Players can be out of contract at a club and can start looking at other options. In the meantime the original club may offer another deal
Us. No idea what stage it’s at. The lad could sign tomorrow for example - or decide he doesn’t want to move to the Championship at 31 for likely a short term deal (?!) when I’m sure a mid-table/lower end La Liga side would probably give him just as good a deal.
Zola's formation may have been similar to Edwards but the style of play certainly isn't The demands on an Edwards RWB are going to be much greater in terms of yards covered and work without the ball
He is a real person though. I checked. It’s not some made up comedy name invented by the sort of idiot on a football forum who thinks that sort of thing is amusing.
Unless you think Edwards is suddenly going to throw his system out of the window then anyone who has watched Watford under Zola and FGR under Edwards has seen both styles Both play a similar formation but Zola’s style was all about possession and short passes, lots of progression through the middle via Abdi, Battochio, Chalobah etc. Edwards is much more direct via the flanks, with wingbacks bombing up and down (Wilson, Cadden) and crosses into the box from wide looking for a target man (Matt)
Seems that many people are against this potential (and probably quite unlikely) Transfer because he’s not homegrown. May I suggest that’s not the best way of looking at it? I believe we should judge the player first rather than his homegrown status or lack of it. What Rob said was he didn’t want to be lumbered with non homegrown players that he was unable to pick. If Gaspar signed I’m sure he’d be a regular starter and therefore not an issue. The issue would be the fringe players who can’t make match day squads because of the rule of 11. Gaspar would bring us huge experience and leadership skills, something badly lacking this past year. From what I’ve read, even at 30 he’s still very dynamic, gets forward lots and pops up with goals too. (I appreciate he missed the second half of last season injured so we’d need to do due diligence first to check he’s fully recovered). I’m all for signing young hungry British players too but not just for the sake of it. Wilson sounded wonderful on paper but we are talking here about the captain of a Champions League semi final team last season, 500 games in the Spanish top flight and a full international too. In my opinion this could be an inspired signing. Maybe I’m naive but I don’t accept the narrative of ‘going against Rob’. I don’t know of course but I doubt he’d be against signing such a quality player with so much experience.
They had a televised game against Doyley’s St Albans in the cup last season Also went back and looked at a lot of their match highlights from last season once Edwards got the job
If Sarr stays I’d guess he’ll adapt it to the 343 we saw against Wycombe - I.e. Sacrifice a strike partnership with a number 10 behind them for a central striker flanked by two wide forwards
Followed this blokes career for a while now and watch about 20 games of his last season, he's certainly someone who could fit into Edwards formation and philosophy based on the 0 minutes of pre-season I've seen, he also has an impressive xTa of 2.32 per 90 minutes which is hugely important but some of you plebs might not have a high enough brain function to comprehend such a statistic.
You don’t know exactly what Edwards style of play until it manifests nor do you know what the stamina qualities of Gaspar . A player who has played 400 games at the top level is likely to have the physicality to deal with a level that is a substantial drop down . But either way it’s unlikely to happen because he is probably to good for Watford but if he does come he will certainly be a step up from Kiko who himself would have been amongst the best Players in the division in his position .
Deal done. Gaspar signing tomorrow and Kiko going the other way. ref:Andrew French Watford set to complete double deal with Villareal | Watford Observer
Basically another Kiko. Same age and position ! https://mobile.twitter.com/WD18Fans/status/1550797074219819008 Probably looks like a panic buy.
Very happy with this if true. It can’t be argued that Femenia is a better player. If his legs aren’t gawn he’s a very promising signing.
Personally I think the only negative to this deal is that it still doesn’t really show us the club are telling the truth regarding this rule-of-11 stuff. Would have thought this was perfect opportunity to move on an overseas player and replace with HG to get numbers down. Aside from that, I’m perfectly happy with the deal. Very unlikely to swap like-for-like in these scenarios so I suspect we are happy to forego the positives of Kiko’s attacking game in order to get the positives (leadership, top level experience, versatility) that come with Gaspar. May well be that we think Sarr will stay so the need for Kiko bombing forward is lessened dramatically. I have strong doubts whether Ngakia will ever be good enough - but if the club still have faith that he will be, this can only be good for him too. A seasoned top level player like Gaspar will provide valuable learning for Ngakia as a teammate.
It could be Samir is off to Seria A, just a rumour at the moment, and Gasper slots in at right centre-back. A less demanding role physically and easier to lead from the back rather than gasping for air after bombing up and down the right flank! That still leaves room for someone like Cyrus Christie coming in to replace Kiko.
