Looks like talks to sign Aluko on a long term deal will start again soon. Got me wondering again, is this potentially another Bullard situation? He's spent a lot of time in the treatment room since he joined us and the origin of a recurring Achilles injury appears a mystery. I assume we're looking at 20-25k a week on a four year deal, a lot of money. Then again if he recovers and we don't sign him someone else will snap him up. A tricky one!
Not really. Steve Bruce said last week that we have made him a good offer and it is now down to Sone to think it over and either accept it o not. What will be will be. But if he goes then he goes. I think that he will stay once he has had some thinking time.
Can't compare with Bullard as there was no £5 million transfer fee & we would be able to insure Aluko where we could not get insurance for Bullard
No - I meant the question to Tickles, who blithely suggested signing him up, with no reference to his injury risk. I see what you're saying, but we don't ant to be in the situation where we're paying a big wage to a player who's not able to perform. I'm sure Brucey will be well aware of things and there'll be a balancing act performed.
I personally based on the amount of time he seems to spend sidelined seriously look at alternative options. Can Boyd play the Aluko role? He's skilful enough.
I concur - achillies issues flare up quickly - look at Fryatt so if it requires an op you lose the player 9 months. Yes he's a great player but his salary offer may be reduced with this worry in mind
If he is need of an achillies op then he should get it done immediately. Its absolutely no good having injections because all this does is hide the pain whilst making the injury worse.
I suspect that we've offered him a big wage, but one with that's largely made up of appearance bonuses, hence the delay.
I'd let him go. So far it's looked he's been a waste of a wage. Get some one in who can actually play. Offering him a big wage is ridiculous after his injury record thus far. And FerribyTiger.... We will not be insuring Aluko. We as a club don't have the incinerator to go round paying huge premiums on player insurance. Edit: incinerator? - Income! bloody bloody autocorrect.
I would offer him a wage comparative to his ability and if he declines we look elsewhere. He was a brilliant steal on a free, but we cant be held to ransom by any player - if we do need to let him go it would have been nice to get something for him though...
Bit of a gamble for Sone too, if he has a career threating injury later in the season nobody will want him at any price if he is going to be sitting out for 9 months and he might not come back the same player. Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and all that.
Aluko is probably the only payer we have who can individually unlock an EPL defence and score from the chance. Big clubs search for those type of players because they often make the difference between winning and drawing games. Clubs with less ambition are quick to sell those players and replace them with solid, practical types who won't let you down (but equally won't produce that moment of magic). The reason is to turn more defeats into draws. Unlike managers like Pullis SB has always been willing to gamble on a few flair players wherever he's been and I think for that reason he would push the boat out to keep Aluko.
Equally, as a club we have been very patient with Aluko. I think he's spent more time on the physio's bench then on the pitch - how are we to know that wont continue. We dont want to be splashing mega bucks on him for that trend to continue. As has been mentioned, I hope the majority of his wage will be based on appearances.
On the pitch, I have a lot of time for Aluko and we're lucky to have a player of his quality in the side. But he's never on the pitch to admire. That's the problem. If he's offered a big wage, we could attract someone who would be an improvement to the squad who might play more than a handful of games a season. If he hadn't retired I'd of said Kieron Dyer would have been a good shout...
Players can't help getting injured. Aluko is specifically targeted for fouls because he is such a dangerous player. The answer isn't to lose a dangerous player because he gets targeted, it's to add more dangerous players so the focus isn't always on him.
I'm not disputing he is targeted more then others. However Meyler suffered a horror challenge at the weekend and came out of it unscathed, as just one example. Luckily perhaps, but it would appear to me that Aluko is more prone to injuries before he steps foot onto the pitch. Nothing he can do about that, but its something which should dictate the structure of contract which we have offered and I'm sure it has. If we offered him a Bullard style contract to make sure he stayed everyone would be up in arms.
To be fair Aluko is a small forward up against towering defenders. Chances are he is going to get more injuries than most. I think we need to take the burden off him with other players doing the spadework / making space and releasing him in more attacking positions.
I'm really not sure about this insurance thing. Both PB and Duffen have both claimed since that footballers aren't insured anyway. I think it's a bit of a red herring. The transfer fee also wasn't the main problem it was the wages. Surely Shawnie won't be on as much as JB was?
