Sven Botman

[Menace]

If it means Burn doesn't play at LB then take your sweet time Sven

[Nucasol]

Sven Crockman recently.

 

[Optimistic Nut]

Can't be serious if the choices are rest or injections?

[The College Dropout]

On 29/11/2025 at 22:55, Lush Vlad said:

This is the concern with paying him what he is worth. 
 

When fit and firing. He would probably be one of our highest earners based on ability and performance levels. 
 

But he has had some bad injuries and a load of niggles the last two seasons. Definitely lost some agility and quickness because of the injuries and all. 
 

This might just be a precaution and he ends up being fine. But I still don’t think you can commit big money to someone who has such an iffy fitness record. 

I don’t think his performances have been elite for a number of years now. I wouldn’t have an idea what his worth is now tbh.  Should he earn more money than Schar or Burn? Not for me. More money than Tino? Not for me.  
 

Bruno money? Forget it. 

[Nucasol]

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

I don’t think his performances have been elite for a number of years now. I wouldn’t have an idea what his worth is now tbh.  Should he earn more money than Schar or Burn? Not for me. More money than Tino? Not for me.  
 

Bruno money? Forget it. 

My thoughts too. I don’t think he’s done anything for two years to justify that. U think there’s better deals to be picked up in the market if we decide to cash in.

[Lush Vlad]

1 hour ago, The College Dropout said:

I don’t think his performances have been elite for a number of years now. I wouldn’t have an idea what his worth is now tbh.  Should he earn more money than Schar or Burn? Not for me. More money than Tino? Not for me.  
 

Bruno money? Forget it. 

I appreciate his stock isn’t high at the minute. But you’d imagine he is on decent enough money already and be will be wanting a pay rise that put him well into 6 figures a week. Which would put him close to our top earners. 
 

His injury record is an issue. It’s clearly impacted his game, as well. Be looks less mobile and he was never that fast. 

Schar and Burn don’t have that long left as starters, I wouldn’t have thought. Not sure looking to completely change our CB’s from last season over one summer would be wise. 

 

[The College Dropout]

29 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

I appreciate his stock isn’t high at the minute. But you’d imagine he is on decent enough money already and be will be wanting a pay rise that put him well into 6 figures a week. Which would put him close to our top earners. 
 

His injury record is an issue. It’s clearly impacted his game, as well. Be looks less mobile and he was never that fast. 

Schar and Burn don’t have that long left as starters, I wouldn’t have thought. Not sure looking to completely change our CB’s from last season over one summer would be wise. 

 

I’m just saying he shouldn’t be paid more than them.  Probably less. Definitely less in fact imo.  
 

Just for the wage structure. Vice captains. International players.  High quality. Rarely miss a game. 
 

I would keep both Schar and Burn next season if they are happy to stay. Botman is the big question mark for me next summer. Of the 4 he’s the one performing at the lowest level imo. 
 

Im happy for Botman to prove he’s worth the money.  

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I think we really underrate how good Botman is. Could play for anyone in the PL with ease IMO. 

 

Thiaw and Botman should be the main pairing for years to come. 

[stozo]

1 hour ago, Lush Vlad said:

I appreciate his stock isn’t high at the minute. But you’d imagine he is on decent enough money already and be will be wanting a pay rise that put him well into 6 figures a week. Which would put him close to our top earners. 
 

His injury record is an issue. It’s clearly impacted his game, as well. Be looks less mobile and he was never that fast. 

Schar and Burn don’t have that long left as starters, I wouldn’t have thought. Not sure looking to completely change our CB’s from last season over one summer would be wise. 

 

I think the last sentence is key for me. It's fairly clear Schar and Burn are in their last 18 months as top Premier League footballers and the same with Trippier. So even if Botman stays in the next 18 months we need to buy two new centre backs, a right back and a left back (given Hall currently has no natural back up). If Botman goes then you're looking at five new additions. And I think we'd be naive to say there is no risk around Tino and Man City, so you could very easily spiral into an 18 month period with a complete overhaul of the defence (bar Thiaw and Hall). That's a very high risk thing to do - you might get six wonderful players, but equally if you miss on a few of them the defence looks shaky quite quickly. In that context, if Botman is happy to renew then I think that would be the smart thing to do even if he is a bit more pricey than we'd like.  

