Increasingly, I would not be surprised if m JWP went on loan to whichever medium-to-large PL side gets itchy the final week of the window. It'd be extremely difficult to swallow this wages at the Championship level, but the value-added of selling him for ~25m vs a loan that covers all of his wages with a smallish fee leans toward the latter, IMO.
Absolutely. I think, in order, the best options are: - Sell him now for a fair price (£30m rising to £35m or some such). - Loan him to the PL for a year and gamble slightly, knowing you'll likely have to take less the following year. - Hang on to him and really complicate our financial situation.
That's my thinking. If we can go straight back up, then that's the ideal scenario. As long as it's not Burnley! #freeJWP lol
Mental opinion. He’s a top half PL / Europa league level central midfielder. 25mil is the low end of what he’s worth.
Everton are keen on Southampton's Scotland striker Che Adams, with Wolves and Bournemouth also tracking the 27-year-old. (Football Insider)
I think we’re better off keeping Che for the season, even if it means he leaves on a free next summer. We’d only get about £15m, and it would cost that to replace him. He could make a big difference in whether we go up or not. We already need one striker, selling Che makes that two. ABK - has there been any sighting of him this pre-season? He seems like one we could sell for reasonable money, but replace relatively easily.
I don't disagree, though a championship club turning down £15m for a player only for them to leave for free the next season does seem a bit mental from a business perspective. Also, yes he'd be expensive to replace but that replacement would have resale value given they'd (hopefully) be on more than a one year contract! Either way, if we were going to do it I'd have liked us to have done so by now.
Not sure what I think with Che. He's easily our best striker but he's been out the side a lot in the last 6 months with injuries and he's barely featured in pre-season, presumably because of injury? It felt to me like last summer with the rumours about him wanting to leave his heart might not be in it here anymore. But then he wrote a genuine sounding message to the fans following our relegation which sounded as though he was keen to stay here and fight to get us promoted again. However, that's not been reflected in pre-season. So it's difficult to know what to do with him. If he isn't likely to contribute much this season we may as well sell up. If he does knuckle down and starts to rediscover his form he's probably worth keeping and losing out on a transfer fee. I guess only Che and hopefully the management will know. In an ideal world I'd like to see us sell Tall Paul, and loan out Mara. Keep Che, AArmstrong (think he'll make a decent impact sub with his energy and while I was keen for us to ship him out at the start of the summer, he seems to be looking better with the new style of play) and buy Piroe with Ballard coming through.
A new manager with a new way of playing is akin to a fresh start for our squad. Martin has had a good chunk of time with the team now and I reckon he would of changed a few players opinions about leaving. Obviously the litmus test will be closer to the end of the month, but at the moment everyone is giving the impression of being ok about still being here. JWPs wages are the same as in the PL, which is something I had heard and has been indirectly collaborated by the guardians west ham article. His main motivation for being in the PL is to get back in the England squad, but Kalvin Philips has only played about 28 minutes of premier league football in the past two seasons and is ahead of him, so it seems futile, especially how poorly he is rated by even his own supporters.
Yeah, the whole England/Euros thing is key here. It really depends if JWP backs himself enough to make a surge for a place playing at a "better" club. He'd need to go in and own West Ham's midfield to do so, and I can't really see Southgate picking him regardless, but at the same time I'd find it really sad if a player stopped backing themselves...
If we go back up first attempt, I wouldn’t want Che leading our line back in the Premier League, as he has proved he isn’t really good enough. Keeping him now means he can help us get there and we both walk away, and we get someone who is better suited to the EPL. Selling him now and reinvesting, is harder to eat someone EPL quality. You’d need a Lambert type signing, maybe that is Piroe, who knows. I guess the Q is does Che suit our approach in the Championship, therefore is it worth keeping him if he doesn’t work in this system. From what I have seen preseason, I’m not convinced by him, not sure Martin is either. I’d imagine he gets sold and we bring someone else in.
You forgot the other option: Hang on to him, go straight back up and he sees out his career with us to become an all time club legend. Happily ever after n all that.
I’d agree, he’s an incredibly consistent and technical (though not flashy) performer and the best free kick taker in Europe most likely.
I’m still interested to see if, once the finer details of the deal have been ironed out with Liverpool, Chelsea just match or outbid them. It’s not like they have been tight with money recently and if Shields is as big a fan of Lavia as presumed.
