[SIGNED perm] Ismaila Sarr - club record fee

Not if he doesn't want to be hear

 

It is possible that the £88m owed in transfer fees and £84m in debt as at the end of the 17/18 season has caught up with us in terms of being able to spend what we laid out in those first 3 seasons. Sure we have the Richarlison money to reduce those sums but with all the PL revenue going on wages and overheads we have little free cash to spend on players.

We have maybe reached our ceiling in terms of what we can expect to shell out when surrounded by clubs owned by billionaires and those with far larger commercial revenue streams. We can’t afford to get it wrong if we spend big on someone who turns out a dud - we have spent “small” and found duds. We have also made some good buys and the values exceed the monies owed but that doesnt help spend big now imho.

 

Sorry I didn't quite here you!

 

Yeah totally effed. Nothing like being in one of the healthiest positions this club has ever been in.

 

Definite lack of 'swooping' this window but I did like the way we 'poached' the young city lad.

 

Adam Leventhal‏Verified account @AdamLeventhal
#Watford transfer update continues

It’s my understanding that Sarr would be open to the move to help progress his career and would be open to breaking off his holiday if necessary. However it will quite simply come down to whether Watford reach Rennes valuation.

 

Talk about OTT!

 

Am I only one not too bothered? I have watched Watford for 40 years with pretty much same group of guys. If we dropped to Championship I do not have major problem.

We are punching above weight at moment - I would not want Pozzos to pay what they can not afford. They are competing vs billionaires. I will still go for a beer b4 game, at half time and after whatever happens whether in league 1,2, 3 or 4.

Just enjoy and respect what these guys have done for us

 

Arsenal get Pepe from Lille.
Lille get Lukebakio from Watford.
Everton get Zaha from Palace.
Palace get Sarr from Rennes.
Rennes get Koscielny from Arsenal.

Watford get another deadline day with the fans wondering why it’s passed us by...

 

No, you're right, signing one Championship centre back has been fantastic.

 

But we’ll always have this thread, and the 21 pages of hope followed by crushing reality.

 

The reality though is that ‘transfer dealing’ is a major part of the game these days however and we are frequently told that it is the part of the game Gino and his family love the most and where they thrive.

Wanting to see new players doesn’t mean that those who do don’t respect what they have done for us. It’s fair to recognise a fan base is a broad spectrum of people like you (and me) who go to games for the enjoyment of the day and to have a beer and spend time with others. But there are some who totally imbed themselves in the sporting aspect of it and analyse everything the club does. Neither are right or wrong. But most I think sit in the middle.

 

He’s played the majority of the peak of his career in the PL and you know that.

 

And each other.

 

Yeah, and he's now 29 and joins us on the back of a poor season in the division below.

I don't think he's a "bad" signing at all, but he is a very minor improvement on what we have at best, and isn't enough to stop this window from being crap so far.

 

If Rennes are asking for something like a huge chunk of money upfront, then I can see why it’s taking so long and may not happen. But if Gino is haggling over £1m-£2m and we miss out, you have to ask why we’ve been happy to spunk that on players like Zeegelaar down the years but not now!

 

That’s a fair assessment. I still think all told he’s our best CB or second at worst - not saying much I know! But again, let’s judge the window when it’s closed. Arsenal fans were up in arms and writing open letters to their owners a week ago - now they have Pepe, Saliba, Ceballos with likely Tierney and possibly Umtiti to come.

It could stay like this and be a terrible window. But it seems silly to get annoyed when it has a week and a bit to go and clubs are clearly still doing business.

 

What are you talking about?

 

This has a very familiar feel to it. I think it was around this time last year when fans were up in arms about lack of signings and how we were doomed and then we finished 11th and got to a Cup Final. We have signed a centre back and it would certainly be nice to add a couple more to the squad but we have kept Doucoure and Delefeou which is better news than signing a player no sod had heard of a week ago for £30m. And people say Gino doesn’t know what he’s doing!!

 

Ridiculous comments, IMO.

Very few owners could run a club like Watford, in the modern game, and improve their status consistently as Gino and the Pozzo family have done.

We have incrementally improved pretty much every season.

Are fans blind? Can they not see how ludicrous the transfer fees are? That has a ripple effect right down to every transfer.

I have tremendous sympathy and understanding for what the owner is trying to achieve and how he is trying to do it.

We have to live within our own skin. We cannot afford to go outside of that financially. The owner is very strict and sticks to his principles even if it ends with us missing out on a transfer.

Eventually I think we will be priced out of the Premier League, but that time is not now.

We are in a bubble in the Premier League, but you have to compare us to clubs that have fallen out of the top league. They just cannot compete with us. We blow everyone out of the water apart from other clubs in the Premier League or the very big European clubs. We are probably in an elite top 30 of world football financially, which is just crazy when you think of it. We are in this position because of the strategy of the Pozzo's.

 

You're not bothered if we go down? That means a season full of defeats and misery. And paying thousands of pounds for the pleasure.

Sounds great that.

 

Beerz and bantz - that's wot it's all about m8

 

Bear in mind that Dumbo is an individual so fat that he got literally stuck in the turnstile at Wembley. He presumably left a little of his sense of proportion behind, along with what remained of his dignity.

I'd say it's a fair bet that Gino can at least see his own ****.

 

I agree with most of your points. My post was intended to say “financially out of his depth in this league”. That is unfortunately just a fact.

