[RUMOUR] Andre Gray

Discussion in 'The Transfer List' started by Burnsy, Jan 9, 2020.

  1. magic

    magic Statto & Vordamen's lovechild

    Exactly, and the window is open for a month - going to be a busy few weeks.
     
  2. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    It's weird, a few weeks ago, I'd have rejoiced at this, but now, this would be a bad deal for us (not least because of what it would mean for Deeney). Gray is still the same old limited striker he's always been, but I'm happy with a strike force of Suarez, him, Murray and Perica (assuming Welbeck goes, and hoping Deeney goes too)
     
    Jumbolina likes this.
  3. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    Anyway, I find this hard to believe, surely if we wanted him to go, we wouldn't have played him in the friendlies? Obviously that's not to say he's absolutely staying, but surely get a half decent fee rather than let him go on loan? In any case, I get that £16m for someone even as talented as Grant might be a bit much, but Andre Gray leading a Premier League strike force? Really?
     
  4. TomWatfordFC

    TomWatfordFC Reservist

    It definitely seems like Ivic has been working with the players who will almost certainly stay so that we have a steady, well organised team for the first few weeks. If it later transpires that some of the more senior 'stars' are also going to stay, they can then be slowly reintroduced to the team.
     
    nfh likes this.
  5. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

    I would much rather we ship Deeney off to WBA than Gray.
     
  6. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    I’d rather keep Welbeck than Gray. But I think that’s very unlikely, and also his injury record would still be a major concern and he also doesn’t have Gray’s record/pedigree at this level.

    Won’t go on about it as everyone knows I’m in the minority here who think Gray deserves a break, a clean slate and could be a real asset this season. I’d be very disappointed if we let him go, unless we are recouping a decent fee that allows us to keep others.
     
    Knight GT and Jumbolina like this.
  7. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    And that’s fine I suppose. However ideally you’d pick your players to cash in on and integrate the others straight away. Seems very expensive and wasteful to leave players out till mid October. Still Covid economy must make decision making less clear cut I suppose.
     
  8. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    There is no doubt if we get good offers players will go.

    I thought Pereyra for example wanted to leave ages ago.

    Is he happy still being here?

    Seems to have gone quiet on Welbeck and Kiko rumours.

    I thought the squad on Saturday was pretty much those who are going to stay for certain but maybe not in the case of Gray?

    If this is true ofcouse .
     
  9. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    Still think in a team that plays to his strengths and puts confidence in him, he can score goals at that level.

    I doubt it’s a case of us ‘wanting’ him to go. I’m not convinced we want anyone to go. But I suspect nearly everyone is available for the right deal.
     
  10. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    Even when teams did play to his strengths in the Premier League, he was never outstanding tbf, there are better alternatives out there for West Brom (Welbeck for example, if he can stay fit, given he got a decent run of games behind him after lockdown, I'm a bit surprised not to see as much concrete interest in him). As you say, he's clearly not surgically attached to this club, if the right deal does come up, by all means, let him go (although it would harm the well balanced strike force we have at the moment), but I'd rather than deal include a decent fee rather than a loan deal
     
    Burnsy likes this.
  11. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    It would be ironic when we're actually in a league which could finally see the reason for Gray, we sell him off. Bizarre.

    But, we need better than him and even in the Championship, so if he went I wouldn't have too many issues with it.

    However, if we assume Deeney, Welbeck, Deulofeu and Gray are all off, it does leave us short of genuine options. A very rusty Murray, an untired Suarez, and a so far underachieving Perica. I don't consider Penaranda or Success, if he ever gets fit, as viable options really. Maybe we'll use Sarr as a striker and keep Deeney or even Welbeck. I could see that making sense then.

    The club probably have identified getting 4 big earners off the books, and don't care which ones. Doucoure gone, Pereyra will probably go, either Deeney or Welbeck will go and Gray. Makes sense, then we can keep the rest. Geri to go in January.

