Ricky Van Wolfswinkel recall

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

If, big if, Ricky is coming back I suspect it will be Betis cancelling the loan rather than Norwich recalling him.

Betis have just signed Leandro Damiao which pushes Ricky even further away from the first team and they also have a new manager who may not fancy playing Ricky at all - hard to blame him given his form.

International loans can only be stopped in the transfer windows and Betis may still be liable for some of Ricky''s wages even if they send him back - all depends on how the contract was drawn up.

[PurpleCanary 5,560]

There is only one circumstance under which this truly bizarre idea (I can see that Real Betis might well want to get rid of the player but not for a moment that we would want him back) might happen. As things stand, if van Wolfswinkel returned he would take the 25th place in the squad. So unless there were any more departures - and we have offloaded all the obvious ones with the possible exception of Lafferty (and would anyone seriously prefer van Wolfswinkel to Lafferty?) - that would be that. It would mean what looked like a sensible move, buying Jarvis now to free up a loan space, would be rendered null.But, if our plans to fill that 25th place with a proper striker fell through at the last moment, as apparently they did for Gayle in the summer, then a scrambled deal to repatriate van Wolfswinkel would, I suppose, do little harm, even if - as at St-Etienne and now in Spain - he ended up  as an unused sub.

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

What a dead loss this guy has been and failed when we have loaned him out. In transfer terms he must be pretty close to worthless now

[Hairy Canary 704]

Thinks thats right Yorkshire. I seriously doubt we could give him away now, with his wages being what they are.

[wcorkcanary 4,334]

He could save us a few ( maybe 1 mill) quid on Haller, after all there was a time when Ricky was prolific.....in Holland.

[Bannana Boy 30]

Serious question - and I''m not trying to troll those with differing opinions to my own - but does anyone think that RVW will ever ''come good'' - either for us, or someone else?

I held the belief that his poor season with us could be mitigated by:

> having to adapt to a new league

> an annoying, niggling injury that kept him for getting a run in the team at the start of the season

> Chris Hughton (not the man himself, rather his footballing philosophy)

Since then however he''s failed to deliver the goods in a reasonably strong team in a reasonably weak Ligue 1 and he''s failed to deliver the goods in an average team in an average La Liga.

He''s a really nice bloke, and no-doubt tries his best (and I would genuinely love it if he were to end up back here and bang in 10 goals which help keep us up) but I really can''t see him ever being a top division striker in any of the strong to middling football countries.

It''s like his time in Portugal was a bit of a flash in a pan.

If I was Ricky, I''d look at a move to the MLS. Championship/League One standard but with more money.

Slightly OT, so apologies for that.

[Kingston Yellow 220]

As anyone who has actually seen RVW play in a competitive match for NCFC would know, there is absolutely no chance, whatsoever, that he is being recalled by AN to play for the first team.

The guy simply cannot cut it in the PL. He''s not got any physical presence. Doesn''t work hard enough and has lost his confidence.

If there is any truth to this rumour that his loan deal is being cut short, it will be because he''s being sent back or he''s being used as a make-weight in a transfer (god let this be true).

He will he paid off in the summer. If not, sooner.

[Pete Raven 276]

Not happening according to our Paddy.

[Nicko 0]

[quote user="Sports Desk Pete"]Not happening according to our Paddy.[/quote]

Yup Paddy Davitt has quashed this rumour on Twitter.

[Loyal Canary 0]

There is a part of me that would love to see him come back be a roaring success and keep us up.

I know it''s a fantasy but it would be a good story

[Ginja 26]

[quote user="Nicko"][quote user="Sports Desk Pete"]Not happening according to our Paddy.[/quote]

Yup Paddy Davitt has quashed this rumour on Twitter.[/quote]

[Y] Pleased to hear this.

[Feedthewolf 4,846]

Essentially we need a club that is rich enough (to play his wages), cr*p enough (to need a striker) and gullible enough (to believe he is the solution).Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is Dutch... just sayin''...[:)]

[AJ 1,219]

Our biggest and most expensive mistake - ended up lumbered with an overpaid, under performing striker who will never set foot in a starting 11 for us before his contract ends. He seems like a nice guy - and that''s good for him because he''s certainly been a big winner in all this. Despite not even playing for us last season we were paying some of his wages! He had the opportunity to leave in the summer but declined because the wages were less than he''s on with us. Whilst I can''t blame him for grabbing the money whilst he can, he certainly turned out to be a complete and utter Torres/wooden horse for us. Looked unbeatable in Portugal, looked good in his first game against Palace - what''s happened since then must be one of the biggest flops in footballing history, definitely in our history.

