yeah, I think he got an improved contract last year
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Noble Savage
Player Valuation: £20m
That's not an improvement, that's robbery . That can't be true surely .
Paul Rideout
Player Valuation: £35m
What a mess Koeman, Allardyce (Walcott and Tosun) and Walsh have left this club in. It's honestly tragic that we're bordering on FFP now after spending the money we've spent on all the utter dross.
mightymoyes
Player Valuation: £70m
why are so many people insistent that we buy someone/anyone?
that's the kind of thinking that ended up with us paying Walcott 100k p/w for 3 years
that's the kind of thinking that ended up with us paying Walcott 100k p/w for 3 years
Noble Savage
Player Valuation: £20m
I think we all know the club's hands are tied and that's why I haven't seen much rage on here .
Strange times .
I do think we need a right winger and a midfielder who can see 10 yards up the field or doesn't lose the ball when someone stares at them the wrong way but if it's a quiet window I will quietly sulk .
Strange times .
I do think we need a right winger and a midfielder who can see 10 yards up the field or doesn't lose the ball when someone stares at them the wrong way but if it's a quiet window I will quietly sulk .
brieverton
Player Valuation: £40m
We do need to move those players, but no moves seem imminent. If Vecino signed a 3 1/2 year contract, he'll be almost halfway through it before we might see the end of Schneiderlin for example. But if Ancelotti thinks its a good move, then that's fair enough obviously.
catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
It doesn't come as an enormous surprise to me if we do. I felt if Ancelotti was going to go big this window it would have been done early, and probably picking up a couple of high profile names from Serie A (As you say Koulibaly, possibly Allan).
However it doesn't look as if that will be the approach taken. It looks far more as if Brands remains in charge of recruitment. It will probably prevent us having an immediate boost in terms of this season, but in terms of the wider picture it's perhaps for the best. It's interesting , in tone and approach I've been a little surprised (and impressed with Ancelotti). He seems far less focussed on the short-term and far more focussed on the medium term than I anticipated. There have been overtures towards wanting to be with the club over a period of time, he obviously has a 4.5 year deal and we have seen him promote lads who are as young as 16 to the first team squad to train. None of this hints at a man who just wants to buy 3 or 4 trusted players to work well for him over the next 18 months then ride off into the sunset.
I also think the upturn in form has killed a lot of necessity for players. In a specific sense Holgate and Calvert Lewin's improvement (and the promise Kean showed the other night) have really dampened the requirement for both a centre half and a centre forward (which felt imperative 6 and potentially even 4 weeks ago). If you are then looking at the medium term, January becomes a recruiting ground becomes a difficult window to recruit in.
I think we are in quite a strong position. Were we where West Ham are, or Bournemouth there would be enormous pressure to pay the asking price for Vecino and possibly Everton (and you can bet those fees would be higher than they are now). It is good we are holding firm and continuing to push the price down for both (we have suffered from overpaying for some time). I wouldn't rule out one or either coming in, and for fees that are a fair bit below what the quoted prices are now. That both Gremio and Inter collapse at the las minute and take whats on offer (as we would with Schneiderlin/Sigurdsson).
If it doesn't happen though, and through brinksmanship the deals collapse then so be it. While the season has gone disastrously I don't really put that down to not signing Zouma. Not signing Zouma has allowed Holgate to emerge (and to a degree Mina though I still want more from him). Last season we didn't buy any players in January and the form improved. Other seasons we've bought players and the form has really tailed off. I'm not saying it's as simple as this or it's a direct correlation, but neither does signing players automatically improve your team.
It will be frustrating but my hope is that this season is used as a long pre-season for the manager, much like how Rodgers did with Leicester. I'd love to finish 5th (which we still can) but this has to be alongside the former not instead of. How positive would it be, in 12 months time to be sat here, in 2nd or 3rd place absolutely flying because we were able to show some patience at the start of the calendar year? I still see that as a real possibility. We have an opportunity to do that, and it would be a shame to waste it because we think about what the club needs over the next 3 months in a season which has limited options for success.
catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
The legacy of these players is hurting us for sure. The fortunate thing is that Niasse and Martina are gone come the summer. Scheniderlin has 1 year left (so it becomes a potentially better option). We have Tosun out on loan and we have to hope he impresses enough to move on. So there is 3 or 4 that could be out of the door.
It does become easier as contracts wind down. Suddenly Schneiderlin starts to look and think I could sacrifice 1 season going from say 120k per week to 60k per week knowing the latter will offer him a 3-4 year deal. Clubs also may start to say, ok we will pay 6 million pounds for the season to take him on loan, knowing there is no fee at the end of it.
It's getting better slowly. The key critical point has to be that we don't keep compounding the mistakes by buying poorer players, or not giving players a chance to settle. I think we have been better at that under Brands. The players signed generally speaking seem to have a future here.
It really wouldn't.
I'm not sure why, but there seems to be a weird perception among some fans that our players are much younger than they are. Discounting all those but keeping the rest of the squad the same we'd have Pickford, Sidibe, Digne, Keane, Mina, Delph, Bernard, Gomes and Gbamin going into next season in that age bracket. That would be the huge majority of the squad. Even the likes of DCL, Kenny and Holgate will turn 24 in the course of next season, they're not kids anymore.
Could do a job for a year or two perhaps.
catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
We have many problems within the squad, but the overall demography isn't one of them. Brands has done well to recruit to an average age of under 25 the last 2 summers (one summer we were the 4th youngest in the league for that, I haven't assessed 2019).
While it's true the majority or close to entering or have just entered the magic 25-30 bracket where you expect the best/most consistent performances from players as a squad most are just entering it. There is still some room for improvement, but as you say not massive strides. That suits the manager we have and the supporters expectations. I don't see any massive desire for a 3 year project where we are very inconsistent before it starts to get ironed out.
The expectation ought to now be, for Holgate, Calvert Lewin, Richarlinson, Iwobi, Gbamin, MIna, Digne, Pickford etc to start delivering quite consistently. Perhaps not markedly improved displays but certainly ones where there is greater consistency.
Either side of that group, you have the likes of Keane (though I suspect he will be sold) Bernard, Gomes, Sidibe who I still think can perform better. Not necessarily out of an age point, but because we have a top manager now who is tactically more astute (I use Bernard as the bets example of this). The other side we have Davies and Kean. We need to see improvements from them for sure. I think we'd all like to see more young players targeted and developed as well.
I do accept, you have Schneiderlin, Sigurdsson and Delph at the other end who will now be declining. However in general the squad demography is fine. I mean I listened to Souness go on about Liverpool having a young squad. Mane, Salah, Van Dijk, Alisson all turn 28 over coming months, Lovren, Matip, Henderson and Firmino turn 29+ soon. Wijnaldum, Robertson are all well into that 25-30 bracket too. So it could be worse for us from that perspective.
BlueStevie35
Player Valuation: £70m
Friday will likely turn out to be a busy day, I’d expect more for the lower end teams but I can see United panic buying someone when they finally give up on Fernandes, maybe Arsenal too
ossie_21
Player Valuation: £8m
Wouldn’t hack it in an English league, big swerve.
Whats Lee Cattermole doing these days though?
Agent Blue
Player Valuation: £10m
He has played well at DM for England just wish he would do the same for us. Agree about his passing though..... can be infuriating at times.
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