Wouldn’t bringing him in be backing Edwards who has publicly said he was interested? Isn’t that (managers being involved in recruitment) what we wanted? If we bring him in alongside Piroe or some other impressive deep-lying forward that’s fine.
But he is "too old" (is 29 old?) and useless.... I think want people were/are hoping is Edwards would want to bring in some younger players.
If the general trend of players brought in are young then it's fine to bring in an older head with them, 29 year old on a 2-3 year contract isn't a bad deal as they're still in their peak years and can be phased out when the time comes more easily. If we signed mainly older players then I'd be a lot more concerned.
The chance of it being a 2-3 year deal is slim as well. Gino loves tying his prize assets down to long term deals.
It's not that 29 is too old. It's more that he is very unlikely to improve and he's currently average at Championship level. Would be a poor use of resources imo
Joining Millwall - suspect we'll see our striker chase ramp up this week - seems like we've at least made contact for Piroe, Joao and Armstrong now so at least the level required is acknowledged, although for differing reasons all three of those are difficult deals.
Can’t believe we’ve let one of our manager’s key targets who the manager has spoken publicly about wanting join a lesser club like Millwall for free.
Him just going to Millwall suggests that if we'd have actually wanted him we'd have got him - so our supposed "interest" in him was clearly not that strong.
Maybe but Journo who broke the deal did tweet this: Frankie Christou @FrankieChristou #WatfordFC were keen on a deal for Afobe but returning to The Den was always on his mind after his chance of playing Champions League football in Belgium ended.
However low one's opinion of the club may be, there's no way he'd have turned us down for Millwall if we'd actually made a proper offer.
Agreed. You’re talking about a club where he’s got consistent minutes last year and is held in high esteem by the fans versus a club at the same level where he’s unlikely to start and got no credit in the bank with the club/manager/fans. For a player who has struggled to get consistent game time though out his career you can see why he’d choose the former particularly if our interest was tepid.
And if that were the reason then it'd also have meant there was little cause for all the moaning from lots of posters on here.
Rather than rubbished even before he signed! One hopes we will be after better and more proven striker but in then again we might just dip into the Bayat/Udinese bag again.
Lots of people also said we wouldn't go into a season with Ken Sema as our only left back and that there was no reason for moaners. Afobe as a 3rd choice would be fine. If he was coming in as 1st/2nd I think complaints are justified.
Now they’ve gone public (and so loudly) with the Rule of 11 stuff I think the club’s capacity to bring in more than 1 or 2 additional non-HG players is limited (absent a truly dramatic clear out).
I could see a few swaps with Udinese going on if we are desperate but clearly we are looking for Championship based strikers alongside Bayo.
I actually think Udinese have some quality players who would improve us. Samardzic, Lovric and Soppy in particular. I’d take Ebosele too but only as a rotation option if Kiko hangs around. But none of the first three are HG so they should probably only join if we ship out a non-HG player who we were planning on keeping.
Yeah perhaps, but he clearly wasn't going to be and he didn't. Which season was that? Genuine question.
20/21. Masina injured for 6 months at the start of the season so Sema/Femenia filled in there under Ivic.
Sure, and again as per my post above it indicates any interest of ours is unlikely to have been more than that.
Oh yeah. It was definitely harsh on Ivic in not dealing him a particularly strong hand, but we still got promoted in the end.
Does make you wonder how much our constant swapping of managers would affect the decision for someone like Afobe? We obviously did at least express an interest in him and, on paper at least, you would think we would be more attractive than Millwall, assuming similar terms. However, even if he fancied working with Edwards again he could easily think he'd be gone in a few months then he's left as someone else's signing and maybe in a difficult place. Obviously could happen anywhere but odds will be much shorter with us. Would imagine it would affect these types of domestically based players more so as they see it happening easier than some of the foreign guys who may just jump at the chance of playing in England, even if it is for us. Who knows, we may not have made an offer, he maybe doesn't like Edwards or he could be a childhood Millwall fan but does make me think.
He's at the end of his career getting what might well be his last ever contract. If his decisions are made on anything other than pure financial terms he probably needs his head examined.
29 is the end of his career ? Blimey are we now at the stage even people just under 30 are past it.. He would have got more money here or in Belgium than at Millwall surely ? Not that he was going to be the answer long term or even in the short term but we certainly need a couple of strikers in - ones with some form in the Championship too. Not just Bayat punts who may come good or not.