It appears that the Club have released - Chris Baird Simon Davies Mohamadou Diarra Tom Donegan Corey Gamerio Giorgis Karagounis James Musa Mladen Petric Richard Peniket Mark Schwarzer Alex Smith Csaba Symogyi Source: http://www.premierleague.com/content/dam/premierleague/site-content/News/publications/other/Premier-League-released-player-list-2012-13.pdf
I don't think there are any surprises there. It's sad to see Mark and Kara leave, but they are not getting younger and honestly are only going to decline. Davies and Diarra could still contribute, but injuries have just wrecked them over the last year. Baird was a great servant for us, but he is now just a squad player and deserves the chance to compete elsewhere. Bit sad to see Alex Smith and Tom Donegan go. I suspect Donegan has all the skills but not the right mentality for the first team. EDIT: On second thoughts, Alex Smith would not count as an under 21 for next season and without European competition we don't need home grown players trained at the club. If he is not going to make the grade at this point, there is no point retaining him ahead of someone like Senderos.
It will be interesting to follow the future of both Smith & Donnigan,as i personally feel they have a future in the game.
Been some decent players release lately, danny simpson, arshavin, bentley,Ross Turnbull,Roque Santa Cruz, given most of them are getting on now tho.
If I remember rightly from previous years, this list isn't a definitive list of who we are letting go, it's just a list of players who are out of contract this summer and are therefore available on a free. That said, the fact that we've reached June without a new contract being agreed suggests that they will probably be on their way. Last year Danny Murphy was on the list when the club still wanted him to stay. Not that he did stay, of course, but the point is he wasn't one the club chose to let go.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/jun/07/premier-league-out-of-contract if this article is correct then Shotton and Figueroa are available free- would be worth picking up the two along with our other freebies.
I remember some debate about this last year Captain. Could be wrong but I think technically they are 'released' because we no longer hold their 'registration'. Hence the title 'free agent'. That's not to say we couldn't sign one of them on again. Sadly, I see that Zoltan Gera is on the list. Along with some other notables: * Chelsea release Benayoun, Malouda, Turnbull and Hilario * Gallas, Bentley and Bostock allowed to leave by Tottenham * Roberto Mancini's son Filippo follows father out of Manchester City exit along with Santa Cruz * Long-throw specialist Delap departs Stoke along with Pennant and Upson and wait for it.... * Carlton Cole
There tends to be a pattern to those players released by Premiership clubs. Either age (e.g. Gallas, Schwarzer), the end of long overpaid contracts (e.g. Bentley, Bridge), players wrecked by injury (e.g. Gera, Davies) and players who could be first team at lower levels but no longer at their present club (e.g. Pennant, Baird). However, you do occasionally see a young player like Ryan Shotton slip through. I think that generally those players receive decent signing on fees, so we should only look at those players on a case by case basis. If we make any more free transfer signings, I expect them to be from abroad (like Boateng and Amorebieta).
I've been thinking about this, and in particular how it affects central midfield. So far, we've signed Boateng, but seem to be losing the following: Baird, Karagounis, Diarra, Emanuelson, Enoh and Frimpong from the players who played there last season. Even if you reckon that we only signed both of Enoh and Frimpong due to Diarra's injury, that still means our midfield is down three or four options from last season's squad. Once you get past Boateng and Sidwell, we look pretty sparse, In which case, I think it means one (or more) of three things: 1. We're going to sign more central midfielders 2. Some of the released list may still have a part to play for us 3. Jol is planning on filling gaps in the squad with players already at the club, either promoting youngsters or looking to pull off another Dembele-like change of position. We've discussed option 2 before, but how about option 3? Someone suggested Senderos as a holding midfielder a while ago, but even if we did that he'd be a back up to Boateng rather than a partner for him (surely). Richardson can play in the centre, but I'm sure Jol won't be relying on him to do that consistently (or to do anything consistently, except perhaps get injured). The two I'd be most interested in seeing are Bryan Ruiz and Damien Duff. Ruiz has been mixed in that role before, but if Boateng provides sufficient beef in the centre, it might make Bryan a workable option as well as helping to solve the dilemma of how to find room for both him and Berbatov, plus a more conventional centre-forward. Duff isn't guarenteed a place on the wing any more, with Kaca and Dejagah both pushing strong claims to start, plus Frei and others waiting in the wings (no pun intended). I'm not aware of him ever playing in centre midfield, but he's got all the required skills: hard working, excellent technique with both feet, accurate passing, attack minded. I wonder if Jol is thinking about giving him a try.
