Just now, TheCeleryKing said:

Exactly. Everybody wants the new shiny player, but we are really suffering at the moment from too many new shiny players and not enough continuity.

 

Sterling is on super star wages, he either plays like one or he leaves. If he leaves he's not leaving a hole because he hasn't actually produced anything this season. 

Silva I think we are ready to say goodbye to. Colwill, disasi, badiashille and a new CB are more than capable. 

This summer we should sign a striker, a CB and an attacking player. That's it. 

32 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

He won't ever get to considering he gets a season ending injury every season for the past 3 years. 

Well we'll have to see but unlike most on here I'm not willing to send a young player to the glue factory because he has a few injury issues and not given a chance to prove they can overcome them. There's been plenty of players who have had awful injuries early in their careers and ended up playing at the top level.

I am not saying we should keep Sterling, I think a fit and ready Nkunku could easily be the better option next season.  But it is a question of I dont want Sterling replaced by a young kid winger who may or may not be ready.  Balance of the team/squad, etc.

35 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Mudryk and Madueke are not dead wood, they are developing players and they should get some game time and some minutes from the bench.  So far they have been okay.  They need to do more.

I’m happy with Madueke, so far he’s shown he’s growing as a player and right now he’s on the first team sheet and it’s fully deserved.

Mudryk on the other hand need to do a lot more, every time he played he did absolutely nothing. If he continues to be the same for rest of the season then it’s definitely time to get rid while his value is still high. Personally I don’t think he’ll ever make the cut here but hope I’m wrong.

14 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

Well we'll have to see but unlike most on here I'm not willing to send a young player to the glue factory because he has a few injury issues and not given a chance to prove they can overcome them. There's been plenty of players who have had awful injuries early in their careers and ended up playing at the top level.

The club are operating differently and ultimately for the better in my opinion. 

They will consider his wages (£200kpw), the fact that he rarely stays fit, and the fact he's now suffered 2 career defining injuries on both legs (ACL tear and Fibula break). Given he already has a history of knee injuries, and the fact that coming back from either of those 2 injuries with no long term damages is slim, I can fully understand the club wanting to get rid of him. 

9 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

The club are operating differently and ultimately for the better in my opinion. 

They will consider his wages (£200kpw), the fact that he rarely stays fit, and the fact he's now suffered 2 career defining injuries on both legs (ACL tear and Fibula break). Given he already has a history of knee injuries, and the fact that coming back from either of those 2 injuries with no long term damages is slim, I can fully understand the club wanting to get rid of him. 

We need to sell him for £40m this summer or it will be an accounting loss. 

Who is paying more than £10m for him? He will be here for another season at least as from a value perspective we can't afford to sell him. 

14 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

We need to sell him for £40m this summer or it will be an accounting loss. 

Who is paying more than £10m for him? He will be here for another season at least as from a value perspective we can't afford to sell him. 

Club certainly can't afford to keep him either. They are paying £580K for every appearance from him at this rate. In a time where the club is trying to be self sufficient, reducing the wage bill is a key component. 

The only realistic suitor I see is Real Madrid. Wanting another big name and all.  They currently have Tchouameni playing CB given the injuries and their only CB under 30 years old is Militao. 

Mudryk should be played high and wide, looking to use his pace to get onto through balls or ones over the top. But he's always too deep and has to try and dribble past 3 players to get anywhere, which he can't do. This manager doesn't know how to use any of his players, it seems.

53 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

The club are operating differently and ultimately for the better in my opinion. 

They will consider his wages (£200kpw), the fact that he rarely stays fit, and the fact he's now suffered 2 career defining injuries on both legs (ACL tear and Fibula break). Given he already has a history of knee injuries, and the fact that coming back from either of those 2 injuries with no long term damages is slim, I can fully understand the club wanting to get rid of him. 

What would he be worth at this point though? Would anybody be willing to pay even £20m for him in the summer? Even if they were are we going to write off a minimum £50m?  For the money we'd even get for him we may as well keep him and hope he can put his injury issues behind him next season.

27 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Club certainly can't afford to keep him either. They are paying £580K for every appearance from him at this rate. In a time where the club is trying to be self sufficient, reducing the wage bill is a key component. 

The only realistic suitor I see is Real Madrid. Wanting another big name and all.  They currently have Tchouameni playing CB given the injuries and their only CB under 30 years old is Militao. 

He's costing us 10m a year in amortization and (maybe) 10m in wages - some of which I believe are covered by insurance. 

We'd need to sell him for 30m to break even and "give up'. Anything less is economic self harm. 

No one, not even Madrid is paying 30m for him. 

It's a guaranteed certainty he stays at the club for at least another 1-2 season to get his value back up so he can be sold for a decent whack, or he plays for us. 

21 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

What would he be worth at this point though? Would anybody be willing to pay even £20m for him in the summer? Even if they were are we going to write off a minimum £50m?  For the money we'd even get for him we may as well keep him and hope he can put his injury issues behind him next season.

 

16 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

He's costing us 10m a year in amortization and (maybe) 10m in wages - some of which I believe are covered by insurance. 

We'd need to sell him for 30m to break even and "give up'. Anything less is economic self harm. 

No one, not even Madrid is paying 30m for him. 

It's a guaranteed certainty he stays at the club for at least another 1-2 season to get his value back up so he can be sold for a decent whack, or he plays for us. 

