Twenty years ago Rangers could pay £12 million for a player, but those days have gone. The Premier League has blown away Scottish football. Which has limited levels of interest outside of Scotland. The English top division has always been able to buy the best players from top Scottish clubs. From Dalglish going from Celtic, and of course we bought the Rangers Captain John McClelland in 1984. I don’t know much about this player, but the financial strength of Aberdeen is irrelevant. If he wants to play against the best teams, improve as a player and build his wealth he has to leave the SPL. It might not be Watford but I bet he won’t be at Aberdeen next season.
Just watched the Sky interview with his manager Stephen Glass before the Rangers game. Stated Ferguson loved it at the club and wanted to stay. He obviously misread the lads wish to progress elsewhere. Did state he believed he was on course to be a top top midfield player. Hope he’s right on that part.
I think the point is if Scottish teams joined the English league they would eventually reap the financial benefits thereof. Currently I don’t know if Celtic or Rangers are any better than Championship level, but they would become big clubs with premier league money. Likewise Aberdeen.
Hardly a Doucoure mk2 by the sound of it. If we are going to spend, let's actually improve on what we have, eh
Aberdeen has a population of 200k which is comparable to Slough, so after further research, I would have to agree.
Watford Borough Council is the smallest by area district council in England. If you add in the area served by Watford General Hospital (Dacorum, Hertsmere, St Albans, Three Rivers and Watford district) it is an area population 500,000+. The main thing is Aberdeen as a football club operates in a small nation and a league which generated income less than £40 million, when the EPL had revenue greater than £3 billion. In 2019/20 Celtic would have earnt more than the other 11 clubs put together, and the lowest turnover EPL club in that year would have earnt 30% more than Celtic. So regardless of the merits of a player. An EPL club will have more than enough financial muscle to wrestle a player from any SPL club. Sporting endeavour and the chance to win things are of course different to financial reward, but if you operate in a less competitive environment you stand a better chance to win something.
It's not just about local population, it's also location, Aberdeen have one team in the city, so like say, Newcastle the majority of residents of that city will support that club, Watford have Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs close by and then there are all the Liverpool, Man U fans to compete with as well.
Keep us posted, looked like he was heading south on one of the bridges at Westminster. This is the wrong direction so am a little concerned he's off to Palace. Please post updates here so we can live track him near and will hopefully culminate in another glorious moment like the Chalobah one, where someone recognised the table and chair in an office as conclusive proof that he was in London Colney.
Still in London this evening. Could be down here having his medical over a couple of days and sorting out his contract. Or it could be nothing to do with football and he's just a normal human being who likes to visit other places.
Come on, everyone knows that footballers are robots who happen to be able to kick a ball well. Besides, they're all stinking rich and would go on holidays to Dubai rather than rainy London
I reckon the Algarve is absolutely heaving with footballers at the moment. Our boy JP is flying the Watford flag.
Aberdeen fans are saying he has spoken to us and West Ham. They seem to under the impression that this will cause a bidding war. They don’t know Gino.
Do we think he is even a target after the Louza signing? Unless there are some outgoings we have 7 senior midfielders for 3 spots.
My thoughts also This chap was perhaps on the list of maybe's and plan B...C....D.... but 1) we don't do bidding wars. and 2) we got (one of the) main targets in Louza so all is good in Gino land
7 senior options? I can only think of 6, and 7 if you include Dele-Bashiru, but he's certainly not classed as a senior option. Maybe you're thinking of Zinckernagel, however, I see him more as a right winger, or someone who plays behind the striker. Not really a midfielder, likewise Pedro, who played in midfield on occasion last season. Regardless of players already on the books, we need to sign replacements for Capoue and Doucoure, in terms of quality. I suspect Louza ticks one of those boxes, but there is still a vacancy for one more as far am I'm concerned. Louza and Hughes should be regular starters with Chalobah, Cleverley and Gosling as squad options. I can't see TDB being part of things next season, as he'll probably go out on loan to the Championship just to test the knee out. One more quality option, and we should be good to go. I'd be a bit disappointed if that option turns out to be Ferguson.