Gutted about this as I seriously think there is a quality GK just waiting to burst out of Jonathan Bond. Hopefully we would have included a buy back clause or something. Maybe this is where the home grown talent that we were told about comes into play. About a week ago there was some supposedly Arsenal ITK putting it up in Twitter claiming that they were going to be sending Calum Chambers out on loan to Watford and that it will be announced in the next couple weeks. Well a week has already gone by, so according to him something should be happening this week with that.
Fair enough...and the Pozzos know what they are doing. I agree Bond would have gone out on loan anyway... He probably wanted to move?
He's not going to get game time ahead of Nyom so what's the point? These young lads are better off in the championship where they will get a full season
Bondy could have signed on a nice contract and sat in U21 and reserves but he's moved (I'm guessing) for playing time There's a lesson right there to the Chalobah's of this world
Like Britt, can be a good one day but won't happen whilst he's here. For his career it's best that he leaves and if he does come good, I'm sure we'll have thrown in a lot of clauses into the sale. However, also like Britt, I have doubts that he'll ever be more than a good Championship player. So I can't say I'm too upset about this. In fact, I'm happy for him.
absolute shame.....another young homegrown talent, who will become a top keeper, gone. who can blame him? He deserved more from us. meanwhile we are trying to sign players who it would appear, would rather not join us....
I'm not sure what some people are expecting. He's in the last year of his contract and turned a new offer down. What are they supposed to do if not cash in on him?
Probably won't. He might though, but just because he 'might' doesn't mean we should be paying over the odds to make him sign a new contract or promise him football he won't get. This is the best result for both parties.
If he signed a new deal and went out on loan for a season and we retain premiership status, would he expect to become first team choice? I doubt it. How many first choice premiership keepers are under 26? He has sensibly decided that several seasons become a number 1 is the way to be a top keeper in his 30s.
The club is getting so much right and is doing so many fantastic things......but unfortunately this is not one of them. I understand his reasons for going, but I don't think we should be letting one of England's best up and coming talents go like this. I think once he starts to play regular football, he'll become a very good player. Only 22.....and has another 7 or 8 years before he hits his prime. Fantastic signing for Reading.....very low risk in terms of fee....and I'm disappointed we've let him go.
Eng U21 keeper getting zero playing time for us. Our No. 3 keeper signs a new long deal, our No.1 signs a new long deal and we bring in a current international keeper as well. Bond was never going to get near the pitch. I believe he was a perminant bench feature due to the H/G rule. He's one of the best acrobatic shot stoppers I ve seen, but also the worst distributer of a ball I ve seen! Getting a bit of cash before he can walk away for nothing makes sense all round, good luck to him
So you're suggesting we use our Holebas tactic of announcing he's signed a contract when he hasn't? It's either lose him now for a few hundred thousand, or lose him next summer for nowt.
£250k....do we really need the money? Seriously....is that sum too good to turn down?? Bond felt his career at Watford had come to an end after being demoted to number 3 and this is the reason why he decided to go. It's a situation that the club created and it's a shame. The club were hoping he'd sign a new deal and go out on loan......but fair play to Bond, he saw it differently and wants a fresh start. My personal opinion is that good young English players should be retained. We've not go too much wrong recently, but this is one deal that might be regretted.
You haven't explained how you'd keep Bond Are you suggesting we should have demoted Gomes to back up and not signed Arlauskis? Or are you suggesting we kidnap him and tie him to a chair?
Good luck to him. Wants consistent first team football and refused to sign contract with only a year left so best to cash in with substantial sell-on and buy-back clauses, which no doubt are in place.
HB1 - do you think he was good enough to be number 2 in the Prem? If you do, you are bonkers, and if you don't, how could we morally deny Bond the chance to further his career. Good luck to him, hope he does well.
I think it's a shame too, and yes one day we may live to regret it, but in the real world can we really expect to keep a player warming the bench or constantly out on loan until he reaches his peak in five years time? A player's wish had to be taken into account. Were he an outfield player it may be different as they tend to peak earlier, but keepers peak later in their careers as a whole. Wish we'd kept him and sent him on loan but it wasn't meant to be.
I have already explained. It's a situation the club created by signing Arlauskis on a 3 year deal. Maybe they didn't rate Bond all that highly and do not mind him going....that's fair enough as it's just opinions after all. My opinion is that I believe Bond will turn out to be a very good keeper. We had plenty of opportunity to extend Bond's contract before a new keeper was signed. It was allowed to run down to it's final year. Like I say, maybe the club don't rate him a highly as me, or maybe someone thought he would just sign a new contract and accept being a number 3.
Leave it out. I like Bond but is he good enough to fill in for Gomes next season if he picked up an injury? Every Premier League team have 2 very good keepers which we now have in Gomes and Arlauskis (assuming the club rate him highly as they wouldn't have signed him). I don't understand how you think the club could have retained a guy who isn't quite there yet to play Premier League football, is out of contract next summer and wanted to leave!
I can't help but imagine that we have a buy-back clause on his contract with reading. He definitely was rated at the club because I remember gomes and chamberlain publicly saying that he should stay here over the last couple of years. If the Pozzos didn't believe that, they probably would've tried to offload him and get a prem reject as a back up keeper.
@HB1 fair enough if you think Bond is better than Arlauskis and we shouldn't have bought him your entitled to your opinion (and I'm not one to knock you for it) The club don't and they are entitled to theirs
He wanted to leave because he was demoted to number 3 and the two guys ahead of him have been signed up for 3 years. The indicators were not good for Bond, so he probably felt he needed to go to get his career going....as the door was being realistically closed on him at Watford. I just think it's a shame how it worked out. I know it was a very tough decision for Bond to have made.....and it was a reluctant one...but one he felt he had to make for the sake of his career. Personally.....I'd like to see a few of our talented lads given a chance and I would have had no issue to Bond being a number 2 for next season.
Bond was offered a new contract and chance to go out on loan which he rejected In what is arguably Watford's most important season would it have been right the club to risk Bond being no 2 with the risk of him having to play in the full spotlight of the premier league if there was an injury to Gomes.
I think the debate here is more about potential..I don't think anybody is suggesting Bond is yet a number one pl keeper, or even a number two. I think whenever you let go a young player, there's always the slight nagging at the back of your mind 'what if they go on to become really good', a bit like with BA at the start of last season, but in real life tough decisions have to be made and the present is always going to more important than the possible future.
Unfortunately sentiment and romantic ideals are not an option...we tried that the last 2 times and we ended up bottom. He's gone, get over it. We have 2 good keepers vying the starting place - the club has moved on time we all did.
So we should have turned down the (rumoured) £250k sum, ignored his desire to leave and forced him to run down him contract, to lose him next summer?
It was confirmed only a couple of hours ago....and you're coming out with crap like "he's gone, get over it". Life moves on very fast....Bond going to Reading....already old news.
Well....you make a very compelling point. How good any Premier League club turn down a massive £250k for one of the best young England goal keepers around?