Not sure Fofana qualifies as an insurable asset, as these are typically given to players towards the end of their contract to protect the club if they get an injury and it prevents the club from selling/loaning them on. Need remembering insurance companies are a business and they won't take on huge liabilities like Fofana with his insane contract. 

Book value he sits approx. at £50m. Any economic loss certainly beats £73m in wages for a player who offers hardly any value given his injuries. Arsenal did this with Pepe and getting rid of him turned into an investment rather than a loss. 

Edited February 14, 20242 yr by Sconnie Blue

26 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

 

Not sure Fofana qualifies as an insurable asset, as these are typically given to players towards the end of their contract to protect the club if they get an injury and it prevents the club from selling/loaning them on. Need remembering insurance companies are a business and they won't take on huge liabilities like Fofana with his insane contract. 

Book value he sits approx. at £50m. Any economic loss certainly beats £73m in wages for a player who offers hardly any value given his injuries. Arsenal did this with Pepe and getting rid of him turned into an investment rather than a loss. 

If you're right, then we will see fofana leave for 5-10m this season. 

We won't. 

4 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

If you're right, then we will see fofana leave for 5-10m this season. 

We won't. 

We won't. Because no club would pay £5m for him.

He's on 200K a week and still has 5 years left after this season,  that's an incredible amount of money to commit to a player with Fofana's injury record and 22 top flight games in 3 years if he misses the rest of this season.

Can't see any club being interested in him at any price until he can prove his body can handle playing football.

 

1 hour ago, Zeta said:

Mudryk should be played high and wide, looking to use his pace to get onto through balls or ones over the top. But he's always too deep and has to try and dribble past 3 players to get anywhere, which he can't do. This manager doesn't know how to use any of his players, it seems.

Poch has him facing goal to receive the ball, or coming deep as you say, then defenders dick about with it. Even against spurs down to 9 men we hardly ever gave him a ball to run down, was infuriating.

39 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

If you're right, then we will see fofana leave for 5-10m this season. 

We won't. 

He still has his name alone that will attract interest imo. As mentioned above, I could see Real being interested. 

28 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

He still has his name alone that will attract interest imo. As mentioned above, I could see Real being interested. 

So Madrid would be interested but we should be selling him for a knockdown price? Seems daft to take the risk of selling him even if they were interested.

1 minute ago, timetowaste said:

So Madrid would be interested but we should be selling him for a knockdown price? Seems daft to take the risk of selling him even if they were interested.

His book value is £50m and with the way Winstanley/Stewart worked last summer it isn't entirely impossible for them to work towards a figure close to that. 

10 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

His book value is £50m and with the way Winstanley/Stewart worked last summer it isn't entirely impossible for them to work towards a figure close to that. 

Id love to know what you are smoking 😂

19 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Id love to know what you are smoking 😂

Hey they sold a sh*t Kai Havertz for almost £70m. They'll either do it again or we have an Umtiti situation. 

21 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Hey they sold a sh*t Kai Havertz for almost £70m. They'll either do it again or we have an Umtiti situation. 

Kai Havertz had played 94 times for us in the previous two seasons.  

They won't do it again. He will either retire or he will increase his value here.

Edited February 14, 20242 yr by bisright1

22 hours ago, timetowaste said:

Well we'll have to see but unlike most on here I'm not willing to send a young player to the glue factory because he has a few injury issues and not given a chance to prove they can overcome them. There's been plenty of players who have had awful injuries early in their careers and ended up playing at the top level.

'a few injuries' is a bit of an understatement, don't you think? 

The lad hasn't played any consistent football for 3 years now. Even Robben didn't have lay offs this long early in his early career, can't think of many top pros that have. 

2 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

'a few injuries' is a bit of an understatement, don't you think? 

The lad hasn't played any consistent football for 3 years now. Even Robben didn't have lay offs this long early in his early career, can't think of many top pros that have. 

Had reoccurring knee injuries at St.Etienne, broke his fibula on his left leg and tore his ACL on his right leg. 

I'm not sure any amount of rehab/therapy can permanently fix him. 

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Had reoccurring knee injuries at St.Etienne, broke his fibula on his left leg and tore his ACL on his right leg. 

I'm not sure any amount of rehab/therapy can permanently fix him. 

He also has an odd tackling style that leaves himself susceptible to injuries. He's always full stretch in the tackle, I even noticed it from standing tackles. 

22 hours ago, Whats_The_Mata? said:

We won't. Because no club would pay £5m for him.

He's on 200K a week and still has 5 years left after this season,  that's an incredible amount of money to commit to a player with Fofana's injury record and 22 top flight games in 3 years if he misses the rest of this season.

Can't see any club being interested in him at any price until he can prove his body can handle playing football.

 

I think we just have to hope he has more luck with injuries. But it isn't looking good.

23 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

His book value is £50m and with the way Winstanley/Stewart worked last summer it isn't entirely impossible for them to work towards a figure close to that. 

No it's not. Sterling signed a 5 year deal, yes we used to do those before the lifetime deals started, for a fee of 47.5mill from City.

In the summer he will have completed 2 of those 5 years, and his value goes down per FFP 9.5mill per year.

So his remaining book value in the summer will be 28.5mill.

All they need to do is sell him for that or better and we move on our highest earner and clear is remaining book value as well.