[TRon]

1 hour ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I think we really underrate how good Botman is. Could play for anyone in the PL with ease IMO. 

 

Thiaw and Botman should be the main pairing for years to come. 

 

 

This has been my position for a long time, but he's been crocked for such a long period of time, I could understand reservations about giving him a bumper contract. Shame because he's top class when he's fit. 

[SteV]

1 hour ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I think we really underrate how good Botman is. Could play for anyone in the PL with ease IMO. 

 

Thiaw and Botman should be the main pairing for years to come. 

Yeah, but Burn is still the better option right at this moment.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, SteV said:

Yeah, but Burn is still the better option right at this moment.

 

Yeah quite possibly, I'm certainly happy with Burn playing as long as it's at LCB. But we should keep Botman and have him as the successor IMO. 

[SteV]

3 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

Yeah quite possibly, I'm certainly happy with Burn playing as long as it's at LCB. But we should keep Botman and have him as the successor IMO. 

I’m sure that is the plan, however the longer Burn keeps out-performing him, the more difficult it becomes going forward.

[Optimistic Nut]

Botman had a couple of poor moments but I thought he was playing well overall. Would still have Botman over Burn when fit but it's a bit moot if he's out anyway. Ramsdale, Tino, Hall, Thiaw, Botman could be our back 5 for a good few years. 

[Optimistic Nut]

Would also be good seeing Botman with Hall or Tino to his left rather than having to keep covering for Burn when he's caught in behind. Something he's not had the benefit of this season in a back 4. 

[Earp]

6 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

Botman had a couple of poor moments but I thought he was playing well overall. Would still have Botman over Burn when fit but it's a bit moot if he's out anyway. Ramsdale, Tino, Hall, Thiaw, Botman could be our back 5 for a good few years. 

I think Botman and Thiaw are the best pairing.

[Newcastle Fan]

I am pretty sure we have an excellent win ratio when Botman is playing, he's a class defender and still young.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I would personally pick Botman but you can't begrudge Howe for picking Burn with the way he's playing at the moment. 

 

Either way Botman is a great CB.

[LFEE]

CB such an interesting position. You could argue Burn is getting better year on year when at CB. Definitely a position which requires great reading of the game.

[El Prontonise]

I'd have burn ahead of botman at CB.

[GEFAFWISP]

Hard to be great when you're injured for near 2 seasons. Unfortunately he's very much looking like a permacrock at this point. Get rid and try and salvage a decent fee, there's always better out there and we can't effectively contingency plan for Burn/Schar ageing out by relying on someone with ticking time bombs for knees. We probably need 2 new CBs minimum in next 1-2 years to compliment Thiaw.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, GEFAFWISP said:

Hard to be great when you're injured for near 2 seasons. Unfortunately he's very much looking like a permacrock at this point. Get rid and try and salvage a decent fee, there's always better out there and we can't effectively contingency plan for Burn/Schar ageing out by relying on someone with ticking time bombs for knees. We probably need 2 new CBs minimum in next 1-2 years to compliment Thiaw.

 

But he's already been injured, don't think we can assume he's going to be continuously injured. 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2025 by AyeDubbleYoo

[danswan]

He's mint, but injured too often. Similar to Woodgate, he's that good (not quite that level but may be one day) that you kind of need to keep him around and hope he conquers his fitness challenges. 

However, injury-prone players tend to remain that way throughout their career from my recollection. Anyone got any examples of players who were plagued by different, niggly injuries and then went on to have many years relatively uninterrupted by injury?

 

 

Edited December 2, 2025 by danswan

[GEFAFWISP]

1 minute ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

But he's already been injured, don't think we can assume he's going to be continuously injured. 

 

 

 

Inverse is true, and that's a big question mark to have when he's next man up post the Burn/Schar era. If he wasn't a crock, he's our 10 year man, shame it's not playing out like that really but Thiaw mitigates the upset somewhat currently.

[TRon]

28 minutes ago, SteV said:

I’m sure that is the plan, however the longer Burn keeps out-performing him, the more difficult it becomes going forward.

 

 

The issue isn't performance for me, it's Botman's fitness record over the last couple of years. I don't want to lose Botman in order to keep playing Burn who is a depreciating asset, but Botman's injury record is going to complicate new contract negotiations.