay him too much and every player will want a big raise when it comes to renegotiate and before you know it we have to sell our best players anyway to fund the larger wage budget we've created by keeping them in the first place.
To build on my last post - even if Stewart is worth, say £40k per week, and Boro are willing to pay it, doesn't mean we can / should. If Mbappe was offered to us on a free we'd have to turn him down because we couldn't afford his wages, even if he offered to drop them to £100k. Where that line is of what's affordable and what isn't, nobody except the owner really knows. But at some point players stop being affordable to us, even if they're our players, and even if they're worth what they're asking for.
I agree with all that you've said, but the part in bold specifically is exactly right. He should be our highest paid player and we should even stretch the budget to the point that we maybe get ahead of our planned structure by 12 months. What we shouldn't do is break it to the point that all first team players will be looking at big rises just to put them on 75% of what Stewart is on.
What I'm hoping is that the "transfer committee" or whatever the people at our club who do stuff like this are called, are doing is getting together now and collectively agreeing that we HAVE jumped ahead of our planned structure by 12 months, and therefore our wage tolerances / allowances can increase. In theory if this season the finances were set around staying in the division, next season around pushing for playoffs etc, they could decide to gamble and push the button that says we jump forward in the plan a year. But perhaps more likely the finances are tied specifically to income over time. And you could argue that selling Stewart for £10m would be what allows us to make that jump forward financially, even if backwards on the pitch
A really good post. I think Brentford have done fantastic however the further you progress the less room there is for any recruitment errors. The more you sell the more you expose yourself to these risks. I still think it’s the right approach, especially as you want to build, however at some point you need to hold on to your best players. There have been other clubs who have managed it for a while. Southampton had a few years when their managerial and player recruitment was spot on. Selling Bale, Mane, Lallana, Van Dyke etc and replacing them with other good players. A couple of poor windows and they are struggling.
Agree with all of that. Some supporters think we have a bottomless pit of money that we should just throw at players but it doesn't work like that. We are shopping in a very different market to many of the other clubs in this league. I just hope that whatever deal is done to sell Stewart is done in June rather than Jan
It's always going to be a struggle to find the right balance between progress on the pitch and off it. We'd be fools to turn down £10m for Stewart (as an example) given the huge profit margin in under 2 years, but then what do we replace him with? Suppose we have to put faith in the same people who recruited Stewart finding a replacement...
I would be staggered if Middlesborough go for Stewart. I would also be amazed if he signs on there. Middlesborough were close to FFP problems last year according to some. Hence the silliness about sueing Derby. A big sale in the summer probably helped. I suspect they are keeping a careful watch on the next year or two and any big deals might be a challenge. £10m deals in the championship a pretty rare really too. Not sure we will be seeing one this Jan. Ross would be a bit unambitious to sign got them, in my opinion. He would be better waiting until the summer if no prem clubs are in for him now. He keeps his current scoring record and performance levels up he will be sought after big timd in the summer. I think it is a non starter.
Can’t see a scenario where Stewart signs a new contract during the window, why would he? He either signs one before or after. Most likely after, if nobody meets our price. We can then re-sign him with a min fee release clause
It appears that the Premier League is preparing to spend big again: Enzo Fernandez - £105m to Chelsea Mykhailo Mudryak - £100m to Arsenal Martin Terrier - £40m to Spurs Alexis MacAllister - £35m to Liverpool Denzel Dumfries, João Felix, Rafael Leao, Alvaro Morata and Sergej Milinkovic Savic all linked as well.
Correct which is why its bullshite, Downie knows nothing about what's happening and just regurgitating what he's seen on here from weeks ago.
