I don't know the answer,but to get a straight-swap for a donkey and get a classic thoroughbred,please send for the answer to L.Congerton @ SAFC.com.He is some magician!!!
Maybe the answer is that the donkey was the clincher. Lots of London clubs reporterd to be interested but maybe reluctant to pay a transfer fee so a swap of players of relatively equal value could have swung it.
Exactly. 100% spot on. Jozy is box office to them. We had something they wanted we had something they wanted. It give us a headstart on everybody.
Alot on here going on about this deal as if it's the best thing ever, I'm really not convinced. Defoe is past his best and we're giving him £70k a week until he's 35? For a striker who a large part of his game revolved around his pace? Deals like this are exactly what got us into the mess we're in at the moment. I often see people on here saying "why can't we be more like Southampton?" but then we sign an aging player on outrageous wages and everyone's calling Congerton some sort of genius... This is literally the opposite of Southampton's model. I really don't get it. I really, really hope Defoe can still cut it in this league and I guess the argument is if he scores the goals to keep us up he's worth every penny. I understand that, I just wish the club could come up with a more sustainable solution (no I don't have the answer but I also don't have millions upon millions of pounds worth of resources to plough into finding it) - what do our scouts do, exactly? Not saying this is an awful transfer by any means but it's very much a "needs must" kind of signing in my opinion, a magician Congerton aint.
Defoe was scoring goals when he left Spurs, and has scored 11 in 17 over there. Yeah, weaker league, but incredibly competitive. As no fee is involved, the extra wages are absolutely worth it and can be looked on as a difference in fee between a natural goalscorer and a hapless ****ing donkey who'd scored 1 in a season and a half. Absolutely this is a great deal for us. Defoe only needs 2 in 60 games to have upgraded us, do you doubt that's gonna happen?
What's he earning then tcd? Only number I saw was £80k but that's with add ons and the echo reported that the basic wage was "significantly lower". Where is the £70000 figure from?
He hasn't done badly over there but then again an 18 year old Jozy managed almost 1 in 2... Don't get me wrong he's a decent player, I'm just a bit hung up on the (alleged) wages - surely we could find a natural goalscorer for less than what's being reported? Admittedly anyone else willing to take less would undoubtedly be a bigger risk. The other aspect to it is he has no sell-on value. If we hadn't done the swap we could absolutely have rinsed some poor saps in the US for a semi-decent fee in my opinion - as stated above he managed 1 in 2 over there as a teenager and is a national hero, Jozy seems to thrive in weaker leagues, he will bang them in for fun in the MLS. So you can't really say "no fee" because we're losing what we could have gotten in hard cash for Jozy. I have no idea, I can only base it on what the papers say, last I hear they all agreed around the £70k - £80k mark and generally when every paper is quoting the same figure they tend to be in the right ballpark - besides I think I read (could be wrong like) he was on £80k over there - doubt he would take a huge wage drop to come to the North East, he's turned us down in the past so it's not like he has any particular desire to play here, the decision will be purely fuelled by the moolah. I hadn't seen the echo report though - don't suppose they gave a ballpark for the basic salary? I'd feel alot less uneasy about the whole thing if he was on say £30k - £40k!
comparing jozy to defoe are you deluded.. defoe will keep your **** team up this season.. i promise altirdore had 2 prem goals in 60 apps, that's worse than most defenders... defoe will score.. im gutted we didn't sign him
No the echo just used the term "significantly lower than the reported £80k a week" That £80000 figure is probably correct if he meets all clauses I.e. Scores, keeps us up, also believe there are cup and Euro bonuses included. We've lost very little for Altidore. He would've fetched a million max in fees in this country. MLS Sides wouldn't want to pay hard cash for him which is why this deal is ideal.
There's a fundamental flaw in this comparison though mate, when Jozy was a young un over there, bar Beckham, the only euro players over there were non-stars winding down, the US internationals were heading this way. Not the case now, the league is rich with US talent, South Americans, and a decent amount of Euro lads who could easily play at a higher standard over here. The general standard of the non international US players again has significantly improved. I'm not pretending it's a Euro standard league, far from it, but it's 7 or 8 times better than 5 years back when Jozy came through. Defoe will score goals, we need goals. Simple. Jozy would have been sold this window for south of £3million, we haven't lost out. He was going, regardless. Cos he's ****. Basically.
I'll promise you that your days of beating us like you do are over, the jinx jozy has left the building. I'll promise you that your days of beating us like you do are over, the jinx jozy has left the building.
So what do you suggest we do? hang on to Altidore, bring in some promising youngster who will make it in years to come and in the meantime risk relegation? A 3-1/2 year deal doesn't smack me as stopgap, they obviously know what they're doing on this one, why not just trust their judgement?
He will play the rest of this season and next season, we will then sell him to the mls. The contract gives us security and some control meaning if we want to keep him for longer we can. The wages don't bother me as he was effectively free, Jozy was worth very little in terms of a fee. A similar player would have cost us more than the aledged wages in a fee. I would be worried about this if Defoe had stopped scoring but he is still banging the goals in. I cant think who else we could have got who would be better for less. I would have loved INGs but he would be big money.
And not exactly what I would call prolific, he has the potential without doubt but would he have got the goals we so desperately need? for me he would still have been a gamble.
