http://www1.skysports.com/football/...16310m-bid-from-chinese-club-for-odion-ighalo £10m bid apparently
Tough call, I'd keep him personally for £10m. Although what would be considered 'peak value' for Odion I wouldn't know. Nor do I know if they think they can bring in someone of similar or better calibre then him for less. I suppose another thought would be instability, with all the other signings we've made/will make, do we then force ourselves into signing another new player? Would be a real shame to let him go as he brought some much needed quality whilst Troy was out injured and during that final push.
Looking at the other players heading that way there seems to be some big bucks floating around over there.
For 10 million I would let him go, I believe the Ponzos could do better with that sort of money and their contacts!
£10 million for our second striker? Playing Devils advocate i think, but I think the Pozzo's would accept this.
Like I whispered recently, the whispers about Ighalo & the whispers about Gestede suggested that said whispers were possibly indicative whispers. Whether they were or not, future whispers will tell us. Would I take £10m (proving Ighalo wanted to go there) & get Gestede for a few million pounds fewer? Whisper it quietly - yes.
£10m for someone that has proved it for 3/4 of a season in the 2nd tier Think Priskin Take the money and run
Sky reporter who broke it said he'd been told "we don't want to sell, but every player has their price." Hardly a hands off warning.
As much as I love him, it would be best to sell him and bring in Gestede. 10mil is a lot for a 2nd striker, and I think Gestede will give defenders a harder time than he would. But would still love him to stay!
There is huge money floating around over there (see Paulinho and a similar fee paid for a random Brazilian from Red Bull Salzburg), no FFP to adhere to etc. For 10m i'd snap their hands off. I'll remember the goals he scored and what he's done for us for a long long time, but sadly there's not a 10m player lurking there.
I think we can quash this rumour before it's even begun. IF the club do decide to accept the offer - and that's a big if - for us to get the £10m, Ighalo would actually have to agree to move there. I've heard of most of the major cities in China, but I've never heard of Qinhuangdao (the city in which the team that made the offer is located). After doing a bit of research through the ever-trusty Google, I could almost guarantee Ighalo that it would be a very unwesternised one and with few home comforts. An interesting place to visit? Sure. To live and work in? That is another question entirely. There's also the rather important subject of the football played there. Keep in mind that this is a team in League 1, and not the Chinese Premier League, so this is a team that should Ighalo decide to join, would be playing for them in the 2nd division. There have been many corruption scandals in Chinese football in recent years, with one referee in particular going to jail for his part in a match fixing scandal. As a result, many of the Chinese that I met much preferred to avoid domestic Chinese football entirely and choose a big-name European team instead. Whilst you can partly understand their lack of faith in Chinese football there, one thing is for sure and that is that the sport will never grow and improve unless more Chinese start taking an interest in the domestic game. Add the city to the team itself (plus the region, I believe it's quite well known for its coal burning = bad pollution) and you have to ask, would Ighalo really leave Watford for Hebei China Fortune FC? I don't think so.
If I were Iggy I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole. Chinese 2nd rather than Premier League?:dismay:
Chinese 2nd div plus a HUGE mountain of cash maybe. It is far from certain he's start the season as 1st choice with us also I would suggest. Hope we keep him though.
You may laugh but I think Ighalo's rags to riches story plus his strong faith in God might actually mean he's not TOO fussed about the money or maybe as fussed as some other players would be
Gives it to his Mum which is nice.. Case of do he and the Pozzos want the money or the chance to play in the Premier league?
Can't believe people would sell him. And replace him with whom? Is hoping we weaken our squad whilst making our owner richer what passes for being a supporter nowadays and I missed the memo? We can't get any ****er to sign for us and people want to get rid of a 20 goal striker with no replacement in sight. This feels like that episode of True Blood where everyone went mad and started humping. Everyone's gone nuts.
As much as I like Gestede, he would only be a few million cheaper (if even, weren't the last few rumours £9m?) Neither are proven in the PL but Ighalo was fantastic last season in OUR squad. Its just as important to keep our vital squad players (Gomes, Deeney, Cathcart, Vydra, Ighalo) as it is to sign new players.
Not Odion I'm worried about, it's his agent as far as I am concerned. Been putting the boy's name about ever since he started knocking them in.
Yup, we need to keep the core because we have a lot of new players coming in and the only potential downfall for that is we have a lack of cohesion early season and that creates a downward spiral we cant get out of . Team spirit as vital as talent, in any team at any level.
£10m? I love the bloke but I'd sell him for that. Unfortunately I don't see him doing too well in the prem, after which we'd be lucky to sell him for half that price. Of course I hope I'm wrong though.
I think you might be wrong TBH. He's a real fox in the box type. These players doesn't have to look classy or skillful. The just have to know how to get into the right place at the right time & put the ball in the back of the net. Iggy's extremely good at doing that, better than Troy or Matty in this respect. It's a rare talent that looks easy but it ain't. If he stays, we shall see.
I'd rather sell him to Granada than China. But I'd rather we keep him and see how he does in the top flight surely better for his international slot too.
The Chinese economy is beginning to show signs of collapse and I hardly doubt these owners will be able to pay/promise him the astronomical wages Asia has been doing for the past few seasons. [More wealth has been wiped off the Shanghai stock market this month than the value of all of Swedens yearly output]. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5aaf180e-212c-11e5-ab0f-6bb9974f25d0.html#axzz3etUu8OgZ Won't happen. Probably old news.
@Football_Naija: Odion Ighalo turned down a £12million (£3million per season) from Chinese club Hebei China Fortune to stay at Watford Guess if that's true then we accepted the bid? Or they got in touch with his agent prior to the bid and Ighalo dismissed it.