Except I never said it was a done deal, at all, simply that I believed it likely meant something had happened that the bookies were privy to and that is why the odds changed suddenly and dramatically at the time. Nice try.
The thing being, I’m not sure we seem to be realising that we need to at least retain some of the better players to entice Sarr to stay. No point selling everyone so we can afford to keep him and him not wanting to stay because he has to partner Glenn Murray up front. So I can understand selling players to plug the gap in finances - but we seem to nearly be there now with that. It’s surely now time to raise the drawbridge on our better players and keep them.
Can't wait for this to happen. Little old Watford selling players to Man Utd? Bless the Pozzos. Look how far we have come.
Me to, we won't get a similar replacement even if we could afford to reuse all that money; SO WHY SELL HIM
Why prolong the agony? We need to bounce and to do that we nee a decent team, otherwise it will be a drawn out slow demise back to the lower leagues. Personally I'd rather we just give it a go and hopefully stop that happening, however if we fail then we'll only end up in the same place, but maybe a little quicker.
Okie Dokie. You seemed pretty convinced. Beyond the point of caring about it, in fact. I thought you would have learned from the experience but apparently not.
And all it took was one story in a paper that a team are interested in Sarr. Not that they've bid. Not that they've agreed personal terms. Not that a deal is close. Just that they're interested. The facts haven't changed. Big clubs hold an interest in him. Sarr is happy to stay and play, we want £40-£50m with presumably a large chunk up front. Teams are generally being a little more cautious with their spending and the structuring of their deals due to the covid situation, and our terms are putting teams off. Let's hope that continues. He may move, he may not. I don't think this story is worth the panic just yet.
Exactly this. Do people expect some joint statement from all of Europe's elite clubs announcing they will permit Sarr to stay at Watford this season? There will be interest right up to deadline day, whether we sell is far from certain.
Yep, for the same reason I’m still annoyed we sold Ashley Young when we did. Sarr would be immense in the Championship and there is no sign he wouldn’t do his best. But going into the future with big debts looks a bit perilous right now. Great if he stays and there are plenty of others I’d prefer to see go, but if he doesn’t we would at least have the basis to strengthen the team elsewhere.
@theutdjournal — Watford gave an agent a mandate to find a buyer for Ismaila Sarr, who held talks with Manchester United officials initially. United have signalled to only favour a loan deal, as a stopgap in case Sancho stays put at Dortmund this season #mufc #mujournal [@TelegraphDucker]
Watford instructed an agent to sell Sarr? Why not just post a picture of **** smeared around a toilet bowl as thats all that tweet amounts to.
My two pennies worth: it looks like the club doesn’t particularly need and doesn’t particularly want to sell Sarr. I think some of the other departures have happened at prices (Doucoure, Estupinan and Suarez) that weren’t necessarily at the most we could have bargained for had we shown more resolve. Some are seeing that as evidence that all our players are being sold on the cheap, but I see that as evidence that the club was willing to sell players keen to depart for fees sufficient to bridge the financial gap caused by COVID and relegation. Having done so, the club has a stronger bargaining position as it seeks to retain its main asset, Sarr. If £45-50m does come in for him, and he wants to go to the offering club, we’ll sell. But I think we’ll see a significant amount of that money reinvested in a way that we haven’t yet for the other cash. In other words, I reckon we have a couple of different transfer window scenarios planned out. 1) Keep Sarr: sign Troost-Ekong, a LWB and maybe a left-footed CB - with maybe one of those coming in on loan 2) Sell Sarr: sign-Troost-Ekong, a LWB, a LCB, a high calibre DM and high calibre RW to replace Sarr. I’d love to keep Sarr and do think keeping him is the best route to success, but I’m confident we’ll spend across the squad if we do sell him.
No, that was Duncan Castles. It’s a strange one as he seemed very confident, but Leventhal, the Watford Observer and the Telegraph have all said we won’t consider a loan.
I could have sworn Leventhal mentioned he could leave on loan in The Athletic if the right deal was struck. Don't have access to check but it was mentioned elsewhere so I'm sure someone could double check.
So the Utd Journal tweet that COGs are calling fake news has already been stated by their sage Leventhal? Awkward.
I stand corrected then re Leventhal. Still, both the Observer and the Telegraph have said today we’d only consider a permanent deal. I can see United being interested in a loan, allowing them to go back in for Sancho next year, but I think Watford would/should be concerned that as a mere loan player, United don’t have much incentive to play him ahead of Greenwood or James, and his value doesn’t actually increase. A loan to a side where he’d be head and shoulders above the other wingers would make more sense.
So we might sell him, keep him, loan him or sell him with a loan straight back to us? Great work from Adam clarifying that situation!
The drooling twitter masses seem to rate Greenwood better than Sarr and don't even want him! Would be a shocking move for him really. Those ****s have their heart set on sancho. To get sarr from tinpot watford would be devastating for them and he will never be accepted by them. Quite funny if that's how it pans out.
Sarr isn't at the level of Rashford, Martial or Greenwood, so he'll be playing the Dan James. Cup games, sub appearances and hoping for injuries. Don't think it's the right move for him at this stage of his development.
United interested in Cavani (free agent) and Jovic (Real Madrid-loan), according to Di Marzio. Hopefully that would be their new striker with Martial moving wide, making Sarr less likely.
I mentioned it earlier in this thread, but United's business model doesn't allow for signing's like this. If they're spending £40m on a player they'll need a commercial return on their investment. With all due respect to Sarr he offers them nothing commercially, especially compared to someone like Sancho...
Not sure how many shirts United sell in Africa but they are huge over there. Would likely lift Sarr to Mahrez and Mane levels of stardom over there. But how that works financially for United, I don't know. Interesting that PSG loosely now linked too.
I hope we don't sell him. Unless we do, in which case I hope we get £40m+ and invest it wisely in the team. Unless we do the first part but Gino pockets the cash, in which case I'm glad we've balanced the books. Unless we sell for less than we paid, in which case I'm glad Gino managed to find a buyer in a depressed market and we have ample attacking options anyway in Gray, Deeney, Perica, Murray and JP. Unless we sell JP too, in which case, it's fine, Gray, Deeney and Murray will bang them in for us.
noun a wheel or bar with a series of projections on its edge, which transfers motion by engaging with projections on another wheel or bar. "the cogs and springs of a watch"