The Mail Bag
Selling the Crown Jewels
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In today's Sunday Express, an article states we are possibly going to sell Jack Rodwell to Man Utd. Does anyone think this is a good move to fund our transfer spending in the summer or another example of selling off of one of our prize assets?
The article goes on to say : MANCHESTER United have been quoted a staggering £30million if they want to lure Everton starlet Jack Rodwell to Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson is a long-term admirer of the versatile Everton star and is putting plans in place to establish an English core to his United defence for years to come. He has already completed part one of his plan – signing Fulham’s Chris Smalling – and now the United manager wants to finish his rebuilding by signing Rodwell, 18. Everton are reluctant to sell but the club have a good relationship with United, despite the acrimonious departure of Wayne Rooney to Old Trafford in 2004.
A Goodison Park insider said: “Jack is one of the brightest talents here and although we want to keep him, everyone has a price.”
Moyes hopes bumping up the price will force United into increasing their bid.
James Elworthy, Posted 14/02/2010 at 06:59:52
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Surely it would be better to keep Rodwell and let someone get carried away with a lesser player like a Lescott to top up the coffers.
If we want real class to come to Goodison, those players need to look at who is already there and see others like themselves.
Rooney and Rodwell are top 4 team players. If we don't have top 4 players, we won't break into the top 4; if we don't break into the top 4, we can't keep a hold of these players.
It will happen.
http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2010/01/14/1744399/manchester-united-could-sell-old-trafford-and-wayne-rooney
If United are broke, but still being able to buy Rodwell for £30m. I don’t really understand why we (also broke) can’t buy Donovan for a fifth of that price!
However, I do think the we would have been in much trouble if we had not sold Shrek, we were playing around one man etc... the same can't be said these days. I'm on the fence on this one and wish EFC would be a little more honest about their finances.
Anyway, Once a Blue, Always a Blue, Mr Rooney.
I think I am still in the minority of people that hasn’t seen what the big fuss is over Rodwell. I would rip someone's arm off if they offered us £30 million for him.
He’s been doing this since he came here..will anybody be really surprised when it happens again?
I won’t. It’ll probably be accompanied with some bullshit about how football is for billionaires and that he’s been searching 24/7 for investment.
Groundhog Day at Everton....
Glazer: "There you go Sir Ferguson, £80 million quid for you to turn us into the ultimate title winning team."
Ziralex: "No Thanks, I’ll just take Owen on a free thanks. He’s the missing piece for us."
Rodwell may leave us but there is no way Man U can afford him.
If I was Moyes and offered 30 million for Rodwell I’d take him myself to Old Trafford. MAKE him sign on the dotted and run with the money .
MAYBE he’ll be great and maybe he won’t get all possibilities in the contract and sign him, off
However, if someone did offer £30m for the lad I too would like to see the club tell the bidder that he’s not for sale - I fear that the club would sell however.
I would be a lot more concerned about selling Peanuts and Fellaini. I imagine we are going to be stuck with all these realities either this summer OR certainly the following season unless we show a serious intent and ability to crack the top 4.
A few months ago he was the Everton "Kaiser" now it’s doubtful he’ll be top grade so lets sell him for 30 pieces of silver.
No wonder some people lick Kenwright’s arse if that’s your view.
Football is changing and players who are big,strong and skilful are becoming even harder to come by.
Rodwell is certainly destined for the top and could be a future England captain.
Wouldnt you love that to happen while he’s still at EFC.
The only reason we have to sell players is because of Kenwright and his cronies inabaility to generate a plan for the club to operate profitably and not massively in debt with consequent interest payments.
Same as Rodwell. Yes he's a great potential player. How many have we seen. Cadamarteri, Jeffers etc etc. The step up is immense.
Rooney made it and good on him. Rodwell.... maybe. Sorry, take the cash.
Budgets are tight, and we probably only have two clubs to think about in terms of trying to entice Rodwell. Won’t happen unless they meet a pre-determined asking price.
It's how Moyes (good guy) / Kenwright (bad guy) enticed £24 million out of Manchester City for the second best defender at the club, then went out and bought Heitinga for a quarter of that... who looks far better and committed to the club.
