Layun Option

I'd agree he's been a bit underwhelming, but I put that on the head coaches he's worked under. Neither Joka nor QSF played him in his best position. It's akin to when Malky played Deeney on the wing. Deeney isn't remotely close to a decent winger, but that doesn't make him a crap striker.

I saw a lot of Layun before he came to WFC and I think he's a very good player who simply hasn't been utilised correctly.

It'll be interesting if Porto's head coach getting sacked scuppers the Porto deal, since I think Layun could do very well for us under Mazzari's 352.

 

Don't get me wrong. I liked Layun, even when he was being lambasted on here by some. I'm just saying that it's not worth worrying if he's gone.

 

It's not really worth worrying if anyone is gone. It won't bring them back.

Except for Tommy Smith, of course.

 

If you look at some of the players that Granada/ Udinese have had on their books in recent years, they would certainly have the right to be annoyed, seeing as a whole load of their ex-players are now going for double what they were sold for. Meanwhile, the next potential star is coming through about to be sold at a profit.

We got 6 million euros for a bit part player (not sure if that includes his loan fee). Quique probably would have called him a striker, he'd have made minimal impact and he'd be worth even less now. If we moan about every Pozzo player that goes to a bigger club, showcases their talent in the Champions League, and then gets sold on for a profit, then this forum is going to become insufferable.

 

Don't close your mind to the possibility that he may have improved during his time away... How many people didn't want Craig Cathcart back, because "he was sh1t when he was with us before"

 

Oh, quite possibly, but then that's good on Porto and they deserve the benefit.

 

You could say the same about us with Ake... Personally I would like Layun back and only wish we had, had a similar clause in Ake's loan deal.

 

Agreed, and don't close your mind to the fact that some posters may not recognise a good player when they see one. It seems that if they don't become a star player, he must be total crap.

Cathcart was a great example. He was good enough to be in the first team squad of the Premier League champions, but he comes to Watford, who were struggling in the bottom half of the Championship, and gets slagged off as if he has suddenly become a crap player.

Same happened with Rose and Drinkwater. Some people are just so quick to judge and there is often no middle ground, a player is either brilliant or crap.

 

Or perhaps you simply cannot appreciate talent

 

But those lads had all played in England from an early age, Layun had to adjust to a new country, a new family and a new way of life.

 

But how would you expect Drinkwater to perform as left back, or cathcart as left-wing, or Rose as centre forward.

Layun was played woefully out of position, in a totally new situation. He was also played very little, then was discarded when he started to perform well.

 

Me too, but Porto can probably be more bullish in negotiating regarding a player who probably wanted to move to them to put behind a pretty mediocre year for Layun at an important stage of his career, as opposed to Chelsea, who probably don't care if Ake's just ends up becoming another Chalobah in their endless conveyor belt of players who won't ever play for their first team and don't properly launch their career until they're about 22 years old.

In summary:

Layun was quite good for us
Some of our fans expected he'd be dazzling because he had a million twitter followers
when he wasn't they were unreasonably harsh
at the beginning of this season there was no indication Layun was a core player for us
the opportunity came up for him to move to a huge Portuguese club and a reasonable deal was struck
he exceeded all expectations at Porto and now some people are lamenting that he's gone, ignoring everything else above.

 

Agree with all of that apart from that he was "quite good". Thought he was really quite poor last season notwithstanding being played out of position in a harem-scarem league. He seemed to look permanently surprised when some Championship clogger came and took the ball off him or brushed him aside in a 50-50 and I didn't see any evidence he was suited to English football. He was one of the physically weakest players I've ever seen turn out for Watford, perhaps only surpassed by the bouffant Jurado this year.

 

That is probably all true, but players have their best position, and it seems that Porto have found where it is, and Real Madrid, the European Champions, are interested in him.

I was somewhat gobsmacked when I saw him get his debut on the right wing away to Hudersfield (I think)in a freezing, rainy windy gale, as part of probably our worst overall performance for years. It just made no sense at all. Even then, he was picked out by some supporters as a disaster.

But it doesn't really matter now, if he goes, but I just hope that our club will just know a players best position, and how he will fit in, before we drag them halfway across the world.