Pillaging relegated teams....

[Not Nigel 0]

Relegated teams often have to offload a few players to balance the books, even if they are only up for one year, and all relegated teams have a few gems. As a likely mid-table team this year we are prime candidates alongside the likes of Fulham, Stoke, and the other 33 pointers to be among the vultures circling. Who would you consider from any of the five current bottom teams? (On the basis that three from those five are likely to be the relegated teams, can''t see Sunderland going down). I''m going to go for:

QPR

Jamie Mackie

Bobby Zamora - (Subject to seriousness of injury, has been playing on injections all season, possibly too much of a crock and finding that he will have to move down a division).

READING

Chris Gunter (can play both left and right back)

SOUTHAMPTON

Nathanial Clyne (was gutted to miss out on him)

Ricky Lambert (could we simply replace Holt here?)

Jay Rodriquez (poor season, but could we grab a £7m striker on a cheapo deal and get the best out of him?)

Adam Lallana (not sure if he''d leave Southampton, it is his boyhood club, but if he would.... Hoolahan replacement?)

WIGAN

Arouna Kona

James McCarthy (another playmaker, and possible Hoolahan successor, but has the same problem as Wes - doesn''t score many goals)

Gary Caldwell - (always rated this bloke as a solid and dependable center back and a leader)

Shaun Maloney - (decent left winger, we need another left winger, knows where the net is)

ASTON VILLA

Ron Vlaar - (This bloke is quality, Villa went to pieces when he got injured)

Charles N''Zogbia - (left winger, was quality at Wigan, less so at Villa but still only 26)

Christian Benteke - (completely unrealistic though, probably go for £15m+ to a top five team)

Andreas Weimann - (Looks like he is going to end up a very good player, and hasn''t signed a new deal)

I also like Jimmy Kebe but he''s a right winger, and we don''t need one of those really unless Hughton wants to move Snodgrass to the left next season. Obviously I don''t expect us to build a team full of relegated players, but just some ideas about who other Premier League teams might fancy.

Funny that QPR probably have the most capable group of individuals, but I wouldn''t touch the majority of them with a barge pole, especially not that Taarabt muppet.

[chicken 0]

Don''t forget Samba and Remy. As unlikely as Benteke but still.

[Not Nigel 0]

Samba is said to be on £90k-£100k a week and Remy is said to be on £75k a week, they are just way too out there to be realistic, we don''t have that money (and neither do QPR as it happens, watch as Portsmouth II happens shortly).

Benteke is likely to be on much less as Lambert''s biggest challenge this year has been to drastically reduce the wage bill and he came from Belgium, wouldn''t surprise me if he was on no more than Bassong. Although the figure that we have to worry about is the amount that he would be able to achieve in his next contract, wherever that is, and I doubt we would be able to compete with whoever wants him - I''m sure one of Arsenal, Spurs, and Chelsea would fancy him, if not one of the big Serie A or German teams.

I shouldn''t have bothered putting Benteke in there, wishful thinking. Although Lambert did once say that Chris Martin was the best finisher that he''d ever seen.... so maybe he''d fancy a swap deal?

[Not Nigel 0]

Plus Loic Remy falls firmly in that category of QPR player that I wouldn''t touch with a barge pole. He''s been there six weeks and he has already come out and said that he didn''t want to leave Marseille, and his agent is already considering his next move and it has already been made public that he has a relegation release clause. Typical journeyman who went to QPR for the £75k a week, which was a huge pay rise. Don''t want that player at this club, not when we have people like Bassong coming here to play regular football.

[Renskay 38]

I think your missing out some very good players that could also be worth a look.

QPR

- Nedum Onuoha ( Was very impressive in his time at Sunderland and could be a very good player for us)

- Samba Diakite ( Could be good addition to the midfield)

- Junior Hoilett ( A truly excellent player on his day and if we could beat out a few bigger teams to his signing I think it would be a great coup)

- Andros Townsend ( I know he''s a Spurs player but he does look very good)

Reading

- Adam Le Fondre ( Goal machine!)

