[Football] Leandro Trossard **Sold To Arsenal 20/01/2023**

[Zeberdi]

Probably easy to forget, because of how good Mitoma has been and March upturn in form just what a good player Trossard is, yes it sounds like he acted like a twerp but there may be underlying reasons, I don’t think a reconciliation is out of the question.

He’s still one of our most talented players, and imagine how good RDZ has got March and Mitoma playing how good Tross could be?

Yes - NSC has built up quite a narrative on this one without knowing exactly what the dynamics have been.

I agree with Swansman (welcome back!) that the whole thing has been mishandled - I’m not ready to burn off £20m from a transfer though - he is still one of our best players and RDZs approach in the media has been not only refreshingly honest but reconciliatory - not an easy balance.

 

[chickens]

Very poor from Trossard and very poorly dealt with.

No problem with letting a player who isn't professional in training sessions train on his own. That doesn't mean Roberto De Zerbi needs to sit at a press conference and burn £15-20m in front of the journalists. Should have been dealt with internally, instead we have a situation where the entire football world knows that Brighton needs to offload Trossard, a change from the previous perception that it would be preferred to keep him but that he could possibly be bought for a decent fee given his contract situation.

This is essentially showing all the cards for any club who'd like to buy him. No one is going to pay decent money for him, knowing that Trossard staying in the club at this point would be a shite situation where you have this ghost wandering around the training facilities. There's no "reserve team" for him to train with like some suggest.. the option is for him to train with the U21s which is no environment for a sulking player who doesn't give his all. Freeze him out from any sort of training and the player union will be all over it. He needs to be sold or loaned out and everybody knows it. I don't see a world where he can be sold for more than £15m at this point.

Everyone is a loser in this situation... for no good reason. Trossard won't have improved his chances of finding a good club, RDZ making it a public shitshow has zero gain and of course people at the club should have told him that showing off dirty laundry in front of the cameras just isn't helpful.

Not a disaster though, the player has diminishing importance and I reckon he'll be out of the club at the end of the transfer window, but there's just a lot of room for improvement the next time a similar situation happens.

Welcome back Swanny. What do you rate the chances of everyone kissing and making up?

 

[Weststander]

He'll join Spurs, Levy loves this price range.

 

[Clive Walker]

suspect this is edging closer to a reconciliation now. At 28 tross isnt a spring chicken and clubs are only going to get 2-3 years of peak out of him. the fee won't be large enough for brighton and tross won't like the options out there. he'll end up staying i think.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Very poor from Trossard and very poorly dealt with.

No problem with letting a player who isn't professional in training sessions train on his own. That doesn't mean Roberto De Zerbi needs to sit at a press conference and burn £15-20m in front of the journalists. Should have been dealt with internally, instead we have a situation where the entire football world knows that Brighton needs to offload Trossard, a change from the previous perception that it would be preferred to keep him but that he could possibly be bought for a decent fee given his contract situation.

This is essentially showing all the cards for any club who'd like to buy him. No one is going to pay decent money for him, knowing that Trossard staying in the club at this point would be a shite situation where you have this ghost wandering around the training facilities. There's no "reserve team" for him to train with like some suggest.. the option is for him to train with the U21s which is no environment for a sulking player who doesn't give his all. Freeze him out from any sort of training and the player union will be all over it. He needs to be sold or loaned out and everybody knows it. I don't see a world where he can be sold for more than £15m at this point.

Everyone is a loser in this situation... for no good reason. Trossard won't have improved his chances of finding a good club, RDZ making it a public shitshow has zero gain and of course people at the club should have told him that showing off dirty laundry in front of the cameras just isn't helpful.

Not a disaster though, the player has diminishing importance and I reckon he'll be out of the club at the end of the transfer window, but there's just a lot of room for improvement the next time a similar situation happens.

Whether De Zerbi says anything to the press or not, I'm sure it'd all get out via Trossard's agent anyway.

 

[TugWilson]

He's not worth anything to us playing in the reserves or even being an unhappy player on the bench.

No. I want players who have a) clearly downed tools b) made their agent issue a pitiful statement to the press and c) seem to be stinking the place out, not to be at the club.

Me too.

