He may want regular first team football and we may not be able to promise that. Wouldn’t surprise me if we can replace him. A couple of £m or sell to Udinese for £16m ?
WTE has his many issues, but I still think this is an odd one. Home grown, leader, does okay at this level even if he is a bit ****. Id would far far far rather be rid of Kabasele who is genuine dog muck 99% of the time and is absolutely spineless.
https://twitter.com/WTroostEkong/status/1616760973129302016 odd thing to tweet if he is in Italy finalising a move.
I agree - but sadly you can only offload things that others want. Rightly or wrongly, WTE has had a few suitors during his time with us. So others see something in him. Preferring to offload Kabasele (who I agree is worse) means little because no one ever seems to want him and we have lumbered ourselves with him on a long-term deal.
Pollock on loan, Hause a prisoner apparently and if Troost leaves we would need to bring in at least two CBs, preferably 3. I cant see this happening.
Just doesnt strike me as a priority. Our present CBs are perfectly fine at this level provided they have a competent midfield in front of them. Long term it 100% is an area we need to sort, but it just wouldn't be where I would choose to start moving things around mid season. Especially as WTE seems to be one of the few players with any character.
He might have asked to leave to get some minutes, we might be getting a good fee now or in the summer, Bilic might have told Manga he doesn't want him or maybe Manga can actually see with his own eyes that WTE is a mistake waiting to happen. We also have no idea if a replacement is lined up, I'm sure nobody will mind this if Porteous or someone else signs on Monday.
They're not perfectly fine at this level. I stated this on going up last time and it's just got worse. Are you trying to tell me if he's replaced with better it's not a priority? Yes other areas need looking at but centrally we're years behind in improving it.
Yep, there's very few areas of our team that doesn't need an upgrade if the right player becomes available. If WTE is sacrificed for a younger centre back who can actually stay fit for 95% of the season then it's a no-brainer.
It wasn’t priority going into this window I agree, but as you know, things in football move quickly. Ekong wasn’t wanted by Edwards and Bilic has him at 4th choice. If a player that Manga/Costa like has all of sudden become available and the players agent has made them aware, then we’re not going to wait until the summer when “x” player may have more suitors etc. So if Salernitana have made a move for our 4th choice CB and an upgrade has become available then it makes sense. Personally don’t see us agreeing to let Ekong go without a CB already coming in. We’ve been linked to a few CB’s who have the potential to be quality and quite honestly those linked players are all upgrades on Ekong. So if that’s the type of profile we’re bringing in as his replacement then I’m all for it. Manga/Costa have done a great for Frankfurt over the years, they have signed quality CB’s for low cost, and those players developed over the years to become solid players. You only have to look at Tuta and Ndicka right now as examples. Obviously Manga and Costa don’t get it right all the time, but it would have to be an incredibly woeful player to be any worse than Ekong.
I hate our defence, and if we want to progress it needs improving yesterday, but yes they're perfectly fine at this level. Their record at this level speaks for itself.
Not sure you really read my post properly as "going up" would obviously not be "this level". They are fine championship defenders, which is why our defensive record is generally pretty good. They are just very bad premier league defenders. We arent going to be in the PL this season so I just dont see why it is a priority. If it was a necessary deal for whatever reason so be it, but it is a waste of funds in terms of helping get us promoted.
Here’s what the article says courtesy of google translate. William Paul Troost-Ekong's move to Salerno is imminent. The 1993 class, who is on the bench today in Watford's match against Rotterdam, will leave tomorrow, Sunday 22 January, for Salerno The defender is ready to start his new adventure in Italy. All according to the script, as told in the edition of Calciomercato L'Originale on Friday 20 January. Salernitana has closed for William Paul Troost-Ekong: the 1993 class will arrive on loan with an obligation to buy from Watford (Click HERE for details). As scheduled, the defender plans to travel to Italy on Sunday to begin the bureaucratic process which will end with the signing of the contract and the announcement.
He’s gone. Sad it’s before Kabasele but at least we’re doing something about the centre back situation.
(Andrew French has also suggested in another tweet that it perhaps is a deal that Bilic wasn’t entirely aware of)
You are a likeable guy WTE, but unfortunately not the greatest footballer. I hope u do well at your new club and have good ongoing career
I get that the head coaches at Watford don't stick around long, so listening to them for every transfer isn't a worthwhile exercise. However, selling a player and Bilic being the last one to find out doesn't sit right with me. I'm assuming he'd already indicated that WTE wasn't necessarily one of his starters but not knowing he'd been sold until this morning is bizarre.
I don’t think we should also be sitting here thinking Bilic isn’t savvy in the media. He clearly has nuances to his character which means that, as much as Gino Pozzo moves in bizarre and mysterious ways, I’m not really sure I believe every word Bilic says. I bet he knew about a move for WTE and also knows about moves for a replacement. But public comments to the contrary shore up his position.
Also avoids all the speculation of who. The moment Bilic says “yeah someone is coming in” it will be who who who? From the media. Deals can also be far along and get scuppered, so it would be silly for Bilic to say anything. Especially if it’s a young quality CB that bigger clubs than us are monitoring, it could force them to make a move.
Or someone better who we don’t know about. I’d rather a fit Tuanzebe than Porteous to be honest. Araujo came out of nowhere let’s not forget.
Posted it in the Porteous thread. He’s definitely leaving Hibs this window. He did an interview and said so himself.
Suspect it’s a done deal. Bilic has been explicit in a couple of interviews tonight that selling WTE leaves us ‘incredibly short’. I reckon Porteous joins and then another CB potentially on deadline day.