- Daniel Carriço ( Looked like a very good player when he was in Portugal)

Wigan

- Ivan Ramis ( Has been very impressive this season)

- Jean Beausejour ( Great player and can pull out some truly amazing passes once in while)

Aston Villa

- Mathew Lowton ( Looks like an excellent player and has made the transition from League 1 to Premier League seamlessly)

[pete 371]

If City were to drop a maybe who would want our players. Snodgrass, Bassong, and Ruddy perhaps. Lets survive this season before playing this game.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

Lallana would be excellent, as would Gaston Ramirez and Maya Yoshida - both finding their feet after taking a little while to adapt to the Premier League and after Adkins left.

 

I believe players like Samaba and Remy have clauses in their contracts which allows QPR to terminate the contracts without payment if they are relegated - obviously they would rather sell but I think even the players realise their massive contracts were only temporary or reliant on Premier League survival.

 

With the very healthy parachute payments relegated teams get none of them will be under great pressure to sell (apart from maybe QPR) and the prices for most of these players will be very high (look at how much Matt Jarvis and Steven Fletcher cost). I really think Norwich need to take full advantage of the extra Premier League money and do most of thier shopping in Europe. This coming summer will probably see some absolutely astonishing prices for average players based in England.

[Not Nigel 0]

QPR

Renskay, thanks for your suggestion. I read a QPR forum frequently because a friend of mine posts there, I left Andros Townsend out because he''s not a QPR player, but I almost added Onouha before removing him at the last minute. He is probably a decent shout. I''d love Townsend here, I think he would be perfect for the left wing, but Levy is a tough businessman and he will probably ask £6m for him if he continues in the same vain (just like Naughton). He''s probably worth that though.

Diakite however is not a good shout, QPR fans have been really frustrated by this guy. He was quality when they had him on loan but has not been able to replicate that form since signing on a permanent, and he disappeared to France for months citing homesickness and personal problems earlier this season, a player willing to sign a four year contract and then go missing as his team languishes at the bottom of the league?

Junior Hoilett clearly has talent but he has the potential to have two successive relegations on his CV and apparently he rejected Arsenal and Spurs to join QPR. What does that tell you about the player? Lack of ambition? Motivated only by money? I''m wary of him to be honest.

READING

Don''t know enough about Carrico, no idea, but not sure about Le Fondre either. Despite scoring 10 this year he is still used primarily as a sub and not really convinced that he is having anything other than a honeymoon period or lucky season (like DJ Campbell at Blackpool), but I''d be happy to have him here because we do like the underdog and he seems like a Norwich type player (well a Lambert type signing anyway, come from non-league, point to prove, etc), and if we have a place on the bench to fill when Jackson leaves then why not.

WIGAN

Ivan Ramis has a serious cruciate ligament injury and was ruled out for the season in January, given our unsuccessful record of signing crocks who remain crocks or don''t recover (Whitbread, Vaughan, Butterfield), I''d be seriously wary of signing a player in June who has been out in January and could see a reoccurance of one of the worst injuries that a player can get.

Jean Beausejour for left back or left wing? He always seems to lack pace for me. Rather have Garrido at left back, while any left winger in a 4-5-1 needs to be a goalscorer for me - he doesn''t score goals.

Good shout on Lowton, but we don''t need a right back really, do we? Unless Hughton wants rid of Martin.

[Not Nigel 0]

"If City were to drop a maybe who would want our players. Snodgrass, Bassong, and Ruddy perhaps. Lets survive this season before playing this game"

If you were any more negative you would be magnetic.

[Not Nigel 0]

"Lallana would be excellent"

I''d be really excited about Lallana too, especially as he could offer competition to both left wing and ''the Hoolahan role'' (don''t you just love how Hoolahan has a position named after him?).

"With the very healthy parachute payments relegated teams get none of them will be under great pressure to sell"

Wouldn''t be so sure about that, I think Villa would be in trouble, Lerner doesn''t spend his own money and they still have a huge wage bill with the likes of Stephen Ireland and Darren Bent hanging on. Don''t know how much Whelan can put into Wigan either with JJB in so much trouble (nearly went under last year). Southampton would be OK as long as their owners stick around, Reading have spent hardly anything so they would be alright, but often it is players demanding to leave which forces their hand - Blackpool players soon jumped the sinking ship, much to Holloway''s fury.

"(look at how much Matt Jarvis and Steven Fletcher cost)"

Well everybody baulked at the Fletcher fee, but in hindsight he is the player who has scored the goals which will keep Sunderland up. Matt Jarvis was an undisclosed fee, how much do you suspect he went for? Gold and Sullivan are as tight as a gnats chuff (Andy Carroll aside), so I can''t see it being too much?

