As a footballer £25m is about right for JWP, if anything slightly high imo. It’s all the other stuff that only matters to us, came through the academy, good role model to our young players, “Mr Southampton” etc. This increases his value in our/the clubs eyes but those things are largely irrelevant at his next club (the model pro bit aside, but that matters far more here than it will at another club) So I can see why there would be a large difference between what other clubs value him at and what we think he is worth
I am all for getting a good price for our better players and applaud the board's response to Liverpool's courting of Lavia. That said, is we get offered good price for someone, I think it is foolish not to accept a decent bid.
Being a good all round chap and positive influence in the dressing room (sorry) is transferable to other clubs. In the current climate £25m is a bit low, but not derisory. I can’t see anyone playing £40m. Prowse was lucky he came of age just as we got promoted, he had 11 years in the PL. realistically he wasn’t PL quality for the first couple of seasons, if he has to spend a season in the Championship he shouldn’t feel hard done by.
I can't help but feel people are under rating JWP because he has been part of a crap Saints team for the past couple of seasons. Its funny that Villa offered £50m (IIRC) for him a couple of years back but now teams don't think he is worth more than £25m. Set pieces aside, he isn't a flashy player that will grab the headlines but he is a bloody good player, an absolutely work horse, model pro and doesnt miss a minute of football. Wherever he ends up next season I think he will more than prove his worth.
9 goals (and ~6 assists?) in the PL from CDM is pretty good too ... let alone at the team that finished bottom of the table. He's definitely worth £25m and probably closer to £35m
I have to say I think that JWP will struggle at West Ham. He will need to hit the ground running to appease a fan base who will have been gutted to have lost Declan Rise. I agree with alot of what you say yet I do think he will never reach the kind of levels he acheived when Rlph first arrived. He was bang average before Ralph and flattered to deceive yet Ralph somehow managed to get him to acheive his full potential. I am not sure that West Ham fans will be quite as patient. The greater issue is hanging out for a better price too long and then not having the time to find a replacement. My worry is that we have always know our better players will be poached yet another close season has been squandered in not creating a wholly new squad. Someone posted in here few weeks ago something along the lines that the squad was so poor last season that they did not object to who was sold and I feel that there is a lot of truth in that. Some of these players are too good for the Championship and should have been sold to potential suitors earlier so that we can move on. What I would be disappointed in would be losing players who have barely featured for us but who look good - thinking of the likes of Smallbone. Alcarez, etc.
Why accept if we have a chance of keeping our better players? Foolish would just be caving in to a half decent price when we really don't need to.
This is the crux of it for me. It is still an unknown which players who we have set high, so far unmatched, asking prices on will genuinely be happy to stay or who will start kicking up a fuss closer to the end of the window when it becomes clear that buying teams won’t match what we want. Im thinking players like Livramento, Tella, Alcaraz and JWP off the top of my head who all have supposedly had interest but we are standing firm on asking price. Maybe none of them will, maybe they all will, right now it is an unknown.
I just don't understand the concept of meekly surrendering our best players. We certainly don't know who would be happy to stay, or who might kick up a fuss. I think we all realise Lavia is going, but I don't think there's any certainties other than him (perhaps KWP, but who knows). I'm struggling to understand Ian's point feeling that pretty much everyone is off, and that it's somehow a good thing for us to sell our better players. Get rid of the deadwood, absolutely (which bar Lyanco so far, we've done reasonably well), but if Charly, JWP, Sulemana etc can be persuaded to stay at least for another year, then absolutely we should be wearing our persuasion socks.
I guess it just depends on how good you think our better players are. Lavia aside basically everyone was **** last year and keeping the core of the same side together is risky. They might all be talented players at other sides but the combination of them last year was a disaster, losing mentality etc etc A fresh start wouldnt be the end of the world if we were to lose a lot of our better players, and we seem like we are going to get at least decent fees for anyone who does go
Yes, I do agree with that, though I'd be loathe to see people like Alcaraz go, and to a lesser extent Sulemana. I honestly think our younger players can thrive this year. JWP could also regain his form in the championship, but if we got a £30m+ bid for him, I would probably agree that he fits into that 'fresh start' idea.
I share the sentiments about keeping our best players but am realistic that Premier League clubs will ultimately turn the heads of our better players, especially those with no real loyalty. As soon as they are offered salaries we cannot match, it will be interesting to see just who starts throwing their rattle out of the pram. I have been surprised that we only appear to have got rid of some of the dead wood so far and applaud the resilient attitude of the board. However, there is a point at which not accepting the best potential offer just seems impractical, both from a financial perspective and moving on "reluctant" players at the expense of bringing people who want to come to the club. I still feel that there are plenty more players in last season's squad who will be moved on as well as interest in the likes of Tella and Smallbone who clubs like Burnley, Fulham, Brighton, etc, etc will feel it is worth taking a punt on. I cannot see mny of the players who featured in the friedndlies turning out for us in September. I may be a bit negative (albeit not by Lincoln Saint's standards) but I would tend to be pragmatic and realistic that many of these players will feel that they can play at a much higher level.
From what I’ve read about him it sounds like he’s coming in as a first team squad option, we really need to shift some centre backs. Salisu sounds like he’s gone, Lyanco we clearly are trying to move on, few rumours about DCC but not much more than that. If we can somehow keep ABK I’d be delighted, but I think it’s unlikely. 4 centre back options of Stephens/Bednarek/ABK/Awe sounds good to me, even if it turns out Awe is not fully up to first team football yet
I understand what you mean, Ian, but I'm maybe naively willing to be surprised here. I don't see Brighton coming in really for anyone (bar perhaps Alcaraz), but I think we do have a greater power to say no (as Brighton themselves have done fairly consistently) right now, and a core group of players that may be willing to accept a year in the Championship. I'd like to think there's a lot of conversations along the lines of "give us this year, and if we don't come straight back up, then we'll allow you to leave" to the likes of Alcaraz and Sulemana, who, after all, have only really been with us for five minutes. If JWP actively *wants* to go, then we should probably abide by his wishes, given his service to the club, but that should (and seems to be tempered by) a conversation about an acceptable fee. Agree with RM that it's a royal pain that the window stays open into the season...
Pretty confident we will shift Salisu, Lyanco and DCC by the end of the window. ABK is a bit of mystery. Is he still injured? Or is he Salisu injured…? Conspicuous by his complete absence. Despite his potential, and the odd supreme performance for his age, he looked like a player that could do with dropping a level for a season and playing week in, week out (if he can stay injury free) in a more settled team and defence.
