Almen Abdi joins Sheff Wed

Sorry, by what measure? Certainly not this - apart from pass completion rate, he was average at best - even Jurado had an assist from a corner, although it was in the FA Cup so it's not counted there.

Like others I'm obviously gutted to see him go, but it's ridiculous people are retrospectively laying into Flores for allegedly ruining players just because under him they had at worst one disappointing season out of, what, a 15-20 year career? Hardly enough to set them back, let alone consign them into premature retirement. And apart from Oulare, the players that weren't used to the best of their ability and/or were neglected for the most part weren't uniformly useless and it wasn't a totally wasted season for them - they'll have learnt a lot from playing in the English Premier League, fighting for your place and adapting to unfamiliar positions and different tactics. Flores isn't at the club any more and Mazzarri and the Pozzos for reasons better known to themselves than us, rightly or wrongly didn't want to keep the players that most of us are regretting letting go.

Personally, I blame Gino more than QSF for his hasty decisions over the last few weeks - of course he's done an absolutely fantastic job on the whole in transforming our club from top to bottom on and off the pitch, but he isn't beyond criticism, which for me includes the strange reluctance to give managers/players a chance for more than our season (if at all) to prove them at the top level which smacks of a quick-fix short-termist mentality which at times can take the edge a bit off our recent success and progress.

 

Good luck Almen we will miss you.

Thanks.:abdi:

 

[video=youtube;ry69nqcBKAI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry69nqcBKAI[/video]



The Professor :sign15:

 

Good slideshow Ron, which bit was in HD?

 

Fee is apparently 3 million.

 

Fessi's problem was he was always behind better strikers - we turned down £60 mill for Deeney and Iggy this summer, Fessi will never go for those sorts of numbers. Sitting on our bench his value was always going down, £3mill wasn't great but staying on our bench would be worse.

Almen was different gravy when he arrived in the UK. A cultured player rather than a headless chicken. Enjoy him.

 

Almen :sad1:

 

I'm going to kill myself.

 

Boufal better happen now or I'm going to boo wally

 

Letting Abdi go gives me some hope we have improved our squad sufficiently to do a bit better than last season. Time will tell.

 

WAIT WHAT?

Permanent? NO

Sticking £50 on Sheff Wed to get promoted though

 

Forestieri is a championship level player. Sorry if you disagree with many of us.

 

How could you possibly know that until he is given a go in the PL?

I'm sure you would have said exactly the same about the likes of Cathcart, Watson etc. before the start of last season.

 

Oh come on, there are simply no examples of Championship players making the step up to the Premier League.

Next you'll be suggesting that a team could go up and win the Premier League two years later.

 

This feels like a bereavement. Can we do what City fans did for Pellegrini and buy a page of a newspaper to say thanks and goodbye? Or a whole newspaper?

 

How would you know how good you need to be in the Premier League? Everyone thinks their best players are good enough until they get there.

 

As great as he goals were , it's the passing that made me purr. Especially his through balls, invariably to Vydra.

 

Oh God I'm still struggling to get over Fessi leaving let alone this happening.

 

Sheffield?

Well I would walk 500 miles to see Almen Abdi play. Could be a song in that.

Brilliant player. Brilliant bloke.

 

How are we going to last one season in the P.L. Oh wait a moment that was last year!

 

As well as being a footballing debate, there's a strong emotional aspect to this transfer too. There have been so many comings and goings since the Pozzo takeover, but Almen's been a constant, along with Troy and not many others tbh. One of the first arrivals under Gino, a constant through the 6 Head Coaches, the near miss under Zola, the eventual triumph of promotion etc. great goals, lovely skills and a terrific self-discipline and love for our club. In that eventful summer when so many foreign loanees arrived and left many of us puzzling who they actually were, Almen was the real success. The example we could hold up to the mocking football world and say 'hey this works you know'!!

So it feels a bit like an era ending. But in reality, Almen wasn't a huge success last season. And if we get Boufal, we may look back and consider we got an upgrade.

But we will always have a place in our hearts for AA.

Thanks for all the happy memories you gave us. Class act.

 

I think Burnley should be all over this transfer. Happier to see him go to the championship but still.

 

You could try WD Sport. At least then they'd have 2 pages of copy.

 

You will only have to walk 151 miles (but be careful on the M1)

 

Abdi's getting on in years and has lost his pace, we're told. But isn't he about the same age as Suarez, and unlike the Spaniard, he doesn't regularly get caught in possession. Abdi's more attack-minded and can score goals.

We'd better get in a really top class attacking midfielder to replace him. Unfortunately, I don't see Berghuis fitting that description.

 

I really hope we are going to see the best of Suarez this season, but I can't help thinking we have to have him as part of the squad as default. We gave him a long lucrative contract and nobody will match it if we try to shift him so we've just got to make the best of a bad situation. I really hope I'm wrong about this, and he has a good season now he is settled at the club.

 

The scenic route via Swansea, Warrington, and Leeds gets you there in 503 miles if you really want to stretch your legs.

 

I wouldn't give SWFC anything after they mocked us on the last day of the promotion season. Hope they stay in obscurity.

 

Exactly. We thought Abdi and Fessi would step up, but a year later we've dumped them on some no Mark, northern ****heap

 

They got Matias

 

All the big players who got us to the prem are disappearing.FF,Vydra,AA,Etc.Great shame would of loved to see him play in his natural postion last year I think he would of done well and had a big impact in the prem.Watford legend and the memories you have given me will live with me forever,Great player great human and one of the greatest midfielders we have ever had.

 

Mcpoo.:happy1::happy1::happy1::happy1:

 

Having a medical at Wednesday.

Check his feet is my advice and call the deal off.

 

I'd forgotten how brilliant his goal against Leeds was.

 

Don't tell me that it wasn't QSF on the grassy knoll; there are high quality pictures on the internet that prove it.