My wife was telling me about a house in Birmingham where there's still a speedboat in the front garden, with no way to get it in or out of the enclosed yard. It's been there since the won it on Bullseye in the 80s.
That was tragic, although, I often wondered what two, heterosexual mates from Rotherham would do with a new Austin Metro between them. Maybe one gets to keep the bronze bully, the 175 quid cash and the tankards and the other gets the family hatchback?
This maybe what's behind the Lookman story. Although Lookman plays on the left, I could see him coming in if Sarr goes with Dennis playing on the right. Although I'd hate to see Sarr go, it maybe time to cash in. The team needs improving in midfield and Sarr could be seen as a luxury. We're in a position of strength when it comes to selling him this season. We are a Premier League club, he still has 3 years of contract left and he'll be out for nearly couple of months at the beginning of next year because to AFCON. Sell him, sign two good midfielders, a CB with Lookman on loan or something along those lines also paying off some debt would make sense to me.
Sad as it would be, I have to agree on that. If the alternative is keep him but we don’t have money to improve the midfield, we’re doomed. Then next summer, back in the Champ and only 2 years left on the contract, we’ll be looking at a hell of a lot less for him.
I understand the sentiment, but Sarr is the only way we will regularly get chances this year. Without him, the attack looks flat.
Lol, no way. We won't improve by selling by far our best player and bigget goal threat. If we get rid then in our current situation we won't be able to attract anyone anywhere near as good to replace him. At least if we held on to him one more season and managed to survive in the Prem then we might be a more attractive a proposition to potential new signings and Sarr replacements as we'll be closer to a more established PL club. However, selling Sarr now would just underline us as relegation fodder which any other players close to Sarr's ability will steer well clear of.
Let's be realistic. This is going to be Sarr's last season with us, whether we stay up or not. We are in a position of strength right now being an EPL club and holding a lengthy registration. Unless Sarr extends his contract with us (which is possible but unlikely I think) then he'll be going next season come what may. I think fans have to come to terms with it. If Liverpool stump up the £40m, then the club would be right to sell and use that money to improve the midfield and bring in another CB. It may sound strange to some that selling our best asset is the way to go, but I believe it would enhance our chances of staying up as long as we sign good players to improve areas of weakness within the side.
I understand what you are saying and totally get the logic of this, but unfortunately the reality would be somewhat different with our current owners and the situation we find ourselves in. If we sold Sarr for say £40 million, he would probably be 'replaced' by a £2 million midfielder from some French Ligue 2 side, a youngster picked up from Barnet with 'potential', and another player on loan or resurrected from retirement like Jason Willcox or Nick Wright or something similar.
The owners have said they have learnt from their mistakes and need to allow players on an upward trajectory to move on. Is it the right time now or 12m from now ? Holding onto him might keep us up, or very possibly see us in a "need to sell" situation where we get £20m-£25m in 12m time. Selling now, when we "don't want to sell but you've twisted our arm" could see us get £40m+, strengthen elsewhere but on balance be more likely to go down. Tough decision but if he's happy to go and we get a huge bid, I suspect we will sell.
Enormous shoes to fill. But if he wants to go and the offer is good I'm afraid he probably will. A match winner on his own, on occasions. It's hard enough trying to stay up with him let alone without. So fingers crossed he gives us one more season to solidify.
I repeat, selling Sarr would make us nigh on certain for relegation. And I don’t think we would spend much of the money this summer - it would mainly go towards plugging the yawning financial hole we still have, I’m sure. I also think whatever percentage we would use for transfers, we would waste money on garbage like Longstaff. It’s a pipe-dream to think we get £40m and reinvest it in 3-4 quality players. I don’t see it the same as the Doucoure thing at all currently. Doucoure had publicly agitated for a move a couple of times already before we made the decision to hold on to him (when we should have sold). The last thing we heard from Sarr was that he wanted to stay - and I imagine he has said that knowing from his agent of others interest in him.
As I said it will be hard enough to stay up with him. Without him I believe it's pure hope on teams being ******* than us. It's not if the side is blessed with goals but take Sarr out of the equation and it's near on impossible.
