My issue isn't with a player Gerard Deulofeu who is far too good for the division, and on high wages and still a very valuable asset for sale, where it suits both parties not to be involved. Dawson, Capoue, Welbeck, Pereyra do not fall into that category as has been made clear by the total lack of suitors other than bargain basement scrounging Valencia.
I don't think most of them are refusing to play, but the club are giving them an easy way out by giving them an option.
The thing is, I'm not convinced it's the players. I'm sure all of them would play if picked. I believe the board has asked Ivic not to pick them unless he absolutely has to, in fear they will get injured. The party line is "we only use players who want to play for us".......then the club subtly throw Ivic under the bus, claiming it's all his idea. Do you really think the owner would go along with a coach they've only hired on a one-year deal? Not a bit of it. Players are not refusing to play, and Ivic has been asked to only use players that want to go sparingly. I also believe in some cases, players are actually being pushed out the door rather than initiating moves themselves.
The shame of all this is the whole thing is precipitated by the imbalance in football between rich and poor clubs; broadly, between the Premier League and the rest. In earlier decades, when a club was relegated its players didn't immediately push for a move and the club didn't try and push them out.
Yes indeed. And now we also have a huge gap between Prem clubs with Champions League money or a mega-rich owner, and the rest.
Can you show me a statement of the players refusing to play? I think the players we are looking at moving on are not being played because Ivic only wants to play players who will be here for the season
Wish Valenica would p*** off. Getting sick of hearing how much they want our players and “hope” it will happen, only for things to go quiet again after the cheap b******* fail to stump up the yorkie bar, spare button and 2nd class stamp we’ve asked for.
There's likely an element in it of the club being prudent. We ran Gray out - injured. Ran out Navarro - injured. Welbeck and Pereyra are famously made of glass. Right now they're worth millions. One of the twits gets a blister and we've screwed. I suspect they're running around on nice soft grass wrapped in bubble wrap.
From Leventhal: 'Many of the players who signed for the club during the five-year stay in the Premier League did not have relegation clauses in their contracts. One such player is Etienne Capoue, who is also still absent from the squad amid links with Valencia in Spain. The Frenchman, who has a contract until 2023, is considering his options, but his representatives say he is relaxed about whether he stays or goes' A lot of juicy info in that article tbf
I think he is relaxed about most things !! He'd probably give it a go then leave in January. No wonder the likes of Cathcart want to stay - long term contract on PL wages.
Makes sense we want to offload. Will have some suitors now, but will be less appealing as he ages and deteriorates so we could be stuck with him for 3 years on championship income. I can see why Pozzo wants to move him out the door.
It makes no sense to actively move him out. He literally fills such an important role in the way Ivic’s teams play. He literally ticks so many boxes - ball winner, creative, good passer, calm on the ball, experience...we won’t be able to replace him with anyone half as good. If he is pressing for the move then I can partially understand it - but his value on monetary terms isn’t that much as it is, so any depreciation financially is fine in his case. But no way should we be actively moving him on. We’ve been agreeing on a lot recently - but not on this!
Refuse to/be blind to the need to strengthen the squad in its blatantly obvious weak areas, thus making relegation likely, but fail to negotiate relegation clauses in the contracts of players we do sign. It's all extremely high level stuff.
Not sure. What if he is here in 2023 earning a packet (40k guess) and we are bottom half championship. Dunno. Maybe his wage isn't so bad as we can support it but feels like we gave him at least a year too long in last extension (surprise surprise). I agree he'd be wonderful this year.
I suspect we could easily get him a move back to a mid-table Ligue 1 side in a year if we don’t go up. Or, given his love for the NBA, Major League Football could come calling...
I agree that I suspect many of these players are being encouraged to move on, especially those without salary reduction clauses: 'Look chaps, been great and all that but can't really afford you now we are down, do us all a favour and find yourselves new clubs and we'll do our best to keep you injury free while you're doing it.' Obviously quite a few ill/injured/recently returned who will be coming back into the team (unless we get offers for them) but I am also sure any uninjured player would play if selected and put in a shift it they did.
The way things seem to be going I think we'll have done well if we're in the bottom half of the Championship in 2023
Yeah, OK, doesn't follow doesn't equate to doesn't care. But why would a European give a fig about septic sports. That's a sign of a deeply fractured personality Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
It could be a disaster for us. He’s only getting older and the amount of clubs willing to pay his wages will rapidly diminish as time passes. From his point of view he’s got a decent salary guaranteed until the point he probably retires, what exactly is his motivation to remain a player worthy of paying at least what we already pay him? The championship (and league one) are littered with clubs who got ruined by just this situation.
Yeh that’s criminal . If Capoue had refuse to sign because of relegation clause they should have shipped him out hes one of the mercenaries anyway
Probably couldn't put it in for first contract as we were just promoted and had to attract him to the club. Where I blame them is on the big extension they gave him till he is 35. Another genius move that from Pozzo which could really hurt us. Same as they did with Cathcart. We risk having these players on decent to high wages long after they have deteriorated significantly with age. The club's policy on contracts is just bizarre. See also Prodl.