In hindsight the Forren deal may have been a very smart move. Before any other side could trial him, who could I mean, we gave him a concrete offer. If he turned out to be brilliant then it would have been a real coup. If we didn't pay the full whack up front, then we could sell on this "international" should he fail to live up to expectations. As for Chappers, it's a shame but time waits for no man. He was part of the Saints success story and really hope he is happy in his next endeavour.
Forren did look out-of-shape, unfortunately. Although I think if the team saw promise they would work on his fitness rather than sell him. But in the end, I think it works out okay for everyone. We were short at the back, and it looked like we badly needed a CB right away. Not every transfer works out. In this case, Saints don't appear not to have taken much of a loss and Forren can get his career going again, with only a slight hiccup as happens to everyone. It would have been worse for everyone had he been kept lingering on the fringes.
I think we've only ever actually 'sold' three players under Cortese? Alex Chamberlain - Arsenal Dan Harding - Forest Vegard Forren - Molde The rest have been loaned or had their stays ended.
I think Forren was a desperate move. A deal had probably fallen through and we needed a decent defender. Once here, for whatever reason, he was not good enough to get a sniff.
Think that he would have been good enough if he didn't look as if he tried to smuggle half of Norway into the country in his stomach. They may have been waiting to see what sort of shape he was in upon return...if he still wasn't up to standards, it's best to be rid and move on.
Suprised to see Forren leaving, really wanted to see how he would have done in pre season. But if the club thinks he isn't good enough then I support that. A very bizarre transfer. Lets hope we get one more CB in before the window ends. Good luck to Chappers too, worked his socks off for us. Thanks for everything!
Wasn't Chaplow rumored to have failed a medical somewhere? I wonder if that's what the whole dispute (if there even was one) might have been about. Chaplow wanting to train and Saints not allowing him based on his injury. Either way, I'm happy that things seem to have worked out for him. Always gave his best, and had several nice games including that stretch that was instrumental to our promotion. I just can't see him breaking into the first team. Hopefully Saints rewarded him with some of that future money owed and he can catch on with a good championship team.
I could be reading the garbled translation wrongly but it seems the fee was less than £2m http://www.tv2.no/sport/fotball/sol...-gjelsten-og-roekke-maatte-bidra-4086423.html If we've got nearly the transfer fee we paid back, then £2m or less for a defender wasn't so much of a dangerous punt.
We'd probably get more than that back - I gather we were paying them in installments, could only have lost £500k-£1m ish.
Think Chappers has found his level tbh. Good championship player at a club that should be able to stay there. Pleased for him. Who's their manager now?
Didn't we sell Rasiak, and maybe even Saganowski too, early on in the Cortese reign, albeit for very little? I'm sure Rasiak played in our first or second game in L1, only to move on before the transfer window was out (to Reading?)
Forren couldn`t be arsed for what ever reason. The writing was on the wall when he didn`t seem to be able to get himself fit, despite the Norwegian season having finished a few weeks earlier - and if he was looking for a big move, he would have been keeping in shape, surely. Liverpool were right in wanting him on trial after all. I`d have one Chappers rather than 100 Forrens thanks. And give us the watch back, you waste of space.
