doogie004
Well-known member
And so the fun begins hold your nerve mr bloom
Albion have knocked back a FIFTH bid from Burnley for midfielder Dale Stephens worth over £7 million.
And they have told one of the clubs that pipped them to promotion last season not to bother coming back with another offer before the transfer window closes tomorrow night.
LOVELY. STUFF.
Fck off Burnley you tin pot chancers.
If that's what happens (and he signs it) then we will all be happy-except Dyche.From Dale's perspective, I hope we have a contract waiting to be signed that substantially awards a promotion should he stay. He is a great player and lad.
So that's what we need to do in the coming days is make sure that the players in question are still focused on Brighton. That's the challenge. Turning down Transfer money is the easy part.
You KNOW or you are GUESSING?
I wonder what the situation would have been had they come in with a sensible bid in the first place not a derisory one.possibly the same he is not for sale.
This.
I've come to the conclusion that the money is almost irrelevant. Stephens is considered so important to this season that the only question is can CH get his mind back on the game and fully focused for 6/12 months if DS stays. That's a big call because if we keep him and Dale sulks all season, we are more likely to blow promotion than we are if he goes and is replaced.
Good point, and he could put him in the reserves for 10 months, and lose £5.5m (at least) and continue to pay his sizable wages, but I think he has better business acumen.
It would have been the same. Burnley are not in a strong enough position and do not pay enough wages to be worth the move. Always so. Still an a danger from a handful (or less) of clubs. But there is a value of a succesful season ahead. Some players go through a whole career w/o winning anything.
Well if I were Dale I'd be interested in the opportunity of playing in the PL this season, with a nice pay rise too, so I guess I'd hold off signing a new contract if I could. But once the window is closed (or closing) I guess the new contract with a release clause would be a good option.
Well he hasn't handed in a transfer request, so he can't expect us to sell him. So if the club don't sell he's got nothing to complain about. So once the window is closed, I'd think it's in his interest to sign a new contract. Wage increase and contract security, without preventing him being sold next summer.
I don't think he's one to sulk. But the circumstantial evidence suggests his head has been turned by the PL riches. The international break may be timely. Should we hang on to him, CH will have 10 days to get him back on track. It's obvious to me we have missed him. He fills the holes you are only aware of when he is missing. We comprehensively lost the midfield battle at Reading, where this was most apparent.
PG
Yes. It's irrelevant to how well he can help us for the rest of the season. You're saying that because he's not featured much yet, in the 5 games we've had, "it's not like we're losing a regular player".And you say I'm making ridiculous points?
It's all speculation. Maybe it's to keep him out of the public eye, maybe it's because it's difficult for a player to be fully focused when a PL club is trying to buy them. Dunk wasn't playing at the start of last season, so you would have said "it's not like we're losing a regular player", but Dunk was an important part of our team over the season, playing in 39 of our 46 games. If Stephens stays he should be an important part of our squad. Surely you can see that?Maybe you can explain why he isn't playing at the moment then?
So you would have rather Dunk gone too.Like Bridcutt, if his head has been turned by a glamorous PL club (Burnley ffs) then I'd rather see him go.
Bridcutt wasn't set for another full season with us. Bennett was, and he did just fine.Towards the end of Bridcutt's stay with us it was like having 10 men.