Certainly makes sense, players tend to play out of their skin at tournaments and then rarely replicate it at club level. Poborsky was a classic, pretty much signed by Utd for that one wonder goal, but then went on to be totally rubbish for them.
I read it years ago but believe Poborsky was the story/example that prompted Kuper/Szymanski to do the research on this! I think it’s also about small sample size issues and the fact that you’re playing disjointed opposition in an odd environment as well as the motivational stuff.
You mean the same Davor Sukur who had a goal every other game for real madrid previous to him going to arsenal. Yup no pedigree there
Fair comment. Thought he'd been more of a bit part player at RM prior to that tournament and hadn't checked.
That research will also be constrained by sample size though - off top of my head if you had bought Maradona after 1986, Klinnsman/Matthaus (1990), Romario (1994), Ronaldo (1998) you'd have been getting great players for your money. For every Hagi/Poborsky, there will be a load of players who have great world cups that don't move at that time?
But those players were playing incredibly well for their clubs and their club form was sufficient to earn them top moves. What I’m saying (and the phenomenon the Soccernomics authors describe) is that top clubs rarely/would be unwise to go for players who ‘break out’ at the World Cup and outperform unremarkable club form. When they do, they are generally disappointed. Maradona was at Napoli and at his peak in 1986. Klinsmann, Matthaus and Ronaldo at Inter and at the top of their games. Romario likewise at Barca. That’s not what I’m describing. I’m not talking about the best players in the world getting big moves from a different big club following an impressive World Cup that matches with their domestic form. I also don’t think that examples from 30 years ago are helpful in a modern scouting context. Denys Cheryshev scored 4 goals (more than he’d scored domestically in the prior season) and got in the team of the tournament at the 2018 World Cup but didn’t get a big money move. James Rodriguez and Yerry Mina got big money moves after their impressive 2014 and 2018 World Cups and both did not prove value for money. Marcos Rojo got in the 2014 team of the tournament and was awful at United. If Sarr had an impressive World Cup amidst decent Championship form, that wouldn’t make him equivalent to the likes of Ronaldo at Inter, would it?
This is the most boring transfer window I can remember. So much work to be done on the squad at the start of the summer, yet here we are with less than two weeks until the season starts and we haven't upgraded one position. What a surprise.
It would be foolish for a club to bid purely based on his performance at the WC but what I suppose your post shows is that there are clubs stupid enough to do just that ?
Understood makes sense. That said if Sarr scored 5 goals in a Senegal run to semi final I imagine about 20 clubs would ignore your advice and see £25m as deal of the century!
Didn’t Liverpool and others buy loads of Senegal players after the 2002 WC for example. Just waiting for Sarr to score v England in the 2nd round !
He is not utter gash, he may be inconsistent but has the ability to take a defender a part, just ask Matt Targett, Villa took him off after 45 minutes because he couldn't get near him
2003/04 was worse - the good news if we replicate that we knock Bournemouth out of the (league) cup, draw with Chelsea at home in FA Cup - and avoid relegation finishing 16th
Wait, I’m reading this correctly? We are looking to move Ashley Fletcher on? Could have sworn some on here said it was a security signing with one eye on being relegated back to the Championship…
We can't hold onto a rising star like Fletch forever. If you love someone, you have to set them free at some point.
That was certainly my assumption at the time. Now it looks like another of our bafflingly pointless signings.
Strange that Fletcher isn’t even being assessed by RE (or it seems that way at least), I’m not saying I particularly rate him but would’ve thought a HG target man would at least be tried out in a training ground match. I’m assuming he’s either got an attitude problem or is woeful in training because even NYRB didn’t want to play him….
Noticed that the Saints have bought in a new forward. Interesting to see their plans for Adam Armstrong will be.
Some definitely did say that. Probably the same people who thought we had an A+++++ transfer window last summer and are convinced we will be making a profit after selling Sarr for £2.50 on deadline day.
Udinese rolling in the money. Molina about to join A.Madrid for €20mil and Nehuen Perez. If only we had a Technical Director like Marino.
Hopefully they can pay us for Pereyra, Masina, Success and Deulofeu then and we can repay some loans.
The baffling thing about Fletcher is that he’s ended up even worse than his awful stats suggested he was. There were people trying to tie themselves in knots to justify the signing, suggesting he’d be a good championship striker, even though his goal scoring record prior to joining us suggested he was truly dreadful striker who barely scored goals. The fact that he wasn’t even any use as a loan fee cash cow (lol) and couldn’t even make it in the US, and now isn’t even considered good enough as emergency back up in a championship team really makes it one of the most baffling signings we’ve made to date, as many suggested at the time it was.
Usual suspects on here, tried to imply that the guy they knows who paints the lines on the pitch or boils the water for tea in the canteen, had told them that none of this happened. I suggest you read the Gosling interview, then what I wrote above. By the way what happened to Rob Elliott ?
If Sarr and Dennis aren’t among the rebel group, who are? King? Kucka? They were the only two who disappeared for no good reason. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sarr definitely isn’t part of the rebel group. Can’t say for sure on Dennis but there’s people at the training ground who aren’t too keen on him.
I think that goes against what somebody has said today, that Dennis and Sarr are very popular members of the squad
