Ketsbaia Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Could be Liverpool to replace Aquilani Could be Sunderland because they're promising a 'wow signing' (copyright Mike Ashley) Could be West Ham because they're insane but based in London. .....or it could be us. But it looks unlikely now and I'm a bit pissed off because he's too good for us, yet we actually had him. It was all in our hands. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Zaius Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Pretty confident that he won't sign for us now. Though I've been like this for about 2 weeks now. It's been dragged out too long, if we were ever going to sign him in one way or another, it would have been done long before now. My prediction is he'll stay a L'OM. This thread needs to die too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 I still really want to sign him, so I hope this agent talk of another club is just trying to pressure us into forcing a deal. I think he'd push us up to a new level, but I agree it's looking less and less likely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottledDog Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Could be Liverpool to replace Aquilani Could be Sunderland because they're promising a 'wow signing' (copyright Mike Ashley) Could be West Ham because they're insane but based in London. .....or it could be us. But it looks unlikely now and I'm a bit pissed off because he's too good for us, yet we actually had him. It was all in our hands. How was it in our hands? He's been hawked all over the shop and the only reason we were anywhere near picking him up is because clubs simply weren't jumping at the chance to get him for whatever reason; so while the club couldn't fit him in the budget for this year, we provided a way out. We met their demands (not that we could match his anyway by the look of it), they then fucked us over by changing their minds, happy to wait until clubs get more desperate at the end of the window and hope someone has a punt on the lad. Oh, and 'too good for us'? F*ck off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasper Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Mark Douglas on Twitter (guess he means he asked Hughton): "when I last asked on Saturday they hadn't spoken to HBA for a week. His wage demands were astronomical" That's about it then Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Isn't that what NOTW said... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Isn't that what NOTW said... Yeah, it is. Still doubt the truth in it, but if Douglas has spoken to someone at the club (and maybe even Hughton) I'd be more tempted to believe it. Yup I guess, I'll never trust these NE journo fully like. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fried Chicken Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Au Revoir Hatem... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketsbaia Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Could be Liverpool to replace Aquilani Could be Sunderland because they're promising a 'wow signing' (copyright Mike Ashley) Could be West Ham because they're insane but based in London. .....or it could be us. But it looks unlikely now and I'm a bit pissed off because he's too good for us, yet we actually had him. It was all in our hands. How was it in our hands? He's been hawked all over the shop and the only reason we were anywhere near picking him up is because clubs simply weren't jumping at the chance to get him for whatever reason; so while the club couldn't fit him in the budget for this year, we provided a way out. We met their demands (not that we could match his anyway by the look of it), they then fucked us over by changing their minds, happy to wait until clubs get more desperate at the end of the window and hope someone has a punt on the lad. Oh, and 'too good for us'? F*ck off. 'In our hands' because we were leading the race, we had him up in Newcastle and all we had to do was put in a permanent offer. Marseille take a lot of blame because they moved the goalposts and Dassier is a grade A moron, but if we met their valuation he'd be here by now. And to be fair he is far better than anyone else in our squad and is likely going to another big European club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skirge Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Sunderland, Liverpool won't pay him 80k and I doubt even the two dosey cunts at Westham will either Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ads Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 I love the fact that as it stands now, if he does end up here it will be an 'out of the blue' signing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skirge Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 He does seem to be a fkn total arsewipe like, sure we would put up with him being like that if he would take a lower wage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 At risk of sounding all straws-clutchy, I can't for the life of me see how we'd get so far as putting an offer in (no matter how poo) without knowing that we had a sniff of being able to pay the guy. Seems a ridiculous way of doing things. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sicko2ndbest Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Didnt he say it would be a sporting project to help him project himself? or something along those lines If his proported wage demands are correct, he is full of shit! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Isn't that what NOTW said... Yeah, it is. Still doubt the truth in it, but if Douglas has spoken to someone at the club (and maybe even Hughton) I'd be more tempted to believe it. Yup I guess, I'll never trust these NE journo fully like. Me neither, but hey. I don't think Hughton gives little 'tip-offs' to local journos. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 At risk of sounding all straws-clutchy, I can't for the life of me see how we'd get so far as putting an offer in (no matter how poo) without knowing that we had a sniff of being able to pay the guy. Seems a ridiculous way of doing things. Agreed, and it does sound like there was some kind of prior discussion before the offer to OM went in. And by the way, I like the term 'straws-clutchy'. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Heneage Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 If he's asked for 80k he wants his head shaking. This move could have been great for both parties. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skirge Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 At risk of sounding all straws-clutchy, I can't for the life of me see how we'd get so far as putting an offer in (no matter how poo) without knowing that we had a sniff of being able to pay the guy. Seems a ridiculous way of doing things. Agreed, and it does sound like there was some kind of prior discussion before the offer to OM went in. And by the way, I like the term 'straws-clutchy'. Not if we wanted a loan deal with maybe paying half his wages, then he decided fine but he wants to negotiate his own wages with us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
