[Albion] Do YOU expect a player to feature more because he cost a lot?

[Bozza]

"When players are signed for club record fees, they are usually expected to appear more often than not in the starting XI, by fans and club owners alike." from Shop-smart Seagulls can avoid sophomore struggles

I saw a lot of comments last year along the lines of "Why did we pay so much money for Locadia if we're not even going to play him"?

Is that you? Do you think players have more of an entitlement to start because we shelled out a load of cash on them?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Nope

 

[dazzer6666]

Nope

 

[Stat Brother]

In most other teams, yes.

In a Chris Hughton's team, no, absolutely not.

 

[Bold Seagull]

You would always hope that a player the club has seen fit to spend a lot of money on will have a big impact on the team. However, wearing the shirt is earned, and regardless of cost, the player in the shirt has to be the one more likely to make the team better. In the case of Locadia last season, that wasn't him.

 

[dazzer6666]

Jose had to wait a fair bit too.

 

[rogersix]

no, cos there are lots of variables in the cost of a player other than quality.
the players wage should be a more accurate reflection of their game time, i would have thought

 

[Goldstone1976]

Expect? No, of course not. Hope? Yes, because that means that he has justified the transfer fee. If the manager deems a really expensive player not good enough to start then either we overpaid, or he’s injured, or he’s going through a settling-in period.

Locadia - the jury’s still out... not sure how many games of this season will pass before the verdict is reached.

 

[Guinness Boy]

No, you get in the team on merit so the answer to your specific question is a resounding "no".

The point I made about Locadia last season was ever so slightly different and it was "why pay all that money for him if you don't expect him to start"? To which perfectly reasonable answers could be "we do, but he needs time to adjust / bed in" or "what we paid for him in today's market is not much different to what we paid for Mackail-Smith".

 

[Weststander]

No.

Having a non-meddling owner, CH calls the shots on footballing merit.

Some owners have exerted pressure (Abramovich & Shevchenko), or the blatant interference by others.

 

[persian_pooya]

Short answer yes. And yes because the expectation is when you pay a large sum of money for a player you expect that player to give you a proper return on that investment. That means you expect them to come in an have a positive impact, maybe not right away but certainly over the duration of the season,

Now that absolutely does not mean a player who costs more is entitled to more playing time. That player has to obviously perform in order to get playing time, it would just be disappointing if they don't get the playing time because that would just mean they are not performing as expected. Seems like Locadia is a perfect example he was purchased for a large sum because the expectation was his impact would be worth the amount paid, but things didn't go as planned since from what I hear he was benched mostly after coming in. But doesn't mean all is lost and he can't still prove his worth. There are many variables in football, maybe he just needed more time than expected to acclimate, or maybe something happened in his personal life getting him off his game mentally, or worse case scenario he's just not up for the task and the scouting team/manager made a mistake bringing him in. Now I think the latter scenario is very unlikely since the Brighton manager and scouting team have such a fantastic track record, and I'd expect whatever the issue was last season can be overcome and Locadia will prove his worth this upcoming season.

 

[SockMonster]

No. I think we need to keep in mind how inflated prices are nowadays. We already have established players who, if we had to buy them now, would probably cost close to or in some cases more than the new players. How much are AK, Dunk, Stephens, Propper, Gross etc worth now or how much to replace them? Then even older players not worth as much would cost a lot to replace. We are breaking our transfer record regularly almost as a matter of course.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

"When players are signed for club record fees, they are usually expected to appear more often than not in the starting XI, by fans and club owners alike." from Shop-smart Seagulls can avoid sophomore struggles

Yes, I do expect them to appear more often than not, because I presume the club spent a shedload on them precisely because they are good, game-changing players

I saw a lot of comments last year along the lines of "Why did we pay so much money for Locadia if we're not even going to play him"?

Is that you? Do you think players have more of an entitlement to start because we shelled out a load of cash on them?

No, I don't think they have an entitlement to start and must deserve their place in the team

 

[The Tactician]

If that were the case, poor Pascal Groß would hardly get a game.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Initially yes I think they should play. If you invest a lot of money in a player it should be with the expectation they can come straight in to your side and improve you. If however he's not performing over a period of time then he should be dropped like anybody else.

 

[trueblue]

Not at the moment because prices have rocketed in the past 2 summers so comparisons within our current squad are pretty much pointless.

I’d HOPE that someone who’s cost £15 million would be a good addition but realise it’s not guaranteed. And, given the level of Premier League finances, shelling out £15m is probably little worse than scrabbling around for £100k for Zamora all those years ago in terms of its potential impact on the club as a whole.

 

[BensGrandad]

I have gone with Yes but would agree not until they are bedded in. If they don't something is wrong with the recruitment team chasing them and paying so much to get them if they are not going to make the grade and prove beneficial to us.

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

It’s a good question.

No, as it’s not a game of Championship Manager 97/98.

 

[GT49er]

Why ask one question in the thread title and a different one in the actual post? If you break a club record to buy a player, yes of course you expect him to get in the team - otherwise there is no point in buying them. Are they entitled to a place though? - no, of course not, if they are not delivering.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

We have to trust the manager to play the players he feels he needs to get results. Price tags don't come into it.
Any player feeling a sense of entitlement won't fit in with the ethos of our club.
Sometimes expensive players work out, and sometimes they don't. It's a team game, and they need to play as a team, not 11 price tags.