Hendo. Man utd. £20 mil.

Take it and take it now whiile the price is inflated and his full potential is still to be realised 'cos he's not going to be anywhere near as good as we think/hope he could be.
His set pieces are atrocious and plays the ball backward more times than he does forward: not a good outlook for an attacking midfielder.
If we can get Welbeck as part of the deal all the better. In fact if ManU want him as badly as has been reported, on more than one occasion and confirmed by SB, I'd say a straight swap is the only way it could be considered.

 

"In a couple of years WE might be one of the top four"

Although we might (and it is a pretty big might) finish in the top four at some point in the next 10 years I very much doubt we will become genuine members of top four in my life time. Football is, for its detriment, different now that then it used to be and in order to break into the top four you need a sugar daddy like Abramovich/Sheikh Mansour and somehow I can't see that happening to Sunderland. I'll be happy with the Everton/Spurs region of success as from the dark days of the late 80s and early 00s I didn't think we would ever be a top ten premier league team (certainly not in less than a decade anyway).

 

It took a dire Liverpool side to allow Tottenham into the top four, and with Man City around now there's no opening for a side like Sunderland. Aston Villa couldn't get in when up against an average Arsenal team for fourth spot.

Sunderland don't have the easiest run of games now, if you're still sixth after the next few games, then it's time to expect the Europa League. It's nowhere near anything more than that. As for being top four with Sessegnon and Muntari, they've not played yet.

 

We can't possibly claim we're in the running for Europe until after the next three or four games. We have Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Stoke. All tough tough games.

 

My two pence on the subject

Gyandance (#14) I take your point about acting in kind, but I think it would back fire with Man Utd. We’ve had a good rapport with SAF and (the real) Utd, re Evans and Welbeck, what would be the cost to us of playing a game of brinksmanship? We’re not a small club, Man Utd are an exceptionally big club, is it worth playing games with them?

Having said that, as Pookie23 (#23) has said, if any deal did go through I would hope SB and SNQ would seek assurances that SAF would look elsewhere for a keeper. It’s not as though they’re shy of potential targets.

Concerning the figure, £20m is a better than fair price. Henderson’s displaying huge potential, RokerReport’s recent blog on him underlines this. Yet, whilst Henderson has played a vital part in our season to date, it is his potential that Man Utd. will buying and that comes with risk. Perspective: C. Ronaldo bought for £12.24m when 18 yo; Rooney bought for £25.5m when 18 yo.

Finally, I don’t agree with the argument that if Henderson’s worth £20m now he will be worth a lot more in 4 years’ time. Chelsea were reportedly interested in Sessegnon, to the tune of £15m, two seasons ago. He’s now joined us for a reported £6m. We were offered £double figures for SKP, but he was sold shortly afterwards for a mere tenth of that.

This will be a difficult decision for SNQ and SB to make and that is why the figure is £20m.

I really rate Henderson - except for when he shoots*, but that will come with experience - and would be delighted if he remains with us indefinitely. However, if SNQ and SB don’t see him as critical to the club’s future then £20m is a line worth biting. The label a ‘selling club’ is a state of mind, each transfer must be considered on its own merits and this will mean selling some players.


* “Shoot. Anyone shoot. No not Henderson”

 

reality check 20 million, yes 20 million, in the real world is a huge amount.
darren bent a reknown goalscorer how much?
a 20 year old with potential? think quite a few are blinkered as he is a local lad
as much as we would like for him to stay, theres no loyalty in football, or we would have big chris's fantasy, a team born and bread in a 10 mile radius of sol, and we are all past that stage