    The only thing is, Gray did look good in the formation we used on Saturday, however, we can only really play that way if Quina is in the side. We have no one else who can play that number 10 position as well as him, so if he's out of the side we'd have to play a different way, which probably won't be playing to Gray's ability to run onto the ball. I think he's a natural replacement if we play with Suarez and he has to come off during a game. However, I'm hopeful Cucho will be with us in January, so he can share the striker position with Suarez, be it together or in rotation.
     
    Robert Peel likes this.
  12. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    I just think Welbeck is a huge financial risk for PL clubs when the reality is that he won’t play at least 50% of the games. As I said the other day, there wasn’t much interest a year ago when he was free - I’m not surprised no one wants to pay a fee for him.

    Feels like a Sturridge type move to Turkey/Middle East/MLS or nothing to me. But if he stays, I doubt he will play anyway if it’s true that he gets £75k when he plays. The club likely would rather pay him £25k to do nothing until his deal runs out next summer.
     
  13. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    Given the Giraldi interview today, I really don’t expect Deulofeu to stay until January. Sounds to me like there are clubs willing to gamble on his fitness in this window.
     
  14. Steve Leo Beleck

    Steve Leo Beleck Squad Player

    Despite the idiocy of the Covid birthday party, there's never been any other suggestion that Gray is a bad influence. He's rarely injured, has never been known to kick off about being on the bench etc. He's just a bit limited as a Premier League player.

    The worry is that the club thought they could shift Deeney out and keep Gray, thus getting rid of one of our biggest earners as we move in a different direction and hopefully Suarez takes over. But there are no takers for an increasingly desperate Deeney so we end up having to get rid of Gray despite the green shoots of recovery in his friendly performances. And Deeney stays behind, annoyed at the fans whose comments he clearly reads, annoyed at not being a Premier League player and annoyed if he's not an automatic starter.

    There's a nice feel to what's going on at the club at the moment. If a sulking Deeney is around the place, I'd expect that to be shattered.
     
  15. Teide1

    Teide1 Squad Player

    We really won’t know “ what’s what “ until the 17th October when the window close’s until then it’s really up to the head coach to get as many points using all of the players available to him!

    Freezing players out, which appears to be the case, is ok until you have no takers! I feel there’s still a lot of activity to happen to make things viable and sensible!
     
  16. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    WBA on the verge of re-signing Callum Robinson from Sheff Utd as well tonight - not sure how that plays into things.
     
  17. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    Could be correct, but it makes more sense to me to give him time to get match fit with us. Let him run up hills in Spain, that's fine and when he feels like he can start playing again in November bring him over, give him a couple of U23 games. Allow him to play 10 games or so with us over Christmas, just to get him back in the swing of things, prove he's not lost anything since the injury then he can go in January with our best wishes.

    The thing is, many top players have a fight with their ego. They just don't want to step down to a lower league. But, once the season is under way and players can see how well it's going at Watford, they could easily change their mind and some of them may fancy a season of winning every other week and a chance to be champions, with a nice medal at the end of it.

    Not saying Deulofeu will change his mind, but if you keep him around, there's a chance he could actually enjoy it and want to stay if it's clear we're going to go up.
     
    Stuart_Slater and Hairyfrog like this.
  18. Carpster

    Carpster Squad Player

    Damn that is some shocking forward line for the Albion.
     
  19. Manatleisure

    Manatleisure Squad Player

    Nothing is impossible, but Gray is going nowhere imo. He's been warming up in our friendlies ready for the new season.

    Its all very well saying we need to upgrade but we are in the Championship now. It aint happening.

    If you believe everything you read about player exits we will only have Perica and Murray left up front.

    The only way i see him going is if he bangs goals in left right and centre from the start then a PL club might be interested before the transfer window closes.
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2020
  20. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    I don’t really see it as freezing players out, there are players that obviously don’t want to be here and that are also on high wages and are worth decent money. There really is no point playing them, risking injury, or relying on them only for them to be sold and having to adapt the squad and formation again a month into the season. It’s simply common sense to utilise the players who are most likely to be here, it makes much more sense.

