[Football] Ollie Watkins

[schmunk]

Sell on clauses don't increase the value of a player, that is still just between the seller and buyer agreeing a price that each accept.

 

[b.w.2.]

So hysterical, bet you're fun in a crisis.

Agree with others who posted we should be careful. Would rather we didn't burn money again on punts such as Locadia & Jahanbags. Don't agree that something/anything is better than nothing, for the future of the club.

Good for you. No hysteria here. You just made that up...


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[b.w.2.]

If you are confident we will sign a striker why do keep bitchin

There may or may not have been some sarcasm in my post


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[Lower West Stander]

Absolutely mental. Less prolific than maupay. 1.5 years older when we bought him too yet 50% more expensive

No doubt will be in next england squad since he plays for villa


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I don't get it either.

Hogan was one of the best opposition strikers I've seen at the Amex (in the Championship at least). He went to Villa and was absolutely shit.

Interesting to see how Villa fans react, their recruitment does look pretty slapdash.

 

[yxee]

Big Jurg arrived in the middle of the month, scoring in his debut in the FA Cup 4th round, before the end of Jan.

Ali J was courted by the club for at least 3 years.

Other than that you've nailed it.

I'm aware of timings. I would still consider them panic buys. We desperately needed a striker in January and locadia is what we got, at a huge premium. Ali J we faced a lot of competition bidding the price up. Maybe we were linked with his earlier but nowhere near that price.

 

[Icy Gull]

I would be gutted if we’d played 30 million plus for an unproven 2nd tier player. Time will tell I guess

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Tony has been very clear about the club's strategy - we need to be sustainable (ie, not hugely loss-making). Covid has hit everyone hard, but when you're aiming for sustainability it is even more of an issue. The likes of Villa, Everton, and even Leeds, are clearly less concerned about the financial implications of spending big. Chelsea, Man Utd and a few others are obviously on a different planet.

A key part of Tony's strategy is to develop our own players. That's why we've spent so much on Lancing, and continue to hoover up promising youngsters from around Europe at little initial out-lay. Some of them will come good (although they need time). We're just not in the market for £30m gambles.

The evidence of this transfer window is that we are playing things safe - Lallana & Veltman for example. I'm sure we'd be willing to spend £20m (say), but we'd have to be pretty sure that player was going to succeed. The recruitment team will have learned lessons from the Locadia and Ali J purchases. Big money since then has been spent on Trossard, Maupay and Webster - all successful.

I'm sure we'll bring in a couple more signings, but in line with the strategy - which certainly excludes £30m+ on Ollie Watkins (even if he did really well in the Championship last year).

All true, but if we fail to bring through players in certain positions, we need to fill those gaps by other means, for example cashing in on a surplus if we have one elsewhere. It's a fact that we are short of goalscorers, but still overstocked with central defenders. Could we have sold, say, Clarke or Duffy and raised enough to buy at least a back-up to Maupay and Connolly - the way Burnley took Vydra in case Barnes and Wood got injured? Someone who wouldn't mind sitting on a Premier League bench with the chance to get on if/when things went wrong? Carlan Grant for example.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

All true, but if we fail to bring through players in certain positions, we need to fill those gaps by other means, for example cashing in on a surplus if we have one elsewhere. It's a fact that we are short of goalscorers, but still overstocked with central defenders. Could we have sold, say, Clarke or Duffy and raised enough to buy at least a back-up to Maupay and Connolly - the way Burnley took Vydra in case Barnes and Wood got injured? Someone who wouldn't mind sitting on a Premier League bench with the chance to get on if/when things went wrong? Carlan Grant for example.

Not a bad shout. He doesn't scream Premier League to me, but then again he did come into a very bad Huddersfield side and score the odd goal, so you'd think it would be worth a pop.

Being very heavily linked to the Other Albion, however.

 

[nwgull]

Big Jurg arrived in the middle of the month, scoring in his debut in the FA Cup 4th round, before the end of Jan.

Ali J was courted by the club for at least 3 years.


Other than that you've nailed it.

Locadia was bought fairly late in January and was actually injured when we signed him, and as a result his first game wasn’t until mid Feb. He was the 6th striker that we’d attempted to buy that season (that we knew about) - definitely a panic buy!

 

[Gully Forever]

Tony has been very clear about the club's strategy - we need to be sustainable (ie, not hugely loss-making). Covid has hit everyone hard, but when you're aiming for sustainability it is even more of an issue. The likes of Villa, Everton, and even Leeds, are clearly less concerned about the financial implications of spending big. Chelsea, Man Utd and a few others are obviously on a different planet.

A key part of Tony's strategy is to develop our own players. That's why we've spent so much on Lancing, and continue to hoover up promising youngsters from around Europe at little initial out-lay. Some of them will come good (although they need time). We're just not in the market for £30m gambles.

The evidence of this transfer window is that we are playing things safe - Lallana & Veltman for example. I'm sure we'd be willing to spend £20m (say), but we'd have to be pretty sure that player was going to succeed. The recruitment team will have learned lessons from the Locadia and Ali J purchases. Big money since then has been spent on Trossard, Maupay and Webster - all successful.

I'm sure we'll bring in a couple more signings, but in line with the strategy - which certainly excludes £30m+ on Ollie Watkins (even if he did really well in the Championship last year).

IF Maupay scores more goals this season then last, I would consider him slightly successful!.

 

[ac gull]

£4.2m to Exeter re a 15% sell on clause - only £23.8m for Brentford

Sets Exeter up for a good few years providing they don't blow it all on player wages

 

[Bry Nylon]

I didn't see the Villa game yesterday evening.

For those that did, how did he play?

 

[schmunk]

I didn't see the Villa game yesterday evening.

For those that did, how did he play?

Not great - 3 shots, 0 on target, 60-odd% pass accuracy, 31 touches in 90 minutes

c.f.

Maupay - 4 shots, 3 on target, 80-odd% pass accuracy, 41 touches in 90 minutes;

 

[Pavilionaire]

I didn't see the Villa game yesterday evening.

For those that did, how did he play?

Imagine the boy at school who didn't run around and everybody called him "Goalhanger". A bit like that.

 

[Mackenzie]

It was his first PL game, but he’s no Tariq Lamptey.

 

[SAC]

I watched most of the match and thought he looked pretty good in a pretty poor team.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

I watched most of the match and thought he looked pretty good in a pretty poor team.

Against 10 men for 70 minutes, thanks to his early run, but he was pretty anonymous after that.

Looks the type who loves to run in behind. Drop deep, deny him space and he may struggle.

 

[HalfaSeatOn]

Pulled back when through on goal resulting in Sheff Utd going down to 10 men. Key moment of the game.

 

[Nameless]

Not great - 3 shots, 0 on target, 60-odd% pass accuracy, 31 touches in 90 minutes

c.f.

Maupay - 4 shots, 3 on target, 80-odd% pass accuracy, 41 touches in 90 minutes;

Was okay, nearly scored a scorcher but other than that struggled against SUFC who were parking the bus majority of the game. Will give teams something else to think about at corners he's quite a tall lad and a defender marking him could free up either Mings or Konsa.

Certainly wouldn't have him starting over Maupay, Connolly or Trossard to be honest

 

[Stella Seagull]

We picked the wrong Brentford striker...