…Now £8M Interest In Sinclair, whether it happens, I'm not sure, but Rodgers surely has lost any credibility he had with those that thought he could do no wrong. The papers claim that Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United are all interested parties, but the City interest is a strange one to say the least, and I'm not convinced, though Liverpool need a winger as make shift winger Dirk Kuyt has left for Turkey and Maxi Rodriguez also deciding to start a fresh, So don't be surprised if Rodgers comes in for Sinclair. What of Michel Vorm, Neil Taylor, Leon Britton, Ashley Williams, Nathan Dyer and Danny Graham? They couldn't beat us on the field of play, but they can beat us financially, not sure how effective these financial fair play rules of FIFA will be, but it's simply a matter of time, before the next cherry is picked, and as each piece of the jigsaw is removed, less and less you'll see of the Welsh Barcelona, so enjoy it while you can, because it's only a matter of time before it's all gone. Joe Allen wanting to go, is to me symbolic of change in the air, and while I know that all good things must come to an end some time, I would have wished that we could have had a few seasons under our belt before the vultures descended. Finally it's clear to me that with the right offers coming in, our players will be leaving sooner than later, and what Martinez built up, Rodgers is now tearing down, and for that, I cannot wish the man any good whatsoever, and I hope his time will come as quickly too!..................
Alas it is always going to happen to clubs like ours. We are small fry in this pond and the best players are always going to get hooked by the lure of one of the top teams or big names. If we survive again this season I would think we could get stripped of some of our better players that have had 2 seasons at the top level. However, in the case of Swansea, this is all happening much too soon. Yes you did very well last season and few will deny that but are all these players really in demand now? I suspect they are not and you may be jumping the gun a little. I am not going to go through each individual players merits or otherwise but I would take Danny Graham as an example. He took the leap from The Championship and did pretty well last season with 12 goals in all competitions but he is still not considered a "serious" threat to defences outside Swansea (and I do not mean that disrespectfully) so I would not expect to see him leave anytime soon unless he is on fire in the next 6-9 months. As for BR, as a fan I would never trust him after seeing what has happened in the last few months. Great manager when he's with you but a total shyster when he leaves.
Reality setting in, hope we can weather the storm Thai, but I fear our possession and passing game will now start to weaken, it makes Laudrups job, very tough, just hope he's up to the task ahead!.....................
I totally agree DP, and one of the reasons why I am still undecided about how well you are going to do this coming season (as I said on a thread on our board). Part of me thinks you could be in a scrap at the bottom in late April (I didn't say that's what I wanted before I get jumped on by someone) but until the season is under way I just cannot make up my mind, need to see what the next few months shows us (same goes for us btw)
Well we play Stuttgart on Saturday, will see how well we do against them, too many changes to a team though, can be detrimental, hope Laudrup turns out to be a wizard, otherwise you could well be right with us struggling!....................
At these prices , let the exodus continue for anyone that wants to go . I have tremendous faith in Laudrup & Larsen to grab tons of bargain talent out of Spain ..... Were the envy of all sensible clubs . You got to know when to hold them & know when to sold them ...
Your analysis may prove to be correct DPJ, but I think Thai also hit upon a point with respect to DG. Some of our players are not "fashionable" in the eyes of others, so it will take them longer, if they consistently produce to attract attention. In a similar vein, some of our players are great in our system but might struggle somewhere else - Leon is the prime example, Rangel might be another - they know where they are best off. Other players (e.g. Sinclair) are not irreplaceable - Allen is not irreplaceable, certainly not with 22M to spend in fees plus payroll if we chose to do it that way. I think we have the means to finish higher this coming season, perhaps a lot higher than our jilted confidence might permit us to believe - the "losses" of Siggy and Allen not withstanding, we have strengthened. Chico replaces Caulker, who let's face it was a revelation and a blessing, but I think Chico is an improvement. Michu and Guz may take a little time to adjust but they look to have the talent. Also we have a young, but keen Ben Davies and Gwiron Edwards who are obviously showing ML something or they wouldn't have been given the opportunities that they have in preseason. Every position we finish higher in the league makes us less vulnerable to predatory practices, makes us more attractive to foreign talent, makes us more of a safe bet for our own talent. To truly compete we have to expand our revenue streams through the internationalization of our brand - its the only way to provide the cash flow necessary to offer the wages that the top clubs offer. Let's face it, we're only truly vulnerable to a handful of Prem clubs - with the exception of Liverpool, they are all at the top of the table, and they can pick the cream of the crop from any league in the world ... shopping at little old Swansea might be convenient but they are really casting their net globally. I think the Liverpool raid is Rogers driven and this time next season Liverpool may still have the money