Dale Stephens Summer 2016 shenanigans (Merged Thread)

[NooBHA]

Not enough for hand biting by a long way.

£170 million is the prize for promotion.

That's pretty much the perfect answer.

No Premier Club will make a loss now. The money up there is just too great. Even the small clubs will make profits. If the Chairman want his club to start making money we need to go up. To do that we need to keep the best players.

Not at any price and by price I don't mean transfer fees for players. I mean by price that the players we retain need to want to continue to play for Brighton. So that's what we need to do in the coming days is make sure that the players in question are still focussed on Brighton. That's the challenge. Turning down Transfer money is the easy part.

 

[middletoenail]

We paid £2.5m or so from CMS. We had to pay his whole contract and got nothing back. That's the way it goes. Stephens is an excellent player, he's improved further since joining us and prices have gone up in that time too. How much we paid is irrelevant really.

Has he told you he wants to go? The fact that he only has a year left does make it more difficult for us, but we really want to get promoted this season, and that becomes a lot harder if you sell someone as important to the side as Stephens.

Losing Stephens will be a big dent to our promotion hopes. Losing him for £5.5m would be complete stupidity.

I'm just trying to be realistic, of course I don't think it's the ideal situation and I'd much rather we kept him, but £5.5m if a huge amount to forfeit. Let's not forget, we can't afford to offer 1901 free tea and coffee, and we charge £250 per person to enter a bar.

 

[Surf's Up]

£5.5 million obviously isn't a serious bid, looks like they're hoping to unsettle him as much as they can before making the move sometime before Wednesday.

This, Burnley are seriously getting on my tits!!!

 

[B.W.]

I'm just trying to be realistic, of course I don't think it's the ideal situation and I'd much rather we kept him, but £5.5m if a huge amount to forfeit. Let's not forget, we can't afford to offer 1901 free tea and coffee, and we charge £250 per person to enter a bar.

Not really seeing the relevance of your tea & coffee / bar comments and, sorry, £5.5M is a p1ss-take in today's market...

 

[Lifelong Supporter]

It is not just the fee we are talking about here, it is the effect on the rest of the squad, those that are staying.

 

[middletoenail]

Not really seeing the relevance of your tea & coffee / bar comments and, sorry, £5.5M is a p1ss-take in today's market...

Like most clubs in the Championship we need to cut our cloth accordingly, and 'losing' that sort of money is crazy. Don't get me wrong, I want to keep Stephens, and I hope we do, but I just can't see the club writing off such a valuable asset on a gamble. That said, with Tony Bloom it wouldn't surprise me if he did go for the gamble!

 

[B.W.]

Like most clubs in the Championship we need to cut our cloth accordingly, and 'losing' that sort of money is crazy. Don't get me wrong, I want to keep Stephens, and I hope we do, but I just can't see the club writing off such a valuable asset on a gamble. That said, with Tony Bloom it wouldn't surprise me if he did go for the gamble!

You do know we have turned down the bid, right!?

 

[middletoenail]

You do know we have turned down the bid, right!?

Yes, and I'm pretty sure he will go for not much more, providing that the fee doesn't include too many clauses and is up front.

 

[Surf's Up]

My guess too. Final day bid for 7m and we'll take it.

No - still too low.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Not really seeing the relevance of your tea & coffee / bar comments and, sorry, £5.5M is a p1ss-take in today's market...

Spot on.

5.5 million is derisory and insulting to us.

 

[dazzer6666]

Not really seeing the relevance of your tea & coffee / bar comments and, sorry, £5.5M is a p1ss-take in today's market...

Not sure it is with less than a year left on contract......that said the market is just mental.

 

[Triggaaar]

I'm just trying to be realistic, of course I don't think it's the ideal situation and I'd much rather we kept him, but £5.5m if a huge amount to forfeit.

With today's prices, I don't think £5.5m is that much for a player that we know is integral to our team.

 

[dazzer6666]

Looks like we've missed out on James McCarthy from Everton, wouldn't be surprised if we come in for Stephens.

Best we can hope for is a bidding war I reckon.......

 

[dazzer6666]

I'd think the club have looked at possible replacement for any of the players that might leave, and if they think Stephens might go they'd probably bid before selling, so both deals could be done at the same time.

Course they would......will have been looking for weeks. Whether they can get any of their contingencies in is another issue......

 

[kevo]

With today's prices, I don't think £5.5m is that much for a player that we know is integral to our team.

Agreed. I think £5.5m is nowhere near enough.

 

[B.W.]

Not sure it is with less than a year left on contract......that said the market is just mental.

Burnley have £150M plus in their pocket (us next season, hopefully!) so, yes, it is taking the p1ss...

 

[B.W.]

Best we can hope for is a bidding war I reckon.......

Best we can hope for is Dale stays and signs an improved contract... Burnley get relegated with the Scum, and we get promoted...

 

[Farehamseagull]

For me it's all about us signing a quality striker. If we do then we have a realistic chance of going up and I would say keep Dale and risk losing him on a free next summer.

If we don't sign a top striker now then sell him for £7/8 million as we won't be going up anyway and will need to put the money towards our huge losses.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Agreed. I think £5.5m is nowhere near enough.

Get Dale to sign a new contract for three years in return for letting him go for £10m+. We get better money, he gets a cut of the dough and a big pay hike in the Prem. That would suit everyone if he's going anyway.

 

[sydney]

Get Dale to sign a new contract for three years in return for letting him go for £10m+. We get better money, he gets a cut of the dough and a big pay hike in the Prem. That would suit everyone if he's going anyway.

something like this ....we need him back on the park and 100% committed to the cause......the ginger dalek thumbsup.....can get real or do one...!!