indi Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 I'd imagine our bid is exactly the same as it always was. Last resort for OM. If that's the case then the longer this goes on the better for us as that'd mean that their frantic scrabbling around to find someone else would be proving unfruitful. Totally bored of this now, but if we end up getting him in a reasonable deal then it'll have been the right thing to do. I just hope he's not the only one we're looking at. The problem is that there's pretty much no chance of us doing any better than this guy. So we might be inclined to hang on and hang on for him and subsequently miss out on other potential targets. Or we decide to get someone else in and it turns out we could have got Ben Arfa after all. We're playing into their hands by doing nothing, because there's no incentive to accept our offer. If we want him (and he still wants to come), then we should just get it done. Neesy's ranting about pulling out start to make sense this close to the end of the window, because there's a risk we'll end up with nothing. Judging by how much talking they're doing about it and what's been mentioned about his number, I think he's definitely on his way. Given that, it's just a question of where. We pretty much know that we are interested, but as far as I've seen no-one else has said they are. Also, if there was all this additional interest then why hasn't something happened yet? If there have been bids then they can't have been that outstandingly better than ours or he would have gone already. You have to ask why OM are always in the papers talking about it, my guess is that they're trying to drum up interest and see what their options are in order to get the best deal. If so, the longer this goes on the more likely it is that that isn't working and if you put all that together the more likely it is that they'll go with the only option open to them and he'd be on his way here. There's a load of supposition in that, but I don't think it's that unbelievable to say that if they'd have had a significant bid for him he would have gone by now, so it's no great leap to say that it appears that they haven't and until they do we're always in with a chance. The incentive for them to accept our offer is that the longer this goes on the more likely they are to be left with an unhappy and disruptive player on their books and they don't seem to want that. You say we're not going to get anyone better, but who thought we'd have a chance to get him before this story broke? Also, most people (including me) basically knew nothing about him really before all this, so there's always quality out there somewhere. We should definitely be actively looking for alternatives though, because at the very least if they know about it that strengthens our position against OM. Watch him sign for Bremen later on, now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrenchWilliam Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 At risk of sounding all straws-clutchy, I can't for the life of me see how we'd get so far as putting an offer in (no matter how poo) without knowing that we had a sniff of being able to pay the guy. Seems a ridiculous way of doing things. Maybe a case of putting a loan offer in assuming OM would pay his wages, so not bothering to ask/check. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JH Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 I don't believe this 'no incentive' line people have been pushing. It's obvious they want him off the wage bill and it's obvious that he's proving a disruptive influence. They have to sell him and at the end of the day, if our offer is the only one on the table left/that HBA is willing to accept, then they'll sell IMO. The won't keep a player on the books who is being so troublesome, they just won't. They're not the ones in control here, in fact they've barely got any self-respect left. They're desperate and are chasing around trying to get rid of him. Remember, they're the ones that came to us first* *apparently. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sicko2ndbest Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 So you don't believe those recent quotes from his agent about weirder or a suprise club? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JH Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 So you don't believe those recent quotes from his agent about weirder or a suprise club? I don't know, my post is irrelevant of that anyway. They can't force him to move to another club. If he rejects these two, they have to send him somewhere. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 I don't believe this 'no incentive' line people have been pushing. It's obvious they want him off the wage bill and it's obvious that he's proving a disruptive influence. They have to sell him and at the end of the day, if our offer is the only one on the table left/that HBA is willing to accept, then they'll sell IMO. The won't keep a player on the books who is being so troublesome, they just won't. They're not the ones in control here, in fact they've barely got any self-respect left. They're desperate and are chasing around trying to get rid of him. Remember, they're the ones that came to us first* *apparently. I didn't mean no incentive to let him go at all, I meant no incentive to let him go to us before the very last minute for what they clearly believe is an insufficient offer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skirge Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Man U being linked with him.. thought he wanted 1st team football Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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