[SOLD] Luis Suarez

Personally, I would focus more on those who's views change as the wind blows. Suarez coming - tear up the league. Suarez leaving - never good enough.

That's why the sarcastic one liners occur.

Not directed at you, you seem to stick to your guns and I enjoy your views even though I don't agree most of the time. Which is how it should be.

 

You do realise that works both ways? There’s plenty of sarcasm (not from you) regarding fans getting ‘upset’ because a few photos ‘convinced’ them that Suarez and Estupinan were going to play for us - when in fact no one said that.

Gotta have the same energy both ways if you’re annoyed enough to highlight it!

 

That would help our cause no end if we could put out that front three.

If.

 

Fair enough mate

 

And is now a postman

 

Are we not currently in a legal battle with Marseille in regards to their signing of Pape Gueye?

surely effects them being front runners? Can’t imagine Gino being keen to sell to them

 

Gino will do business with the first club to offer him bottom dollar.

 

What concerns many is that the "experienced Prem players" didn't seem willing/able to put in a "professional" shift last season.

 

Actually, the window in England shuts in 32 days time.

 

And sterling is no longer strong enough to make it a double benefit to be paid in GBP.

 

Quite possibly. But the club was a mess last season, coaches left, right and centre - and pre-agreed bonuses withheld inexcusably. Not hard to look with hindsight and kind of understand why the players would lack motivation for the fight.

 

Well, he normally delivered when he played for us.

 

They’ll build some hush money into that deal and then get back to the important business of selling Hughes for £5m

 

Maybe the refusal to pay the bonuses was the first clear hint that we are & have been brassic for a while now.

 

I guess it’s possible but I doubt a club that’s skint spends £30m on Sarr just a few months previous either. I just think the withheld bonuses were likely a massive error in judgment...I’m still quite taken aback by the sheer front of them on that matter to be quite honest!

 

I'd forgotten about this to be honest. No wonder they are sitting there refusing to play. Fair play to them.

 

Of course, we don't know the intricacies of any of the various 3rd party finance deals...maybe whatever terms were placed on one of them happened after we'd committed to Sarr & suddenly we needed cash-flow quick. That might also explain the £20 "reserve your seat" initiative. If we were that desperate for approx £200k in hard cash & quick, things don't look good. I'm not suggesting administration looms, but it seems to be becoming more obvious any squad investment will be a fraction of any receipts from transfers.
Pozzo treading the Bonser route?

 

I can understand the club being absolutely livid about the collapse towards the end of the season, but they went about it totally the wrong way and it contributed to the absolute shower of a season we had to endure.

 

Natural goalscorer? Yes, last season he averaged 1 in 2 - but the season before that 7 in 36. English football is completely different, if he has a crap season or doesn't adapt to the Championship his value nosedives. £15m and upwards is decent money at the moment - on the basis of course that its largely weighted as an upfront payment.

 

And they call the bedwetters negative.

 

Whilst Suarez has not yet dined at the European top table, I think we have seen enough of his traits to know he is only improving and has more than enough to put the likes Rotherham, Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday away.

Trying to justify selling him on his talent seems silly to me. If you want to justify it, use the ‘finances’ route as it would be the only one that makes any sense.

 

Yeah but he seemingly doesn't want to and as long as there's a viable way out for him he's not going to.

 

If we get 15m for him will we reinvest all of that in a striker? No chance. We will be stuck with Gray, Murray and Perica.

Are we likely to be able to get a striker of a similar quality / potential for significantly less money? Probably not.

Unless we really are in financial dire straights or he is straight up refusing to play, I cannot see a good reason to sell him for that amount.

 

I know. But that’s not what was being alluded to. The context was that he won’t be missed as he may not be very good at this level.

 

In the absence of an as of yet unreported release clause, it is entirely up to the club if there is a viable way out for him.

 

Yeah, in some sort of Football Manager fantasy world maybe where we can keep mashing the 'reject offer' button and fining him for refusing to bend to our will.

