Contracts

We've all been taxing ourselves over the fate over the coming weeks of Danny, Clint and Moussa. However, apart from those three, there are 30 other players at the Club whose contracts are up this summer or next; not all of them 'Golden Oldies' by any means and a significant number who we would expect to make up the cacus of the squad over the next two seasons.

Hopefully Jol and Big Mac won't let the ink go dry. The full list is -

Summer 2012 - (14 players)

Alex Kacaniklic - Summer 2012 (2 years)
Alex Smith - 25th June 2012 (3 years)
Andy Johnson - 7th August 2012 (4 years)
Bjørn Helge Riise - 22nd July 2012 (3 years)
Buomesca Tué Na Bangna - Summer 2012 (1 year with option of a further year)
Csaba Somogyi - Summer 2012 (1 year)
Danny Hoesen - Summer 2012 (1 year with option of a further year)
Danny Murphy - Summer 2012 (1 year)
Jesse Joronen – 30th June 2012 (3 years)
Jonathan Cosgrove - 30th June 2012 (2 years)
Mahamadou Diarra - Summer (on loan)
Pavel Pogrebnyak - Summer 2012 (on loan)
Stephen Kelly - 1st July 2012 (3 years)
Zdenek Grygera - Summer 2012 (1 year with option of a further year)

1 year left - (19 players)

Aaron Hughes – Summer 2013 (3.5 years)
Brede Hangeland - Summer 2013 (3.5 years)
Chris Baird - Summer 2013 (3 years)
Clint Dempsey - Summer 2013 (4 years)
Damian Duff - Summer 2013 (1 year)
Kerim Frei - Summer 2013 (2.5 years)
Lauri Dalla Valle - Summer 2013 (3 years)
Marcel Gecov - Summer 2013 (2 years)
Marcello Trotta – Summer 2013 (3 years)
Marcus Bettinelli - June 30th 2013 (1 year extension)
Mark Schwarzer - Summer 2013 (1 year with option of another year)
Mousa Dembele - Summer 2013 (3 years)
Neil Etheridge - Summer 2013 (2 years)
Philippe Senderos - Summer 2013 (3 years)
Rafik Halliche - Summer 2013 - (3 years)
Richard Peniket - 30th June 2013 (3 years)
Ronnie Minkwitz - Summer 2013 (2.5 years)
Simon Davies - Summer 2013 (3 years)
Tom Donegan - Summer 2013 (2 years)

 

Didn't Kerim Frei sign a new contract a few weeks back? Anyway that is a lot of players, pretty much our whole squad. From the first list the players I would keep are:
Kaca
Smith
Na Bangna
Murphy
Joronen
Diarra
Pog
Kelly
Grygera

I think there's plenty of time to worry about the second list of players. I guess the club want to wait until the end of the contract before renewing as a new contract often means a wage increase.

 

We have a few youngsters knocking on the door of the first team.
But with youth comes the problem of giving them time to bed in,
they are bound to have bad spells, an example of this has been Briggs,
he went from competing for the left back position to being loaned out.

You would think that Andrew Johnson is going to be shipped out on a free,
sounds like Jol has said to Simon Davies because of the youngsters he may not
get a regular place. Again Baird will have his chances limited. Same goes for
Bjorn Helge Riise and Halliche.

Are Kelly or Grygera the answer to Right back, Kelly has played well, but been inconsistent,
will Grygera come back from his injury.
You'd think Somogyi is one keeper too many with Joronen and Etheridge coming through.
Will Jol put Stockdale in front of Schwarzer next season ?

Duff has been great in the second half of the season, but I can't see him being
offered more than a 1 year contract at the end of next season.
Same goes for Hughes, will players want to sign a 1 year contract, when a
Championship team may offer 2-3 year contracts if they leave this year.

The two loan players Pogrebnyak and Diarra would be good purchases, but I have a
feeling they might be poached by other teams.

The youngsters out of contract this year seem to have had good reviews, it is
up to them to sign a new contract and challenge.

Getting Dempsey and Dembele to sign extended contracts would be a good move,
but will they be moving this season.

When you look at the overall future, with the potential of the youth, we seem to
have an abundance of good players. The summer will be interesting.

 

Diarra is not a loan player. He is on a short term contract until the end of the season, with an option to further extend to the end of 2013. I imagine we will exercise this option.

With Pogrebnyak, alot depends on his performances at the Euros. If he has a strong tournament, he puts himself in the shop window as he will be a free agent.

However, as things currently stand we are strong favourites to sign him. I don't see any on the teams around us signing him. The strongest link has been with Villa, but I cannot see them being able to offer him higher wages with their current wage issues.

My biggest concern is that Kacaniklic hasn't signed a new deal yet.

 

I would like to see the Pog stay, but only on reasonable terms. He has given a great return on goals, but I wouldn't expect him to continue at that rate next season. He is useful to team play, but isn't great with his back to goal and, given his size, doesn't make as big an impact in the air as he should.