When we signed him I went straight on to Youtube to watch some videos of him playing for FC Zurich a few years ago. In that montage you could see we had one hell of a player on our books. I think he just about has everything in his locker. He has a great range of passes, he's got a good engine, he's strong in the challenge and he gets in the box and scores goals. He is FINALLY the link-man we've missed since Alan Nielsen left the club all those years ago (Jordon Mutch came in briefly, as we all know, and looked the part). What a signing by Zola and here's to many more excellent performances from him. Technically the best player i've had the fortune to watch at Watford, and before that it was Alan Nielsen. If he's half as good as Super Al was for us, we're on to a winner.
It's pretty obvious that Abdi is quality, and I have a feeling he's going to get more impressive as the season progresses. Could be interesting if we manage to get him back if we get promoted in the coming years...
Agree,he is without doubt one of the best players to wear an Orns shirt in the last twenty years. I even took Murray out of my dream team and replaced with him!!
He is fantastic. As everyone else has said probably the most technically gifted player I've seen in a Watford shirt in I don't know how long and his passing, technique and composure are a joy to watch. Once he's fully fit and settled in he'll be far and away the best central midfielder in this league.
Absolutely sensational. Honestly think he's been the best player on the pitch in all our league games!
We are still relegation favourites with our no mark, Carlos Kickaball loaners. Once we start looking like that isn't true all the twunts will come out calling us cheats, long ball playing, loanee cheating cheats. Abdi won't get the praise or recognition due unless he plays for a proper team like Weeds or Baadiff
i agree he is probably one of the best midfielders ive ever seen in my 16+ years going to games. he does the dirty jobs in the middle of the pitch, but also knows how to pass and shoot. looks like the complete player, time will tell.
If he keeps on performing I imagine Prem teams will be in for him come January, and if the price is right he will be off. Got to remember this is what we are about now so dont get too attached to any new stars we get given on loan from the Pozzo network. We are a shop window for them.
Their ambition is to get the new memeber of the "family" into the PL as quickly as possible. To acheive this they have to provide some quality. I think Abdi has mainly been a bench warmer for Udinese over the last two seasons (interesting stat - 42 league appearances for Udinese, 0 goals!)
Fantastic player. I imagine other clubs are wondering just how in God's name we managed to convince him to come here. As long as he continues to pull his weight in training, he should be a dead cert to start the majority of games remaining this season.
The penalty he took yesterday was the best by a Watford player in years. Butland guessed correctly, went slightly early and still didn't get anywhere near it. Complete perfection.
That is complete rubbish. The reason the Pozzo's are sending players here from Udinese are A. because they're players that they believe will get us to the Premier League and/or B. because they're players with big potential (Vydra for example) that they want developed so that they can go straight into the Udinese first team in the future. Abdi's been sent here because he's a player that will be able to help us push for promotion, do you really think if in January we're in the top 10 or better the Pozzo's would be stupid enough to sell potentially our most important player for a quick buck and sacrifice the opportunity to get us promoted and make some real money? Absolute worse case scenario he's recalled for another chance at Udinese if he's doing well and they have injuries, other than that I'm 99.9% certain he'll be here for the full season at the very least.
If he's what gets us to the Prem then they'll want us to keep him on loan (maybe for him to be sold in the summer). Anyway, no different getting attached to him as we did to Adam Johnson imo
As I have said before, he reminds me so much of Gazza. He is a top player, far too good for the championship. The only problem I see with him is the fact that his backside is the size of a lorry, he needs to be fitter.
To an extent you are correct, these players will continue to play for us until we reach promotion HOWEVER Remember, this is a shop window. The premier league, the sky coverage and media coverage means that these youngsters and bench warmers are suddenly getting rave reviews and, having been worth not very much, could suddenly command fees from Premier Lague clubs. Whilst I anticipate them not moving until we are up, I can definitely see them moving on and us getting younger replacements once we are there.
I am really very happy to hear about Abdi success, and I am very pleased to read so much enthusiasm around him, he deserves it. I can bet anything that he stays the whole season with Watford.
The transfer dynamics will be totally different now. Our recent history shows that whenever we have a decent player any offer from a bottom of the Prem team is likely to be accepted. Even if the club is not rushing to take it the player/agent will give us no choice. Now if QPR want to sign one of 'our' players they have to 1. Talk to Head Office - they can and will wait 2 years to sell the player for 15 million then rather than 3 million now 2. Convince the player. These guys are more likely to want to be going to to greater things with Udinise or another team in Serie A through the Pozzo network in the next few years than raise hell for a move to Fulham now.... Won't be as simple now for a Prem team to have whatever they want from us whenever they want it
Re his fitness levels...I wonder if he is still not 100% fit or if he is the type of player who just appears that way? Ie, he has a languid style...
If a club offers the asking price or quite near it then the player will be off if the Pozzos think they can replace him, hope he will stay as well but we are just one cog in a money making machine now.
Molby had a huge ass too, in fact he was hefty all round, but still one hell of a player, lets hope the lack of fitness thing with Abdi is just an illusion as Malteser says in his post!!!
I echo previous comments, Abdi is surely one of the most technically gifted players we've seen at the Vic? It's early days, yes, but this boy seems to have it all. He does still seem a tad unfit but as the season progresses i'm sure we'll see the best of him!
Nope, you're wrong here im afraid Once we are in the PL this may well be the case. However, there is no chance we would sell Abdi in January and risk missing out on £90m from promotion
If they think they can replace him he will be off, probably have 2 or 3 Abdi like players in the network that could come in.
But why risk it? Like I said once we are in the PL they will sell and replace. When we are potentially a few months away from promotion there is no chance they will sell
It's a totally different culture now than we're used to. We don't have to sell a player when the first offer comes in for him. It's not like the days of Bas or Simpson or Petchey. Longer term ambitions really mean something now. I'd be surprised if we sold any of our crown jewels in January.
Very good technically and he isn't even fit yet. He may not have a future at Udinese now but he can see this stint at our club as an oppurtunity to attract the attention of current EPL clubs or perhaps with us obtain that promotion. I am sure he would also like to be involved with the Swiss national team again seeing as they are on the rise with some good performances from age groups translating into the senior side.
Almen Abdi - New Column Almen Abdi has posted a new column on his website today, at almenabdi.com He doesnt mention his injury, but you can read the whole thing here; http://www.almenabdi.com/en/#/news/?post_id=1288&paged=
