[Albion] Daily Mail reporting Albion have rejected £4m from Burnley for Dale Stephens

[Bozza]

They are all right footed midfielders. Norwood has been described as deep lying and does not get into the opponent's penalty area, so it might very well have been Pritchard as well as Norwood?

It was both, yes.

Pritchard would have been a Wilson replacement, if you will.

 

[Icy Gull]

What annoys me is that teams like Sheffield Wednesday manage to keep hold of their 'key' players. Although I believe they pay a lot higher wages than we do.

Nobody has gone yet but I agree with you. why nobody has come in with massive offers to tempt away Forestieri and Will Hughes amazes me. Both better and as valuable to their respective teams, in their own way, than Stephens IMO.

 

[Seasider78]

Agreed, but there is actually no new news as far as I can see. What is the source for all this ?

No source just speculation but there are enough signs around to point to this being on the cards

For me if you ignore the growing noise online, norwoods signing or dale cheekily changing his Twitter description you are still left with a situation where we have a player who has not signed several offers made to him by the club and only has 1 season left on his contract. There is no way the club will pass up that money and watch him walk for nothing next summer.

If the player wanted to stay he would sign a deal with a value release trigger in his contract to cover him and us in the event we were not promoted. The fact he has not signed and Burnley appear to still be interested says to me this is just a matter of agreeing an amicable value between clubs

Next red flag for me is if he is not given a run out tomorrow night given he has not featured in all of the pre season games

 

[DFL JCL]

after Dunk, Stephens is the second most important player for us to keep this summer IMO. He's the metronome.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Nobody has gone yet but I agree with you. why nobody has come in with massive offers to tempt away Forestieri and Hughes amazes me. Both better, in their own way than Stephens IMO.

Wait and see on Forestieri and Hughes.

They could well both be OFF before the window shuts.

 

[chaileyjem]

Next red flag for me is if he is not given a run out tomorrow night given he has not featured in all of the pre season games

Agreed. Although he did play v Crawley and Lazio.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

after Dunk, Stephens is the second most important player for us to keep this summer IMO. He's the metronome.

You pay too much importance to the lad. We will be stronger whatever Dale does.

Next red flag for me is if he is not given a run out tomorrow night given he has not featured in all of the pre season games

Crawley

 

[Icy Gull]

Wait and see on Forestieri and Hughes.

They could well both be OFF before the window shuts.

Where are you getting this info? I really doubt it on Forestieri he sounded well up for the season with Weds in the after match interview yesterday. He also has his two Watford mates with him now too.

It would certainly explain the very strange decision to leave Hughes out of the starting line up, especially given his influence against us every time he plays against us.

 

[Seasider78]

You pay too much importance to the lad. We will be stronger whatever Dale does.



Crawley

I mentioned not all of the games which implies he featured in some. I am not suggesting his non appearance in some pre season games was anything to do with speculation as we know he took a hell of a knock. My point was given he has missed that many pre season games if he was staying tomorrow's game would be the perfect opportunity for him to get some game time under his belt. If he is missing from the squad tomorrow I think that is another sign he is going

 

[Sussex Nomad]

I mentioned not all of the games which implies he featured in some. I am not suggesting his non appearance in some pre season games was anything to do with speculation as we know he took a hell of a knock. My point was given he has missed that many pre season games if he was staying tomorrow's game would be the perfect opportunity for him to get some game time under his belt. If he is missing from the squad tomorrow I think that is another sign he is going

I believe he will go. Good luck to him if he does. Will go with this Brighton fans best wishes.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Where are you getting this info? I really doubt it on Forestieri he sounded well up for the season with Weds in the after match interview yesterday. He also has his two Watford mates with him now too.

It would certainly explain the very strange decision to leave Hughes out of the starting line up, especially given his influence against us every time he plays against us.

It's not "info", I said they "could well" be off, not that it's definate.

Based on speculation from many sources over the last few weeks. Nothing set in stone.

