On bbc gossip Stoke want to sign Catts at the end of the season for a reported £6 million. First of all I think he's worth three times that. If we go down, which looks very possible, then I doubt if we can keep any of our (few) decent players and Catts is our best player. We will also lose Johnson, Larsson and possibly Pants and Defoe. When the mags went down they kept their squad together and came straight back up. We have a habit of selling our better players, even when we are staying up, Henderson, Mig and Sess for example. Also, our best peformers over the last few years have been loan players who return to their parent clubs, Welbeck, Evans, Borini, Rose for instance. So, if we stay up or more likely, go down, just what will happen to our squad. Could we end up like Wigan? Like many of us on here I'm thinking our squad is simply not good enough. We need at least 3 defenders, 3 midfielders and 3 forwards, all of these need to be much better than those they replace. A good 50 million needed at least. I can't see that happening, only a constant struggle against relegation every year until we do get relegated. More people are realising that after 5 recent managers nothing has changed. They surely can't all be so useless can they?
I don't think he's a great player to be honest. I think he's a good player, made to look better by most of our ****ty squad though. No doubt he's one of the best we have, that's not a compliment to him, more of a damning statement of the ****e we have. As such I really wouldn't be selling unless we can replace him with someone better, even then I'd be getting rid of others before him.
I would let him go. Providing part of the deal is they let us have three points in a couple of weeks time. Our best player by a mile but injuries n suspensions means he misses a lot of games during the course of the season. Is it only £6 mil because his contract must be up soon?
*tin hat on* I wouldn't be fussed. He's a decent player, and I love his energy and commitment, but he can still be a bit of a liability at times, and (the main one), I can't help but feel he's part of what's "rotten" at the club. He was frozen out by PDC when the infamous revolt happened, and he never seems to be far away when you hear the stories of Johnno, (previously) Bardo, etc getting pissed up. I have no insider knowledge but he's always struck me as "one of the lads"... Sacking him off may be a necessary evil to get the club back on track.
We've got an U21 squad full of cracking players who'd be about ready for a challenge like the championship. As for Catts? Well he's going into his final year so we can't even command much if we go down. Stay up then simple, get him a new contract and Stoke can whistle.
Agree with this. Same applies to Larsson imo. Good players but made to look better by the standard of the rest of the shower. As far as selling him goes iirc the offer was £6m last time and was refused. Id do a Levy on them. If they want him that badly they can pay top whack. £12m at least. If they pay, put a bit to it and improve.
We wouldn't get anywhere near 6m for him. £4m tops if we stay up £2m if we go down. He's easily our most important player so would hate to see him leave. He'd be great in a good team and I'd even go as far as saying he'd be a revelation at an Arsenal or Liverpool even. Just sat in front of the back 4 sweeping up and giving it to their array of attacking talent that'd be in front of him.
Gotta disagree big time Disco. He's one of the best midfielders in the PL, massively under-rated!! Stay up or go down, keep at all costs!!!
I think he's one of the best at breaking up play, no doubt. I'd be tempted to say he's the best. His all round game is lacking too much for me to rate him that highly, no doubt he's improved over recent years but I think his passing, vision, shooting and so on needs a lot of work. I think the game's changed since makelele (sic?) and you need more strings to your bow in the centre of midfield. That said, I know for a fact as soon as he leaves us and goes elsewhere he'll easily outperform the likes of Vidal, Pogba, Schweinsteiger and (for Terry) Carrick.
I don't know what happened there but I definitely wrote a post out! There's no English players better than Cattermole in the role that he plays, we must keep him at all costs!
I'd be gutted if he leaves. Whether we go down or stay up I'd love to keep him and make him our skipper. He typifies everything most people love in a footballer: commitment, determination and hard work. Add to that he's turning into a really decent footballer Stoke would be getting a great deal for £6m. I actually think he's overlooked for England because a) he plays for a North East club, and b) because of his poor disciplinary record earlier in his career.
I like Catts, love him in fact, but £6million is his absolute value. Is he replaceable? Easily. In the current squad he is vital as he has heart, guts and determination, and is a natural man amongst men. In the bigger picture, we can buy a player with most of his traits and a little bit more footballing nouse from abroad for about £2million. The only players I can see us really battling to keep for next season are Wickham & PVA, as both would potentially, after a season down, be great if we came back up. The rest can, and in the main will, go. Pants, AJ, Catts, they deserve PL football. Rodwell we will move on at a loss due to his salary I guess. I hope Mavrias is a loan and returns to play next season. My pal Nick (Yep, Nick the Greek, hahahahahaha, he's a hairy, sleazy ****er as well, super cliche...) insists that his beloved Panathinaikos conformed it was a permanent deal. Loan then nominal fee.
