Despite the broadcast journalists misspelling of the name of our Argentine keeper, rumours over the last hour was today being spread on twitter, that Paulo Gazzaniga was being linked with Sunderland. https://twitter.com/#!/BenCCroucher With Gillingham still holding on to their mathematical possibility of promotion this season, this would certainly NOT be a popular move with me for now or the immediate future, regardless of any team that might come in and offer a substantial amount of money for our talented young keeper. We need to hold on to our young keeper regardless of any Premier League interests. Thoughts...
Did I read it right - that Hess says that Gazza has another season in League 2 - so Hess doesn't give our play-off / promotion any hope.
I hate to disagree brb, but lets be realistic here. Even if Paulo does say and does become the lynch pin behind a successful league campaign next season, the financial gain for the club would be greater if we sold him now. No doubt he will go for nothing next season (if he does stay) and the transfer fee we will recieve now (I would expect a six figure sum) could help the club bring in one or two good L1/L2 standard players. Yes it would be a shame to see a good talent go but we will have to accept that he will move on eventually so we need to get the maxium amount of cash possible.
I think part of building a successful and consistent team is about holding on to your young talent. Time and time again clubs appear to sell their talented youngsters to the highest bidders. Although good for the much needed finances of the lower league clubs at the time, it does not bring you the financial rewards of success. The Gills this season have seen some low attendances at home, particularly through midweek games and although there can be a number of reasons for this, it must go down in part in the eyes of stay away fans as failure and maybe lacking ambition. Yes, Gazza could bring us immediate finance in the same way as Luke Rooney did at the beginning of the year, explanations given by some fans that Luke wanted away anyway. Gazza clearly loves being at Priestfield and maybe it is time we stood by our young talent and like Jack Payne their pay day will come in the future then with the blessing of the fans. So in the long term the financial reward will still come and as Gazza's talent progresses, maybe with bigger reward. Maybe it is time we started thinking about saving for the future, rewards on the pitch, reward in success and reward in increased attendances. All a bigger reward than an instant pay cheque.
brb I feel you're living in some what of an ideal world, or at least want to be. The many factors that are involved will usually see good young players move on to teams in higher leagues. While I would love to see Gazza stay for years if this is to happen we need to sign him up on a long term deal, I doubt that this will happen unfortunately. You say about the future but that will not be seem to suggest a short term view. Should we keep good young players without tying them down to long term deals we will be seriously out of pocket. As always it will come down to sums of money offered. If a club comes in with an offer that the club find acceptable he will go, if they don't he will probably go for free next year. I really don't want to see him go and bench warm though so maybe a sale and loan back would be a good solution for all involved. If at all possible.
Gemini - agree with much of what you say - your suggestion of a loan back would be 'ideal' - however, with the obvious interest in Gazza, I am sure that Scally will be keen to look at add-ons ( similar to the situation with Ryan Bertrand ) - there's no way that our chairman will not try to bleed the last £ out of any deal.
Gazza was a great spot by Hess this season but every man has his price. Firstly, we cannot step in the way of a Premier League move for the kid as that knock on the door may never come again. However if the price is not sufficiently fair compensation then the club should absolutely plan to give Gazza the number 1 shirt for next year's promotion push!
Maybe we could do a deal that see's him sign for a premier league club and then get loaned back for a year in order to continue is "football education" in an environment he appears happy in, league 1 football would have helped us in that respect, but it does happen.
Gazza is a good keeper but in order to escape this division we cannot afford to have a decent keeper on the bench whilst other areas of the team are in need of investment. Keep Flitney, let Hawkes have the bench and (if the money is decent) let Paulo go. I trust PS in bringing about good money for a young keeper with a lot of potential, throw in a first option clause into the deal so that if he is left on their subs bench for five years (Jason Brown anyone?) we could have him back. Teams need to be built from the back but until we have a fully fit natural finisher (Birchall could prove to be that) we aren't going to dominate any division. I vote sell.
could we perhaps sell him and then have him loaned back to us for the season? Surely Paulo would be beneath both Mingolet and Westwood at sunderland (and perhaps trevor carson) so surely it would benefit all parties to do a deal like this as sunderland get him 50 plus games under his belt and we get to keep gazza for another year? I am I living in a dream world or is this a logical possibility? If we do sell him for a 6 figure sum we would need to spend some money on a new keeper and centre back (plus another right back) because if we have a solid back four we will dominate this division next year with or without paulo.
