[SOLD] Luis Suarez

Dont forget 2 of our best ever players, Coton and McClelland both stayed and played for us in the 2nd tier. That is loyalty!

 

Infatuated? No, just interested in what appears to be a natural goalscorer. You know, of which we have absolutely none of right now and yet the club target is win the division.

 

This is clearly the plan. On top of that we get a few weeks to have a good look at our younger players and see which ones should be in the 1st team. Change the mentality of the squad, blood the younger players then reintegrate the remainers into a much better dressing room culture at the end of the window. Sounds good to me!

 

Which they deserve immense credit for, but I think they are more the exception than the norm.

Didn't McLelland turn down offers from better clubs while he was still a free agent just because he had given GT his word he would join?

 

Last season Luis Suarez scored 19 goals which is as many as Deeney, Gray, Murray, Pedro and Perica managed combined.

 

I think Femenia is the perfect example. Wants to leave, so hasn’t been that involved in pre-season. But Masina’s injury and Estupinan leaving meant he suddenly became our best option so in he comes for the league game.

 

Eoin Doyle scored 25 for Bradford and Swindon in Div 2. Does that make him better than Suarez ?

 

At least Ivic and the club will have had a very brief opportunity to see Suarez alongside the rest of our squad in training to help determine if he really is a significant improvement on them or not. I'd hope they'll be taking that in to consideration before deciding whether to sell him or make sure he stays.

 

It's hard to judge though how difficult those goals were to come by. Javier Acuna scored 16 in that league and looked hopelessly out of his comfort zone when he played in the Championship

 

I am not saying he would 100% come here and dominate. Ultimately every signing is a gamble. However, he looks to be a young, improving player who has scored goals in a slightly weaker league than this one and thus he has the potential to be a very good player in this division. I watched him a few times last season and he looks more than capable of stepping up. The fact there are a number of big clubs who think the same thing would suggest there is something about him.

People on here would be creaming themselves if we had signed Ivan Toney, whose goals came in a division quite a lot weaker than the Segunda. He has just gone to be the leading striker of arguably the strongest side in the division

 

putting a spin on your data , therefore Deeney scored more goals than Gray, Murray, Pedro and Perica managed combined.

 

I really want Suarez to stay - but have we considered that there's also a chance that Gray and Welbeck (if he stays) could very well be in front of him?

 

How bad is it to be at Watford? Every player we loan out comes back and demands to leave upon arrival.

Something is seriously rotten in Denmark for players to absolutely hate it here, even the ones who weren't loaned out hate it here.

Getting to the point where there can't be this many coincidences. This isn't an exodus, it's a mutiny.

 

Of course keeping Welbeck would mitigate losing Suarez and that would be more than enough up top - but we've literally given his shirt to an 18 year old and he's on about a 50k pay as you play deal. He'll be the first out!

 

Quite possibly. But we certainly can’t afford to pay him off unless he’s happy to walk for free. And as I mentioned last night, I think his wages/fee in the current climate, paired with his near constant injury issues will scare teams off. People keep saying someone desperate will take the plunge on him but I just don’t see it personally. Zero rumours around him currently.

 

Suspect we will see him off the US or Turkey like Sturridge, although it would not be a shock to a deadline day move from Fulham or West Brom.

 

Remember that no one at West Brom scored more than 10 last season and they still went up, so a 20 goal striker isn't essential. However, I'm not sure if I see Hughes/Cleverley/Chalobah/Ngakia/Femenia as players that will definitely chip in with 5-10 so could do with a striker scoring 15+. Is Gray still capable of that at this level?

 

Big question which I suspect many will be divided on. I think a confident Gray who is getting regular game time gets 20+ in this division personally - even more confident of that if he has Sarr and Joao Pedro in the team with him.

 

I think fans tend to overlook some simple social factors. The fact that we no longer have a Spanish coach and that even footballers must realise that the UK is no longer a welcoming environment for foreigners are bound to play a part for at least some players.

 

Does anyone know how long Suarez has on his deal? Could it be that if we raise money elsewhere so we don’t have to sell - but he really is adverse to playing at this level, that we could potentially loan him out for a year again?

Obviously not ideal I admit and not preferable. But if we don’t need the money, I’d rather keep him ‘in house’ in the event that we do go up. We’d all love a club that is full of players that want to play for the club whatever the case - but that’s idealistic and you have to perhaps relax that expectation of players in certain areas.

Suarez has zero affiliation with the club (as yet). Perhaps the chance to loan him out again and bring him back in a year if we are in the PL wouldn’t be a terrible thing if the alternative is selling him for a quick buck that we may not ultimately need?

 

It’s more like we need money in so quickly we’ll accept any vaguely reasonable offer...a farcical position to be in, but there you go. Looks like we only lasted as long as we did in the PL by mortgaging the future over the last 3 years.

 

I believe he's got 2 years left.

 

I think Leventhal said we had two years left, but that could be what the club have said to him to excuse a potential sale.

 

Relegated because we can’t score goals. Let’s go forward with a weaker stroke force than ever!

It’s only the Championship. Just stick anyone up front and they’ll get 20 goals.

 

Can't disagree with that being a factor.

Especially Suarez and Estupinan who (I think) had their contracts transferred from sunny Granada rather than having any intention of signing for Watford.

 

No, this is all normal. All relegated sides do this. Cutting our cloth. Pozzo model. Be realistic. Accounts.

 

Just perpetuates all the existing problems and postpones the inevitable.

If he doesn’t want to be here, then sell and start recruiting players who actually want to play for Watford, even if only for 3 years.

 

Didnt Bassett sell McLelland to Rangers?

 

Yeah, I don’t disagree. But that takes a fundamental change in recruitment policy from the owner and I don’t think he knows how to do that. So it’s a pipe dream if you ask me. He will sell the club as a stepping stone as he always has done.

If we sell all these players now and somehow get promoted in 12 months time, we will need to recruit again to get PL quality...and those players will be coming as a stepping stone and to be put in the PL window. The fact it’s for Watford will be secondary.

The way the owner recruits might change for a year (doubtful) - but if we are successful we will revert to type undoubtedly.

I don’t think it’s that Suarez and Estupinan (and others) don’t ‘want’ to play for Watford - they just don’t want to play at this level. Doing what I’ve said in terms of loaning Suarez out may not be putting off the inevitable - but it would be contingent on getting promoted. If that happens, he would just be another who would come for the PL attraction - those are the types of players we will get anyway!

 

No GT bought him from Rangers. Sold to Leeds after we'd been relegated. Not by Bassett.

 

Suarez isn't good enough anyway. Great business for a player who will go on to do nothing in his career. Fact.

 

Yep. Get hyped about him for months whilst watching him from afar - wait for him to arrive, sell him and claim he's never looked that good anyway. Rinse and repeat.

 

COGs keep turning.

 

Surely you have something more insightful to contribute rather than the same old sarcastic one-liners? You actually have interesting and informed insights when not just hopping on the back of whatever moog says with a rehash of jokes that have already been made 3 times over...

 

Won the league with Leeds after leaving Watford