It's very similar to what we were saying about Davies this time last year. Let's just hope Duff does better with injuries this year than Davies did last year. The way that Jol seems to want us to play requires quick direct runners on the wings. Duff has done well in that system because he is so insanely fit, but age is beginning to catch up with him. Dejagah passed him as a first team choice on the right wing, but Duff is clearly a smart guy and has the desire to prove himself over and over. I think we could find a place for him in the middle, but my concern would be that our style of play puts so much emphasis on that central midfield distributor. I don't know if Duff can convert to that position at this point in his career. However, I would not have thought that Dembele would turn out to be so good in that position which is why Jol is the manager and not me!
Hopefully we get some new signings, the idea of Senderos at DM or Richardson in the middle makes me both laugh and tremble at the same time. Senderos is completely lacking in passing ability to play anywhere but CD with no responsibility than to win and clear it. Richardson is too far gone to save, despite being born-again. I have no idea how he can keep the faith when god so consistently forsakes him. He has ability but a combination of his mind and body prevents him from using it. The best we can hope for from him is one miracle screamer a season. I think it might be too late for Duff to convert- he's still dangerous from either wing, might be best to leave him at what he knows.
Ah, I just asked you about your views on Duff on the other thread. I should have looked here first. That's the first time I've heard Senderos criticised for his passing. I know he's more than capable of defensive howlers, but the one thing that even his most fervent critics have conceded is that his passing is one thing to justify his selection ahead of Aaron Hughes. Personally I'm not convinced that he'd make a good midfielder, but his distribution isn't a problem. I'm just not sure how easy it is to adapt to the hurly-burly of midfield when you're used to everything being in front of you in defence. That said, Senderos is a very clever bloke so who knows. Duff always strikes me as a smart cookie as well, which is why I'd like to see whether he can make the less-momentous switch from wide midfield to centre midfield. Just because he's at the wrong end of his career, doesn't mean it's too late for him to learn and adapt. I'll agree that not everyone could do it, but Duff seems like the right character to make the transition. As for Richardson, he's another one I included for the sake of completism, but don't have any high hopes for. Duff is my best hope if Jol is looking to fill the role from the existing senior squad.
Based on watching the two at CC- being superior to Hughes in distribution is not an attribute. It's almost like Hughes doesn't know Zamora has left. Senderos does have better passing ability, but he's not a calming presence on the ball. If possible, I'd be quite happy to not see him start next season. If worst comes then it is an option, but I really hope it doesn't come to that for us.
Being a good passer as a centre back is very much not the same thing as being a good passer as a central midfielder. Senderos is a good distributor as a centre back, but I've not seen anything to make me think Senderos could move to DM (and I'm no where near as big a critic of him as some on here).
Speaking of released players, was Danny Housen one of the few we have released in the past years? Because he came on as a sub for Holland U21s against Russia and scored a goal and played pretty well.
I suspect you and I take a similar view. I was repeating what others have said regarding Senderos as a midfielder, rather than advocating it myself. Silky, you make good points about Duff on the other thread. I take your point but I still wouldn't mind us giving him a try there in one or more of the pre-season friendlies, just to have a look. Others have said that he's likely to lose his place on the wing this season, but I'm not sure that's necessarily true. For most of the last two seasons he's started August on fire, then had spells of great form and spells where he clearly needs a break. I suspect Jol intends to use him for spells in the starting line up this season, but not necessarily keep him in the first eleven all the way through the season. Anyway, whether Duff is going to play on the wing or not, the best option in the centre would be to sign someone classy or to find that one of the kids (Minkwitz?) is ready to step up. Either that or we cross our fingers and hope that Boateng and Sidwell stay injury and suspension free.
Yeah, we sold him to Ajax last summer although we still have 30% ownership. He's done okay with them as well - probably his best moment was in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund when he came as a sub for Eyong Enoh and scored a goal.
http://www.fulhamfc.com/the-teams/first-team The website still hasnt been updated with out of contract players- maybe they are now all on rolling deals until someone else comes in for them?
