[Albion] Knockaert joins Fulham on initial one-year loan

[Icy Gull]

Going for £10m which is why people are upset. The only reason I can think of why we are selling so cheap is that he had a "match highest earner clause" in his contract and we wanted him off the books before making our major signings.

This seems to me to be the most logical explanation

 

[John Byrnes Mullet]

How many matches did he win, in the last 2 season's?

He was our best player in the FA Cup Semi-Final and got the goal at Palace.
It was a terrible season for the Albion and from an individual that was quite a good return.

 

[deslynhamsmoustache1]

This has to be the case, doesn't it?

Surely.

If reports are to be believed we are not getting anything up front, 4 mil or 10 mil in a years time? Seriously, which part of that actually makes sense?

Trouble with this highest earner thing if true, is the other player always mentioned is Dunk and i tend to believe that one more, simply down to the amount of new contracts he has had.

So is he next? Is their more to the rumours than speculation? If he does go then Barber has his words confused because that looks far more like revolution than evolution.

I will withhold judgement until we see how things look including formations etc, perhaps we wont be using wingers at all and will be using a more central 3 behind the striker, but right now we look like we need to do a fair bit of business just to survive imo.

x 4 in the squad and just brought Trossard. think we will play them somehow

 

[Stat Brother]

He was our best player in the FA Cup Semi-Final and got the goal at Palace.
It was a terrible season for the Albion and from an individual that was quite a good return.

Big Jurg got the winner v Everton and singlefootedly got us to Wembley.

 

[Lower West Stander]

I agree with you in some ways but I also think we shouldn’t be planning to be in that position this season, sure he gave us a lift when he came on but so did Kaz, doesn’t make him good enough. What about how many times he started and had little to no impact or acted like a petulant school kid. He’s probably one of my favourite players but that’s purely based on his effort, quality wise he’s been lacking for some time now, you can’t let emotional attachment to a player cloud you on that.

Good post.

Now it looks like he’s going, there’s a bit of rose-tinted spectacles going on here. Bear in mind as well he wasn’t in the team for half of last season.

I just think he’s too high maintenance and Potter doesn’t fancy him. Too inconsistent, and as others have said, just not quite good enough for the top league.


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[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I agree....but some on here are making out that he is some sort of talismanic genius.
It's too rose-tinted for me. Very good in the Championship, which is his true level. Unfortunately, he makes far too many basic,simple errors at PL level and that is why he doesn't hold down a regular place in the starting line-up. He lays the ball off without looking, over and over again. He drove CH to distraction. He hasn't got the delicacy of touch that you would expect either. His dead-balls are all very similar. All whipped in with pace and mostly overhit.
On the other hand, he is frustratingly capable of moments of brilliance. These are few and far between at the highest level because he is up against much more clever players, who know how to unsettle him and ruffle him up. The moment he tries to overplay, its a lost ball and the opposition are in possession.
Believe it or not, I like Knocky and have huge respect for what he did in the Championship but he has driven me mad in the PL with his inability to knuckle down and simplify his style. This is his achilles heel. When he stops over playing, keeps the ball moving quickly and simply, he looks a different player. Unfortunately, he cannot stop reverting to type ( loose extravagance ) which then moves him more towards being a liabilty and indicates a lack of footballing nous.
He is a top of the ground, seat of the pants, heart on the sleeve, emotional, complex mixture, that can work at a lower level. The PL is a cold, calculating, ruthless environment, not best suited to him.

Spot on. Every word.

 

[Napper]

so as it’s only a loan

Can we take him back if potter is a disaster or we end up championship next season .

 

[Ecosse Exile]

x 4 in the squad and just brought Trossard. think we will play them somehow

They are all capable of playing more centrally, but wings will obviously still be an option, Knocky was too btw, but more likely to try to do too much and lose the ball.