"I really think Norwich need to take full advantage of the extra Premier League money and do most of thier shopping in Europe"

I''d like to see a healthy balance to be honest, I love the fact that we have so many UK + Irish players but at the same time can see the great value for money achieved with the Tettey purchase. Wigan are the other extreme, never sign a single English player year on year. I have to admit that I think that signing European strikers is a given, it is the strikers which seem to cost the earth in this country (and are seriously over rated). I suspect that Hughton will be signing his strikers from the continent, no doubt, but I still expect Curtis Davies to arrive and wouldn''t be surprised to see one or two Celtic players here too - and possibly not Hooper.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]WIGAN Arouna Kona .[/quote]

Isn''t it Koné?

 

But him. Definitely. Quality.

[Not Nigel 0]

Yes it''s that, but I didn''t know how to do a funny french ''e'' so just thought I''d type ''a'' instead. Or something like that.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]Yes it''s that, but I didn''t know how to do a funny french ''e'' so just thought I''d type ''a'' instead. Or something like that.[/quote]

You hold down Alt Gr when you tap E.

 

But going back to Koné, I do think he is very good. He''s got a lot to his game and could potentially play for a bigger club than Wigan in the Prem (like ourselves).

[Not Nigel 0]

He was wanted by a lot of teams before joining Wigan, including Lambert''s Villa apparently. I think that he''s as good as Benteke personally, only one is much younger. Whatever we spend on Kone we aren''t getting back because he''s 29, but if the price is right....

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

While I don''t doubt relegated teams would have to sell at somepoint, I think Wigan, Southampton and Reading will all be able to hold onto players for at least one season. If players try to force a move then the fees will be huge.

 

Matt Jarvis cost West Ham £7.5m potentially rising to £10m if West Ham survive relegation. That''s a lot of cash for an average player.

[Not Nigel 0]

Yes that is a lot of money, although he hasn''t played to his best at West Ham yet and his best may still come. I can''t see us spending that much on any player unless it is a proven striker, I can see us spending £7m to £8m on one flagship European striker, but I can''t see us spending that on a midfielder. I''d sooner take Andros Townsend for £3m to £4m if that price would suit Levy.

[Legend Iwan 30]

There will be no point trying to buy a player from one of the relegated teams in the summer, or any player already based here for that matter, because the price is going to be astronomical.

My hope is all these rumours we heard throughout January about players from the continent have some truth behind them and Hughton has his scouts working overtime between then and July.

[Not Nigel 0]

"There will be no point trying to buy a player from one of the relegated teams in the summer, or any player already based here for that matter, because the price is going to be astronomical"

There will likely be some degree of inflation, but this isn''t matter of fact and it doesn''t mean that bargains won''t exist. We are only really competing with a group of 7 or 8 other Premier League teams for our players, and there have been three or four right backs named on this thread, so it depends very much on supply as well as demand.

English based strikers will be far too expensive, that''s pretty much a given, but there are so many other variables... such as:

a) relegation release clauses

b) length on contracts

c) whether we have a player to swap with them (the value of our players will rise too).

Plus countless other..... And there are other good Championship players.

Take Curtis Davies for example, in the summer he has one year left on his deal. He has worked with Hughton, who likes him. At 28 years old (his birthday today as it happens) he isn''t a kid..... and if Birmingham fancy either of Leon Barnett or Daniel Ayala as part-exchange, we could probably end up getting him for a snip.

Spurs paid £8m for Bassong, and he didn''t break our transfer record, so we probably paid £3m. Players stock rise and fall, we''d want £8m for him now again, wouldn''t we? At least?

We got him cheap because he looked awful in a relegated Wolves team in a 9 game loan. There will be good players from relegated clubs who see their stock fall just like that.

[star_manic 0]

i will be very surprised if most of our deals are not from abroad this Summer. more quality for your dosh. and relegated teams get relegated because their players are not good enough. there will be very few worth taking a chance on.

[Not Nigel 0]

"relegated teams get relegated because their players are not good enough"

Relegated teams get relegated because their teams are not good enough.

