goldeneyed
Just doesn't shut up
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2005
- Messages
- 17,624
- Reaction score
- 7,998
In preparation for any announcement on Neves leaving in the next few weeks......
1) As with Jota 's sale entirely negative imv unless we can get at least £50m for him (which is unlikely though not impossible). £35m or so would be an absolute travesty for an international who at 24 will reach his peak in the next couple of years. Arguably our most important player and future captain.
2) Three years to run on his contract - so no pressure to sell.
3) He embodies the whole Fosun 'project'. Selling him sends a huge negative signal to the first team squad, the supporters and players we might want to bring in, whatever blather there is about him needing to move on, re-building funds etc etc
4) You need a core of quality players in any squad around whom you build. You can't keep getting away with selling your best players in the expectation that equally good players will be queuing up to replace them. They won't.
5) Selling to immediate rivals like Arsenal is entirely counter-productive. You just widen the gap between the clubs. It means starting the season on the back foot with inferior replacements - don't kid yourself the club will be able to replace like with like on its apparently limited budget.
6)Yes he did not have a good season in 20/21 but apart from Neto nor did anyone. He has played a hell of a lot of matches and needs a break. There is a quality player there who will be coveted by top European teams despite that lapse.
7) Instead of selling him for xx make him captain increase his salary and perhaps the length of his contract - turn the current negative vibe surrounding the club around.
8) While there is an argument for letting older players like Rui and Moutinho go post Nuno that does not mean you should shift out younger ones who have a huge amount to contribute in the future.
9) Instead of 'courting bids' as has been indicated shut the bloody door in our rivals faces and make it absolutely clear in the press he is staying under Lage.
10) None of that pathetic crap about how can we keep a player when a top six club come calling..... we have to bow down and be grateful for their interest and take any offer coming. .Do Fosun want to make Wolves a club on a par with at least Arsenal or not? Selling your crown jewels only works if you get huge fees for them which allows you to properly strengthen and revive a squad - as when Liverpool sold Coutinho or Leicester sold Maguire. Even £50m is not that much these days at the top end of the game.
More could be said but I don't think Shi and co fully realise that the negative mindset building up around the club post Nuno is going to build and build if our best players are sold and inferior ones replace them. Lage already has a very tough job and it is so important that the club and supporters get fully behind him from the off.
Of course some will disagree with the above and say Neves is not that good, you can't do anything when a player gets a taste for a big move etc.. But at the end of the day my concern after last summer's awful transfer dealing is that the club could easily be on a slippery slope if it is not careful. We need a much stronger sound from the club about the future. The last conversations with Shi and co were welcome but the overall impression was one of stagnation and mid table mentality as being more than acceptable for now with a vague hope that young players will mature in the future etc. FFP or not the club needs to make sure this squad is good enough to compete. At the moment, only because of Jiminez and Neto returning at some point do I believe we should survive another season. But at the moment 'survive' seems good enough and that is a far cry from peak Nuno time when things looked so positive for the future.
1) As with Jota 's sale entirely negative imv unless we can get at least £50m for him (which is unlikely though not impossible). £35m or so would be an absolute travesty for an international who at 24 will reach his peak in the next couple of years. Arguably our most important player and future captain.
2) Three years to run on his contract - so no pressure to sell.
3) He embodies the whole Fosun 'project'. Selling him sends a huge negative signal to the first team squad, the supporters and players we might want to bring in, whatever blather there is about him needing to move on, re-building funds etc etc
4) You need a core of quality players in any squad around whom you build. You can't keep getting away with selling your best players in the expectation that equally good players will be queuing up to replace them. They won't.
5) Selling to immediate rivals like Arsenal is entirely counter-productive. You just widen the gap between the clubs. It means starting the season on the back foot with inferior replacements - don't kid yourself the club will be able to replace like with like on its apparently limited budget.
6)Yes he did not have a good season in 20/21 but apart from Neto nor did anyone. He has played a hell of a lot of matches and needs a break. There is a quality player there who will be coveted by top European teams despite that lapse.
7) Instead of selling him for xx make him captain increase his salary and perhaps the length of his contract - turn the current negative vibe surrounding the club around.
8) While there is an argument for letting older players like Rui and Moutinho go post Nuno that does not mean you should shift out younger ones who have a huge amount to contribute in the future.
9) Instead of 'courting bids' as has been indicated shut the bloody door in our rivals faces and make it absolutely clear in the press he is staying under Lage.
10) None of that pathetic crap about how can we keep a player when a top six club come calling..... we have to bow down and be grateful for their interest and take any offer coming. .Do Fosun want to make Wolves a club on a par with at least Arsenal or not? Selling your crown jewels only works if you get huge fees for them which allows you to properly strengthen and revive a squad - as when Liverpool sold Coutinho or Leicester sold Maguire. Even £50m is not that much these days at the top end of the game.
More could be said but I don't think Shi and co fully realise that the negative mindset building up around the club post Nuno is going to build and build if our best players are sold and inferior ones replace them. Lage already has a very tough job and it is so important that the club and supporters get fully behind him from the off.
Of course some will disagree with the above and say Neves is not that good, you can't do anything when a player gets a taste for a big move etc.. But at the end of the day my concern after last summer's awful transfer dealing is that the club could easily be on a slippery slope if it is not careful. We need a much stronger sound from the club about the future. The last conversations with Shi and co were welcome but the overall impression was one of stagnation and mid table mentality as being more than acceptable for now with a vague hope that young players will mature in the future etc. FFP or not the club needs to make sure this squad is good enough to compete. At the moment, only because of Jiminez and Neto returning at some point do I believe we should survive another season. But at the moment 'survive' seems good enough and that is a far cry from peak Nuno time when things looked so positive for the future.