Realistically, Gazza is just a business transaction. He has had a terrific couple of months and looks too good for league 2 already. frankly it would be frustrating his career to stand in his way and the main concern must be to maximise Gills good luck in unearthing him. A decent transfer fee is the right compensation for Gills who are fortunate in having a competent replacement. Flitney tarnished his image a bit by playing on with his injury but he was rocksolid up to Christmas.
and this is where I disagree with everyone. In the same way that I did with Rooney. Everyone seems to think that promotion comes at a price, hence we all talk about the fee we will receive for the talent we find, rather than offering them long term contracts. We should be ensuring we keep the likes of Gazza, J Payne (which we have done), L Rooney (another story). This is not about building a promotion side in one season or even two, it is about watching this young talent prosper and grown and be moulded for success in the future and success that can be sustained. We are not a Premier Legue side, we do not have vast sums of money to throw around, so hold on to what we have got and reap the rewards from that. I know I will never win the argument because as Gemini has pointed out that is in the ideal world. Well maybe we should give it a try sometime because what have we achieved in most recent years by the current mentality? Another link...http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17860142?
brb everything you says makes sense, and don't get me wrong I would love to see Paulo stay and if we do manage to get him tied down on a long term contract I will dance a happy little jig... But I am a realist, the current situation is that if you don't cash in on him now we will lose him for nothing at the end of next season, the kid is too much of a talent to be languishing L2. As much as I admire the lad for paying his dues, working his way up but I doubt the temptation of L1 football would be enough to keep him at the club. Your idea of keeping him worked before but the Bosman ruling brought an end to any power the smaller clubs have in the transfer market, you are right we haven't got enough money to splash on new player but we also haven't got enough money to sustain / improve the squad to gain promotion without generating cash through the transfer market.
How long is Flitney's contract? Is that out this season? Another thing is would Gazza be subject to a tribunal if we do keep him next season and he's poached by a club higher up the ladder? I know it's for players below a certain age (23?) but do they have to be products of the clubs youth academy? I don't mind either way with this but I would be happy to sell him off if we could bring in Tomlin and another in his place permanently.
As Bristol points out the team will not suffer to a great extent as we have a perfectly competent back-up keeper. I would add that there are other areas of the pitch that desperately need strengthening and a six figure farewell from Paulo would be to the greater good.
exactly the point at the end of the day we have a very good (not as young) keeper in flintey who people were raving about at the start of the season and was a very consistant performer until his injury and just cant force his way back into the team (which only increase gazzas value). at the end of the day unfortunatly its a player we can to an extent afford to lose, especially given the finacial gains we should get for him. yes sale and loan back is a good option but a large sum of money in the transfer pot to sure up the defence and add some pace to the team would surely be a better option!! who knows with this new contact open to hess and us making a success out of it who we could aquire through a simliar situation next season
Hi lads, Under 24 is tribunal, to answer a question. There seems a bit of weight in this, Gordon will be released as he is on a monster Keano contract, Mignolet & Westwood are both decent quality, Carson will either become number 3 or leave. I think a buy and loan back would work, we send a lot of players out on loan to help development (as do all Premier League clubs), and the lad would surely develop better in an environment he knows. Clearly, I don't see much (any) League 2 games, bar the goals, so, what's the lad like? Our keeper problem for many years has been flapping at crosses (still apparent) and distribution. Our strength has been wonderful reflexes (Mig, and Gordon before him), we haven't had an all round keeper since Tommy Sorensen, who was magnificent when we had him in his prime. How does this lad shape up in these areas? Busy board you lads have for League 2, incidentally
the new tribunal system would mean we get sweet fa given he would have only been at the club for 2 years as i understand it. to make decent money through tribunal the player has to really have come thorugh your academy. if we can get the loan back deal then it would suit to sell for a decent figure and get him back
Paulo has still got a lot to learn, but at 6' 4" he's a decent height for a keeper. Ithink he's a bit weak at crosses ,but like a lot of foreign keepers he likes to punch it out. His shot stopping is pretty good, although he is prone to the odd slip and letting an easy one go in. His balll distribution is the best in the lower divisions , very accurate and long. He regularly drops the ball to one of our forwards on the edge of the opponents penalty area. He's already got a couple of assists this season and he's only been a regular for a couple of months.We all think he will develop into a top keeper in a couple of years. He's probably not ready for the premiership yet, because of the scrutiny that premiership players come under, but with good coaching ,who knows??
To answer the question he is a very good goalkeeper but yes he is still a bit error prone. However goalkeepers are never even near their prime until they are approaching 30 so he still has time to get better. I don't view him as league 2 goalkeeper as he is far too good for this league and somehow he fell into our lap in pre season. Would be a good goalkeeper for you and could quite possibly be another Sorensen in a few years. For a club like yours a couple 100 grand is nothing and if he fails he fails but could be something very big.
