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Juggy

£8.5m on a 30 year old?

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I know that we need to take newspaper numbers with a big pinch of salt, but if the figure of 10m euros is to be believed, is it really sensible to be spending that much money on a thirty year old? 
Many on here consider Holt to have declined by 32, and he is a player who has never relied on pace. Whilst we could potentially get three excellent years of football out of a thirty year old, there isn''t going to be much of a resale value.
A simple Fabio Quagliarella v Gary Hooper argument would likely see Quagliarella win every time, but not so sure about a Hooper £5m Vs Quagliarella £8.5m argument.
Just feels a little off to see figures like that quoted when we paid a similar sum for a 24 year old Dutch International. I know prices for strikers are inflated but Wilfriend Bony at £12m looks like a great deal in comparison.
Of course, we may not be paying anything like £8.5m for the man, but I''d certainly hope that we are not if there is any question of us doing so. Similar prices have been rumoured or confiremd paid this summer for some hot younger talents.
Ricky Van Wolswinkel is one of course, others include Dries Mertens (£8m) and Jeremain Lens (£7.5m). Both also Dutch.
A player that I''d love to see at Carrow Road is Carlos Vela the former Arsenal man. He transferred for £4m last summer, has had a good season but suspect double money would be enough to get him. 
I''d be excited about seeing Quagliarella whatever happens, just seems like a lot of money for a thirty year old no matter who you are. 

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[quote user="Johnny Stump"]You couldn''t add this to the existing thread?[/quote]
I read the first few pages and couldn''t see discussion about the 10m fee, twenty one pages is rather a lot to skim through. Our time on this earth is finite. 

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to be fair top italian players seem to be able to perform well into there 30s paulo maldini being the most famous example but at last years euros i think there striker was 33 and having the best form of his career his name escapes me , but he was an international late comer.

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[quote user="im spartacus"]to be fair top italian players seem to be able to perform well into there 30s paulo maldini being the most famous example but at last years euros i think there striker was 33 and having the best form of his career his name escapes me , but he was an international late comer.[/quote]
Just looking at their Euro 2012 squad and can''t see any strikers of that description. Antonio Di Natale was 34, now 35, and still a prolific striker.... but he''d been playing for Italy for a decade.
Di Natale has 112 goals in the last four seasons. That actually is the best form of his career, so guess you are talking about him, he peaked at around 31 and is still at his peak now.
Di Canio was another who was class well into his thirties, was 31 when he joined West Ham and 35 when he left, and then played for Lazio until 38.
Maybe you are onto something, perhaps it is the olive oil. 

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[quote user="ROBFLECK"]Dries Mertens is a Belgian[/quote]
Well Belgium was part of Holland until 1830 so close enough. 

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Italian players tend to peak between the ages of 30-34. They are in great nick and a lot more professional in there approach than us.

It doesn''t put me off that he is 30. We have a very young sqd, an old head would probably help.

Also, what''s £10m when we will get another £70m next season

He''s a great player and we should want him for that reason.

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I was very unhappy about a large fee for a 30 year old when £7m or so was mooted. If it is true that a £8.5m bid has been turned down then lets all move on there is far better value out there, this is what we paid for RVW for goodness sake. Our financial position is much better but still we need to be sensible. Bent is going for about £5m and is a year younger. I still would like to see us looking for a player in his mid 20s with a good record but capable of improving. As others have said we are no longer a selling club. I don''t agree with this all clubs are selling clubs if the price is right, look at Spurs with Modric and probably Bale in due course. I would still like to see us het Hooper

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[quote user="Yorkshire Canary"]I was very unhappy about a large fee for a 30 year old when £7m or so was mooted. If it is true that a £8.5m bid has been turned down then lets all move on there is far better value out there, this is what we paid for RVW for goodness sake. Our financial position is much better but still we need to be sensible. Bent is going for about £5m and is a year younger. I still would like to see us looking for a player in his mid 20s with a good record but capable of improving. As others have said we are no longer a selling club. I don''t agree with this all clubs are selling clubs if the price is right, look at Spurs with Modric and probably Bale in due course. I would still like to see us het Hooper[/quote]
Well we will have no idea of the actual fee, because it will probably be undisclosed, but I agree with that in principle we should be looking at players aged say 23 to 27 unless the price is right.
Aston Villa have actually signed an extremely good young striker, bit envious of that signing (Helenius). 

