[Albion] Losing Macalister & Caicedo

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I'm resigned to Ally Mac going. I love him as a player and frankly as a human but I just hope it's done quickly now. I don't want a long drawn out saga, it's a rip the plaster off situation. Liverpool or man city or whoever just pay the money and get your player.

As for Caicedo I realise he could go but I'm still not convinced there is anyone currently willing/able to pay the money we would accept. Not that that will stop endless speculation. If he does go I think it'll be with De Zerbi's blessing in that he'll feel we will have a suitable player lined up to replace him.

 

[Icy Gull]

Anyone else finding Roberto’s constant comments that Moises and Alexis deserve to be playing at a higher level a little annoying?

Yes I get that selling players on for a big profit is our model and that we don’t pay anywhere close to quite a few other PL teams, BUT how much of a higher level can they play next season? Liverpool bound Alexis (allegedly) will be playing in exactly the same competitions as us next season, so there are currently only 4 English teams at a higher level than us.

I know RDZ is very open and honest in interviews and long may that continue but I’d rather he‘d stop effectively labelling us a small team in interviews, even if we are

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Anyone else finding Roberto’s constant comments that Moises and Alexis deserve to be playing at a higher level a little annoying?

Yes I get that selling players on for a big profit is our model and that we don’t pay anywhere close to quite a few other PL teams, BUT how much of a higher level can they play next season? Liverpool bound Alexis (allegedly) will be playing in exactly the same competitions as us next season, so there are currently only 4 English teams at a higher level than us.

I know RDZ is very open and honest in interviews and long may that continue but I’d rather he‘d stop effectively labelling us a small team in interviews, even if we are

Err yes, my much quoted post a few pages back

 

[GrossTurn]

Anyone else finding Roberto’s constant comments that Moises and Alexis deserve to be playing at a higher level a little annoying?

Yes I get that selling players on for a big profit is our model and that we don’t pay anywhere close to quite a few other PL teams, BUT how much of a higher level can they play next season? Liverpool bound Alexis (allegedly) will be playing in exactly the same competitions as us next season, so there are currently only 4 English teams at a higher level than us.

I know RDZ is very open and honest in interviews and long may that continue but I’d rather he‘d stop effectively labelling us a small team in interviews, even if we are

Feels slightly unfair to pick up on the couple of times he’s talked about 2 of our best players being ready to go and play for higher level clubs when directly asked and not the myriad of examples of him helping to shift our club’s mentality from that of a lesser light to one with serious ambition to go places.

He’s more than in credit on that front.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

I’m amused by almost every media outlet trying to drum up clicks by attempting to sensationalise the fact Mac and Caicedo are likely leaving “Brighton fans have to put up with their best players always leaving” and “Brighton are just a stepping stone” , yeah we’re ok ta, we know the drill and we’re not entitled whoppers so there’s nothing to see really. In reality most clubs are stepping stones, even Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool get cherry picked by the likes of Real Madrid.

 

[Goldstone Guy]

Anyone else finding Roberto’s constant comments that Moises and Alexis deserve to be playing at a higher level a little annoying?

Yes I get that selling players on for a big profit is our model and that we don’t pay anywhere close to quite a few other PL teams, BUT how much of a higher level can they play next season? Liverpool bound Alexis (allegedly) will be playing in exactly the same competitions as us next season, so there are currently only 4 English teams at a higher level than us.

I know RDZ is very open and honest in interviews and long may that continue but I’d rather he‘d stop effectively labelling us a small team in interviews, even if we are

It might be part of a ploy to make the club as attractive as possible to the top talent in the 17-20 year old player bracket. Presumably young players view a move to big 6 premier league club as the ultimate move (leaving aside Real Madrid and a few other clubs). Right now only a champions league spot is at a higher level than us but those clubs offer much higher wages, perhaps prestige of playing for them etc. Havent' read the whole thread so sorry if I'm repeating someone else.

 

[oldboyroy]

Although I wish Ally Mac all the best as he's been the total professional throughout, I am slightly let down if it's Liverpool as appears a done deal! Yes, Liverpool are a far bigger club than we'll ever be and money talks but, they're only in Europa League like ourselves next season. Wonder if its not Liverpool and he is off to Manchester or Arsenal instead? I will fully understand if he goes to champions league club.

 

[chrisg]

Obviously very sad to lose Mac, absolute class act. But I think we have 2 or 3 players that can play his role already, gross and Lallana and possibly Dahoud. None are as good as him currently but in Ayari, Buonunotte, Moder, Gilmour and Kozlowski we have players with potential to reach his level.