From what I have seen this should read "possibly destined for the top". It’s not that I think he’s a bad player, I don’t.
It’s not that I’d flog him to Man U, I wouldn’t. It’s just that he’s a young lad with potential who has come through the ranks at Everton and needs plenty of time, dedication and luck in order to become a quality Premier League player, "England captain" ... whoa, Nelly.
As a lad, I grew up to notice that the only truth in the Sunday Express was the general knowledge crossword. Some journalists have reliable information, but it is gold dust in the trade. They don’t fill up their column inches with it. You have to speculate to accumulate.
Rodwell, like you and me, has his price. I suspect that my £30k days are behind me, but his have hardly started. Pub talk.
It's been said many times on this site, the problem isn’t transfer fees — it's wages. For heavens sake, keep out of the transfer market — cut out the agents, and pay the players we have more, just to keep them.
Coming back to fitness, we have a squad to match any. We don’t need to sell, and for a while, we don’t need to buy. This club is close to a ’tipping point’. Two or three months ago, that could have been downward. Now its going upward, and can rise very rapidly. It could be that Moyes’s legendary faith in his players comes up a full house this May.
Yes, but they bought Valencia for £16million, they have that £60million interest/bond dividend fee, along with the Glazers taking out their annual "pay" of £20million.
So the Ronaldo money is gone, along with continued instability over the ownership money. I don’t think their total summer budget will be over £20million, without not paying down their debts or actually incurring more debt.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/20/manchester-united-glazers-debt-ronaldo
So, end of this season they still face the £60million (after bonds issue) "interest payment"/bond dividend (at 8% BEFORE any paying down of debt).
But this time without this time having sold an asset.
So, compared to last season they would possibly have a net shortfall of — get this — £30 million....
Of course I meant the £30msquid the Sunday Express have offered for Jack.
Hands off we’re not a feeder club we are a leading challenger to the "EX moneybags" elite.
The first is that this story probably doesn’t hold much water. Talk of "Goodison Insider’s" and "a source close to ...", is journo speak for "my imagination".
Secondly, though, if offered £30m Rodwell would without doubt be sold. Every player’s head is turned by the lure of money/trophies ... and if the player wants out there is very little the manager can do to stop him leaving.
-"Goodison Insider’s" and "a source close to ..." 1 are well known for being unreliable, they’re ways for people to gets stories out without any accountability. Apparently American journalists consider it ridiculous that British journalists get away with doing that sort of thing.
On Rodwell himself, I think he’s quality, and I think over the next five years we could build a team around him, and he could become an important England player, so obviously I want to keep him. If we do have to sell him though, we should be realistic about it, get the maximum amount and use the money wisely. This would mean selling him sometime before August 28th in whatever window it was.
From Man United’s view though, I don’t see that he’s shown himself to be worth £30M yet though, so I can’t see that transfer happening. Rooney had already proven himself on the international stage when that transfer happened, Rodwell plays in a position which will take him a long time to mature into.
And, by the way, our resurgence has come whilst this latest Boy Wonder has been out of the side!
Blame BK for the ground move debacle and the non-release of funds (which may actually be a happy accident in the "Credit Crunch Days") — but to blame him for JL leaving is not too realistic. Only Chelsea could afford to pay him what he’s getting at Citteh. Once his head had been turned, only a visit from the local "businessmen" to dissuade him from a move would work — Stevie GBH anybody (allegedly).
My views on Rodwell are that he’ll stay as long as he doesn’t ask for a move. I’m not sure that Man Yoo would risk that type of money in these times. If he does end up going — £30m would compensate I guess.
We’d be lucky to get £10-15Million for him from United and that would include staggered payments depending upon appearances, trophies and international caps.
The pace will just be two slow and as Rodwell’s value grows, so will his wage demands and lust for trophies. We can’t afford to break our wage ceiling as it is. A world class player will look for world class wages.
Yes, we have highly talented players in our squad right now, and this may keep Rodwell for a couple of seasons. But by the time he starts to come into his stride they will be starting to age, and if we having startd to win things by then, who’s to say we will keep them. Who’s to say we’ll keep Pienaar after this season.
