Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Jun 29, 2011 7:38 pm  

Im dissapointed in a way that we didnt get Wickham, but in all honesty, its nothing to get upset about. Weve already splashed the cash in January for two top strikers in Suarez and Carroll anyway so there was non urgency to get a third. However I do think its a snip at £8 million. He reminds me of a young Rooney in his big build for his age, the only thing missing was a 30 yarder against Arsenal and then he would have gone for £20 millon +.

If we are concentrating on Downing, Adam and Clichy and manage to get all three, I'll be happy.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Jun 29, 2011 7:43 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

Personally, I think its all got out of hand, but Everton would be crazy to reject a OTT bid for their midfielder.

If one comes in but I disagree. Rodwell's already shown he can be a quality player and has a huge future at Everton, it's silly to sell your best players if you have any ambition.

People are saying about stupid money for Henderson, Wickham and Jones and I agree it's a lot but these lads are only early twenties/late teens if they go on to play for their clubs for the next 10-15 years surely it'll be money well spent. If in time you divide the years service to their current fee it'll work out minimal each season. I realise it may not work out but the have the potential to be long term regulars.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Jun 29, 2011 7:47 pm  

Dan_FC wrote:

If one comes in but I disagree. Rodwell's already shown he can be a quality player and has a huge future at Everton, it's silly to sell your best players if you have any ambition.

People are saying about stupid money for Henderson, Wickham and Jones and I agree it's a lot but these lads are only early twenties/late teens if they go on to play for their clubs for the next 10-15 years surely it'll be money well spent. If in time you divide the years service to their current fee it'll work out minimal each season. I realise it may not work out but the have the potential to be long term regulars.

If Henderson plays like he did for England in the U21s a tenner would have been expensive for him. He was shocking. No guarantees he'll make it. Jones is a different matter, he's already a dominant Premier League centre back and IMO should be elevated to John Terry's England shirt from now on.

As for Rodwell, I don't see the bid ever coming. He's not the hype machine he was a year or so ago and I don't see him leaving Everton unless United bid for him, which doesn't seem likely at the moment.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Jun 29, 2011 8:11 pm  

Saddened, I agree about Rodwell, 2 years ago, £20mil+. But he's not kicked on and even cemented his place in the Everton side, the Sunderland side was already built around Henderson and he didn't have half the fanfare of Rodwell.

FWIW, I think Henderson is a good player. The entire U-21's didn't look great, but if you judge him on his Sunderland performances he's a good player who will only get better.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Jun 29, 2011 8:20 pm  

Lord Tony Smith wrote:

Yes it has. £8mp for Wickham, £20mp for Henderson, 16m and 8m for Young and Adam (supposedly) repestivley in which both had a year left on their contracts.

Not forgetting £35m for Carroll.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Jun 29, 2011 8:27 pm  

Bergkamp appointed Ajax assistant manager.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Jun 29, 2011 8:34 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

If Henderson plays like he did for England in the U21s a tenner would have been expensive for him. He was shocking. No guarantees he'll make it.

Half the team, probably more didn't perform as well as they could for England. I'll guarentee you'll see a better player next season playing alongside Gerrard and Adam.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Jun 29, 2011 8:36 pm  

Karlos13 wrote:

Not forgetting £35m for Carroll.

Indeed. I could go on. I'm totally with Rob on this one. You can get a better players on the continent for alot less than what clubs are paying for lesser British players. Look at Suarez for example, looks an absolutle steal for 22M, was it not?

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:49 pm  

I was reading a blog by someone on Twitter last night saying Liverpool fans are obsessed with foreign players, so much so, they'd instantly pick foreign players over British/Premier League players, an example of this being 90% of fans want Mata over Downing, where he believed people just dismissed Downing as average, when, in reality, he was a good player who will definitely work out unlike the risk taken with signing Mata.

Never have I read such utter tosh.

The obsession with foreign players comes from the consistent better value in foreign markets. In 2007, we had the choice of £16m (possibly more if we did go for him) for Darren Bent, or £20m for Torres. We paid £20m and got one of the best players in the world, if we got Bent, we'd have got a decent player who scores a lot of penalties. The foreign market is what it is, generally. Higher risk, but much greater reward. I can't stand the obsessive belief that premier league players are automatically proven. Torres hasn't proven anything at Chelsea, Keane and Konchesky proven nothing at Liverpool, whilst it's taken Glen Johnson a lot of time to really show how good he is, albeit slightly inconsistently. There are many more examples of clubs paying for apparent proven quality, when, if they had a bit of nous or a pair of balls, they'd go out and save themselves a shed load by scouting properly and efficiently.

We could end up paying £16m+ for Downing, possibly even £20m, and he isn't even close to being a worldy. I remember when Downing first got into the England set up and I thought "he's a decent player, a traditional player but probably lacks the consistency and all-round game to be a top player." Since then, I still say the same, I don't think he's got much finesse about his game, I feel he lacks composure and is prone to going missing, whilst I still don't rate his end product that highly. He's decent, he'd be the type of player I'd want to see us bring off the bench to change a game, but to be relied upon as our main source of creativity out wide? Deary me.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Jun 29, 2011 11:14 pm  

Roddy B wrote:

whilst it's taken Glen Johnson a lot of time to really show how good he is

Glen Johnson and good? Those are words I never thought I'd see in the same sentence

Saddened! wrote:

If Henderson plays like he did for England in the U21s a tenner would have been expensive for him. He was shocking. No guarantees he'll make it. Jones is a different matter, he's already a dominant Premier League centre back and IMO should be elevated to John Terry's England shirt from now on.

As for Rodwell, I don't see the bid ever coming. He's not the hype machine he was a year or so ago and I don't see him leaving Everton unless United bid for him, which doesn't seem likely at the moment.

With Pearce in charge anyone could look average, he's tactically a joke and the FA's decision to offer him a new contract before the start of the tournament shows how pathetic they are. The whole England team were awful, as most England teams are in tournament football. I wouldn't read much into it. I agree though there's not guarantee he'll make it, I'm sceptical whereas I really believe Jones will do. Personally it'd be funny to see Liverpool waste more money I'm just saying people have written these lads off before they have a chance to see them develop. I agree over Rodwell, I can't see the bid coming, not yet anyway. I think United know they could probably buy him in 12 months when he may have had a better run in the side, got his fitness back and proved he can show some of the ability he's got.

inside_man wrote:

Saddened, I agree about Rodwell, 2 years ago, £20mil+. But he's not kicked on and even cemented his place in the Everton side, the Sunderland side was already built around Henderson and he didn't have half the fanfare of Rodwell.

Rodwell's shown in the past how good he can be, I suppose that's why he has all the hype. To be fair he's not kicked on because of an injury hit season. He got injured early season against Villa and was out until Christmas, he came back played a bit and then got injured again on international duty following that his end of season form was really inconsistent, more poor than good. I agree he's not kicked on or played particularly well when he has been in team, he's shown enough in the past to make me believe he does have what it takes.