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Hooper is ok with the potential to improve,  quag is a top quality international player proven in a top quality league.      Thats why there is a price premium. 

 

The occassional top quality purchase that is older is a good approach - the main philosophy should be to buy some potential - but they are just as likely to not fulfil their potential.   As long as we dont go down the route of filling our squad with older players with no resale value I am happy for a purchase or two of this nature.      I trust the management team to assess that their drive to perform is still there. 

 

As always a balanced mix is the best option.

 

  

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I don''t think you can frame this as "you should never spend £8.5m on a 30 year old".  He may still have 4-5 years at the top level.  He''s hardly a Joey Barton-style journeyman either.

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There are a heck of a lot of people on here who rate this guy, some trying to compare him with Zola, Baggio and such like, when in reality he has only 20 odd appearances for Italy over a period where they dipped in quality.

 

I don''t have the knowledge as a scout of manager to see what the club see and if Hughton thinks this guy is worth the 8.5 million and fits what is required then great. I trust his judgement until such time as it''s not working, Hughton is doing a terrific job.

 

For my own opinion we have been signing some quality players who appear to be adding quality at low risk and great value for money, this guy is going away from that in the fact that the reported 2.5 million a year deal would be 130K a week and will no doubt have a huge effect on the other players who have done a great job and will be on a quarter of that wage if that figure is true. OK it''s only the reported wage and taken from some press release from his agent so probably not correct but even so he would still be on an hefty wage a week to entice him here and at 8.5 million, I think this could be our Finidi George signing, unsettling a good young squad, instead of adding to the team ethic built up.

 

I can''t see Norwich paying 2.5 million given that we would not go outside our wage structure fot that young Belgium defender, but I''m only commenting on the reports as that''s we have.

I''m all for adding quality and I know that to get quality you need to pay the wage but as Wigan, QPR, Pompy and the scum it''s a dangerous way to build a team.

 

So fo me I would rather go for a player who is in line with who we have already signed, look for younger hungry players and like I have said there are few out there ready for the picking here I go again having seen Kadlec in the flesh a few time now he is the type of player we need to replce Wes and at a lot less money.

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If he helps the team stay up next season it will be money well spent. We are no longer in debt so we don''t have to have this "sell on value" approach to transfers anymore. Also, as other posters have said, Italian players generally play on later into their 30''s. The trouble with English players, as not many play abroad, is they tend to burn out at 30ish due to playing in the premier league all their life. This guy is proven quality and will massively change the squad...

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[quote user="Indy"]

There are a heck of a lot of people on here who rate this guy, some trying to compare him with Zola, Baggio and such like, when in reality he has only 20 odd appearances for Italy over a period where they dipped in quality.

[/quote]
Don''t think you can judge a player solely on their number of International caps (either positively or negatively). 
Darren Huckerby had no England caps, neither did Ian Crook, neither did Darren Eadie. Di Canio never played a single game for Italy and yet he was a really special player. That was political, as he is controversial with his beliefs, but he was still a top class player.
On the other hand you have some pretty terrible players who win caps, especially with England. I seem to remember Francis Jeffers getting an England cap, Richard Wright got a couple too, Michael Ricketts and Dave Nugent were hardly world beaters.
When Steve Guppy finishes his career with and England cap, but Huckerby and Eadie don''t, then you know that it is a poor measure of a players ability. 
But I still think £8.5m is a lot to spend on any 30 year old. Prepared to be proved wrong of course, he may turn out to be the next City legend and could smash Grant Holt''s scoring record. 

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Seriously, his age is irrelevant. The most important thing about Quagliarella is his quality. THAT is what the mooted £8.5m is for, not the ''re-sale value'' that so many people seem to be so infactuated with.

Personally, I want to see top quality players at Norwich. And a balance. We have plenty of young''n''hungry in the team already.

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[quote user="vlad666"]The trouble with English players, as not many play abroad, is they tend to burn out at 30ish due to playing in the premier league all their life. [/quote]
I think it has a lot more to do with their tendency to slam down twelve pints, snort a few lines and munch a doner kebab every saturday. Italian players are much more likely to enjoy a couple of glasses of red wine and a pasta dish at their local restaurant. 

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[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="Indy"]

...the reported 2.5 million a year deal would be 130K a week... 

[/quote]


You, sir, cannot do maths

[/quote]

 

You sir are correct and I don''t know how I got to 130K, must be too early for me......

