I'm with saint on this one. With 2 years on his contract it's only natural for Skrtel and his Agent to want to know how they fit with Rodgers plans and renegotiate his contract.
for the record i'd want 1mil fore than city spent on lescott... then i'd go buy a cb for 6mil again (prob look at coates and kelly though) and spend the rest on positions where big money is actually justified.
Hope he stays as he's been very good for us - especially last season. But, if he goes he goes. If Martin does go, I'd expect us to bring in a slightly more experienced centre and alternate him and Carra to bring the youth through. As MITO says, we need to spend more money on the outfield, really. For me an out-and-out, top-class right winger is essential. After that, we need a fast, poaching striker who can finish well. A couple of others wouldn't go astray either, but those two are vital, I think.
Sorry to disappoint you but im afraid its not. Guidetti is the guy i was refering to, who was on loan at feyenoord.
Had we not sold Torres, I doubt we would have bought Carroll. Suarez and Torres partnership could have been lethal.
Loving the Adam Johnson and £5m for Skrtel suggestion However, like most, I believe this is the agent stirring to get Martin a better deal. Agents get on my tits, the bloody Blatters!
I'd rather we kept him, if even to avoid spending money on a replacement. How many players are realistic that are better than Skrtel, even if Skrtel isn't brilliant? I like his drive, attitude and so on.
20 mil for Skrtel? Snap their hand off. I like Skrtel but he is not 20 mil good and if we can get that and use it for the squad, happy days. Put Coates in there for me, he can do it at International level, I am sure he can and will make it for us. We have been linked with Benedict howedes ( Schalke I think) so could be some truth in this. or as someone said, cash + Johnson would be good too.
I don't agree Dave. I'm sick of this modern trend of have one good season and feel you've earned a better contract. Don't we pay these fellas tens of thousands of pounds a week to be good players? Surely having a good season just means a player has earned his masses of cash NOT the right to be paid even more next year. I love Skrt's but he certainly isn't the best centre half in the world. I will be disappointed if he leaves because after all the work the club has done to improve him as a player last year I think he started to repay all that effort but IF this is true and he decides he owes us nothing then I certainly don't feel he's irreplacable.
I agree with Saint as well! Too early to start slating Skrtel or insinuating greed etc... He was immense last season and his partnership with Agger was looking excellent so it would be a loss if he leaves. However at the same time with the budget we have I think realistically we will have to replace at least one or two established players and replace them with better value so we can use the difference towards rebuilding.
I'd agree on this. Defenders of any kind rarely cost above £20m. In addition to Howedes (as someone has mentioned) there's also Kyriakos Papadopoulos from Schalke, Angelo Ogbonna from Torino, Yanga M'Biwa from Montpellier and probably many others who are younger, not far off Skrtel in ability, and available for <£20m.
Rarely above 10! Rodriguez from Athletico Madrid would cost less than that and would be sick in the back for us. Just breaking into the Spanish national team, could link up well with Coates and other spanish speaking players. You could go get Douglas from Twente for about that as well and still have about 10 left over to play with.
all the best players in defence in the rpem bar ferdinand cost way less than 20mil... lescott is an exceptions he is not good and was paid way too much.. kompany, vidic, skertl, agger, hangeland and the list goes on... full backs too... if someone offers mad money take it but i agree it is made up by the press.
Isn't this situation just moneyball in a nutshell? Buy a player cheap, make him decent, sell him for a higher than expected price, repeat...