I would love to have kept a player of Rooney’s ability. I would like to be able to see us keep a player of Rodwell’s potential ability.
If we sole Rodwell, plus one or two fringe players like Anichabe, I think that we would have the cash to really improve the overall talent of the squad in one summer transfer window or over the space of two in a season.
At £30m its a no brainer... he’s no Wayne Rooney. A big talent, sure, but its unlikely that he’ll progress to being better than a Carrick / Barry / Huddlestone type player.
If you look at the progress Everton have made in the last 6 or 7 years, its through selling our prized assets for big money. Taking into account the fact that Rodwell still has a lot to learn defensively, I would suggest that anything over £20m would be good business.
I’d disagree with that, you’re setting the bar particularly high there. I think at times he’s already as good as them, but lacks their experience. Huddlestone’s a very odd name to throw in, I like him as a player, but he’s not exactly got a track record of achievement that Rodwell will struggle to match has he?
Seriously I'd have him as captain within the next 2 years and build a team around him. Wake up and for once see what we've got. He's class and mature way beyond his years. He even binned his WAG after she went to the papers about their relationship.
Just my opinion. For what its worth, if he did manage to develop a really agressive winning mentality, along with learning to track runners etc, he could be a great. To be fair, though, this could be said of many English midfielders.
How many 18 year olds are there in world football playing as regularly and showing such promise? Off the top of my head I can only name Canales at Santander (just joined Real Madrid), Santon at Inter and Sakho of PSG.
If he asks to leave then there’s nothing we can do, otherwise I think we should do all we can to keep him. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Yobo and Yakubu leave this summer, and to me Pienaar seems to be agitating for a move.
If we were to let any more players leave the disruption would be too great and I feel that that those three leaving will create enough space on the wage bill and bring in enough cash to fund our summer dealings.
You don’t build a team around one player - you build a team. The idea that by selling Rodwell we would be selling off an opportunity to ’build a great team around him’ is no more true than it was of Rooney.
We’ve got a great set of midfield players at the moment, and can play a number of different combinations of them effectively, as the performance against Chelsea showed — despite the absence of Fellaini, our performer of the season so far, we put in one of our best team performances yet.
I’m not saying I’d be pleased to see the lad go, but if we were to get a good price, as we did with Lescott, and strengthen the team as a whole as a result, then I’d be all for it.
Secondly, as a couple of people have mentioned, this is largely academic at this stage because there is no way that Man Utd have £30m to spend on an unproven youngster this year.
But let’s face it, his best position is probably defensive mid - i.e. Fellaini’s best position. So, we have two young players that are likely to be top, top class in the same position.
We can’t play them both in centre mid (or, we could, but I don’t think it would be a good idea - I would rather have Arteta and Fellaini), which leaves Rodwell pushed back to CB long term.
That may be fine, and CB may be Rodwell’s future at United too. But if Rodwell is really worth £30m then I think we could better spend that £30m somewhere else than have it sitting at CB - either in more attacking players, or in a new stadium. A £30m CB is a luxury Everton can’t afford, especially when Moyes has repeatedly shown the ability buy cheap CBs and develop them into excellent players.
If Rodwell "makes it", ie: he developes in the way that we think he should, then he will be off. Man U or Arsenal. If his career starts to stagnate then he will stay.
Secondly, forget about £30 million... if Ferguson wants him, he will get him at the price he wants to pay. Moyes will make all the right noises but then Blue Bill will assume the position and will get royally shafted... maybe £15 million with all sorts of Mickey Mouse add-ons... eg: we can have first dibbs on Scholes.
Rodwell is a different kettle of fish. Seems settled, only potentially world class. For £30 million I would definately sell him, but doubt he’s worth that much...
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1 Posted 14/02/2010 at 08:34:06
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If he's genuinely not for sale, then just say so. The fact that Everton have put a price tag on him (albeit allegedly) says that actually he is for sale — you'll just have to pay well to get him.
I'd like to see Everton come out in the next 24 hours and make an unequivocable statement on the situation telling Man Utd and anyone else to shove it where the sun don't shine, but I won't hold my breath!