Apparently Iturbe doesn't want to come to England... http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2015/12/18/watford-have-serie-a-rivals-in-pursuit-of-juan-manuel-iturbe/ We should do a Holebas on him....
No problem then: if he wants to stay in Italy, instead of loan + option to buy, WFC buys him immediately and loans him to Udinese. Everyone happy!
It's amazing the number of "unusual" arrangements that the Pozzo's can do having three teams in three different top tier leagues. We have already seen several never seen before things (like an international loan given on loan under FA loan rules) and more are coming surely. Seriously, in the arrangement I imagined: - WFC would finance a deal too risky for Udinese's coffers (a team receiving 20M€/year for TV rights cannot risk a 15M€ deal hoping the player will increase his value, a team receiving 80M€ can do it) - Udinese would benefit on the pitch from a good player, unwilling to transfer to England yet willing to still play in serie A - if Iturbe plays well, because Roma AC simply was not the right environment for him, WFC will benefit anyway from selling him at a much higher transfer fee after a couple of seasons. The same of course could hold true for other players willing to stay in Spain in future, with a loan to Granada. WFC being the "Swiss bank" of the Triad opens up a miriad of interesting deals, fruitful both on the pitch and financially.
Well, according to Gianluca Di Marzio on Twitter, it's confirmed that Iturbe will be joining us on loan with an option to buy.
Argh ... 3M€ wasted because damned Bmuff and some others were interested too (http://gianlucadimarzio.com/en/eng/...ement-on-iturbe-deal-the-figures-and-details/). And WFC had to offer a wages rise too (according to the italian version of the site, not completely transated in English: http://gianlucadimarzio.com/news-ca...d-per-la-cessione-di-iturbe-cifre-e-dettagli/ "Tutto fatto, dunque: valigie in mano, si parte, destinazione Premier. Iturbe, cui il Watford aumenter* anche l'ingaggio, vuole tornare a sorridere.") just to convince him to leave the wonderful and sunny Italy for the cold and sad British islands.
Are people just getting excited about him because of Football Manager or FIFA? The others we have had from Roma have turned out to be pretty much useless for us, despite one being the fastest player around. Iturbe doesn't actually seem to have done much as a player. A bit of a free kick expert and destroyed Udinese in a game but doesn't seem to have played a full season yet and goes missing for large periods. Definitely potential but sounds a bit silly but we don't need that on loan at this time of the season for the sort of money being carted around, I do not see him being able to come in straight away and play and that is the sort of signing we need, not someone to be good enough in a season or so time. We have serious European hopes now!
Bit negative mate, he looks class, I don't get he hasn't done much? He seems to have achieved a fair amount for someone who is 22. Looks good on youtube, cracking bit of euro trance as well to accompany the montage.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPBEVaec_nI
So, assuming rumours are true: a player who two seasons ago was seen as on of the hottest prospects around in Europe and was bought by Roma for 31M€ comes at WFC, after disappointing 1.5 seasons, for 1.5M€ for the loan with option to buy for 18M€. Worst case: he's just a poor player. Only 1.5M€ wasted. Avg. case: he's a decent squad player. He's worth the price of the loan and helps WFC to stay up, but is not worth buying at that price. Best case: he's simply great and helps a lot Watford in season. Roma was just not the right environment for him but he shines in Premier. Bought next Summer for 18M€ with several "big" teams already keen to offer much more to have him. Looks like a win-win situation to me, honestly.
Put like that. BLOODY HELL........we've just won 3 in a row and are the top half of the prem while luton have just lost four in a row in the bottom half of div 2 and sacked their manager.....BLOODY HELL THIS REALLY IS JUST A DREAM
Two things to say from that. 1- Are some genuinely complaining about the money? As Sherlock has put it, it's a win-win situation for us due to it being a loan. Plus anyways, 1.5 million euros is nothing now that we're in the Prem and especially as we received £2.5 million from Reading for Vydra for a season-long loan. 2- Bournemouth seem a bit parasitic to me. They tried to get Perotti out from under us (and failed) and now they're trying to get Iturbe out from under us. Either our scouting system has a mole or they are genuinely **** at scouting and are copying our targets
Watford. Us. Looking to buy a player for 14 million quid. Wow. Honestly, these are amazing times. I can't wait to see this guy at The Vic! The fact the QSF is known to be a big iTurbo fan is very pleasing. It makes think Flores might part of the club long-term if he & Gino are singing from the same song sheet on such a massive signing. (Out of interest...is it "It-Turbe" like Italy, or "Eye-Turbe" like iPad? I've no idea how to pronounce this bloke's name.)
I hate those smug tinpot fekkers & I hope the crash & burn. I shouldn't really, they're a small club punching several divisions about their weight. Somehow though they are infinitely dis-likable.
Had similar thoughts myself. The number of our targets that they're also reported as being in for seems ridiculously high. I actually hope it's the case because not only is it amusing in its own right, the idea of them going up against Gino's contacts is absolutely hilarious. Not that I think he'd sign for them in a million years, mind.
At least, that's what someone told Watford These guys clearly don't know how our club runs.. + its only a loan, if hes **** he's **** he goes back..
Hope he proves to be more useful than the last 2 signings from Roma. Very wise move to have him on loan first.
Wow, what a signing (if of course this is all true, which it appears to be). Both of the wide positions in our 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 are up for grabs as neither Jurado or Abdi are naturally wingers and Anya is poor at this level (no matter how much of a nice bloke he is), not to mention Berghuis and Ibarbo clearly haven't settled. In fact, i'm sure Ibarbo will end up back at Roma and Berghuis has got to go out on loan to the Championship to get kicked around a bit. This Iturbe chap looks to be mustard, but more importantly it looks like he's got the physical attributes to stack up at this level. From the footage i've seen he looks very hard to shrug off the ball and has a brilliant low centre of gravity/balance when in possession. SHOULD be suited to the English game. One striker and a central defender and I think we're complete. What a time to be a Watford fan.
WD Sport really have had their pants pulled down here haven't they? Just yesterday they told us confidently that he was on our radar but we're holding fire until later in January. They even had this nugget of totally incorrect rubbish: 'Watford cannot officially open talks with Roma or the player until the window opens two weeks today'