I really do think people are underestimating what's going on here. For me the agents statement was a total game changer. Everything RDZ said in pressers was IMHO absolutely fine. The agents response was childish and if you read it properly clearly suggests he and the player expect a move. You have to ask yourself this: what's worse for the club? Having someone around the place like that or getting rid of him on the cheap? I think it's totally paranoid to think that if we sold Trossard relatively cheaply all our other players would simply do the same and force moves. Clearly the atmosphere around the club, in training, the general morale, is superb. Clearly RDZ is hugely popular amongst the playing staff.
Why risk ruining all this?
Obviously a lot of this is all guess work from all of us but there are some undeniable facts. And the statement is out there for all to read. It was released to undermine the club. It was pathetic. I'm afraid there is a line. It's been crossed I believe. As RDZ has said (and others), arguments happen all the time behind closed doors. RDZ was careful not to mention this, he followed the 'calf strain' line to clearly keep the full information out of the press, but the agent has had absolutely no hesitation in muddying the whole affair in public.
As I've said before, the only way this can be resolved beyond his sale is Trossard immediately sacking his agent, releasing his own statement explaining he has been under stress (WC and pregnant wife a great excuse for that) and getting his head down.
It works both ways. You're all worried selling him cheaply will set a trend, but i personally think it's not a great look and not a great example for our younger players if we just carry on like nothing happened. Trossard MUST have okayed the statement. He made that call.
Ultimately a player who isn't playing is worth 0 until another team make an offer for him. It's easy to say he is worth £30 million but to who? What if he plays in the stiffs for the rest of the season? How much is he worth in the Summer? Again, 0 until another team makes a bid. Obviously £12 million is peanuts for a player who on his day is exceptional, and we wouldn't sell him for that in normal circumstances, but as I said at the top, this isn't a normal situation. How many times can you actually remember an agent releasing a statement like this?!

Look, I would love this all to blow over. I'd love a motivated Trossard here. I'd love him to extend his contract or at least publicly declare his commitment to the club, but let's get real- that seems very unlikely to happen.

For a start every other club would not thank us for our approach if we handed this scumbag agent EXACTLY what he wants , after releasing such a POS statement . We hold all the cards here , as has been alluded to several times on here let the little girl sit on the U21s bench for the duration of his contract . By the time he plays again for anybody he would be nearly 31 and no bugger would have a clue who he was .

The reason "It`s easy to say he is worth £30 million " is because he is worth £30 million and we`d easily get that if he had 3 years on his contract , arseholes like Levy see this as an opportunity for a bargain and take the piss with a derisory offer like £12 million , now if we took that we would look stupid , and desperate and beaten . Tony is different class , i am happy in the knowledge that whatever happens it is because it suits us .

 

[The Fits]

What exactly does reconciliation look like though? Do we make him parade along Marina Drive wearing an A Board pleading for forgiveness? How do you kiss and make up, as a club, when your highly paid player has encouraged his agent to release a statement undermining the manager and everybody involved with the club?
He's not getting in the team. He's barely played for weeks, has been absent from training and is behind our (arguably) best player (in his favoured position).
Does he strike anyone as even remotely the kind of personality to get his head down?
You know the moment he joined his agent said this was a stepping stone move and since then he has been consistently called out for his consistency and work rate. It was an absolutely monumental turn around for this to end positively.

 

[LamieRobertson]

With RDZ 100% over the way he has spoken about Tross…..suggestions that he’s burnt x millions off his value are pure speculation …perhaps those criticising him should direct their ire in the way of the agent/player

 

[raymondo]

Very poor from Trossard and very poorly dealt with.

No problem with letting a player who isn't professional in training sessions train on his own. That doesn't mean Roberto De Zerbi needs to sit at a press conference and burn £15-20m in front of the journalists. Should have been dealt with internally, instead we have a situation where the entire football world knows that Brighton needs to offload Trossard, a change from the previous perception that it would be preferred to keep him but that he could possibly be bought for a decent fee given his contract situation.

This is essentially showing all the cards for any club who'd like to buy him. No one is going to pay decent money for him, knowing that Trossard staying in the club at this point would be a shite situation where you have this ghost wandering around the training facilities. There's no "reserve team" for him to train with like some suggest.. the option is for him to train with the U21s which is no environment for a sulking player who doesn't give his all. Freeze him out from any sort of training and the player union will be all over it. He needs to be sold or loaned out and everybody knows it. I don't see a world where he can be sold for more than £15m at this point.

Everyone is a loser in this situation... for no good reason. Trossard won't have improved his chances of finding a good club, RDZ making it a public shitshow has zero gain and of course people at the club should have told him that showing off dirty laundry in front of the cameras just isn't helpful.

Not a disaster though, the player has diminishing importance and I reckon he'll be out of the club at the end of the transfer window, but there's just a lot of room for improvement the next time a similar situation happens.

I'm sure Potter would have dealt with the situation perfectly

 

[The Fits]

For a start every other club would not thank us for our approach if we handed this scumbag agent EXACTLY what he wants , after releasing such a POS statement . We hold all the cards here , as has been alluded to several times on here let the little girl sit on the U21s bench for the duration of his contract . By the time he plays again for anybody he would be nearly 31 and no bugger would have a clue who he was .