but will look far less attractive lower in the table. If Rogers' blarney fails to materialize and Liverpool are hovering around us in the table come Jan then I think the petals will be off that rose for our players. All going well, we will be 22M better off and for the first time in forever we will be able to do some meaningful shopping for talent. It will also mean that we've sucked 22M from one of our competitors for - as I pointed out elsewhere - 1/11 player wise and 1/3 manager wise of a Swansea solution - we're not one player and we haven't been one manager. All goes well in a couple of months we'll be asking Allen who? Not out of disrespect but because we're not one player, we're a squad and just like it takes a village, it takes a squad to be Barcelona and Swansalona. We play the style from the keeper to the center forward from the top to the bottom of our squad, from the oldest to the youngest, not just in a couple of positions here or there. It's a shame to lose Allen if he finally goes, but we'll find as good from somewhere else, Rogers could too but he's taking the cheap shot, lazy way out. There are an army of agents right now waiting for this shoe to drop so that they can push their talent to fill that spot - there are an army of Allens waiting to be discovered. It's interesting to note that we got promoted with players now waltzing into the Liverpool line-up (Allen and Borini). Everybody in Europe knows ML and through that network ML knows or could know of everything that's going on should he chose to tap into it. We haven't even begun to scratch the surface on that resource. And as somebody else said, perhaps Ivor, probably for the first time in his managerial career ML may actually have some cash to go shopping with instead of struggling at a poor club or a club on the fringe of bankruptcy.
Thanks CJ. Looking forward to getting this episode behind us and the excitement of a couple of new players. With the international breaks in Sept we should start to see everything come together by mid-Oct.
Excellent post I am not ashamed or too proud to admit that I would love to see the sort of money (i.e. £15m +) coming our way for the sale of 1 player, even if it was at the expense of losing one of our best players. As you say, unless they are already the "best in the world" or at least consider "one of the best" in that position, they are not irreplaceable and to that end the money would be most welcomed
£15m for Joe (thanks Joe and best of luck) and a further £8m from Man City for Sinclair (thanks and best wishes) that's £23m to bulge our war chest. I'm not down about this, I do not harbor any grudges or have any negative feelings, this is simply good business. To get £23m for two young players, one a product of our youth system the other only costing £1m, is excellent business. Players/managers come and go that's football, but as long as we're getting maximum value in the marketplace we should be happy. All we need now is for our shrewd Chairman and ML to work their magic in the transfer market and to continue with the "value for money" ethos. Chico £2m, Michu a steal at £2m, de Guzman valued at £8-£9m on loan, superb. I do think the board has known for some time that Joe would leave hence the latter two with plus continued interest in Davies (Bolton) and Obertan (Newcastle); who I think would thrive here. ML has contacts and admirers throughout Europe so who knows who he'll get in. A week and a day to go, I'm very excited.
As much as I love Joe I actually hope he fails at Liverpool. But this is only because the Liverpool board will probably prevent Rodgers for coming for our players again once the 12 months is up. If joe excels at Liverpool it may only be a matter of time before he comes back for vorm, Williams, Taylor and dyer. We know how he loves to buy players hes worked with! Of course the ideal situation here would be that Rodgers fails and joe does well, but I cant see them sacking him before a season so I'm afraid it's joe who I'm hoping doesn't quite settle in there.
Selling Rodgers , Allen & Sinclair ( 30 million ) would probably pay for all transfers we've had since making the Premier League until the last transfer we make this January , just as a bit of perspective .
So when Allen goes for £15m would you consider spending upwards of £5m on Mark Davies as a good deal? Considering we were only going to spend £6.5m on Siggy the figure wanted by Bolton would look excessive. Don't get me wrong, I think Davies is a good player and we'd have a like for like replacement for Allen with cash to spare but I think Bolton's valuation is off. But then again so is everyone else's valuation of every other player in this bonkers world of football.
Mark Davies has been relegated twice in two different teams I believe. I can't see how a 6m valuation can be justified. 5m should be the absolute maximum and that's including all the add ons etc
Spot on Yankee. Looking at the title, I didn't realise the "exodus was well under way" though. It implies that lots of players are walking because 'exodus' means a "mass departure of people". That's not correct. We're losing Allen. The rest is complete speculation - even taking into account Sinclair. No offence but that's hardly an exodus is it? The use of language is important here imo because it gives an incorrect impression. Bottom line is that if players don't want to be here then go. You'll probably find your chances limited elsewhere even though you'll earn more money. In the meantime, we'll buy equally, if not more talented players cheaper elsewhere and in keeping with usual practice Prem cubs will pay us much more than you're actually worth. As others have said, happy days.
If true I'd love to hear their analysis because this one I don't get. Surely amongst all the players on their books they have somebody as good as.
