Got no problem selling him although we should have got a bigger fee, he's going to be a star. Obviously we needed to take the money now to get it into the accounts before the end of the month because we're in a very grim financial situation.
I already posted this in response to Hogg-Deeney, but clearly you haven't read it: I'd presume if we were intending to sign or pin-point a "suitable replacement" for Kone that we'd be aiming to do so before the season starts, or at least before the transfer window ends, and at both points he'll still be 17. And even if we failed to sign someone else before the window shuts and then declared it's all fine because there's someone already at the club we're using instead, then it still couldn't be him named as said replacement. If he's only brought in to the first team squad 3 months after Kone has left, 2 months after the season has started, and over a month after the transfer window has ended, then I don't think he could be classified as Kone's replacement.
Of course he isn’t. They play in different positions. I know people don’t like the way things but don’t just make things up to suit the narrative
Bloomin' 'eck! It's just one player who'd only started 61% of our games last season with the 6th most minutes in the squad. We still have 8 of the 10 players who played the most minutes for us last season. By contrast, last summer we got rid of the players who'd played the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th most minutes for us in the previous season, and yet we actually performed much more "as a team" this season following that far more significant churn.
Err, do they? I thought they were both box-to-box central midfielders (#8s)? But also many thought Kone waved to the fans on the final day in a manner which suggested he thought he was off - meaning that his sale could have also been on the cards for as long as the Sissoko signing.
People tended to flip flop as fans do on if we played more as a team or not last season. Seemed to depend on the results as ever . Well if we are replacing a guy in his early 20s with a chap in his mid 30s not sure that says much for our recruiting policy ..
Some Taylor years, Hoofers had a splurge and Vialli season was ambitious. Didn’t always end well of course. I think the point for me is even when we sold assets we would reinvest some of it. Roeder got to reinvest some of the Furlong/Dyer cash. Wasted a lot on Moralee but briefly had a decent team with his rebuild. These days under Pozzo we reinvest tiny fractions, probably due to necessity. Although there is always a small budget to sort Bayat’s interests out. It’s grim stuff.
I think the biggest Taylor and Boofers splurges were largely funded by prem parachute monies ? Presume the Vialli season too (did parachute payments cover 2 seasons back then ?not sure…). Boofers spent a bit that first summer but mostly funded by Helguson sale ? As you say a cut was given to fund a replacement or two and hopefully this season too. Easier in the days when you could pick up a Jason Lee/Wright/Smart/Henderson/Carlisle etc for £100k/£200k a pop ?
Taylor seemed good at incremental squad builds. Reilly to West to Falco. Sherwood to Coton. Cost money though to move forwards. Elton backed so irrelevant I guess. Despite the claims above I wouldn’t be that surprised if we settled on Sissoko, Kayembe, Grieves and TDB as the more defensive midfield depth next season. Sierralta a poor option. Maybe a loan thrown in. And then Chakvetadze and Asprilla (fingers crossed) plus a loan in attacking mid behind the mighty Bayovic and Forde. RB, keepers and centre backs already in situ. Left back number one priority. Bad times!
Well maybe he's replacing Livermore's senior leadership role in the squad, but on the pitch he surely plays in the same position as Kone. Two birds with one stone, as it were. It doesn't necessarily mean that we've given up signing any more younger players either.
He's 17, and if he were to be replacing Kone then he'd clearly be 17 when he has to do so. Reading is evidently not one of your strong points, and your pathetic and transparent attempts to obfuscate will not rid you of it.
At which point if it turns out that the replacement was Ramirez-Espain all along then he'd still be 17 @Cassetti's Beard .
Boofers first summer signings possibly also funded by some of the money from Elton's concert at the Vic? I think it was intended to be all for the buy back the Vic fund but I recall SEJ saying he wanted some of it spending on players as well
Oh absolutely, I wasn’t including GT's first coming. We weren’t exactly bankrolled through the divisions but we outspent most of those around us and I’m not sure GT was ever forced to sell a player to a richer club to fund operations. Yes I wouldn’t be surprised to see any additions being loans and cheap punts as we stabilise finances.
We have 2.5/3.0 x our money plus add ons for any future transfer. Not bad, considering i don't belive he's going to achieve much. Lovely lad apparently, but, em, how can i put this politely, he's not going to be appearing on mastermind anytime soon!
I genuinely have no idea what any of this means? He’s young and has looked outstanding at times, whilst also looking terrifically underwhelming too. But given his age, that’s pretty natural. He only started playing the game at all in his late teens, and just a few weeks ago was competently holding France’s CM’s at bay. I’d say it’s reasonably obvious that a good coach should think they can iron out the creases in his game and make him a top player. For us, it’s good money for where we are and the financial situation. But, in todays market, post this ridiculous new ‘do business before the accounting window closes’ format - he’s worth more than what we have got. What does the mastermind comment even mean?
Considering we apparently only spent £4m (which is much less than I thought we had, I thought it was about £8m!) on a kid who had spent 1 season as a professional in the MLS, we'd have had to have mangled his progression for us not to have made a profit on him. Probably good money based on what he's shown for us, but he was improving for us, and his best is yet to come
Aside from just the money, one slight upside of this sale it it helps to reinforce our reputation as actually being a decent stepping stone club for developing young players. While he was still inconsistent, Kone did definitely improve quite a lot relative to how he was when he first arrived in the second half of last season and has got a big move off the back of it. This could help us to continue sealing the signing of promising young players looking to make a next step.
You are not allowed to post positive things, you need to find something to whine about like everyone else.
If anyone made a mistake here I think it’s Kone and his agent. He still had, what, 3 years left in his contract here? He was just starting to improve and another season here would have done him a world of good and probably made bigger clubs more interested. At Marseille it’s a coin flip whether he’ll succeed or not because he’s still way too inconsistent. Patience is not a luxury that clubs fighting for European qualifications have, so he’ll be dropped immediately when he hits a bad run of form, while here he would have been virtually undroppable next season.
Kone really isn't much of a loss. Great in spells but way too inconsistent. Surprised he wanted out after 18 months of being here, we ain't that bad are we?
Yes, and? That's a shyt way to have to operate, and contributes to the exact effect I was lamenting - a strong likelihood that we won't have a successful season, again. It's also slightly simplistic/reductive to say it's what most clubs do - we don't operate in the same way as most clubs. I think that's fairly undeniable.
Wrong move for him I think, he’s not ready yet. They are relentless and merciless at these top European clubs. Bit arrogant / poorly advised, you need to be pulling up trees in a division like this if you’re ready for that type of move, he looked ordinary far too often last season. Undoubted amount of talent there but feels like his head might stop him, he’s 90% physical talent, doesn’t see the picture quick enough for me.
