I disagree SC. they sign a contract that is not the same as the employment contracts you and I would sign. The day football allows "normal" employee decisions on when they leave, is the day it dies.
They hardly got anything from that player did they, in terms of on pitch contribution. I'd hate the thought of that with Fonte.
I agree with this when considering most of our players. What about Fonte though? This is the player in the current situation. Should we make him see out his contract? What does his do to the squad? Would he knuckle down? Would he only partially contribute (like Berahino)? He is 33 soon so a different game.
I would hope that in terms of personalty type and in their genuine affection for their respective clubs JF & SB are incomparable. I think Jose will stay (for this transfer window at least).
Yes they are very different, however it still leaves the board with a gamble. I'd like to think that Fonte would knuckle down, but you never know.
That sounds good in theory, but IMO it doesn't really work. There is risk in signing any transfer or new contract. You are increasing the risk (but conceivably also the reward) when you attempt to sign them long term. If you sign a new transfer for the next 3 seasons, you would then have to sign him for 5 seasons. Which is probably okay if he is a young 22-23 year old like we typically bring in. But if the player ends up not working out, now you are on the hook for much longer. OTOH, if the player is even better than you expected, they still have a lot of leverage even while they are under a long term contract. If Hojbjerg tomorrow decided to "boycott' the team, he would drive his price way down even despite having just signed. But let's say you have a 28 or 29 year old. You probably only want that player for 1-2 seasons. Which means you have to sell. Otherwise, they will have "run down" their contract to under 2 years already. If you sign that player to a 3-4 year deal, then you are paying for a 31 or 32 year old season where probably no one wants them anyway, including yourself. It's okay for players to be sold for less money because they have 1 less year on their contract. It's even perfectly okay to let players run down their contracts completely and leave for free. It's all a matter of projecting future value and timing. You can't become so paranoid of players leaving that you sign them all to uber-long contracts at high salaries just so they don't go. In that situation, it's less that you "kept" them but that you are stuck with them.
I was beginning to think that Pulis was his dad. I've never seen a gaffer protect a player as much as he did, and what did he get in return......nothing. Saido should hang his head in shamo.
So Puel says Fonte is in contention to start on Friday night and has trained well and remained focused all week. That would be fantastic, can any of us see him starting? If he's fit (and he's not outbound) then he has to start.
I think he has to. We're away at Old Trafford against one of the most feared strikers. We need him. Be a man Jose and play.* * oh and PS. Have an absolute shocker and then the other Jose will not want you!!
I get part of what you say (I was glad we didn't offer Pelle a new deal for this reason) but there is nothing wrong with having 31-32 year olds in your squad towards the end of their contracts. They can still be very close to their best at that age (Jose last season), so signing a 28 year old on a 4 year deal is fine for me. One thing you do lose is a decent sell on value. Ps. I hope you find the tone of my post as purely discussion and not a perishable attack
It's not that the club has all the power or the player has all the power. It's somewhere in the middle. If, for some reason a player's only goal was to get out of the team in any way possible, then you probably can't stop them. Osvaldo being a good example. But usually the player's interest comes down to money. Maybe they have other reasons as well, but money is a primary factor. So, you can keep or acquire a player if you offer them enough money. Which is why I think Pelle is playing in China. I don't know what's in Fonte's head so I can't say for sure. But probably if we paid him 150k a week he would stay. And we have enough money to do that without risking serious fiscal problems. Obviously, we probably aren't offering him 150k a week, or at least I hope not because that would be a bad move. But the point is, we aren't powerless. There's a price Fonte will take to sign. And there's a price we think he is worth. It's a choice. Our choices are not as nice as some other teams with more money. And we face greater risks for making the wrong choice. But ultimately, it's the board's decision whether they want to keep Fonte or not.
Does the player have the power? Does the club have the power? There's only one way to settle this...........................................................Fight!!!!!!!
I think nothing less than scoring the winner on Friday for us will do now from Jose, plus doing a number on Pogba AND Ibrathingummybob early In the game. He can then come back and say the reason he's been off social media is because his phone is broken, and that it was all paper talk and some saddoes on twitter
Yeah, but what I was saying is that if you do that then you are letting them run down their contract to nothing. Which I agree with you, isn't necessarily a problem. That was my point. The original post was saying we should try to avoid players running down their contracts to 2 years or less. I was saying that's not always bad. A good 28 year old on a 4 year deal who runs their contract down to 0 could work out great. My feeling is that there should be players who run their contracts to nothing, or are sold for small(er) fees with 1 year left. And when they leave, we should feel a bit uneasy about it. It means they were useful until the last day of their contract. It's like a good vacation. The perfect length for a vacation is when on the last day your sadness that it is ending is equal to your happiness to get back home and see your friends and get back to your normal routine.
I hope if Fonte does play, he plays well and doesn't strop. If he plays well and then leaves, I can at least respect him a little more.
Fonte will always give his best...he's not had a character transplant. He has a genuine affection for Saints....he may want a move or be at least thinking about it, but he will not sulk and throw his dummy out of the pram.