However, I do think replacing Caicedo is harder as we don’t have any others with similar attributes. I hope we keep him for another year. We won’t stand in his way, but someone needs to meet our valuation which will be very high. Bigger clubs might bulk at the price and pursue other targets such as Rice, Adams or Lavia. Wishful thinking I know, but it’s sad to think we could lose both of our best ever central midfield pairing in the same window

Dahoud isn’t our player yet and nobody knows how he will cope in the PL.
Moder out for a year and not been seen in training for a month .
Lallana. Injured half the year.
Ayari. Taken off at half time yesterday as not up to it.
Kozlowski. Not kicked a ball in the PL.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

We do not need to bring in £200m by selling all of Mac, Moises and Sanchez. It is ridiculous to weaken our midfield to this extent. Mac was in floods of tears yesterday. He loves it here, doesn't really want to go and knows that his father and his agent have engineered a move away and now its inevitable. I can accept Mac going for £70m odd and Sanchez for £30m. There is £100m. Why do we have to sell Moises, 21 years old ? His value won't go down. We will not find ready made replacements for both these two. Surely we can hold on to him a bit longer.
It feels like RDZ wants it done and dusted quickly and he is messaging TB. " If you are going to sell both, then do it quickly and then I can plan which new signings to bring in." There could be a long, drawn out bidding war for Caicedo, if TB sticks to his guns for £100m. A protracted transfer saga through the summer could backfire on us, meaning we miss out on certain targets.

 

[S'hampton Seagull]

Dahoud isn’t our player yet and nobody knows how he will cope in the PL.
Moder out for a year and not been seen in training for a month .
Lallana. Injured half the year.
Ayari. Taken off at half time yesterday as not up to it.
Kozlowski. Not kicked a ball in the PL.

If both go we need a top CM to play alongside Gilmour or others.

 

[Springal]

We do not need to bring in £200m by selling all of Mac, Moises and Sanchez. It is ridiculous to weaken our midfield to this extent. Mac was in floods of tears yesterday. He loves it here, doesn't really want to go and knows that his father and his agent have engineered a move away and now its inevitable. I can accept Mac going for £70m odd and Sanchez for £30m. There is £100m. Why do we have to sell Moises, 21 years old ? His value won't go down. We will not find ready made replacements for both these two. Surely we can hold on to him a bit longer.
It feels like RDZ wants it done and dusted quickly and he is messaging TB. " If you are going to sell both, then do it quickly and then I can plan which new signings to bring in." There could be a long, drawn out bidding war for Caicedo, if TB sticks to his guns for £100m. A protracted transfer saga through the summer could backfire on us, meaning we miss out on certain targets.

That’s one hell of a take !

 

[GT49er]

Although I wish Ally Mac all the best as he's been the total professional throughout, I am slightly let down if it's Liverpool as appears a done deal! Yes, Liverpool are a far bigger club than we'll ever be and money talks but, they're only in Europa League like ourselves next season. Wonder if its not Liverpool and he is off to Manchester or Arsenal instead? I will fully understand if he goes to champions league club.

.............and those are not good enough reasons for a player to want to go there?

 

[oldboyroy]

.............and those are not good enough reasons for a player to want to go there?

Yes, good enough reasons to go there but, just my slight disappointment that if it's Liverpool it's not champions league football!

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Yes, good enough reasons to go there but, just my slight disappointment that if it's Liverpool it's not champions league football!

I've heard Luton Town are considering a bid to help them stay up next season.

 

[SeagullsoverLondon]

Dahoud isn’t our player yet and nobody knows how he will cope in the PL.
Moder out for a year and not been seen in training for a month .
Lallana. Injured half the year.
Ayari. Taken off at half time yesterday as not up to it.
Kozlowski. Not kicked a ball in the PL.

Blimey the negativity in that post.
Dahoud might become our player soon, and might be brilliant .
Moder might come back stronger than ever. Solly did.
Half a season of Lallana helped us to 6th
Ayari first start. Writing someone off after 45 minutes! Julio was pants in his first games for us. Mac took months to adjust
Kozlowski. Agreed, hard to know if he will become part of our team/squad. But let's wait and see
Also, possibly two or three signings no-one has yet heard of or thought about.
Let's have a little bit of positivity please

 

[scooter1]

Mac Allister has reportedly said that his next club will play in the Champions Lge, and next season that won’t be Liverpool. So I’m interested to see where he possibly goes, or if the CL intent has to be retracted ‘because it’s Liverpool’.
Its frustrating to read RDZ’s comments as they feel a little barbed against the club, but this is what Brighton do and is all part of the sustainability - he knows that
It‘ll be a shame to lose any 1st team players this summer, but it’s inevitable…..