Back in the real world player power is a very real thing and we're in the Championship and unfortunately need the money. All sides know this - the player, his agent, potential buyers, Gino...

While it's obviously true he can't move without the club's agreement, there's plenty he can do behind the scenes to make a move happen. That includes asking his agent to keep putting his name around to find out who's interested. And if those clubs that are interested are in turn of interest to Suarez, that's probably all the encouragement he needs to keep angling for a move. Forcing him into line is an option for the club but is it going to pay off over the course of the season?

 

I think people were more suggesting that he's not going to be a guaranteed scorer of 20 goals in the Championship based on 19 goals in the Spanish 2nd division and may not be worth the risk throwing away offers of £15m+. Say he goes the route of Acuna/Geijo of scoring goals at that level but not adjusting to English football. This time next year we've potentially got a striker with 4 Championship goals to his name and 1(?) year left on his contract and that's a huge chunk of money flushed down the toilet at a time where we can't afford it.

My personal opinion is that he'd do very well here and would be a better option than Gray, but I can definitely see why Gino may be risk-averse on this one, especially after seeing Doucoure's value drop £15m after not selling at the right time.

 

I am not ignoring that and obviously if a serious bid comes in that is a different kettle of fish, but all we are seeing is ****** offers by clubs who are trying to exploit the fact he is unsettled and get a cheap deal.

Most of our best players over the last few years would rather have been playing elsewhere, but in the absence of someone paying up, for the most part they just got on with it and played. Very few players careers are bettered by sulking and refusing to play.

 

We've no idea what the terms of the bonus were, and therefore whether they should have been payable or not ?

 

But we have no concrete knowledge of anything to do with the club on any matter at all. So we debate, discuss and come to our own conclusions with the ‘info’ we do have. In this case we have The Athletic’s article that was written by Ornstein and backed up/shared by Leventhal - and it didn’t paint the club as being in the right at all.

That’s the way this forum has always worked, short of discussing something factual that the club has announced openly themselves. It’s nothing new?

Much the same as the finances - we have no idea what the terms are of much of our financial liabilities etc. But it hasn’t stopped you, me and others discussing the potential impact that will have in the next 12 months and arriving at our own conclusions.

 

I'd trust stuff more from those two than the things the club announce to be completely honest.

 

But we've exploited clubs as well. That's the circle of footballing life. Ask our friends at Fluminese how they fared in negotiations with us. But we're now in need of cash and the reasons for it - relegation massively reducing tv revenue and Covid crushing almost all other income streams - are outside Gino's control and unfortunately visible from space. We can't hide them. Even then I'm not sure the offers are really that bad. It's all well and good hoping or even thinking we should get more, but if the offers aren't there and there's a financial shortfall that needs making up, we'll have to take less than we would ideally want. Chalk it down to another cost of relegation.

Not sure I agree with your second point. We've rarely kept anyone against their will and so any desire to play elsewhere normally meant them having to perform to earn the opportunity. Some have, some haven't. But as someone said earlier on, Suarez never really signed for Watford. He signed for Granada, was essentially moved administratively onto Watford's books when Pozzo sold up there and as far as we know never spent a minute at London Colney until last month. Why should he give two hoots about us when far bigger clubs are knocking down his agent's door? If I were in his shoes I'd be doing everything I possibly could to get out.

 

If he scores 20 he’ll be worth £25 million. Selling somebody just because you are worried they might have a poor season seems daft to me.

 

If the finances on the deal are right - I don't disagree the club may be in a position where financially they have no choice to sell. But until the point where a reasonable offer is made he is our player and should be treated as such.

I didn't say we forced players to stay against their will. I said most of our players would rather be playing for big clubs. I think there is a difference between telling a player you will not sell them, which is unreasonable, and telling them they have a price and until it is met they should just crack on.

For me setting that price as 10-15m just because he never played in England as some on here suggest seems pretty daft.