 

I still don''t think he''s that good and can  he adapt to EPL, but then can any of our signings.......

 

Like I said I''d rather go for others out there but I trust Hughton so if he brings him here great!

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[quote user="mrdi"]Seriously, his age is irrelevant. The most important thing about Quagliarella is his quality. THAT is what the mooted £8.5m is for, not the ''re-sale value'' that so many people seem to be so infactuated with.

Personally, I want to see top quality players at Norwich. And a balance. We have plenty of young''n''hungry in the team already.[/quote]
The issue with his age is not the resale value as such, but the longevity. The resale value does play a part because that adds significantly to the cost of the player. If we sign him on a three year deal and can''t get a fee for him at the end then his true cost would be £8.5m + £2.5m + £2.5m + £2.5m.
That equates to £5.3m per year, which is a hefty chunk of the Sky money if it doesn''t go to plan. But ignore the money, the worry about his age is that he may not be as effective in two years as he is now. If Grant Holt was as good now as he was at 30 then he would still be at the club. He isn''t though, and that is the worry. 

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[quote user="lincoln canary"]How old is robin van persie?[/quote]
29. 
How many times has Fabio Quagliarella scored 30 goals in a season? 

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The 2.5 million per year is in EUROS and equates to a little over £40k p/w. I wouldn''t have had to repeat myself if this was with all the other long pages of discussion about a man''s age.

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Point taken re. longevity, etc.

It''s all about calculated risks. Quagliarella (if he joined) could be amazing for one season, then underwhelming for the following two. He could be a massive flop. He could be a revelation. Unless we sign him, we simply won''t know.

Going with the same theory, RvW could also be a massive risk. Who''s to say he won''t be a huge flop? What if (heaven forbid) he gets crocked in his first match and never plays for us again? What about Redmond, what if he comes with promise and turns out to be the next Mark Rivers? What if he doesn''t come good for another 3 years?

The fact is, we''re aiming for quality. Be it players who have established a pedigree (like Quag), or who have huge promise (Redmond) or who are just out-right exciting (RvW). That''s great. From where we''ve been recently, it''s amazing. I''m sure the necessary due dilligence and financial risk etc is well and truely rung out by McNally and co long before we even make a bid.

Personally, I''m quite enjoying this part of the ride.

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[quote user="lincoln canary"]How old is robin van persie?[/quote]
Van Persie joined Man Utd a week after his 29th birthday. Quagliarella is 31 in January. Grant Holt was only 32 in April. 
Holt was told that he was too old for a three year contract when he had just turned 31. It seems bizarre to me that the club would spend so much on somebody who is almost 31. 
But who knows. And the fee may not be so high, but probably is, Italy isn''t renowned for being cheap. 

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[quote user="Alan_Grey"]The 2.5 million per year is in EUROS and equates to a little over £40k p/w. I wouldn''t have had to repeat myself if this was with all the other long pages of discussion about a man''s age.[/quote]
A salary of £40k per week would result in employers national insurance liability of £285,977.95 per year. 
That''s an extra £5500 per week, so put that in your pipe and smoke it. 

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[quote user="mrdi"]Point taken re. longevity, etc.

It''s all about calculated risks. Quagliarella (if he joined) could be amazing for one season, then underwhelming for the following two. He could be a massive flop. He could be a revelation. Unless we sign him, we simply won''t know.

Going with the same theory, RvW could also be a massive risk. Who''s to say he won''t be a huge flop? What if (heaven forbid) he gets crocked in his first match and never plays for us again? What about Redmond, what if he comes with promise and turns out to be the next Mark Rivers? What if he doesn''t come good for another 3 years?

The fact is, we''re aiming for quality. Be it players who have established a pedigree (like Quag), or who have huge promise (Redmond) or who are just out-right exciting (RvW). That''s great. From where we''ve been recently, it''s amazing. I''m sure the necessary due dilligence and financial risk etc is well and truely rung out by McNally and co long before we even make a bid.

Personally, I''m quite enjoying this part of the ride.[/quote]
Well as soon as Quagliarella signs, what is done is done, and I''m sure everybody will just be excited to see him pull on the shirt. I don''t know enough about him to get excited really, although don''t doubt his pedigree. It would make a refreshing change to signing a Becchio or Kane at the last minute that is for sure. 

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