 

[dazzer6666]

I agree....but some on here are making out that he is some sort of talismanic genius.
It's too rose-tinted for me. Very good in the Championship, which is his true level. Unfortunately, he makes far too many basic,simple errors at PL level and that is why he doesn't hold down a regular place in the starting line-up. He lays the ball off without looking, over and over again. He drove CH to distraction. He hasn't got the delicacy of touch that you would expect either. His dead-balls are all very similar. All whipped in with pace and mostly overhit.
On the other hand, he is frustratingly capable of moments of brilliance. These are few and far between at the highest level because he is up against much more clever players, who know how to unsettle him and ruffle him up. The moment he tries to overplay, its a lost ball and the opposition are in possession.
Believe it or not, I like Knocky and have huge respect for what he did in the Championship but he has driven me mad in the PL with his inability to knuckle down and simplify his style. This is his achilles heel. When he stops over playing, keeps the ball moving quickly and simply, he looks a different player. Unfortunately, he cannot stop reverting to type ( loose extravagance ) which then moves him more towards being a liabilty and indicates a lack of footballing nous.
He is a top of the ground, seat of the pants, heart on the sleeve, emotional, complex mixture, that can work at a lower level. The PL is a cold, calculating, ruthless environment, not best suited to him.

Outstanding post. Nailed it.

 

[doogie004]

I agree....but some on here are making out that he is some sort of talismanic genius.
It's too rose-tinted for me. Very good in the Championship, which is his true level. Unfortunately, he makes far too many basic,simple errors at PL level and that is why he doesn't hold down a regular place in the starting line-up. He lays the ball off without looking, over and over again. He drove CH to distraction. He hasn't got the delicacy of touch that you would expect either. His dead-balls are all very similar. All whipped in with pace and mostly overhit.
On the other hand, he is frustratingly capable of moments of brilliance. These are few and far between at the highest level because he is up against much more clever players, who know how to unsettle him and ruffle him up. The moment he tries to overplay, its a lost ball and the opposition are in possession.
Believe it or not, I like Knocky and have huge respect for what he did in the Championship but he has driven me mad in the PL with his inability to knuckle down and simplify his style. This is his achilles heel. When he stops over playing, keeps the ball moving quickly and simply, he looks a different player. Unfortunately, he cannot stop reverting to type ( loose extravagance ) which then moves him more towards being a liabilty and indicates a lack of footballing nous.
He is a top of the ground, seat of the pants, heart on the sleeve, emotional, complex mixture, that can work at a lower level. The PL is a cold, calculating, ruthless environment, not best suited to him.

So who do you see in our current squad that does the things you describe knocky as failing at that does it correct
Izzy ? Spent most of last season injured
March ? Teachers pet show me video evidence of prem league moments of brilliance
Aj [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji24]
Locadia [emoji23][emoji23][emoji24][emoji24][emoji24]
Trossard ? Untested in the highest league but pray he is the answer
So in a nutshell no one as good as knocky
I’ll take the occasional mistake because of what he is capable of , how many times was hughton shouting at him not to get to far forward held him back and ruined his confidence
Biggest mistake the club have / will make


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[Weststander]

AK was largely ineffective (a lack of pace at PL level?), but Izquierdo, Jahanbakhsh and Locadia when played out wide were also ineffective to awful last season. They did next to nothing to worry PL fullbacks or managers.

Perhaps March and Trossard will be our first choice wingers?

 

[Napper]

He is a top of the ground, seat of the pants, heart on the sleeve, emotional, complex mixture, that can work at a lower level. The PL is a cold, calculating, ruthless environment, not best suited to him.

I get what you are saying but he looks like he needs less potter development than quite a lot of them . He has at least shown he can be brilliant in the premier league which is more than a some where the jury is out .

We are told potter will improve what we got . He didn’t need to improve knocky much to have a real asset on his hands ( worth more than 10m)

 

[Nixonator]

Big Jurg got the winner v Everton and singlefootedly got us to Wembley.

Scoring from 3 yards after the opposition handed to you, and a good goal against lower league opposition (we still needed to score again).

Clutching at straws. In no way whatsoever are they comparable.

 

[b.w.2.]

So one of our best players going for peanuts and some on here think that is okay. Hmmm... I think not. We need to replace with better and that will cost far more. Terrible decision by our club’s leaders unless a new RW who is better than AK is in the bag.


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[Guinness Boy]

People losing their shit way too much on this thread.

The transfer window is always a sum of its parts. On the attacker / winger front it is one in, one out so far with Trossard coming in and no one - NO ONE - knows whether he is better suited to Potter's style and the PL than Knocky. A few on here with very rose tinted crystal balls.

