Agree 100%. If we were looking to sign a player of the quality and experience of Chezzy we'd be asked to pay much more than £8M. If they really want him make them pay the going rate!
Does it? A full international, PL quality defender who is being lauded as one of the reasons Wales have improved so substantially? I'd want 15m for him. He's far and away our best asset.
I agree, £8m is fair price. Struggle to see anyone paying more, but I'd be disappointed if he goes for less
The lack of bids that you talk of are largely irrelevant, for me it's quite obvious that bids WILL come in for Chezzy, for me clubs are just playing it canny as they'll not want to get into a bidding war for his services against other clubs, they'll make their move towards the end of the window to nullify as much competition as possible, that is unless there really is an £8M buy out clause, if that's the case then I suppose the timing is largely irrelevant as a ceiling will have been put on the price of the player. Either way I guarantee that there'll be bids for Chezzy, and anyone that thinks there won't be must be living under a rock. Palace are the latest potential suitors however I think he'll finish up at Swansea. I don't expect anyone to 'like' this post
Lots of players are full internationals, all the starting CBs for SJ are full intnationals I don't see what difference that makes. Hell 15 mill could buy you the entire back 4 for the U.S. national team, maybe the entire back 4 and Howard. 15 mill could probably buy you Dempsey and Bradley, are you really saying that Chester with one year on his contract is more valuable than Dempsey and Bradley or the U.S. back 5? Chester is good but it isn't like people are falling over to sign him. This is a situation where people are over valuing a good player because he is ours and we like him. Also over valuing a player because he comes from the UK. There are lots of solid CBs out there. A 15 mill price tag means he leaves for nothing in a year, a 12 mill probably means he leaves for nothing in a year. We will sell for 8 mill I have no doubt about that.
I know you're very US-centric, so no offence intended, but Chester is a far better player than anyone playing in the MLS, I'm not sure why you even made the comparison. As has been pointed out, clubs are clearly being quite reserved in their approach, most likely for the very fact they know they may well be able to get him much cheaper in 6 months or when his contract expires. I would rather have Chester for a year in the Championship to bolster our chances of promotion than 8m going to Allam.
Seriously stop taking everything I say as I am saying the MLS is some amazing ****ing league. I am getting sick of it. You can read and I know you damn well know that's not what I am saying. My point is that your point about him being a full international is stupid. Being an international doesn't make them worth bucket loads of cash. I'm not saying that any cb in the MLS is as good as Chester but the idea that he is a full international and that makes him worth more is beyond stupid. Almost every cb in the top 2 leagues in England, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the U.S. etc are full internationals. A player is worth his quality, age and the length of time left on his contract not the fact he suits up for an international team. If we keep him, and lose out on 8 mill that's 8 mill we won't have to spend next time. We won't do that, we will sell, I don't need to be an Allam telling people to look at my CV to be right on that.
I think I must be missing something here ? If anyone can explain ? 1) The Allams may/may not want to sell to get their investment back ? Either way, promotion is the way ? 2) Being a top flight club would maximize the possibility/probability of finding a buyer. Much longer time-frame to recoup their investment if languishing in the Championship, or worse ? I doubt they want to make a loss on their injections ( loans or otherwise). 3) Retaining the core players (Dawson, Chester,Brady, Elmo., Robertson, Hudds(?)) and recruiting additional strength who would have an impact in the Championship to get us up (keeper, creative midfielder, striker or two) would seem the right strategy. Everyone seems to be saying this on here - Bruce too. I don't understand this budget debate, unless it has something to do with this FFP thing & the 40-50 % salary reductions in place & keeping hold of existing players cannot meet the required regulations . Does anyone know the true situation ? Could we not keep e.g Jelly & N'Doye to blast us back up ? Surely if we can't offload the high earners, could we not offer them incentives for next season for getting us up to circumvent FFP restrictions ( deferred compensation) ? I don't believe any professional player would consciously not try their best...it is not in their best long-term career interests. Set up a Plan B (line up close-to-certain replacements for those high earners "earmaked" for off-loading ( high earners or so-called ineffective players- strikers in the main - who may be "superstars" in the Championship). Unless it contravenes FFP rules, the Allams really should throw some money at this. How restricted are they ?
I think there is something going on that we don't know about. It appears we will be offloading key players and picking up lesser quality ones in return with a budget that appears to be far smaller than one would expect. I'd think that new contracts for our key players like Chester, Brady etc with clauses allowing them to leave if we are not promoted, selling some high earners and reinvestment and new investment would be the way forward.
You're a decent poster ellewoods but you let yourself down with the constant comparisons to "american soccer". It's garbage mate. And I'm pretty sure most people aren't interested in it. I know it's the "American way" to assume your own importance, but honestly mate cut the MLS **** out. It's tedious.
Who the **** is saying the MLS is great? I don't think it's great at all. My point is that being a full international does not make someone great. I bet I could find full internationals in the SPL. I know I could find them in the Mexican league, hell I bet I'd find them in the Australian league, they are probably in the Nigerian league. It has nothing to do with me being an American just like Brady's opinions aren't due to him being Scottish or pattys do to living in Texas for 6 months. My nationality has nothing to do with it.
Reducing buy-out clauses (if in place) guaranteed for the end of the upcoming season would possibly work for (A) & (B) without the players diminishing their effort ( not that a pro would ever do that - they always want to be in the shop window, so performance counts in what's a short-lived career). Clearly none of us really know the ins-and-outs of FFP, so (C) is the big question ? How do we balance that (C) against (A) + (B) ? Down to Bruce's judgement ? As is the question : Is it a good judgement call to sell Brady or Chester for 8 m now or would their services for the upcoming season make the difference in our ability to reach the untold riches of the holy grail ? Get back up, they may want to stay - possible bonus ( to players & club).
Ricardo could probably explain the FFP pretty well. You could probably send him a pm asking him to post on it. I don't quite understand it myself. I don't have an answer only a feeling. Perhaps Bruce's judgement would at least give an indication.
Lol wut. I don't think I've ever commented on you and the MLS before. Find posts from me that have if that's the case. But, um, the MLS is not at all comparable to players who comfortably were Best XI in Premier League clubs. You might want to follow your own advice and carry on reading what I wrote, which was that Chester has been highlighted as a key player in Wales' rise to a serious candidate for making the Euros. Last I checked Davies wasn't an International, Dawson no longer plays internationals, Maguire certainly hasn't played internationals. So we've sold Ince for 5m, where's the 5m worth of players that have come in?
You compare pretty much everything to the MLS, or talk up players in the MLS we could afford, like Bradley and some random others I forget about. Move on. How often do I mention the A-League? Rarely, if ever, except in the cases of Juric and Ryan who we have been actually linked to.
To be fair SydneyT, as an impartial observer, you seem to be missing ellewoods main point. You're suggesting 15m for Chester, arguing he's worth that as he's been a key player in Wales' progress recently. No denying he's helped. ellewoods is saying he doesn't think that he's worth anything close to that and even his "alleged" price value of 8m is overstated, simply because he plays for a lowly ranked international team. Where are all the suitors for his services ? He's no Gareth Bale, he's never played for a top ranked Premier League side. There are times he struggles playing for Hull City. IMHO he is overrated at 8m - Manchester United rarely let a gem leave their ranks. Neither has it anything to do with ellewoods being American.
Can't think of any games where he's struggled to play for us. The lack of suitors is because we have no desire to sell. If/when the release clause comes out, there'll most definitely be suitors.
