I think you've got to know how to handle him. Being on the fringes of things then he's going to play up. Probably unhappy at Forest because he's not playing. Apart from the quote saying players were happy when he left Watford (how true I don't know), I don't see any issues with him when he was with us. He played seriously on the pitch and showed commitment. Sometimes a certain club fits a player's character better than others. I think Watford is one of the few clubs that have brought the best out of him.
The fact he's showing off on instagram about watching our game vs Norwich suggests he still has fondness for the club and he'd be motivated if he came back here again - his bad experience at Forest might have made him realised he had things good here and we managed to get the best out of him.
I do wonder if we were quite pleased to let him go, as it wasn't a fortune for someone with his premier league scoring record.
Side note, Dennis is a match winner on his day, his dribbling ability is so so good. But I feel like (wrongly or rightly) Dennis will be tempted by Qatari or Saudi type money and be on his way. There’s no smoke without fire, Brugge weren’t devastated to see the back of him, we understood and now Forest want to let him go. I think, looking at evidence, he’s a bigger problem than he’s worth.
It doesn’t have to be so binary anyway, he’s clearly a bit of a disruptive ****, but is also very talented, especially for a club at our current level. It’s just a question if you think the good outweighs the bad, which understandably for many it would do. We just don’t have to pretend he’s an angel, do we?
Just because I think it might be relevant to the current discussion, I’m gonna repeat something I said elsewhere on the forum - I haven’t found a single report of Dennis playing up at Forest. And given he’s barely played and seemingly been told to move on, you’d think it would be something he’d be kicking off about. So maybe he’s calmed down? Or maybe he’s eager to move back? Or maybe his issues (if there were any) were more born out of his situation last season in a team that was capitulating and being lead by a few idiots in the dugout.
With JP and Davies crocked I think we are going to be in the market for a striker, or winger / striker if you also think about Kalu and Sema crocked and maybe Sarr leaving. Dennis can play those roles. I think Bilic could get the best from him but if the other players and the club found him disruptive maybe our new scouting team have a less volitile alternative. Matheus Martins is an unknown but is probably asking too much to replace those injured at this stage and Hungbo does not affect games enough for my liking. Bayo has something but i'm undecided about him. Could have an Iggy spell or just the odd goal here and there if given a run of games. I think a striker will have to come in if we want to stay in the playoff positions.
I don't think he has become incapable overnight. He scored ten goals and got six assists for us in the Premier League, and we were appalling. My in-laws support Forest, and one of them mentioned whilst watching them play United over Christmas that they often play Dennis out of position. They noted that when ED has played, he has been more of a number 9, and I always thought he was far more effective coming in off the wing.
Yep, no reports. But like I said, there's usually no smoke without fire and if we're looking at a Forest team that's signed 26 players or whatever the number is, the first report I'm seeing about a Forest sale is Emmanuel Dennis. He's not done anything wrong from what we know but doesn't it say something that they want to trim their squad and the first man up is the guy with the least possible suitors due to his registration status.
I would take Dennis back but to be fair he has not scored consistently in his career apart from half a season with us. That said his all round play is good and he will create chances
People say Capoue was a bad egg or toxic, yet he was the best player I saw in a Watford shirt. Ran the furthest on the pitch pretty much every season he was here and contributed to our best season in decades. I'd take Dennis back in a heartbeat. Hed be the best player in our squad (save for maybe JP); can play in two positions we are desperately short and fairly consistently worked hard on and off the ball. The fact things became toxic between him and Roy should be badge of honour rather than something to beat him with. Id take more "bad eggs" like Capoue and Dennis who do what matters on the pitch and less who "love the club" like Kabasele and Cleverley.
So if we’re the only English side who can sign Dennis, what would be a fair fee for him. Reportedly, Forest spent £10m up front (per the Athletic) with up to £10m in bonuses for him. If we agree to write off any unpaid instalments and all bonuses maybe we’d only have to pony up a few million on top to get him on a permanent deal?
The more bad eggs the better. We're unbelievably boring. Anyone who wouldn't want him back is probably also one of the lunatics who was happy to see Deulofeu leave. Absolute headcases.
All strikers need a bit of over-confidence, selfishness, self belief. Sarr would be a better player if he was a bit more arrogant and selfish on the pitch.
For what it's worth I've now heard from a couple of people he's the one that's keen to come back and pushing for it, along with the two video's of himself watching our game yesterday and fact he otherwise has to go to the MLS or Middle East this seems to be the case. Forest want a permanent sale so imagine we'll have to pay a fee + write off the remaining clauses(these aren't going to be achieved you'd imagine with Forest coming down and Dennis leaving regardless). It's possible but won't be straight forward and would probably rely on a good fee for Sarr?
I'd be surprised if we bought him outright. Too expensive and too high a risk. A loan with an obligation to buy if promoted would make sense.
Yeah, no way are we buying him back unless it’s for a bargain basement amount which obviously would make no sense for NFs point of view.
I read they only paid £10m up front (in the Athletic). If that’s the case, and we’re the only suitor he wants to come to, would it be possible to do a deal in the £5m range, especially as there must be guaranteed future instalments yet to be paid too? Or maybe loan and option/obligation in the summer. If Forest want to get rid and Dennis wants to stay in England, they can’t be too picky on the terms we offer.
Won’t the issue be that we’ve already borrowed against the £15m we’re due for him, irrespective of when it’s due from them?
I don’t think that’ll be an inherent problem but we probably would have to work that out with Macquarie, yes which will certainly add some complexity to the deal.
Yeah this is the main reason I don't think it will happen, would almost certainly have to be a loan from our point of view. But never say never, we do have the the best hand with him quite literally having to come to us if we wants to continue playing in a half decent league.
Isn't a big part of the issue with Dennis at Forest that their squad is too big? Do they want/need Sarr?
Reported in the Sun that "desperate Forest" want to sell £15m "dud" to us.... https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/2092...ottingham-forest-watford-transfer-return/amp/
I’m imagine a fee would be announced - but likely would be just us writing off what they owe us in reality - and perhaps even less given he’s a depreciated asset from the one we sold. The problem will come when we have to pay Macquarie for the loan we took out against the fee. But I suspect that’ll be a case of ‘we will pay/restructure that when the time comes’. Say we sign him and they say it’s £12m. Well they likely owe that (or more) to us so likely won’t cost us anything short-term. Which is probably why we are looking at doing it. From everything I’ve heard, it’s a real possibility and a permanent deal isn’t unlikely.
It highlights an inherent risk of signing a player after they've played for someone else at the very beginning of the season, if they turn out to be a flop you can't get rid of them very easily, not even to Udinese. Also if you do sign someone like this and they turn out to be f*****g amazing then they can't be poached in January.