 

[Bob!]

My post has nothing to do with any such twitter account - I have no idea.

Mine is more a 2 + 2 = X post. As I said, I'm posting without any direct knowledge at all.

okay, just indirect knowledge then.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Where are you getting this info? I really doubt it on Forestieri he sounded well up for the season with Weds in the after match interview yesterday. He also has his two Watford mates with him now too.

It would certainly explain the very strange decision to leave Hughes out of the starting line up, especially given his influence against us every time he plays against us.

Hughes would be gone now if i wasnt for the injury last season.

He is quality

 

[Icy Gull]

Hughes would be gone now if i wasnt for the injury last season.

He is quality

I can see exactly why he gets injured, he put in some crunching tackles against our midfield and came away with the ball on most occasions. Potentially the best midfield player in the division IMO. He has flair, bite and knows where the goal is and is still just a kid.

 

[Nixonator]

How have people 'changed their tune'? Some very sensible posts here, resigned to losing a quality player, but not irreplaceable.

It's the 'we already have a replacement waiting in Norwood so no major loss' posts and the like. If anybody thinks ON is going to be as combative and as much of a goal threat as DS then be prepared for disappointment. ON plays deep and was a great signing to give us options away from home, to come on late to see a game out and at worst fill in for injuries.

I would be absolutely devastated if DS leaves and i'd rather save having to find the positives (if any) out of it until such a time as it looks certain to happen. As others have said, if he doesn't get a run out tomorrow it's probably going to hit home, but not because of some trash tweet.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

I can see exactly why he gets injured, he put in some crunching tackles against our midfield and came away with the ball on most occasions. Potentially the best player in the division IMO

Perhaps because we are possibly now seen as one of the more 'recognised' clubs in the division, other clubs take a look at our players before the massive Wednesday, et al.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

It's the 'we already have a replacement waiting in Norwood so no major loss' posts and the like. If anybody thinks ON is going to be as combative and as much of a goal threat as DS then be prepared for disappointment. ON plays deep and was a great signing to give us options away from home, to come on late to see a game out and at worst fill in for injuries.

I would be absolutely devastated if DS leaves and i'd rather save having to find the positives (if any) out of it until such a time as it looks certain to happen. As others have said, if he doesn't get a run out tomorrow it's probably going to hit home, but not because of some trash tweet.

You can't really call Oliver Norwood until we see how Hughton plans to play him. Who was Dale Stephens when we bought him? He is now seen as a very good player because CH found the way to play him and he gelled with Kayal. He may make the worst move in his career, we don't know. But give Norwood a chance before you start comparing him.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

It's the 'we already have a replacement waiting in Norwood so no major loss' posts and the like. If anybody thinks ON is going to be as combative and as much of a goal threat as DS then be prepared for disappointment. ON plays deep and was a great signing to give us options away from home, to come on late to see a game out and at worst fill in for injuries.

I would be absolutely devastated if DS leaves and i'd rather save having to find the positives (if any) out of it until such a time as it looks certain to happen. As others have said, if he doesn't get a run out tomorrow it's probably going to hit home, but not because of some trash tweet.

I just can't see that Norwood, just back from the Euros and a Championship Team of The Season player, would sign here as cover and to come on late in a game Maybe he won't score as much as Stephens, but maybe our new number 10 will score more than given the freedom of the pitch? I don't think Hughton's formation will be as rigid this season.

 

[Doc Lynam]

I can see exactly why he gets injured, he put in some crunching tackles against our midfield and came away with the ball on most occasions. Potentially the best midfield player in the division IMO. He has flair, bite and knows where the goal is and is still just a kid.

May need to adjust his game if his body keeps breaking down, but he is quality.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

On a plus note, surely I'm not the only one that is enjoying reading the thoughts of Burnley fans on Twitter. If Stephens is your big summer signing and your pinning your hopes on him then I don't envy the season ahead for you.