Mark Bunn was relegated last season, as was Sebastian Bassong. Wes Hoolahan was relegated with us, and the man most likely to score against us on Sunday was relegated last season too. Ryan Bennett has a relegation on his CV too.

Far more than half of the West Ham squad and numerous remaining members of the Newcastle squad experienced relegation, the list is endless.

[Rivvo 265]

Out of the players mentioned I would only be happy with Kone, Townsend, Benteke. Lallana and possibly Weimann.

Benteke''s a non starter as he will go for big money and when he signed for Villa he made comment that he thought they were a London club ( the inference being that he wouldn''t have signed if he''d known otherwise)

Lallana will be difficult to prise away from Southampton and they have enough money to be able to avoid selling him.

Weimann is a possibility but he seems to play his best as the ''small'' man of two up front, not sure if we will be playing two up front very often.

And Kone I don''t know enough about to say.

I would hope in all honesty that we will be looking at players of a similar or higher calibre, probably in Europe as BYG suggested.

[Rivvo 265]

Oh and I''m not sure what Spurs'' plans are for Townsend in the long term, I suspect they may want to keep him.

[Not Nigel 0]

I suspect that if Bale leaves then they will most definitely want to keep him, he''s left footed, although he is playing more central this season.

[Rivvo 265]

We''ll have to ask the resident Spurs fan, come on Bly what do you think?

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

NORWICH

Snodgrass

Ruddy

Hoolahan

Pilkington

Bassong

Whittaker

[Not Nigel 0]

If (BIG2 IF) we did go down I''d actually suspect that Hoolahan would struggle to find a Premier League taker. He''s quality, extremely talented, a clear Premier League quality player, but he isn''t good enough for other teams to completely change their system to accommodate him, especially at his age.

Whittaker, good player, but done enough in 9 games to find an external admirer?

[Salopian 1]

Southampton and QPR will probably not need to sell, especialy the latter, unless it''s their weaker players. Not sure about Wigan, who used to have money. In any case, with the generous umbrella payments for relegated teams, even Villa may be able to avoid selling.

 

It depends who is relegated, of ourse. At least a point for us on Sunday and Sunderland could find themselves with a clear out.

 

For what it''s worth, if we beat Wigan, then I think the relegated sides could be Reading, Wigan and either QPR or Sunderland. Is there much there we would want - Samba at £100k? It''s all premature. All the bottom sides, except us, are showing real signs of improving, so predicting who might have players for sale is a little more difficult than usual.

[Zak Van Burger 0]

[quote user="Salopian"]

Southampton and QPR will probably not need to sell, especialy the latter, unless it''s their weaker players.[/quote]

Besides their reputedly well renumerated 25 man squad and reserve team, QPR also currently have the following players loaned out to other clubs:

Joey Barton - Marseille

Rob Hulse - Millwall

Anton Ferdinand - Bursaspor

Djibril Cisse - Al Gharafa

Alejandro Faurlin - Palermo

Hogan Ephraim - Vancouver

Bruno Andrade - Wycombe

Troy Hewitt - Colchester

Adam Francis - Woking

Tom Hitchcock - Bristol Rovers

Michael Doughty - St Johnson

Michael Harriman - Wycombe

DJ Campbell - Blackburn

I should imagine QPR will have to lose quite a number of players when they get relegated.

[Not Nigel 0]

They will need to sell urgently just as soon as their owners get bored of their plaything and call in the debt. You do realize that the Mittal''s and Fernandes have only LOANED them the money? Right?

So QPR will end up with several hundred million dollars of debt, at least, that''s about three times the debt of Portsmouth and about fifteen times the debt that reportedly saw us close to administration a few years ago.

They are f**cked. Maybe not next season, maybe not the season after, maybe not for five years, but they will be starting again at Level 12 in the not too distant future.

[RustysRevenge 0]

[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]Yes that is a lot of money, although he hasn''t played to his best at West Ham yet and his best may still come. I can''t see us spending that much on any player unless it is a proven striker, I can see us spending £7m to £8m on one flagship European striker, but I can''t see us spending that on a midfielder. I''d sooner take Andros Townsend for £3m to £4m if that price would suit Levy.[/quote]

According to my Spurs supporting mate Townsend is on 3k a week which he was shocked about. Not sure how longs left on his contract but if that''s true I wouldn''t be surprised if he tried to negotiate a new contract or look elsewhere for more money.