I do kind of see your point JWM. Although I thought Cresswell was our best player last season - lets be honest in general the team was poor (and therefore it wasnt difficult to look good) and our defence was below terrible. I thought he looked consistantly good and was what you would expect of a modern fullback - decent energy, ok defender, decent enough at whipping the ball in. I reckon £3.5m is above generous and for that kind of money we could sign at 2 decent players at this level. I know some would say build a team around him and I can see that argument too but thinking for that kind of money we have previously brought in players of the quality of JET, Martin, Chopra, Walters. I didnt rate either of them but we got both Norris & Leadbitter combined for that money. Getting two players or banking £3m for a player based on 1 promising season sounds a good bet to me
problem is with taking the money and investing in players, is if we buy a player for say 1.5 million, they probably won't be within our wage structure! its a catch 22 situation!
Another interesting point Guru. I would assume getting most of the early ME era wages of the books will help. Good only knows what wages the likes of Leadbitter, Norris, Edwards, were on. With Leadbitter going this summer hopefully we can put a half decent amount back to fund the other signings.
I'm certainly in 2 minds but I really don't think we should sell him. No way do I think he is worth more than £2.5 million but I just think what you get as a package from Cresswell is what we should be building our side around. Young players with ability with a good head on their shoulders looking to improve themselves, I would do all we can to keep him obviously unless he really wants to leave. The thing I think about him, is he's just very very consistent for someone of his age, he generally is always a 7 out of 10 and at 22 he is only going to get better. I actually think he is ready for the step up to the PL aswell, because I disagree with JWM, I don't think he is a raw talent, he's pretty consistent for someone of his age, as previously mentioned, Wickham is a raw talent who could've done with a few more years development!! With ME in charge I'm not sure it makes a difference if we sell players or not, I don't think it effects our spending capabilities that much like it did in the days under Burley. I mean have we seen the Walters or Wickham money and would our budget have been any less had we not sold these, I'm not sure!! Whilst every player has his price and the figures being banded around are really more than what Cresswell is worth selling him would be a backward step IMO!!
Reduced gate receipts mean reduced wage bill. There is no more money to re-invest. So we sell him, get another left back in who we cannot guarantee will be as good as Cressy. Money well spent or money wasted?
Plus I think we really do need some consistency this season, we need to start to build a squad, we've had too much of a merry go round the past few years and Cresswell for the first time in a few years really feels like he is an Ipswich player, many of the players in the ME era I've felt they play for Ipswich but aren't so much Ipswich players, it's there job to play for us, if you get what I'm trying to get at?
We need to face the fact that Ipswich will always be a selling club and if the right offer comes in then we should accept it. Look at the Burley years when we had to sell one decent player every season. Tarrico, Dyer, Sedgely etc etc. That's the way it is and that's the way it will always be!
exactly monkey, i would rather have less money in the transfer pot and keep cressy then have money burning a hole in PJ's pocket!
but JWM, If we held on to him for another season that could well put another couple of million on his price tag. if we don't need to sell then why should we?
all good points and I can see both sides of the argument and find myself agree with them all. I just think that £3.5m for a defender is too good to turn down. Look at our history of full backs - Wilnis 200k, Clapham 600k, Wright 600k, Cresswell himself £500k. Picking up a decent defender for under £750k should not be that difficult. Bank/ re-invest £2.5m. Overall I think its a win/win situation. Sell for decent money and help rebuild the team which does still need additions. Keep and it shows we still have a bit of financial power and can keep hold of our players if required. I doubt many other teams at this level would turn down that kind of offer for a player.
George friend of Doncaster has been lined up as a £250k replacement according to the Evening Star. Friend can also cover CD so could possibly ease the sale of that donkey Delaney.
I thought Sean O'Driscoll was a good manager, if this story is true I may have to revise my opinion of him. If we are willing to let Delaney go you would imagine we are pretty confident of getting at least 1 CB in pretty soon!!
my thoughts exactly on both of your points ptc In new news the Delaney transfer story has now reached sky sports.
Every player has a price but unless Cressy wants to go to Villa, or we have a decent replacement already lined up I don't think we should sell him. I don't want to see us take the money and then have nobody to fill his position. We shouldn't be looking to make our own team weaker for the sake of a few quid. It wouldn't do us any good to get the cash, only to find ourselves needing to spend it on transfer and wages to replace him with someone of similar quality. p.s. Paul Lambert = weasely little ****er A man who has no morals and is only out for self. A man who shows no loyalty to his employers and will ditch Villa just as quickly if a better offer comes about. I hope he falls flat on his face, is spanked twice by Norwich next season and is ousted by the Villa faithful. I never hope Norwich win but I want them to beat the bespectacled weasel. (cue someone to find funny picture of weasel with glasses)
I'm starting to come round to the idea of selling Cresswell after reading Warky's points. Look at it from a Villa fans point of view. This is a guy who wasn't discovered by a Championship team until a year ago, only spending one year at this level. He was also part of one the worst defences in the division, despite having a guy who's being touted as the long term competition for Joe Hart (Stockdale) as his goalie. It's also at least £3.5 million, and could be as much as £6 million, which could buy you Kolarov, part of the championship winninng team. With regards to the idea that us not being able to afford high wages, even if we do have spare cash to spend... I take the point, but I think we would all like to see us buying players from divisions below for higher transfer fees and lower wages and see them develop, rather than expensive established Championship or Premiership players. On the other hand, this doesn't work if we just sell them in a years time due to them impressing so much!
