For all the negatives he gets, he must receive plaudits if he gets it right. If we get 20m for Jobe and 30m for Clarke, that’s 50m to re invest, which should give us a huge chance of promotion. IF that happens, speakman should be rightly applauded.
There’s no denying he was a very clever signing last summer. Seems like it was ongoing for ages too, we got ourselves a good deal with his name alone.
The fact that maybe our five best players are worth something like 100 million in the championship, having come from league one rather than the premier league, speaks volumes. Doing very well with individuals, just need to get the team playing.
In order I would guess Clarke, Neil, Jobe, Ballard and maybe Hume. Could definitely see the five of them going for around 100m, maybe a touch below.
Obviously fact is a difficult one to prove until they go. All we can go by as a guide is the stated fact that Jobe is apparently worth 20m to us.
Honestly other than Clarke and Jobe I don't see the other's getting close to £20m a piece. Neil and Ballard £15m best case scenario and Hume probably seven figures.
Can't see Neil going for less than 20, would value him higher than Jobe. I had Hume at between 10 and 15 and Ballard maybe just over 15.
Taking out the fees going to other clubs, if we sold our squad now we could do well I reckon. The game is simply replacing these lads with the right player. Coventry and Peterborough have done well recently, Pboro are the EFL blueprint but they're a significantly smaller club than us, which means their expectations can be managed. It's not out of the realms of possibility for us to sell Clarke and end up with 16 million after the Levy tax. You could use that 10 million strengthening elsewhere and could get a really good replacement for 6 mill.
Something like this, in my opinion: Clarke, £20m Lazio, West Ham, Southampton, Brentford. Jobe, £20m Brentford, Crystal Palace, Real Madrid, Dortmund. Dan Ballard, £13m West Ham, Brentford, Ipswich, Brighton. Dan Neil, £12m Sporting Lisbon. Trai Hume, £8m Rangers, Burnley, Luton.
I just wouldn't be selling at those prices, personally. I might just be misreading the market and looking at things overly optimistically. I had Clarke at 25-30. Neil at 20-25. Jobe at 20. Ballard at maybe 15-17. Hume and 10-12.
We don't have to sell, but I doubt we'd find a buyer for more than those fees. We were a struggling Championship team last season remember. Probably would have got relegated if there were another half dozen games.
Always remember when valuing players, we aren't looking for a fair price. That's what you look for when you WANT to sell. We're looking for a disproportionately high price to justify selling. So I'd agree with @Disco down under above. Only one I'd reduce is Clarke down to £20-25m.
Also if / when we sell one or two players - my asking price for all the others would go up. We just wouldn't NEED to sell any of them. So it would take even higher bids to sell.
I'm nervous that the way Adam Wharton has taken to the Premier League, and now England, is going to put even more eyes on finding "the next" Adam Wharton. Dan Neil has to be up there for many. Along with that Hayden Hackney lad at Boro.
