The sell-on fees are irrelevant tbh, the club are clearly structuring deals better than we have for a long time. It's a far cry since the days we were paying hopeless cases a fortune to get out of the club.
I’m more confident in Pembele as rwb than in a 4 mind but equally at times Hume struggles with players running at him. I rate Hume more as right centre back personally not 1-1 on the line but he does bring Gooch level competitiveness which is good for the unit.
Feel a bit for Ekwah to be fair. He had to play out of position so Neil could play as the 8 and although he was poor at times, he done a job. Neil has been just as poor sometimes when he’s been asked to play the 6. When he’s on the ball at times he looks a player but others he doesn’t look up for the fight. FWIW I don’t think Rigg is good enough to be a starter yet but unfortunately Ekwah will defo be the easiest to get rid of.
Not sure if he’s reliable or anything but Gepetto on RTG just commented on the Mendy thread saying “ this sounds like a done deal” EDIT - think it’s a pisstake haha
Out of the midfielders we have, Ekwah would be the one I'd feel happiest about losing (not that I want to see him go).
I’m probably in a minority here but I would prefer to keep Ekwah. RLB needs to get that controlled aggression we need in midfield from him but the lad has a lot of talent. The Romano wording suggests that talks are also underway with Ekwah’s agent so this may be already advanced, the fee needs to be significant given West Ham sell on fee. I get that Browne is likely to be his replacement but they are different types of players and I think that Ekwah has as good a ceiling as any of our players with good management.
Not overly fussed if Ekwah goes, talented lad but we have a few of them who can all play that box to box role If he goes id like us to sign an out n out CDM, ideally a player with room to grow still but whose got plenty games under their belt
That's what annoys me with Ekwah, for his size, he hardly ever shows any aggression. I've seen him back out of 50/50 challenges
Hume has done well for us but I’m not convinced that he’s irreplaceable. He’s struggled regularly when up against pace and the one a game haymaker tackles seems to give him a bit of a free pass. He offers very little going forward, albeit that may be more as a result of Mowbray trying to get him into midfield. I thought he might have been an option for CDM but for whatever reason that’s not been the case. Of all our current sellable assets, he’s the one I’d be most relaxed about losing this summer.
I know it's already been said but it is madness how many of our players are attracting interest for decent fees. For years we had players we couldn't even give away! Wasn't there rumours of players still getting paid a small fee from the club when they were sold as we were paying inflated wages that teams wouldn't match so to get them to move we carried on paying (Kenwyne to Stoke rings a bell for this?)
Love how everyone is talking about fee's like it's there own money getting thrown away I thought we sell all our best players anyway and kld is getting rid of the club? I'm just happy to sit back and enjoy the ride I think the clubs doing absolutely fine right now.
I'd be gutted if Hume leaves mind. He's excellent and he's barely turned 22, he's got loads of development ahead of him. He doesn't have elite level pace but he'll comfortably be a Premier League player. His attitude is top notch to boot. On the Ekwah talk, I'm not fussed if we get good money for him (though Matete and Embo gone first would be preferable). I don't see Udinese throwing big money around for Ekwah mind. £10m seems a lot for them.