The reason "It`s easy to say he is worth £30 million " is because he is worth £30 million and we`d easily get that if he had 3 years on his contract , arseholes like Levy see this as an opportunity for a bargain and take the piss with a derisory offer like £12 million , now if we took that we would look stupid , and desperate and beaten . Tony is different class , i am happy in the knowledge that whatever happens it is because it suits us .

I agree with this to an extent, but for every Tross going cheaply, there's been White, Biss, Cucu etc. It's not like we make a habit of selling players cheaply but sometimes (Ali J for totally different reasons) you just have to take what you can get.

 

[Clive Walker]

What exactly does reconciliation look like though? Do we make him parade along Marina Drive wearing an A Board pleading for forgiveness? How do you kiss and make up, as a club, when your highly paid player has encouraged his agent to release a statement undermining the manager and everybody involved with the club?
He's not getting in the team. He's barely played for weeks, has been absent from training and is behind our (arguably) best player (in his favoured position).
Does he strike anyone as even remotely the kind of personality to get his head down?
You know the moment he joined his agent said this was a stepping stone nice and since then he has been consistently called out for his consistency and work rate. It was an absolutely monumental turn around for this to end positively.

probably forced upon tross when his dream move never transpires and he see's a move to a similar sized club for similar money as pointless.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Those saying it's been mishandled, what do you expect? The club would have been well aware that the hacks had the information he had gone to Belgium, so they let it be known what happened. His agent put out a statement written by a 5 year old. There's no slight on the club at all. Stroppy child throws his toys and the adults deal with him.

 

[raymondo]

Probably easy to forget, because of how good Mitoma has been and March upturn in form just what a good player Trossard is, yes it sounds like he acted like a twerp but there may be underlying reasons, I don’t think a reconciliation is out of the question.

He’s still one of our most talented players, and imagine how good RDZ has got March and Mitoma playing how good Tross could be?

And that's exactly what RDZ said when he joined, how good Trossard could be. But it seems the lad didn't want that at Brighton. RDZ clearly feels let down, and I don't mind at all how he's handled this.

 

[Swansman]

Welcome back Swanny. What do you rate the chances of everyone kissing and making up?

Very small, if anything of what any of them say is correct. Judging from that, both Tross & RDZ appears to be more interested in pouring fuel on the fire rather than resolving it. Sounds like the whole situation could have been dealt with over a couple of beers and a good talk man-to-man but instead Trossard decided to be even more unprofessional and just leave that training session, while RDZ for some reason thought that making a publicly exposed circus out of the situation was in anyones best interest... making it very difficult for Trossard to bite the bullet and put his hat in his hand and apologise since that isn't easy for a proud person to do after being outed as shithouse in front of the hyenas in the press.

 

[TugWilson]

I agree with this to an extent, but for every Tross going cheaply, there's been White, Biss, Cucu etc. It's not like we make a habit of selling players cheaply but sometimes (Ali J for totally different reasons) you just have to take what you can get.

Yes but Ali was not destructive or self destructive , the whole dynamic was different imho .

 

[Swansman]

I'm sure Potter would have dealt with the situation perfectly

Not relevant how Potter would have dealt with it. Only relevant thing is how it has been dealt with now - which is suboptimal. Yes, the fans and the press loves it, but it does put the club in a difficult situation in terms of getting anywhere near max value out of a transfer.

 

[pb21]

...RDZ making it a public shitshow has zero gain and of course people at the club should have told him that showing off dirty laundry in front of the cameras just isn't helpful.

You're assuming De Zerbi acted unilaterally.

 

[Vin]

He lives over the road

Does tross live in Worthing

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Does tross live in Worthing

He's on Gibbon Road in Newhaven

 

[chickens]

Very small, if anything of what any of them say is correct. Judging from that, both Tross & RDZ appears to be more interested in pouring fuel on the fire rather than resolving it. Sounds like the whole situation could have been dealt with over a couple of beers and a good talk man-to-man but instead Trossard decided to be even more unprofessional and just leave that training session, while RDZ for some reason thought that making a publicly exposed circus out of the situation was in anyones best interest... making it very difficult for Trossard to bite the bullet and put his hat in his hand and apologise since that isn't easy for a proud person to do after being outed as shithouse in front of the hyenas in the press.

You see, I felt much more positive about RDZ’s remarks, I felt they offered Trossard a climb down route.

It’s never going to be pleasant to have to turn it around having acted the fool, but RDZ has basically said “I’m open to peace talks, your move.” to my mind.

I do feel this is part of the transition from Potter to RDZ. I suspect Potter would have bitten his tongue and hoped for slow improvement, possibly ignoring several weeks of poor performance, whereas RDZ has called it out as soon as Trossard’s reacted badly to being criticized. I feel there may be more fireworks in the future.