The unproved theory that we make the majority of a fee back with loan fees raises its head again... Some will think its a good thing and others will think its bad - but we have done it a lot. Gomes, Holebas, Prodl, Cathcart, Britos and Mariappa have all had their deals extended in the past 12 months or so. Thats the majority of the defenders at the club.
So had a quick glance on a few sites, looks like he’s good in the air which I’d argue we need, especially at set pieces both ends. Not particularly fast but likes to mark tight with reasonable strength to back that up. Anyone seen him play a fair amount? Thoughts on what he brings to the team and possible weaknesses?
Yeah I’m not disagreeing that we’ve offered and given long contracts, just I don’t feel it’s negatively affected us in that many situations. As for the other part, I’d argue the club wouldn’t keep buying as many players as we do if it wasn’t working on a financial level.
We can always send them off to our donkey sanctuary in Udine when they are too old for the premier league.
He's better than Prodl and Mapps for certain. That leaves us with Kabasele, Cathcart and Dawson as our best three centre backs, which still, in my opinion is not good enough. Granted we also have Wilmot but I haven't a clue if he is ready or good enough to compete for a place in the squad. We are slowly squeezing out the poorer players but we aren't massively improving or upgrading our defence. Would personally be more confident if we sign another decent CB and offload Prodl.
I g I'd say Prodl and Okaka are the big failures in terms of long contracts. Success got a recent long term deal despite being garbage. Who knows where Cathcart's level of performance will be in 2 years. Mariappa's level is already substandard post extension. On the plus side Holebas has done very well in his twilight years. As is Cathcart currently. Gomes extensive is frankly inexplicable.
What do you mean? This is a brilliant ploy by Gino to feed the WO the ‘not interested’ line as part of the negotiation process. WBA think the WO is ITK so they succumb to the Gino ‘Columbo’ close.* Gino cools the interest , they think it’s dead, confirmed by WO, then after a gap he comes back with “Oh by the way, just one more thing, as you know we’re not really interested and it seems no one else is serious about buying him but I tell you what, to help you with your team rebuild we’ll take him off your hands to give you cash now and do you a favour- but for £5m less.” Ref: The Art of Negotiation in Football. Gino Pozzo. Chapter 5. Long Term Strategies to get them to reduce their asking price. * see google
The Prem WBA defence was always well organised & I recall Dawson being a leader in keeping the discipline. Aggressive on attacking corners & a very decent goal scoring record. Excellent value selection in FF &, I would really hope, for us.
The long contracts either provide security for older players or secure investment on the younger/ talent ones. Part of the reason they sign for us. It can't be assumed nowadays that players are finished at 30, despite the comments from a few Baggies. Look at James Milner.
I know. And I don’t disagree. But most other clubs baulk at the idea of giving players more than 1yr when they hit 30. 2 years seems sensible for a club like us. I just think we always go a year or two too much and end up with players on contracts who aren’t much use, I like Dawson. He’s a reasonable player. But the length of contract doesn’t fill me with hope that we will be investing what we should be in the defence going forward. Obviously there is time to go and this is a step in the right direction. But it’s a very ‘Watford’ defensive signing. I still await some real quality. Just my opinion.
Bit unfair in respect of Prodl as he was on a free when we got him. Injuries are hard to predict and I expect he will go back to Austria with a settlement on cancelling his contract. Helped keep us in the EPL for minimal cost. I reckon we will still get a modest fee for Okaka and he was mucked about by some of our coaches. Success is the one we have wasted money on. The Pozzos have invested alot for negligible return. He clearly has an attitude problem and has played up more than once. Would not be unhappy if he was shipped out.
Dawson played for Spurs so even though he is from the North he is probably keen to come back to the London area.
Great signing and if reported £5.5m fee is true then even better. Automatically becomes out first choice centre back too which either says a lot about him or a lot about our defence, pick whichever suits your narrative.
Wigan fans thought Ben Watson was finished in a team struggling against relegation from the Championship...
My understanding is that Success was Pozzo owned so the money we paid went either to them or a company they own. The fee helped him get a work permit and was also based on him being player of the season at Granada as a teenager. He's still young but it's hard to see him becoming a regular unless he starts scoring goals. He's done little to justify his fee or salary 3.5 years after we signed him. But given the money paid stayed in-house it's not such a disaster. Suarez, Oulare and Sinclair have been the biggest Turkeys.
He’s a slow old overseas goalkeeper who will deteriorate fast and is not fit for purpose. Unless you want to factor in the good bloke/Brazilan factor then it’s gibberish. If you factor in the good bloke factor then it is still nonsense. Do you honestly think he is the quality required for a premier league backup?
Surely the 10 million signing of Okaka is the biggest turkey. 45k a week. 5 year contract. Unsellable. Unfit. Ineffective. A huge stain on Giraldi.
Muff and Brighton. Villa a struggling to sign a dogs arse currently. No one is interested in a team that’s going down. Again I have on authority they are trying but can’t attract
No way. Don't think we paid anywhere near that for Okaka and he did actually contribute something, with a demonstrable point winning impact albeit in only a handful of games. Oulare on the other hand was absolute toilet, didn't even look like a professional footballer, has subsequently underwhelmed in weak leagues. By far and away the biggest waste of money in the Pozzo era.
10m per the Red tops. Might be garbage of course. And even then yes if Oulare was 5m then he was still better value I suppose than that horrendous signing. Wage must come Into it though. We can’t get the unfit specimen off the books.
Apparently he's now actually signed a 4 year deal with an option for a fifth year. An official announcement will be made on Monday.
