Seems he's held in high regard

Impressive and bloody quick.Youth is the way forward.

On 30/12/2019 at 10:48, charierre said:

Out of contract in 6 mths. The club will have to make a decision soon, especially as he has now been in the shop window for clubs looking for a bargain.

PSG have been interested in him for some time. It wouldn’t surprise me if he left on a free transfer this summer.  

Supposedly is considering a contract to join Lille in the summer.

Just been reading online that a number of clubs are in for him. I think the best thing that can happen for Lamptey is him seeing Azpi moved into CB/LB so that he can see the opportunity to play as back up to Reece James. Knowing that Reece James' recent injury record isn't the best he could fancy the challenge for the RB spot. Hopefully the club see his potential and Azpilicueta's decline (at least going forwards) and say all of the right things to keep him. He looks a very talented player.

Edited January 29, 20206 yr by sabin6912

From the little I have seen of this lad, he looks to be the real deal. Not sure how we have got ourselves into a position where he can walk away on a pre-contract deal, presumably for nothing?

I would like to hear from the Club, just how hard we are trying to keep him.

3 hours ago, coombsie said:

From the little I have seen of this lad, he looks to be the real deal. Not sure how we have got ourselves into a position where he can walk away on a pre-contract deal, presumably for nothing?

I would like to hear from the Club, just how hard we are trying to keep him.

Not a lot we can. We cant offer under 18 players any more than 3 year deals, so it always leaves us in this position, where we have to make ourselves the most appealing place for a player between the age of 19 and 23. 

In this case, lamptey has the club captain, and arguably our biggest prospect ahead of him in the pecking order, so its a pretty hard sell to get him to stay.

It might be the case with a few others like anjorin, and gallagher. We cant keep them sll unfortunately. 

Im not convinved lamptey will go on and have a better career than james, so while it would be unfortunate to lose him for nothing, i wont be too worried about him coming back to haunt us.

A pre-contract deal has been agreed with Lille now. Looks like he is on his way sadly. Hopefully we have some sort of buy back clause in place.

Going France or Germany is probably best thing for him. Not going to get in ahead of James or Azpi in the near future.

I was hoping next season Azpi would be moved on and we would have Lamptey or James at RB

50 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I was hoping next season Azpi would be moved on and we would have Lamptey or James at RB

I would hate that to happen. Azpilicueta is still playing well enough to keep around and he brings a ton of experience. We can't just fill the team up with kids.

7 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I would hate that to happen. Azpilicueta is still playing well enough to keep around and he brings a ton of experience. We can't just fill the team up with kids.

I agree. I suspect Azpi won't be captain next season but he still has a role to play and I think he just signed a new contract last season.

We should not be letting him go without a buy back clause

Can you insert buy back clause in free transfers? I don't think you can.

It seems in the match day threads Azpi often gets criticism for not being quick enough defensively, he is 30.

Yes he can play CB and was decent in a 3 CB unit which Frank does not favour. Yet we have several decent CB contenders.

If it comes to letting go a promising youngster to keep a fading defender not really likely to be competitive in the EPL next season, I would go for the youngster in this scenario. 

With Makalele and Czech in the background team I think we have enough recent premier league winners to inspire the youngsters. 

Why would he stay? Some people have Reece as our biggest prospect and you could easily see him locking down that position for the next 10 years if he wanted it. 

29 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

It seems in the match day threads Azpi often gets criticism for not being quick enough defensively, he is 30.

Yes he can play CB and was decent in a 3 CB unit which Frank does not favour. Yet we have several decent CB contenders.

If it comes to letting go a promising youngster to keep a fading defender not really likely to be competitive in the EPL next season, I would go for the youngster in this scenario. 

With Makalele and Czech in the background team I think we have enough recent premier league winners to inspire the youngsters. 

Having past winners in the background is nothing like training and playing alongside experienced players though. 

A shame. Likely is leaving because of James though.

As mentioned, we can't keep everyone.

He looks quick and exciting, but I'm not a fan of his size, and I don't know enough about his defensive play.  

But how ironic for us that now a youth player wants to leave because another youth player is blocking his progress...….

Edited January 29, 20206 yr by Boston Blue

5 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Having past winners in the background is nothing like training and playing alongside experienced players though. 

True though if we keep Azpi like Ivanovic that could also play both CB and RB and who had his reputation destroyed at the club by staying too long.

Now we have recently won a cup under Sarri we have other players with cup winning experience too.

Don't think he'll actually be missed, not sure what the fuss is about. Had a decent cameo against Arsenal but not done much in other appearances and his physicality and end product has always been a massive question mark.

I've always thought our academy should be thought of principally as a place to give promising young footballers a career in professional football. Tariq looks like he will leave top a top European club, meaning we will have done our job. Not everyone can play for our first team and for some it's better for their careers to leave. 

6 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Don't think he'll actually be missed, not sure what the fuss is about. Had a decent cameo against Arsenal but not done much in other appearances and his physicality and end product has always been a massive question mark.

Bit unfair ... he's played a sum total of 14 minutes in his "other appearances" outside of the Arsenal game.  Not enough to form an opinion either way really ...

I hope he stays, he looks a decent prospect. His value will probably only increase, he adds competition for places and having homegrown players is very motivating for us fans. Well for me anyway.