Would snap your hand off for two mill for Healey. He’s looked well off the pace and it’s touch and go whether he can actually stay fit enough to play.
Makes sense for all parties really- we get £2m towards a new striker (who actually fits our system), if he can get fit then Huddersfield get a decent striker, and he can get himself more game time. Surprised the fee is that high though really considering the fitness issues
That would be more than double the profit Verona made on selling Doig in only one-third of the time - well done Gino!
If its true I wish him all the best, tried his absolute hardest but I do think he's lost his pace. Despite that I think he scores goals in the right system and as Superhorn said doesn't fit how we play. Seemed well liked by the squad though hope the harmony isn't too badly affected. I also hope we have someone lined up because that's two out from an already tiny squad.
A bit of a shame in one way, caught in a Catch 22 situation where he was useful off the bench but could never get the minutes to get fully match fit, if indeed minutes would have ever made him effective with his injury history and also with our current tactical setup, but £2m is a fair whack for a player we signed for free not long ago, hopefully we can get someone with that
Doubt he'll ever move for more given his injury record and age so can see why we would sell but could easily see him notching a few goals in the Championship and people regularly bemoaning his sale...
Quite liked him - a mid-2000s-style Watford striker who'd swing their leg at the ball which just fell at their feet and hope for the best. Somewhat mediocre but effective enough. Better than Andre Gray, would probably get 7+ coming on as a sub regularly over the season.
Better than Andre Gray?! It's funny how Gray is perceived. Yes, a fairly poor first season but he had a decent 2018-19, very comparable to his one Premier League season with Burnley, in fact. For Burnley he scored 9 in 32 in his only Premier League season for them and no one would have said he was rubbish there. For Watford in 2018-19, he scored 7 in 29 and way more of those Watford appearances were from the bench. Gray's albatross was the £18m transfer fee and wages. But the stats aren't as bad as all that and some of the goals he scored in 2018-19 were absolutely critical. The winner in a 1-0 win against Everton. The winner in a 2-1 win against Leicester. The winner against Palace in the FA Cup quarter-final. Healey has done absolutely nothing in a Watford shirt to suggest he's better. If Huddersfield are prepared to offer £2m, I say we bite their hands off.
If I remember correctly, though, that already fairly underwhelming stat is at least somewhat further tempered by the fact that a full 1/3rd of those nine goals were scored as a hat trick against a Sunderland side on their way to dropping out of first the Prem and then, subsequently, the Championship, in the rare and feted consecutive-relegation era that eventually bestowed upon us the magic of 'Sunderland 'Til I Die'.
Goals aren’t as important if they’re scored as part of hat-tricks? Must tell every striker ever! Seriously, I’m not trying to argue Gray was a super striker but the way his contribution is maligned is odd. I’m not trying to say he was Pele but the original point was that Healey is better, which is patently not the case. Like I say, he scored the goals that decided three huge games in 2018-19. Deserves more than disdain and ridicule from some on here for that alone. Out of interest, and without looking it up, how many players do you reckon score 10 or more PL goals per season, usually?
You acknowledged why he was maligned so much, his fee, so it’s not that odd. He was also a terrible footballer that was highly frustrating to watch because he couldn’t control a football to save his life, something that you’d assume was a given for £18m. Any player who we grossly overpay for will get stick, it’s not that hard to fathom, see also Ellington and Sarr. It’s really not worth trying to get your head round as if it is something other than the fee.
It wasn't Gray's fault that we paid 18M for him and it wasn't his fault that he was on top dollar wages wise . That is where the buck lies. His technique is\was awful but he could shank one in every now and again
He certainly qualifies as our costliest shanker, as our crowd and the opposition routinely used to remind him!
We should have known what we were getting for Gray, but Success who cost not that much less (I know, I know, paper money) should have been so much better
Sorry but he was awful footballer. I wouldn't have paid £2m for him as he couldn't trap a bag of cement
He could score goals though, some very important ones. He was horrible to watch but did at least contribute decent goals per 90 mins stats, and at prem level.
Mike McGrath Rhys Healey medical at Huddersfield ahead of deal from Watford, who will pay a fee for ex-Toulouse striker #HTAFC #WatfordFC
Do you work in PR, because that is some brilliant framing of my point I do think you have to take into account his attitude throughout his time here with his ear grabbing celebrations to the fans and his multiple covid-rule breaks, alongside being an ex-Lutonian who was very, very poor with the ball and cost us a ludicrous shytload of money. His contribution was utterly random at best, and he never forged any kind of bond whatsover with the fans, or even seemed interested in pretending to do so (I don't actually particularly care whether he does or not, but it'll go a decent way to explaining why he's so widely unpopular). I don't need to look it up, we're not children, we're all aware of the relative difficulties of goalscoring in the Prem. You might ask how many strikers who cost £18m or more and have Gray's scoring (and performance) record, but it doesn't really matter too much either way, because Gray's reputation and legacy here is about a great deal more than his scoring record. The fact that he was so dogshyt overall that he barely scored in the Championship and ended up being shipped out from it is just a further sprinkling of icing on top of the rest.
Seems good business on the face of it, because he was pretty useless every time he played. Might be a player in there somewhere but to me looks like his injuries have caught up with him...
Agree he was underwhelming but useless is a bit harsh! 2 goals, 1 assist + 1 goal-line clearance in just 277 mins across all competitions isn't a bad return at all