    As for Gray, his wages mean we’ll naturally entertain any interest in him, it’s just the nature of the position we’re in. I think it’s no more than club being realistic and not initially expecting any real interest in him, so he’s been part of our plans from the start, but they’re not in a position to turn any subsequent interest down.
     
  21. Pob

    Pob Reservist

    We should do a buy one get one free offer to the Albion. Would rejuvenate my interest in the premiership to see the deadly partnership of Deeney and Gray back where they belong. Imagine what Deeney could achieve with Andre Gray and two legs? Up da Baggies !
     
    Moose likes this.
  22. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    We may well end up having to sell who others want to buy rather than who we want to sell. If no-one wants to buy TD, GD, RP or even Capoue at this point we may need to just accept what offers we receive for the likes of Gray, Hughes, etc to cover the lost £50m revenues.
     
    Steve Leo Beleck likes this.
  23. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    Exactly, the situation dictates is the only thing we can have any real control over is the minimum price we accept for certain players, even then we might have to compromise. It was always going to be an imperfect situation and we were never going to be able to choose exactly who stays and who goes.
     
  24. I find it hard to believe the idea of a PL side coming in for Gray, a guy who has demonstrated for years he is anything but PL quality. This is his level.
     
  25. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Ah but his goals per minute, Pro+, AVG, and vitamin C stats are great.
     
  26. Moosegasm

    Moosegasm Reservist

    Pereyra will go to Udinese if no one else comes in for him. GD will go on loan if no one buys him.
     
  27. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    But will they? We can’t really say that with such certainty.

    I doubt Pereyra is on unaffordable wages and there’s always going to be doubts over the legitimacy of a fee coming from Udinese. Whilst I think it’s a possibility he goes there, I don’t think it’s as cut and dried as some are saying.

    I also don’t see Deulofeu going anywhere just on loan personally.
     
  28. Supertommymooney

    Supertommymooney Squad Player

    I can't help but be amused thinking about Baggies fans watching YouTube videos of Gray scoring an amazing volley against Burnley and tucking away the pen against Spurs on Saturday. Accompanied by the obligatory awful music.
     
    Sort of OK and luke_golden like this.
  29. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    What if peryra doesn't want to go to Udinese ? Loaning GD may not be on our terms, perhaps an option but no obligation to buy, perhaps we subsidise wages. the only thing we are in a position to insist is that players under contract stay if we want. But we need players to leave.....
     
    Burnsy likes this.
  30. onion8837

    onion8837 Reservist

    Fixed
     
    WatfordTalk likes this.
  31. Sort of OK

    Sort of OK Reservist

    I think the other issue with Pereyra is that he has one year left on his contract? If that is correct we would no doubt want to sell now rather than lose on a free, assuming that if he had to stay he wouldn't extend of course. This could also be similar with Udinese, no point in loaning him for a season and if he wants out will he sign a longer contract to go to them?
     
  32. Malteser2

    Malteser2 Reservist

    So far this pre-season, from our attacking and midfield options, I make it that Gray, Deeney, Welbeck, Deulofeu, Pereyra, Sema, Suarez, Hughes, Capoue, Doucoure and Sarr have at some point in the media been linked with a move away!

    That’s quite some summer so far of speculation.

    Correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve not seen Chalobah, Cleverley, Quina and Pedro linked with other clubs, though I may have missed those.
     
  33. TomWatfordFC

    TomWatfordFC Reservist

    Nantes? apparently had a look at Pedro. I also saw Chalobah to Villa somewhere.
     
  34. Malteser2

    Malteser2 Reservist

    That only leaves Quina, who ironically has probably been our best player in pee-season!
     
  35. tonycotonstache

    tonycotonstache Squad Player

    Well last year was our turd-season so i guess pee is an upgrade
     
    cyaninternetdog and Otter like this.

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