I think supporters have to force themselves away from this default negative mindset they seem to have. At the end of the day, we're in the Premier League, and have owners who know how to stay in it with a proven track record. I think we've got to start giving them a bit of credit as to they actually know what their doing. Just think of it, we were never getting anywhere near the Premier League without them, apart from the odd one-season wonder. Sure, we may go down. Selling Sarr might prove to be a bad move......but, if you trust the board, (it's their money and in their interest not to relegate the club after all), I don't believe they will sell Sarr, and not reinvest to address weak areas. That doesn't mean we'll be spending £40m on two midfielders, but it does mean it gives them the scope to bring in players at the same level of Capoue, Doucoure and Hughes. That's not pie-in-the-sky thinking. Those type of players did come to Watford, so there's no reason to expect players of that calibre to not sign for us again in the future. It's all about the package we can entice them with, and a competitive deal could easily be found after selling a high value player such as Sarr. I don't want Sarr to go of course. No one does, but if it means we sign replacements for Capoue/Doucoure and Hughes, another CB and maybe Armstrong or Lookman, then I think that strengthens us by quite a margin. Of course, we have to trust they get the right players in and therein lies the dilemma. Sell Sarr and by crud, then it's game over, but sell Sarr and shrewdly invest, it could be a game changer. From what I've seen of our dealings under Giaretta, I've been quietly impressed. No reason to think they would suddenly buy a load of flops at this stage.
You're probably right but remember 2 months ago Hughes wanted to stay and wasn't considering going anywhere else. What players say in public and private may differ.
We are likely to go down with Sarr, and very likely to go down without him. We are already hoping to find 3 teams to be ******* than us.
I agree with some of that. And respectfully disagree with the rest. Those players you speak of us once attracting came when either the club had been in the PL for more than one season - or we didn't have a giant financial hole to fill and could start spending our PL 'riches'. If the club had to sell Sarr because they absolutely must fill that financial hole to ensure the survival of the club, then be honest about that and go ahead and do it - no one would complain. But if we don't? Then I really don't see what the difference is between selling him now and next summer - when I don't think we can attract the level of players needed to strengthen us sufficiently in the event of him leaving. That has nothing to do with a 'default negative mindset' and rather is just a realistic one - in my opinion of course. 2 years ago, the club had the profile to attract decent replacements for the names you have listed - but our stature has taken a hit since then and I don't believe we can get the quality in this summer that I would deem adequate in terms of replacing them. If we survive this season, we will be in a far better position to manoeuvre in the market - and I think we need to keep Sarr to achieve that. I'm okay with some of the business we have done this summer - but I don't think its outstanding. I think a lot of it is 'so-so' and is only passable if you have players like Sarr to provide excellence elsewhere.
Of course thats true. But Doucoure had agitated publicly a number of times whilst Sarr has made no such noises. So whilst Sarr could obviously have had his head turned since that interview, Liverpool's interest has been longstanding as we know - and he still said what he did. Which means to me the situation isn't really comparable to Doucoure's....yet.
Yes I guess I was just saying that just because he hasn't publicly agitated for a move, it doesn't mean that he isn't agitating for a move. Hughes was publicly very happy to stay 2 months ago.
Sarr will be linked with Liverpool for the rest of his life. He's the jewel in the crown of the Pozzo era. The type of signing we may have been able to make each season but for relegation/Covid bringing the club to its knees. It will be another 5 years of consecutive PL football before we're hunting in that market again. He's going nowhere and I think he will double his value this season.
We should still be able to bring in a decent CM and CB without selling Sarr. Anyway, last season our biggest issue was with not scoring enough goals; selling our main goal threat to make marginal improvements in areas that aren't as urgent or important would simply be a net loss. The money will also not be useful when we look like certain relegation fodder without Sarr and so no one decent wants to join.
If we sold him we'd be guaranteed relegation. We'd be losing the chance of another 100mil from a second season in the Prem, to just not maybe lose 15mil in 12 mos. It's not worth it. So long as Sarr is still willing to give his all on the pitch then keep him another season.
This is the key point. With two years still on his contract next summer there's little to be gained by selling him now.
If we can't improve the team with 40m, in this market, to be better without Sarr than with him, then we deserve to be relegated and to go bust.
I hope so. Keeping Sarr and improving the midfield plus a CB would be great if we could do all this within our budget. But, I'm just joining the dots and trying to make sense of links to Lookman and Armstrong. If those claims are true, then we must be looking to cash in on Sarr or else it makes no sense to be looking at those players....IMO.