I'll be disappointed if we don't sign a quality right back to replace Bruno as well as a striker but as Zamora points out Knocky may well have a "match highest earner" clause in his contract which is proving problematic in attracting those two players. And as [MENTION=17103]Mo Gosfield[/MENTION] correctly points out AK is simply too erratic for the PL. March doesn't have those flashes of brilliance but is a much more consistant overall player.

That said, I would rather have AK than Jahanbakhsh and have said so on the Ali J thread, but the reality is we are NOT going to offload Ali or Locadia for anything like what we payed for them. They need a season with the new manager (or at least until January) before we either cut our losses or realise that CH was constraining them. No. One. Wants. Them.

 

[Is it PotG?]

So one of our best players going for peanuts and some on here think that is okay. Hmmm... I think not. We need to replace with better and that will cost far more. Terrible decision by our club’s leaders unless a new RW who is better than AK is in the bag.

Seems like Potter, and quite a few on here, might not agree with you there.

 

[chaileyjem]

This has to be the case, doesn't it?

Surely.

If reports are to be believed we are not getting anything up front, 4 mil or 10 mil in a years time? Seriously, which part of that actually makes sense?

Trouble with this highest earner thing.

I never understand on here that in the one hand Bloom and Barber are considered business fiends, and deal geniuses. Yet dealing with things like this , we assume they’ve tied themselves up in contractual knots (“highest paid clauses “) have let Fulham get one over on us and their first big decision with Potter is to go against his views.
It’s not likely is it.

 

[Stat Brother]

Scoring from 3 yards after the opposition handed to you, and a good goal against lower league opposition (we still needed to score again).

Clutching at straws. In no way whatsoever are they comparable.

I know they aren't, they certainly shouldn't be and yet there it is in black and white.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I never understand on here that in the one hand Bloom and Barber are considered business fiends, and deal geniuses. Yet dealing with things like this , we assume they’ve tied themselves up in contractual knots (“highest paid clauses “) have let Fulham get one over on us and their first big decision with Potter is to go against his views.
It’s not likely is it.

There was a site that [MENTION=33329]Jolly Red Giant[/MENTION] uses that suggests that AK and Dunk's wages are up at the top with the new players. No idea how accurate it is though.

EDIT - just checked, it's spotrac. Knocky is in the top 10 but doesn't match the highest earner on there. Dunk was the highest until our new signings last summer which could just explain the stories appearing in the papers?

 

[Nixonator]

I agree....but some on here are making out that he is some sort of talismanic genius.
It's too rose-tinted for me. Very good in the Championship, which is his true level. Unfortunately, he makes far too many basic,simple errors at PL level and that is why he doesn't hold down a regular place in the starting line-up. He lays the ball off without looking, over and over again. He drove CH to distraction. He hasn't got the delicacy of touch that you would expect either. His dead-balls are all very similar. All whipped in with pace and mostly overhit.
On the other hand, he is frustratingly capable of moments of brilliance. These are few and far between at the highest level because he is up against much more clever players, who know how to unsettle him and ruffle him up. The moment he tries to overplay, its a lost ball and the opposition are in possession.
Believe it or not, I like Knocky and have huge respect for what he did in the Championship but he has driven me mad in the PL with his inability to knuckle down and simplify his style. This is his achilles heel. When he stops over playing, keeps the ball moving quickly and simply, he looks a different player. Unfortunately, he cannot stop reverting to type ( loose extravagance ) which then moves him more towards being a liabilty and indicates a lack of footballing nous.
He is a top of the ground, seat of the pants, heart on the sleeve, emotional, complex mixture, that can work at a lower level. The PL is a cold, calculating, ruthless environment, not best suited to him.

I would agree with nearly all of that, if not for comparison with our other wide players.

I think the question is why him? Why is Knocky moved on when he has outperformed every other wide player in the squad?

I'm sure we could quite easily rip most of our players apart if we wanted to, they each have some pretty glaring faults. That's why they play for us and not a top side, but surely Knockaert did enough when compared to the rest.

Whether it's for personal reasons, to free up high wages or this highest earner clause crap, that is the question people are asking along with some understandable sentiment.