I’d say we are priced out of the Premier League right now with the transfer fees. We’ll likely stay up next season but at some point in the next 2 or 3 years our inability to compete will make us drop. Fees will only go up.

We are at the ceiling of what Pozzo can achieve. If we don’t get further backing we will go backwards. It’s not the end of the world and is our natural place in the pecking order I suppose.

The fact that the owner cannot compete financially with his peers doesn’t mean that he hasn’t done well to overcome that disadvantage. But ultimately it will be too great a disadvantage to overcome at some point soon.

 

And he has an actual needle di*k.

 

The model is designed to overcome the funding gap, and we are no where near the ceiling yet.

 

Disagree. We're just being practical. We really do not need to go crazy in this window.

We already have a good team, far too good to go down. We haven't lost any of the big players we expected to but I am certain that if we did, our window would not be as quiet as this.

Im sure that we already have a list of about 10 players shortlisted should one of Doucoure, Deulofeu Pereyra etc. go.

Whilst it has been quiet we have players in our team pretty much every team outside the top four would want.

Adding Dawson, potentially Sarr and one other would be very good business to add to a team that has shown it can compete in the top half of the table.

I expect every window to be similar to this from now on. Improve two or three positions at most, and wait to see if we lose anybody before replacing them. Cant forget that we have players like Cucho, Pedro and even Peñaranda who can all add to the team in the next year. Pozzos have it sorted. Might not be richer than most other owners in the league, but definitely one step ahead of everyone.

I suggest you read Duxbury's comments in the pages reids posted in another thread. Should calm you down a little bit.

 

Broadly agree. Our survival mid-term at this level will require us to continue to find and sign promising young talent from across the world before others do, playing them for a couple of seasons before selling them on and replacing with the next level of promising yoof.

 

Agree with this. Of course we all like a few new signings, and under the Pozzo reign this has always been the case.

However, the rules are a bit different now with clubs, even clubs around us, prepared to spend big on ordinary players. This does not help us at all.

In this window, and I suspect future ones, we'll have enough for one "big" signing and of course will take advantage of any bargains (Dawson), or free transfers plus we'll stockpile youngsters. This window has seen a lot of promising young players sign up. We've even signed a youngster directly for the first team in Dele-Bashiru.

I think this will be our future policy. One or two first teamers and the rest will be players of potential. It's the only way we can really progress, within budget.

 

While I agree with elements of your reply, I also agree with elements of @Jumbolina ’s post.

No one is doubting the absolutely amazing job and effort Gino and the board have done. But we just do things a different way and some fans see that style as catching up with us at some point. Others don’t but it doesn’t mean either are categorically right or wrong. To say ‘we are one step ahead of everyone’ is just said with yellow-tinted glasses. Wolves made Europe in their first season back and have players like Moutinho, Neves and Cutrone now - I’m sure their fans think their model is great and who are we to say different just because we think our way of working is more prudent. Yes we have a few kids we’ve identified - but I’m still not sure the Pozzo model is much different in terms of effect on the first team from most other PL clubs.

Personally Gino to me is like that person who plans his grocery shop for that time of the day when the staff start putting reduced stickers on - but he still knows the kind of reduced groceries he wants. If they aren’t there he will consider buying it at full price but whether he really wants/needs that item is a consideration. But he’ll never go in when everything is full price. The problem is sometimes he gets stuck in traffic, misses the stickers going on and tries to haggle down the full-price item!

And as for the Duxbury words you point to - he also said the life span of a coach is 2 years. But yet they have handed Gracia a 6.5yr deal. Things change.

 

You likened Gino to a shrewd shopper, but it's a great way to be. Look a Villa this season. They are a walking wallet and everyone knows it. Burnley are the latest club to mug them......over Heaton. Yes, Heaton is a decent keeper, but he's in the last year of his contract and they are going to sign him for £9m!!

Everton were this last season. Once agents know you're a bit simple in the market, you'll get rinsed. You have to be shrewd, with a "prepared to walk away" attitude or you'll get taken to the cleaners.

You can be very successful with the Gino approach. Look at how Spurs do their business. Bloody brilliant if you ask me. Spend next to nothing, finish 4th and get to the Champions League final. Ok, Spurs are on a different scale to us, but operate on the same principles as Gino. There is a place for it if you know what you're doing.

 

Can we take this wider talk about the window and transfer strategy as a whole onto a separate thread. It's distracting from the jokes about being ITK about this underwhelming, but slow moving transfer which now seems to have all of our hopes and dreams hinging upon it.

 

Spurs last season sure - but people were saying the same about them for a couple of seasons before and it’s a bit of a red herring because it’s only by comparison of the the other Top 6 clubs. But Davison Sanchez, Serge Aurier and Lucas Moura were all big and expensive signings. They also had a new stadium in the works so I’m sure that had an effect on things. But I think even they know that eventually you have to do serious business at times - Ndombele and the other names being linked say as much. Hopefully that’s what Gino is thinking too with Sarr and Pavon (if that’s true).

My comparison to Gino being prudent in supermarkets wasn’t a criticism by the way!

 

Spurs are shrewd in the transfer market. Gino is fishing through the bins for rancid meat that he can pass off by covering it in a thick, pungent sauce.

 

From the valuation stuff circulating a few months ago, I reckon we are around #50 in the global financial league table.

Certainly in top 2 in Herts.