Sometimes I feel sorry for the guy, then I remember he''s leaching us for every penny he can get. Hopefully someone will take him off our books. I believe his contract is up at the end of the season and Betis have an agreement to sign him permanently - I can''t see that happening though.

[hogesar 9,671]

[quote user="AJ"] Sometimes I feel sorry for the guy, then I remember he''s leaching us for every penny he can get. Hopefully someone will take him off our books. I believe his contract is up at the end of the season and Betis have an agreement to sign him permanently - I can''t see that happening though.[/quote]

I lost all sympathy when it appeared, on the face of it, that he declined to go back to Porto because they wouldn''t match his wages here. No one would, his wages were based on him being a Premier League striker. I personally wouldn''t have him if we were in the Championship.

[curious yellow 184]

Fair play to Real Betis, they gave him 286 minutes and he only scored twice! We gave him 90 minutes and he only scored once.

I believe there are reports that somebody actually passed to him as well.

[Lessingham Canary 99]

Curious yellow wrote; "I believe there are reports that somebody actually passed to him as well"

No not true, I believe Whittaker came out after the game and said he was meaning to shoot, not cross for RVW to score v Everton.............. so that 1 goal might never have been !

[AJ 1,219]

To be fair we used to pass him to him a fair amount, he just used to fall over all the time or pass it out of play.

I bet at school he was that annoying little kid that goal hangs. Now he''s been told he has to play properly he''s just not very good!

[PurpleCanary 5,560]

[quote user="AJ"]Our biggest and most expensive mistake - ended up lumbered with an overpaid, under performing striker who will never set foot in a starting 11 for us before his contract ends. He seems like a nice guy - and that''s good for him because he''s certainly been a big winner in all this. Despite not even playing for us last season we were paying some of his wages! He had the opportunity to leave in the summer but declined because the wages were less than he''s on with us. Whilst I can''t blame him for grabbing the money whilst he can, he certainly turned out to be a complete and utter Torres/wooden horse for us. Looked unbeatable in Portugal, looked good in his first game against Palace - what''s happened since then must be one of the biggest flops in footballing history, definitely in our history.

Sometimes I feel sorry for the guy, then I remember he''s leaching us for every penny he can get. Hopefully someone will take him off our books. I believe his contract is up at the end of the season and Betis have an agreement to sign him permanently - I can''t see that happening though.[/quote]

He signed a four-year deal in the summer of 2013, so there is more than a season left to run, unless his contract gets cancelled by mutual consent, or someone buys him at what one would assume would be several millions less than the £8.5m we paid.

[AJ 1,219]

You are right purple, the date I was looking at was the date his loan period ends. Woops!

[Fuzzar 1,702]

I think we should make Chris Hughton compulsorily purchase him. He apparently was interested when at Newcastle before he brought him here. To Brighton I say, so he can reflect on his sins.

[havemyhowsonit 0]

Please will someone steal his passport before he enters the country. Or have someone drop him off in Holland and leave without him.

I can''t stand the idea of him pulling on the Norwich jersey again

[Mr Angry 1,561]

Just a couple of points:

1. Although it is hard to pin down the exact figures being talked about,it appeared that the wage that RVW''s agent was trying to get from Sporting would still have been less than he was getting from us, but Sporting wanted to pay even less;

2. How many of the people bleating about his wages would really take a pay cut themselves?

[Mooney 0]

Let''s send him to Brighton for that absolute mug Chris Haughton. Complete waste of space.

[ca 1]

Paddy Davitt has already confirmed that he hasn''t been recalled and won''t be coming back in the January window

[Katie Borkins 1]

Would love to see us bring him back, change our midfield and team philosophy and rebuild the club around him. Sadly it won''t happen because McNally would lose too much face.

We will always have to wonder what might have been if that lazy b*stard Snodgrass had let him take that penalty.

[daly 501]

Perhaps McNally can do a John Darwin the Canoe Man and claim on the insurance and get our transfer money back for his disappearance.

[Jacko 0]

This could be a cracking latest instalment of the Back to the Future series. Let see what happens ''if'' Ricky takes that penalty. If he missed I fear the universe would probably eat itself.