£10m will be the figure that the rumour site has lifted off transfermarkt (converted into GBP) Players rarely go for that if they still have reasonable time on their contract and the selling club don’t want or need to sell. Especially when the transfer is between clubs within the same division
Exactly, Fernandes gives us so many options, I wouldn’t hesitate having him partner Downes or Charles and playing two upfront in some scenarios
Sounds like Trafford could be going back to Man City. Wonder if Ramsdale fancies a season with Burnley
I’m feeling fairly relaxed about midfield for Championship personally. Downes & Charles are 2 of the leagues best DM and with Matsuki looking decent, Smallbone a reliable box to box option at this level and Fernandes clearly our best player I think we’re sorted. Ronnie Edwards put in some top performances at DM for QPR last season too. Realistically, want to see us move on BBD, Fraser, Aribo & Bednarek and see us bring in a creative attacking midfielder & winger.
I would be fine with keeping BBD due to his solid Championship record. But I agree about moving on Fraser, Aribo and Bednarek. I would also include ABK and one of the three LBs (no-one needs three senior LBs).
Much the same for the rest of the league - apart from Birmingham really. It's going to be interesting to see what happens as Still looks to work with a reduced number without freezing players out. I'd expect one or two to leave over the coming week or so.
Yeah totally agree on these too. With ABK think it’s so certain he’s got to go I’d forgotten he even exists haha! I’d have said Taylor to go too, but think his experience could be useful even if he’s a bench warmer all season, who can help us see last 15 mins of games out, see the same role with Stephens too
I'm somewhat surprised that Bednarek hasn't already gone tbh. I had assumed that given his omission at the end of last season and the sudden advertisement of a very low release clause in his contract, that he had a move lined up. He's not perfect, but with a more dominant CB partner he is lower half PL standard imo. He was frequently our best defender last season (obviously not saying much). I thought £6m was a bit of steal, particularly when we've been talking about £10m for ABK for the past few seasons!
Bednarek is a very good player for the Championship. I'd much rather keep him than see him go for £6m.
I completely agree regarding Bednarek. I get that people want to move on from our failed defenders. But he is kinda our best one and is top quality for this level. Plus £6m is peanuts. It's more it just seemed highly likely that he was outta here rather than he'd be one I'd be desperate to sell.
Wasn’t the £6m due to a release clause or something? Not sure when he signed his last deal but if it was after our last relegation it may have included a relegation clause of £6m Still don’t really understand why he didn’t leave in Jan when there was bids from Italy (Roma?) and he chose to stay. Especially if his plan was to leave in the summer anyway
Still doesn’t make any sense, unless he doesn’t plan on leaving this summer (which might be the case). It’s not like we had a chance of staying up in January, Bednarek or not, so all he was doing was staying for 6 months for no reason. Maybe something in his personal life meant he wanted to stay (kids in school or something) but pretty sure footballers leave their families temporarily behind all the time for those sort of things so just seems a bit odd.
With the relegation release clause set at £6m, he may well have been better off waiting, as he has, and negotiating higher wages this summer than would have been the case for had he moved (for example) for £9m in Jan. Teams paying less for him so can give him higher wages. Similar to the argument for free transfers working for players.
Yeah I don’t think it was meant to be a clause, just that Roma(?) were definitely bidding for him and he/we turned them down. You’d think from the clubs perspective, with the season we were having and knowing about the £6m release clause, any bid around that would be likely accepted, but Bednarek didn’t leave which I find strange. Might be that he thought there would be better options/higher wages in the summer, or that he is showing some loyalty and wants to stay and help get us back up. He’s done that once (although no idea what the market was like for him last time we went down) so may not fancy it again if he has offers. Anyway we shall see, him still being here at this stage of the window would indicate he isn’t high up any teams list of options. Could be a late move when a club loses out on other targets and just goes for him as he is available pretty cheap
