Matt BATES the very good central defender is available on the cheap along with Butterfield and Barton Adam that is I reckon we could get the trio for less than £1.5m now Bates you know you have got this from the sale of Schmichael and Gradel plus the revenue from the Arsenal game they are all under 25 so they are our future
Swansea are in for Bates but as they'll be in this division next season anyway there's no reason we shouldn't try to get him. He's exactly the type of CB we need. All three would be great, but would settle for Bates plus one of either Butterfield or Barton.
You expect to buy Boro's captain and player of the month, Barnsley's best player and captain and a hot prospect from Preston all for less than £1.5m? You're mad.
Not mad at allBates is 24 so they will get nothing for him in June 500 k is better than nothing. Barton PNE are losing 750k a month so they would have 250k and a wage bill less . Butterfield is outof contract in June so 500k should suffice
You seem to be working on the assumption that nobody else will be interested in these players, they are, I expect Bates and Butterfield to be subject to bids from Premier League clubs, particularly Butterfield, who's got about a dozen clubs chasing him. Time will tell obviously, but I think you're miles out.
You have your thoughts Lambretta but in this period of austerity you will be surprised how little one can be bought for have you forgotten Lennon going to spurs for £750k! No my figures are realistic but we must get in first. How much do you think we will get for Howson in my view no more than £500k. Cahill worth is £15m but he will move on for less than half that such is the situation when the contract has so little time to run
Howson is young and English so will be worth more than 500k even if he is out of contract, it would go to a bidding war IMO which would raise the price some what
I think your right, all of these players will be in bidding wars adn because of this, there prices will pretty much at least double what was said before. Getting all 3 for 1.5m would be one of the biggest steals in the history of the game, cant see it happening although we should definitely be going in for butterfield
lambretta how much did we pay for Ross a year earlier it was reported that Hull had offered £5m for him yet we got him for 350k thats the situation in football today. I have beenthinking during the night and in the Championship I would say there are only a handful of clubs who can afford these players West Ham not so much they have the money but the owners a willing to gamble everything on promotion if it doesn,t work they are in deep trouble . Southampton for the money they recieved for Chamberlain Atkin must have £10m left to invest from that sale and Leicester and possibly Hull but even here the owners realise how close they came to extinction the rest have nothing so with our £3m we can go out and get these 3 players if BATES will open his purse, this I doubt very much You say what about the premiership the only clubs interested in these players will be Wolves Bolton Wigan Swansea Blackburn do they want to join a struggling team or do they want to join a team with a big future only they can answer this question
i WOULD SPEND A FURTHGER £200K TO GET Rory Donnely from Cliftonville if we can,t out muscle Swansea we have no hope of getting out of this league with BATES
I don't dispute the fact that the numbers involved are dropping, or the fact that a couple of the players that you've mentioned are coming to the end of their contracts and that reduces their value, but demand still affects the prices and two of the players you've mentioned are very much in demand. It was actually £3m we offered for McCormack, but we're not a very good example to use, the clowns running our place at the time thought Kevin Kilbane was worth £28k a week ffs. I still expect the likes of Maynard, Butterfield and Bates to be subject to decent offers, despite their contract situations and others like Sharp, Adomah, Whittingham and Jutkiewicz could all be subject to multi million pound offers, regardless of the tighter financial constraints, there's still clubs like Saints, Leicester and us who have a few bob to spend.
I don't think that Matt Bates would be a realistic transfer. Even if he's near the end of his contract, he's hardly going to be willing to jump ship from Boro to Leeds. They are 4th, we're 5th. Be a pointless transfer. And even though his contract's running out, Boro won't sell unless the offer is ridiculous, cause he's their captain and they are challenging for promotion. That one's a no goer. Butterfield is more realistic, but even then, Barnsley are up near the playoffs as well (only 3 points off) and they aren't in a rush, because he's under 24 and they'd get compensation if he leaves at the end of the season anyway. Adam Barton is the only one we have a chance one. Unless we're prepared to offer stupid money for either Bates (which Bates won't sanction...) or Butterfield (which Bates won't sanction...), then we've got no chance.
When I say 'we' offered £3m for McCormack, you need to bear to bear in mind that I'm a Hull City fan.
