The Mail Bag
Rodwell's Contract
Comments (21)
Would Everton really increase the contract of a guy, who just having turned 19, has four years of earning £1 million a year?
He's not a 25 year old key player with a year left, he's a kid with four years of comitment, Everton have him essentially by the balls.
So why do as his agent wants and shell out another million and a half a year.? They should leave it till 2012 before pay increases and of course extentions. Until then the agent can go jump.
Then again, The Times citing The Yak and Cahill as top earners on £50,000 per week shows lazy journalism, when we all know Johnny H is the top earner.
Nick Entwistle, Posted 23/04/2010 at 17:31:10
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In theory I agree with you, but unfortunately the reality is that the players have the power. Need I name you a glaringly obvious example from last summer?!
I've been very impressed with the lad and he's clearly going to develop into a very special player.
Until we get huge financial investment, aka Bill's billionaire, the only way we can compete with the big spenders is hanging on to players like Rodwell and Pienaar.
I say give him a better contract as long as it lasts for at least five years. If we don't, he could be off.
At the end of the day he is probably getting a contract that stops him being tempted away to one of these sides. Rodwell is only going to get better and his value rise. If we didn't offer him better terms there would be people on saying the club show no ambition.
I'm amazed that it only seems to be Everton fans that can't see how good he his.
Spoken by a man who obviously knows more about soccer than every top manager in the UK. Let Moyes go to United, I'm voting for this guy as our next manager.
In reality, though, I feel it says lots about the average soccer fan and god help us it's an Evertonian.
STOP PRESS - Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal have ditched their interest in up and coming Everton player Jack Rodwell and have now turned their attention to a £35m double bid for the inconsistent but talented Leon Osman and the emerging talents of Victor Anichebe. Man utd are particularly impressed with Osmans ability to play anywhere in midfield and Anichebe's pea sized heart and imense pain threshold that enables him to play on despite numerous knocks in a game. SOURCE:– The Daily Joke !!!!
That is what your ascertion is Dick – a joke. How you can criticise a teenager who shows signs of being the next Steven Gerrard is beyond me. As I said above, we are merely offering him a contract that is compatible with his current standing in the game.
Ridiculous expectations and statements like that just put more pressure on the lad.....
Rodwell has bags of potential but is a long long way fron being the finished article....IMO he is is NOT ready at this time to be a regular first choice at Everton never mind Man Utd, Chelsea or Arsenal...so his agents are just taking the piss. Let him be rewarded for what he does on the pitch not because there is some press talk that Man Utd, Chelsea & Arsenal think he's a good player....What has he done exactly to deserve this massive pay hike...??
He has yet to take a game 'by the scruff of the neck' and dominate and to be honest his poor decision making/passing have possibly cost us our european place this season...his backpass to Distain v Sporting was a nightmare and his failure to find Saha at Villa in the dying minutes a couple of weeks ago cost us the game...
I'm not slagging the lad or saying he wont go on to be the player we ALL want him to be ....but dont give him acolades he doesnt deserve !!
Let him be the first Jack Rodwell before putting unfair comparisons on his shoulders.
He will always have his suitors and whether he stays, it will come down to Everton's CL aspirations and his bumper pay packet will come in two years time when it should naturally be renegotiated.
He's now a footballer with a career assured, and 5 years on a contract does not benefit him in the same way as when he was 17 and hoping to break through.
It's not worth it to Everton to spend the extra millions up to his next renegotiation which will be even higher than what he would now demand. Keep the powder dry.
I was not saying the lad was going to be the next Steven Gerrard, I was just saying that he has shown signs, which In believe he has. For instance, his goal against Man Utd bore the similarities of Gerrard more than anything I have seen recently. Yes, I realise that he has only shown this in glimpses and he is far from the finished article and to be honest I am in agreement with most of your comments.
However, to compare Rodwell with Osman and Anichebe is, in my opinion, ridiculous and that was the point I was trying to make.
Also, I don't quite understand why the club should be criticised for trying to keep our better players (ie, the ones that are most likely to attract bids from other clubs) happy. And make no mistake, Rodwell, for whatever reason, is attracting the attention of the clubs that aspire to win the league. Surely our intentions should be applauded not criticised ....
So, regardless of the all the injuries we've had, I think this shows that Moyes (who is known for trying to bring youngsters in to the first team gradually) has a lot of faith in him.
I think it's also important to remember that he's been 18 for the vast majority of this season (he turned 19 last month).
So these things considered, like some others Dick, I just don't see how you can describe him as "OK" or that he doesn't have a regular role.
Neil V, you make some good points, but to my mind it's got less to do with "acolades he doesn't deserve", and more to do with keeping him for as long as possible — and if we are forced to sell (as we were with Rooney and Lescott) then the longer that's left on his contract the more we'll get for him.
We are in the mire financially, let's bring in a couple of finished articles and forget about Rodwell — I don't think he's gonna win matches anyway, he's never gonna be scoring hat-tricks, saving penalties, or even Timmying in on a last-minute corner for that matter, let him go and bring in some match-winners!
For midfielders we are well taken care of: Cahill, Arteta, Osman, Fellaini, Bily, Neville, Heitinga, Donovan, and (February/march) Gosling, etc etc . Lett Rodwell go and use the money to strenghthen the forward line. We've had the best out of Saha and Yakubu, I don't see them contributing much more in the future. We need some young, up-and-coming, talent up front, probably from abroad... French/Portugese second tier, not much over here: Charlie Adam? Matty Friar? Moyes needs to cash in on Rodwell and strengthen where we need to, up front !
Jack Rodwell has just turned 19 and he's already being spoken in the same breath as Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard... We need to keep players like him or are we just going to accept that we will never ever return to our former glories? If we sell Jack then we may as well put a big "For Sale" sign over the Finch Farm dressing rooms... buy one — get one free!!!
It isn't very often that we succesfully get somebody through from the youth system to extended runs in the first team and I think of the many failures that looked top class like Branch and Cadamarteri. Now I've missed a lot of years through working abroad but since Harvey, Royle and Wright there don't seem a lot that spring to mind to me that have come through from lads and been really top class and none who has the potential that this lad has Perhaps some of you can help me here?
It's disgraceful to compare him with Steven Gerrard btw, he's far better already.
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1 Posted 23/04/2010 at 18:31:50
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He's OK I guess but he doesn't have a regular role in the side. He's primarily just a substitute.
If he was playing every week and winning man-of-the-match awards by the dozen then I could understand the urgency to offer him a new deal.
Rodwell is just a bit-part squad player. No more important then say Osman or Anichebe.