Just announced that Tottenham are offering £15m and 2 players. Instead Fulham offered a 15yr contract to Dembele!!! Dedicated to Bandit!
Martin Jol, speaking to Not606 reporters, added, "If they had thrown in some pork pies and a case of European beer, I might have considered it."
Bringing in young players in from abroad like Dembele, Kasami, Gecov and even our own like Briggs and Frei, means that if they do well for us, they themselves will want to move on, similar to Smalling if a bigger club comes in for them. Dembele does seem the type of player who will use us as a stepping stone, and might even look to go on a free when his contract is up. I think that's why Hodgson went for more established players who would given their circumstances stay with the club over a few contracts. Getting a more stable environment.
SBMB, agreed and this is bounded to happen at some point with most of our young players. But if we get a few good years out of them before them moving is something positive. It will encourage more young players to join us that will replenish the ones lost. I believe Jol will be working on a balance of experienced and young players. Thus why players like Murphy have immense value to small clubs like us. But consider thinking of a swap between Dembele and Huddlestone plus money. That would be unthinkable for any of our players a couple of seasons ago. This is where I see the value in grooming young players.
Dembele said himself when he signed he was considering the move as a stepping stone. That's not a problem as long as, like you say, he doesn't just sod off on a free. Roy's signings were superb, but now we're fighting tooth and nail to wholly change an aging team. Swings and roundabouts...
Elm? Litmanen? Kuqi? Halliche? Did you know that Halliche cost us £2.5 million? That's around the same as what Hangeland cost us...
Oh you know what I mean, when his signings were good they were very good. And you missed out AJ Pretty sure Halliche was one of Sparky's wonders?
Didn't Sparkles only have one transfer window? I was sure that Roy brought him in after the World Cup before buggering off to Liverpool.
He was on loan at West Ham this season but got an injury about 6 games in and is out for the season supposedly. At this rate we'll have to pay a team to take him off our hands
So he's gone from being the next David Beckham to plying his trade with West Ham in the Championship? Oh how the mighty have fallen. I actually wanted us to sign him under Sparkles, until he woefully under-performed for Birmingham on loan I think it was.
Yeah, I couldn't believe how poor he was when he came to us, I thought he'd be a big hit. Instead he was slower than Huddlestone, had the first, second and third touch of a toddler playing with a baloon and stopped to adjust his hair every 5 minutes. On the plus side, the odd time he got the ball under control and a defender was dumb enough to fall for one of his dummies to allow him to get to the byline, his crosses were pretty good I'll always remember his lob against Almunia too.
