Swansea set to steal Watford defender from under Newcastle’s nose SWANSEA City look set to trump Newcastle United in the race to sign Watford defender Adrian Mariappa, with a £3.5m bid. The centre-back was the subject of a failed bid - believed to be an initial £750,000, with add-ons taking the final fee to £3m - from Alan Pardew’s side earlier this week. But the Welsh club, who are new to the Premier league this season, are set to join the race for his signature before the January transfer deadline closes at midnight on Tuesday. Swans boss Brendan Rodgers wants the 25-year-old to bolster his defence after accepting he will not be able to turn Steven Caulker’s loan move from Tottenham into a permanent deal. Mariappa will line up for Watford against Tottenham tonight in the FA Cup fourth round, but it could be his last game for the Hornets. Watford are understood to want £4m for Mariappa, but could be tempted to sell him to Swansea for a straight cash bid of £3.5m. “A bid from Swansea is imminent, they have been showing a strong interest and we could have a bidding war on our hands,” a source told Goal.com. More here: http://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport...efender_from_under_newcastle_s_nose_1_4188988
bloody good choice if we can get him....there is money there still if brendan needs it then.......well done huw and the board.....keep a balance your doing great.....
Agree Dai - would be a great addition to the squad! Have done some good business in the unpopular Jan window; Sigurdson looking class, Donnely one for the future and McEachran can do well for us. Mariappa would be the icing on the cake! Gotta love us at the minute
Must admit I know very little about Mariappa, until I read this, though obviously Rodgers rates him, looks athletic though, and has played against some Prem teams for Watford!............ please log in to view this image
Oi oi! Can't say I know much about him but he's always been fairly highly rated. £3.5mil is a lot of money though? Especially considering we normally deal with straight cash transfers.
He's always been highly thought of and at just 25, he's good age to make the step up. Shame he's Cup-tied as of last night, and agree £3.5m in cash is quite a big chunk, I imagine he'll command pretty decent wages too... I wonder if our offer includes a clause that says if we get relegated it won't be as much as that...?
I'd like to think that, but normally when we buy someone it's done and dusted straight away? Be interesting to see how much we'd actually be paying up front... maybe send a player on loan to Watford to sweeten the deal?
I would be suprised if we payed that kind of money now but in the Summer no problem. I havent seen enough of the player to comment on his abilities but in Buck we trust !! Reading on other message boards there seems to be stories that Spurs can recall Caulker at any time , i dont know if thats true or not but to lose him would be tragic for us right now,maybe the club are thinknig its better to get that strength in depth at defence sooner rather than later.
Hi Norway,re Caulker.My understanding is that Spurs can recall him anytime up to 23.59 on Jan 31st. If they don't do that,he stays until end of season. If this is incorrect,I'm sure someone will put us right. Mariappa sounds too expensive,plus his wages,probably not really on the cards.
Hey Vetch, yeah id heard something similar about caulker, we need him to stay till end of season then we can be more measured in the summer,presuming we stay up of course
Don't know too much about the guy so perhaps my view isn't kosher but £3.5 million seems a hell of a lump to me. I see he plays at centre back but, at 5ft 11", he isn't going to give us the aerial solidity that Caulker at 4" taller gives us. Neither have I read anywhere that he's particularly good with other aspects of his game. Competent, yes, but I would expect a whole lot of competence for £3.5 million. Also, he doesn't score many and, for me, Matt Mills at 500k more represented far better value given that he seems to chip in with regular goals from the back. Buck obviously knows better than I do but I don't see a penny more than £2 million here, if that. What concerns me the most, though, is that his signing would leave us with a back four that would be amongst the shortest in the PL. I like a bit of height and beef at the back - providing they can also play a bit - because it helps at set pieces where we are notoriously fragile and that has sometimes been the case even when 6ft 3" Caulker has played!! I'm posing the question; is Buck bringing him in to groom him as a like for like replacement for Ash when he goes? If that proves to be the case perhaps a brick outhouse will follow at that time.
Interesting theory, but surely we could find someone younger & cheaper who could take on the same role? £3.5mil seems a hell of a lot for someone who would be, surely, an understudy for at least 6 months, and maybe more if, as you say, we sign some other lump who can play AND Ash decides to stay?
we are a premiership club now and the players we want will be in the millions, anything less then they cant be highly rated. If Huw and the board agree with Brendan then he is worth buying. another thing is you will find that every player will be aware of a pay cut if we should go down and rightly so........I have waited years for us to bring quality to the club and long will it continue......we still cant afford yet to spend £5 + million on players and again rightly so as that is a few seasons away yet if we can establish ourselves in the premiership and then i dont want to spend much more than that anyway, £10-£15-£20 million + for players to me is stupid as nobody is worth that as we can all witness with torres, Carrol and the like, this is where Huw will come into his own by making sure we stay financially stable......
Good posts Ivor and Dai, i think it is possible that we may lose 1 or 2 if we stay up, if we go down then it will be alot more. Ash seems to be gettingmore commanding as this season progresses and the added height and presence of Caulker has helped IMO. I would be happy for us to take another up and coming centre half next season if we stay up. The apprentciship Caulker has had here would make us very attractive for the big clubs to send their next big prospect, we could well create a niche for grooming these young talanted players and could get potential world class quality every year while keeping our eyes open for the next Ash williams from the lower leagues. £3.5m seems alot for us right now,but having not seen the boy play it would be harsh to maybe say he isnt worth it, there have been many say the same about ash williams when we were in the championship
http://www.swansea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=270757 If Newcastle bid £750,000, there's no way we'll go straight in with £3mil! Surely?! If the Swansea board do that I don't know them at all. Go in with a mil, see what happens...
Good to here from you Mabon, how you keeping? hope all is well, good point about Huw's wallet!...........
