Saffri to Feyenoord

[rieg77 0]

Normally I wouldn''t put much stock in rumours this time of year but Sky Sports are reporting that they have had him watched several times and are lining up a 1.5m bid.Obviously no-one wants to see him go and we couldn''t replace him for the money.With recent revelations about our debt it makes you wonder whether other teams are going to target our best players to try and get them on the cheap. Right now, we can afford to say no because we still have a chance of going up. In june, we may still be in the Champ and then we''ll have to consider accepting some of these ''cheap'' bids for our players.

[3pmkickoff 0]

£1.5M ain''t a cheap bid for someone out of contract in the summer - if someone came in with that money then take it

[ZLF 271]

[quote]Normally I wouldn''t put much stock in rumours this time of year but Sky Sports are reporting that they have had him watched several times and are lining up a 1.5m bid.Obviously no-one wants to see him...[/quote]

With likely replacements such as sidwell being valued much higher we could not afford to give him away for that price - especially given the very limited midfield options we already have.

Hopefully it is a pie in the sky rumour.

OTBC

 

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

[quote]£1.5M ain''t a cheap bid for someone out of contract in the summer - if someone came in with that money then take it[/quote]

I wouldn''t take £1.5M for Saf.  Who could we replace him with?  Players like Sidwell, Tonge, Jagielka etc are worth more than £2M

[MadDan 0]

Can''t see how this so called debt is going to affect things.

We''ve borrowed money to fund certain activities. This borrowings are met by regular payments out of regular income. Pretty much how the world goes around.

These so called rumours are no more than idle tittle tattle dreamt up by ill informed teenagers under pressure to come up with stories

Not sure what those who pay any heed of them are, but there''s an indication in the above sentence.

[ZLF 271]

[quote]£1.5M ain''t a cheap bid for someone out of contract in the summer - if someone came in with that money then take it[/quote]

The fact his contract is coming to an end entirely changes the situation - thanks for pointing that out. 

Bearing in mind we gave flem an extended contract at this stage last season are the club in negotiaition with our most influential midfielder?   His leg muscles are constantly giving him jip but he is only 27 and looks like a prem midfielder - surely we should be trying to get him to committ to us for a couple more years???

Suddenly £1.5m if he is not keen on staying (or fancies european football) looks attractive..

 

OTBC

 

[Being Jan Kristiansen... 0]

Did we really only sign him on a two year contract????

[MadDan 0]

Looks like it as -

"Norwich''s third signing of the 2004 pre-season was Moroccan international midfielder Youssef Safri who was set to join them from Coventry City on July 8t for an initial fee of £500,000. The tough-tackling 27-year-old is set to put pen to paper on a two-year contract for the Canaries, subject to the club receiving a work permit. " http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/safri.htm


more interesting is -

NORWICH CITY are poised to make their third signing of the summer - with Moroccan international midfielder Youssef Safri set to join them from Coventry City for an initial fee of £500,000.

The tough-tackling 27-year-old is set to put pen to paper on a two-year contract for the Canaries, subject to the club receiving a work permit.Safri is currently in Africa preparing for Morocco''s forthcoming clash with Botswana and is due to join his new Norwich team-mates at Colney on July 8.

Manager Nigel Worthington said: "I''m delighted to capture a player of Youssef''s quality. He''s a very good passer of the ball and a hard worker who tackles well. "He increases our options in midfield and his signing will help to further promote healthy competition for places in the squad, which is important."

Coventry boss Peter Reid had very little time to work alongside Safri but wished him well at his new club.He said: "We''re sorry to see Youssef leave. There is no doubting his class - he is a quality international footballer but every player carries a value and he had made it very clear that he wanted to play in the Premiership.

"I''m a great believer in that if a player wants to leave he will do so and we were not going to deny him this opportunity to play in the top flight. Youssef was approaching the final season of his contract and we were in a position whereby he could soon start negotiating to leave for nothing next summer." http://www.talksoccer.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-10872.html

[3pmkickoff 0]

[quote]Did we really only sign him on a two year contract????[/quote]

Yep, I''m afraid so - no extra year option mentioned either. Quite a few players are out of contract this summer (Brennan, Jarvis, McVeigh, Charlton, Ward, Gallagher, Safri)

[John Smith 0]

But on the other hand, is 1.5million for a player who is relatively injury prone and misses a chunk of the season through the African Nations and other internationals such a bad deal?

He''s probably the most influential player at the club in my opinion, but he doesn''t play many games a season and his desrie could again be to play in the premiership, afterall thats the reason he left Coventry; For premiership football.

[Saint Canary 0]

No doubt Safri will wait to see where we are come the end of the season before deciding about a new contract.  Worthington will have to make to a decision in January IF someone puts an offer in for him. 

Personally though, I do not agree with the mentality that if we did sell Safri we would have to pay more for a replacement.  Safri himself cost £500k and Francis £250k and both of these players at times looked Premiership quality.  There is no golden rule that says that quality players have to cost you big money.

[charlies dad 0]

Maybe they will look elsewhere as he is now injured for the forseeable future and also due to play for morocco in the ANC.

[Dicky 0]

[quote]Yep, I''m afraid so - no extra year option mentioned either. Quite a few players are out of contract this summer (Brennan, Jarvis, McVeigh, Charlton, Ward, Gallagher, Safri)[/quote]

Maybe this is good business though - do we really want to retain all of these players or should we look at our wage bill?  With the exception of Saf (and others would say McVeigh, but there was hardly a queue of teams in for him in the summer when he was on the transfer list), no great problems there.  I am sure we will be talking to Saf now and he seems to enjoy being at the club, so relax.

[FatMan Fat 0]

This sort of thing happens all the time with many different players at many different Clubs. If we are challenging for the Prem come January then no doubt we will try and negotiate a new contract with Saff. If not, we would be best to sell him so that we don''t end up with a Marshall/Kenton situation.

Now, how does that song go.....

"There he goes, and there he goes, and there he goes,

Youseffs off to Feyeeeeenooooord,

There he goes, Morrocean all over the world"