 

[brighton_tom]

We do not need to bring in £200m by selling all of Mac, Moises and Sanchez. It is ridiculous to weaken our midfield to this extent. Mac was in floods of tears yesterday. He loves it here, doesn't really want to go and knows that his father and his agent have engineered a move away and now its inevitable. I can accept Mac going for £70m odd and Sanchez for £30m. There is £100m. Why do we have to sell Moises, 21 years old ? His value won't go down. We will not find ready made replacements for both these two. Surely we can hold on to him a bit longer.
It feels like RDZ wants it done and dusted quickly and he is messaging TB. " If you are going to sell both, then do it quickly and then I can plan which new signings to bring in." There could be a long, drawn out bidding war for Caicedo, if TB sticks to his guns for £100m. A protracted transfer saga through the summer could backfire on us, meaning we miss out on certain targets.

But it’s not in any way about us choosing to take the money and willingly weaken our midfield. Over the last few transfer windows we would have had opportunities to sell these players, and there would have been big clubs willing to triple their wages. If the player wants to go there’s only so long you can say no to the transfer before you then have a very upset player on your hands. In the past we would have blocked any transfer because bloom/barber will have come to the conclusion that although Mac/Moises would be unhappy about missing the opportunity we could essentially keep the players happy. The feeling within the club now must partly be that we can no longer stand in the players way without upsetting them too much, so we have to oblige them the transfer. Also, as much as we don’t like losing them, this is the clubs transfer policy. It’s how the whole machine keeps going. In a world of FFP & yearly losses, without cashing in occasionally we cannot keep going. We don’t want to see them go but it’s how the club remains financially stable and competitive in the league & transfer market.

 

[Baldrick]

Absolutely no protection from the ref which was annoying, especially when Cash cleaned him out but the ref decided he didn’t want Villa down to 10 men.

Anyone else finding Roberto’s constant comments that Moises and Alexis deserve to be playing at a higher level a little annoying?

Yes I get that selling players on for a big profit is our model and that we don’t pay anywhere close to quite a few other PL teams, BUT how much of a higher level can they play next season? Liverpool bound Alexis (allegedly) will be playing in exactly the same competitions as us next season, so there are currently only 4 English teams at a higher level than us.

I know RDZ is very open and honest in interviews and long may that continue but I’d rather he‘d stop effectively labelling us a small team in interviews, even if we are

Teams at a higher level with massive international fan bases, mega sponsorship deals, super rich owners etc can afford to pay its players £150k+ a week compared to Brighton who pay on average for a first team player circa £50k to £60k per week to enable the club to run sustainably.

Footballers have short careers and if Mac can earn £7.5m next year instead of £2.5m, then he is off. Same as any player who is capable of playing for an established top team with high EUFA co-efficient ratings gained through regularly playing at a higher level in European competitions. Next year Liverpool in pot 1 for Europa League. Brighton in pot 3. There is a reason for that

 

[perseus]

We do not need to bring in £200m by selling all of Mac, Moises and Sanchez. It is ridiculous to weaken our midfield to this extent. Mac was in floods of tears yesterday. He loves it here, doesn't really want to go and knows that his father and his agent have engineered a move away and now its inevitable. I can accept Mac going for £70m odd and Sanchez for £30m. There is £100m. Why do we have to sell Moises, 21 years old ? His value won't go down. We will not find ready made replacements for both these two. Surely we can hold on to him a bit longer.
It feels like RDZ wants it done and dusted quickly and he is messaging TB. " If you are going to sell both, then do it quickly and then I can plan which new signings to bring in." There could be a long, drawn out bidding war for Caicedo, if TB sticks to his guns for £100m. A protracted transfer saga through the summer could backfire on us, meaning we miss out on certain targets.

Both are too young to leave, cf. Lawrenson.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

And what happens when we stop letting players get big moves, we become less attractive to these younger superstars - and also they just end up leaving for free anyway - which MacAllister would have next season, if we hadn’t come to an agreement in October to preserve his value to us, but let’s him go in the summer

MacAlister has 3 years left on the contract he singed just before the WC, does he not?