But it's only deferred they will still demand their back pay at some stage. Unfortunately you cannot compare someone getting £83k per year, with a mortgage etc, to someone that gets that EVERY WEEK!!
It could be either scenario. Hardly reliable but I saw a Rennes fan on Twitter a few days ago say that Watford haven't paid them money due for Sarr. I assumed it was a joke or ******** but who knows?
Surely we aren't that misguided that we would have entered negotiations for another Rennes player if we hadnt properly paid them for another previous
No - of course it will be paid via installments but we got caught up owing money to other clubs before but that is probably the same for most clubs. And it might be they are after the the money due to the French TV deal collapsing and putting them in a right pickle.
Of course it could be - we don’t know. But I still think if we had been late making such a substantial payment on such a high profile player, it would have been talked about by now. Think it’s pretty unlikely, even for Gino.
Good midfielder for Renne's, not getting a look in atm so a chance. Bit of a shoulder for Sarr as they know each other.
In my work background I saw loads of bank gtees issued to cover payments for player transfers and assumed this was the norm for at least most large transfer fees, even if mainly for overseas moves. It might be an "add-on" type fee that's owed for Sarr but I can't see we would have missed a major stage-payment.? (or do others know better and I'm just out of touch with process?)
I'm honestly guessing as I have no idea! I'd hope that we haven't missed a payment and that Rennes are just being difficult. Or maybe they need the money themselves, but their owner is absolutely loaded.
For me, the most likely explanation is that they want the final installments early due to Covid income losses. If we'd missed already due payments they wouldn't be negotiating, they'd be taking us to court. Hopefully the GD money was moved around to facilitate moves like this one.
I make you right, but if they're going to sign anyone with the dosh they'd better get a move on. Only 2 days left now before the window SLAMS shut.
OK I know most on here think it's a goal scorer we're missing, but I have a slightly different view. Two things.... 1) we are great at bringing in players that don't fit with us but we're good for other teams (eg Dawson / Murray), 2) apart from the very best goal poachers most teams goals come from the ability to create those chances repeatedly. For two years or more now, we have mainly dished up half chances, awful ability to cross a decent ball (apart from GD) and rubbish penetration of defences (compared to opponents). Yes a good confident striker would help, but I would be happy for a quality midfielder to come in and get us moving the ball and tearing into defences, so that we create great opportunities for whoever we have upfront. We're getting better, but eg Even Vardy would have been crap for us over the last year or so....
So you’re saying that Vardy wouldn’t have scored the piss easy chances that Gray and Deeney miss on a weekly basis?
Stats don't bear that out though; we create enough chances to score more than we do. Don't get me wrong, we aren't good creatively, and we need an improvement in midfield very much, but what good as a sole response is a midfielder to drive forward with the ball if when they get there, Deeney is nowhere to be seen still, and Gray is missing a penalty's worth of xG in every game? We've seen him fail to even get on target enough extremely high quality chances from well within the opposition penalty box. Perica is a permacrock regardless of (unproven) ability, and JP is great but callow, and oddly doesn't appear to be quite as high a priority as he should be amongst management to boot. We certainly can't be relying just on him to score enough goals for automatics. A striker capable of finishing the chances we do make, and even, shock horror, create one or two of their own, would change everything.
I get your point and don't disagree in principle. Our chance creation has been getting better, our ability to make the most of them is terrible. So our biggest issue is scoring the chances.
It’s not only the finishing, but also the anticipation and instinct to be in the right place to even have the chances. This is another quality Gray does not possess.
If our problems are that we need someone to fill James Garner’s boots then yeah, this might be the guy who’s up to the task.
He's a mixture of Doucoure, Capoue and Hughes without any of the ability. I expect him to make 2 appearances before Xisco gives him the Garner treatment.
OK I see your point, maybe not the best analogy but a striker needs decent supply and a quality supply all but dried up with GDs injury last year...
There are two things that I know about my relationship with WFC: 1) I can't see into the future 2) I cannot affect ANY decisions made about the club. My life is much more relaxed as a consequence.