I think it was the old Moneyball statistic system that came up with the earth shattering conclusion, that upgrading your worst performing player gave the biggest uplift to a team’s overall performance.
Or give Graham a chance
He's been banging them in. Though, personally, I think it might be too soon for him to come in now. Perhaps give him a run towards the end of the season once we know where we stand in the league. Wasn't he on the bench for us at one point this season?
On a free, in his peak years, Prem proven, good quality player, homegrown, reasonable wages etc I'd expect most teams that are typically top half finishers to be interested to some extent. Question is would he rather play every week at an Everton/Brentford/Palace or would he be quite happy to be part of a squad at a Villa/Newcastle/ManU level that can typically offer European football and fair chance of competing for trophies. Not saying he'll be transfer target No1 for the very top teams but he wont be short of options.
Didn't he net 2 and grab an assist a few days back against PSV?
He's a teenage millionaire who has fulfilled his dream of "making it" (to some degree), living at the opposite end of the country for the first time, in a city he doesn't know, surrounded by a lot of new faces. Perhaps motivation is not on his list of priorities, or at least, not particularly near the top of it.
We will need 4 wide players for next season, with McNeil going. So we need 2 do we spend big on grealish, if we do then we most likely get a lindstrom type on loan as 4th choice and will still have not real pace. Or get a Wilson on a free and go and spend the grealish money on a very good wide player with pace who’s 23/24
Villa not won a trophy in 30yrs and not won an FA cup since the 50’s. And Newcastle won their first last season in over 60yrs. Winning trophies is very difficult
I wouldn't be so sure. He might be quite happy being a squad player at a team that offers European football and chance of trophies. Perhaps he wants a couple of winners medals whilst he is in his peak years, or perhaps the biggest pay day he can get, and playing every minute of every game for a team that just plods along in mid table every year isn't the be all and end all.
The squad player thing is more about him than us.
Against Sunderland in the cup yes. I'd rather give him a chance then buy a stop gap in personally
There's no guarantee but seems a fair shout to say those types of teams are more likely to be at the top end of the table for the short forseeable future and do better in the cups and play European football than us or Palace or stay at Fulham etc. Who knows, maybe he wants to play for Emery or Howe. Maybe he doesn't even want to leave London. He isn't going to not sign for a team just because they didn't win something in the 1950s any more than he is likely to sign for us just because we did in 1980s.
