Premier League 2016/17

[Adam]

Lukaku is apparently not now going to sign a new contract. Oh well.

Take the huge fee, invest in the squad and build. Fine by me, never expected him to stay this long really. Might be nice having a more diverse attack.

[Lineker]

Ankle ligament damage for Kane - but nowhere near as severe as what he suffered earlier this season.

[Matt]

7 hours ago, Adam said:

Lukaku is apparently not now going to sign a new contract. Oh well.

Take the huge fee, invest in the squad and build. Fine by me, never expected him to stay this long really. Might be nice having a more diverse attack.

Pretty sure i said something similar last year when he was rumoured to go back to Chelsea but it's disappointing that he doesn't want to stay. I could maybe understand if Real, Barca or Bayern wanted him but otherwise why not stay at Everton, try to get them into the top 4 and become a club legend. The lack of loyalty in football these days is disheartening. Unless you're at a top top club, no one stays any more... Unless I'm forgetting someone, Le Tissier was the last quality player to stay at a non-top6 club for most of his career... Maybe Shearer at Newcastle

[Moses Julep]

Is he actually angling for move somewhere specific or is he just not signing this contract because of the massive release clause fee? 

[DavidMarrio]

4 hours ago, Moses Julep said:

Is he actually angling for move somewhere specific or is he just not signing this contract because of the massive release clause fee? 

Really it's both. 

Everton wanted something like a 90mil release clause. Lukaku and his agent will want a lower fee probably around 60mil (random figure) which isn't an unreasonable figure really in today's game for someone of his quality and potential.

No one will bid 90mil for Lukaku and you're not going to want a stupid release clause in your contract if you could easily move to a big European team or a bigger English club. 

[MDK]

7 hours ago, Matt said:

Pretty sure i said something similar last year when he was rumoured to go back to Chelsea but it's disappointing that he doesn't want to stay. I could maybe understand if Real, Barca or Bayern wanted him but otherwise why not stay at Everton, try to get them into the top 4 and become a club legend. The lack of loyalty in football these days is disheartening. Unless you're at a top top club, no one stays any more... Unless I'm forgetting someone, Le Tissier was the last quality player to stay at a non-top6 club for most of his career... Maybe Shearer at Newcastle

Does Andy King count? Tony Hibbert only retired recently I think.

Loyalty in football is done. Even the fans can be disloyal, as soon as a run of bad games comes along you get some fans wanting the manager out or getting on the back of an out of form player.

[Kyle]

2 hours ago, Davidmarrio said:

Really it's both. 

Everton wanted something like a 90mil release clause. Lukaku and his agent will want a lower fee probably around 60mil (random figure) which isn't an unreasonable figure really in today's game for someone of his quality and potential.

No one will bid 90mil for Lukaku and you're not going to want a stupid release clause in your contract if you could easily move to a big European team or a bigger English club. 

In a world where Cruyff Turn Stones goes for 45million-ish, I'd argue a 90million release clause for Lukaku is also not unreasonable.  

[Gazz]

14 hours ago, Matt said:

Pretty sure i said something similar last year when he was rumoured to go back to Chelsea but it's disappointing that he doesn't want to stay. I could maybe understand if Real, Barca or Bayern wanted him but otherwise why not stay at Everton, try to get them into the top 4 and become a club legend. The lack of loyalty in football these days is disheartening. Unless you're at a top top club, no one stays any more... Unless I'm forgetting someone, Le Tissier was the last quality player to stay at a non-top6 club for most of his career... Maybe Shearer at Newcastle

To play somewhat Devil's advocate, how much loyalty do clubs show to players on average? It's a two-way street.

[MDK]

23 minutes ago, Handsome Gazz said:

To play somewhat Devil's advocate, how much loyalty do clubs show to players on average? It's a two-way street.

Just ask Dean Cox

[MDK]

@Lineker @Jimmy The new ground is looking alright

[Lineker]

Middlesbrough have sacked Karanka.

[lanky316]

On 15/03/2017 at 01:42, Matt said:

Pretty sure i said something similar last year when he was rumoured to go back to Chelsea but it's disappointing that he doesn't want to stay. I could maybe understand if Real, Barca or Bayern wanted him but otherwise why not stay at Everton, try to get them into the top 4 and become a club legend. The lack of loyalty in football these days is disheartening. Unless you're at a top top club, no one stays any more... Unless I'm forgetting someone, Le Tissier was the last quality player to stay at a non-top6 club for most of his career... Maybe Shearer at Newcastle

Shearer went to Newcastle for (a then) stupidly large amount of money and they were a top four side for a fair amount of it. Had he stayed at Blackburn as they slipped away there could be an argument but when you're at your boyhood club and they're at a top level it's harder to leave. 

Edited March 16, 2017 by lanky316

[Colly]

Yeah I wouldn't stretch to the point of saying there was no point someone could have came in with a better offer, but we were decent when he signed, then he was injured in most of our naff period after which he was realistically too old for Man Utd or similar and we were back in the Champions League.

[lanky316]

United sniffed around a lot if I remember rightly but it wasn't money that Shepherd was happy to accept and as they weren't in a bad position it wasn't enough to unsettle him at the time. I don't remember a lot of international interest but obviously a Shearer transfer saga wasn't particularly on my radar. While he was there it was during the clubs best period since the 50s with a couple of title challenges and FA Cup finals, I think it would have been quite hard to convince him to move on.

 

Obviously it depends on time-lines for "top 6" since obviously teams like Man City for the most of the Premier League era don't really fit that bill but would on the current league situation. Ledley King cwuld be a shout, he stayed at Spurs for years of mid-table mediocrity, shame for him that when they started to creep into the European places he was pretty much a cripple and couldn't even train properly.

[The Lusophone]

According to ex-Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards, Rovers refused to let us even enter the bidding for him despite being willing and able. So we went out and signed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer instead for ten times less - oh and he scored on his debut against Blackburn.

[TCO]

Shearer playing for United from 1996 on would just have been criminally unfair. They would have won everything.

Edited March 17, 2017 by TCO

[Gazz]

He did play for United.

[Colly]

They (Manchester United) did win everything.

[The Lusophone]

Those were the days. ;_;

[MDK]

Arsenal  

Arsenal :@