The Mail Bag
How much for a Yak?
Comments (56)
I imagine that David Moyes & Bill Kenwright have had this discussion recently.
Our last couple of games have highlighted the fact that we need to invest in a striker this summer. I presume that what we get will depend to a large part on what we generate from sales... so how much is Yakubu worth?
Proven Premier League goalscorers (?) will be in demand this summer as new clubs join the Premier League and existing clubs struggle to attract the cream of Europe to places like Stoke, Blackpool & Norwich.
So... is Yak still worth half a Bent, or a third of a Carroll?
Dave Reynier, Posted 05/05/2011 at 12:04:37
Comments
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
The Idiot of the week award is yours, enjoy!
Bearing in mind his age and the serious injury he sustained. Shame, because I always rated him.
There is no way in this world that man is over 10 years younger than me.
As Jim Royle would say ...."28 my aaaaarse!"
My Middlesborough supporting mate warned me when we first signed Yakubu that we'd get one, maybe two, seasons out of him before he lost interest (should have been weight he lost). I know he's had a bad injury etc etc... but we lost "The Yak" a good while ago... when he was MAYBE still in his 20s!
Teddy Sherringham was in his 40s, as was Les Ferdinand, and they were still plying their trade in the Premiership, not the Championship, so, just because his record is good in a lesser league, it doesn't mean he is not older than what he says he is.
Seriously I can't see us getting more than £3 million.
At Man City prices, in their unparalleled universe, he is worth about £20 million. Down here on planet earth, we would be lucky to get £2 million.
Any prospective purchaser with half a brain would know that, if the Yak were still any good, a team in desperate need of a striker would want to keep him. Where are West Ham when you need them?
The implication is that he has been told by Everton that he is no longer wanted. Rubbish. More likely is the fact that he has found his level after stinking the place out at Goodison for 6 months following an equally dismal World Cup.
If you haven't got a future at Everton, Yak, you have no-one to blame but your overweight and under-achieving self.
Whilst I'm on one, is he out of contract this Summer? I don't think so; in which case Everton should fine him for his "come and get me" comments.
The figure being bandied about in the media is £2m which, if memory serves, is less than half the first West Ham offer last year, and possibly only double what we might get for James Vaughan ? does that reflect the Yak's dramatic drop in form, or further confirmation that Moyes got his striker transfer policy seriously wrong last summer?
We then laughed them out of the room as we were holding out for at least £8m as I recall with Moyes in some quarters bandying about a figure as absurd as £10m. Almost cried when we didn't bite their hand off in the first place! £6m rising to £7m would have been awesome business. How the hell did we turn that down???
Now Sullivan is saying Yak is worth £1-2m and he is about right... so, suddenly, their second offer looks decidedly philanthropic!
Stephen, why would you call him an idiot? Are you incredibly naive?
If we let Pienaar go for the reported £3 million and let Gosling go for free, then I'm afraid the Yak is 'going for a song' ? as will Vaughan, Anichebe and any of our other 'so-called' strikers.
I realise it's been in the Championship, but he has scored 9 times in 30 games for Palace and is in Pearce's provisional squad for the U-21 Uefa Championships ? which means that, whatever the Yak's true age is, JV is a heck of a lot younger than him.
Moyes and Round have seen a fair bit of him, true, and no doubt they've kept tabs on him down in South London. Maybe, despite him still being quite young, they consider his past injury problems such that they can do without having both him and Saha around...
Liu #27, I hope someone has compiled a dodgy Youtube for Anichebe as a scout would run a mile watching him play.
No idea, but anything more than 150 nicker and I'm seeing the name 'Mr I M A Mugg' on the cheque.
(Probably a customer with the Swedish bank, Knött Wörthäwånnk...)
He out of the two when they first arrived was the only one who excited me ? in a manly hetrosexual way. All the lads I go the game with agreed that, out of the two, it would be him who made it.
Who knows? now he has proved he can actually play more than two games without his shins falling off, Moyes take a renewed look at him but I expect him to be playing for Palace next season.... it's a pity.
Does anyone know what the problem is? I'm hoping he's been sick rather than any leg-related injury because I still think he has a chance at a future with us.
I'm glad the Yak responded positively to his recent dropping from Sven, it will hopefully hide his laziness when he becomes comfortable at a club ? which I think had just happened at Leicester ? to potential suitors, that will give us a chance at getting a bit more than £2 million for him.
Like people have already said, I think you may have missed Paddy's very clever simile for Yak's age (a car's clock being wound back).
And the response that the useless Anichebe has done it a few times doesn't cut it. Yes, JV is better than the the lazy, scowling, Big ("although I don't use my strength") Victor.
But it's not really the point. They're both not good enough and we should be looking to clear the three out (including Yak). I would take £5-6m for the three right now and take a look at buying someone like Long and/or Bothroyd for the money. Any monies from the sales of one or two of Rodwell, Heitinga, Bily & Fellaini should go towards some pace out wide.
If we're talking about possible replacements, there is quite an interesting article on the following website...
http://theexecutionersbong.wordpress.com/
Plus he's approaching 45 and has had a career-threatening injury... which he has not convinced the public he's recovered from.
The fact he's NOW HAPPY TO SIGN FOR FUCKING LEICESTER CITY says all I need to know about the state of Yak's mind/attitude. He's happy to pick up an average pay check at a n- presuure club like Leicester, it's all about his retirement plan now.
£2.5M max is all we could hope for.
Someone told me it was £5 million.
If he is worth £5 million, I would expect to get the same for Yak. He still has 2 years to run on his contract, has a great record and still has 4 seasons at least left in him (even if he is 31/32).
£7 million for Bily from Russia and £1 million for Vaughany. That's £18 million, so Moyes should get about £5 milion to spend!!
I'm not sure I'm totally convinced him or Long could do it at our level; just think they could offer some consistency, pace, effort and a change in direction from the tried and tired Vaughan, Anichebe, Yak.
Cheers for the blog link ? interesting article but haven't got a clue about any of those strikers mentioned. Would think if any are as good as suggested, they'll all come with a £10m+ tag and no guarantees.
@Alasdair ? £5m for Yobo and £7m for Bilya? I'd be amazed if we got more than £3m and £5m respectively.
Comparisons with Vaughan are ridiculous.
Unfortunately the Yak needs to be motivated and Moyes seems to have lost it with the Yak possibly over AFCON so he is going out of the door but I would definitely look for a player plus cash deal for him.
Maybe Obinna or Demba Ba plus cash or Andy King plus cash might be tempt the other clubs.
I believe Yobo's deal was for £5m and Billy would surely get at least £6m from one of the rich russian clubs no?
Question is which striker is coming in? Not sure i'm convinced by the likes of Demba Ba or Shane Long. What about Nicky Maynard? So hard to find good cheapish goalscorers. Maybe Velios needs to have a good pre season...
Are you incredibly naive? Do you honestly believe 3 separate football clubs have spent multi-millions on a player who is middle aged. Get your head together.
Tony so what if sheringham and ferdinand played to close to forty? I don't remeber either or the greatest striker in the premier league Alan Shearer averaging 1 in 2 at that age.
I'll guarentee that if he comes back up to the prem he will score, he's proved it over and over and he's also proved he's fit enough to play consistently, whether he's fit enough to run around like a headless chicken closing down full back's on the edge of thier own box or jump for headers with defender's a foot bigger is another matter.
Yakubu has scored 79 Premier League Goals.
So No ? the Yak hasn't scored nowhere near the same amount of goals as Sherringham, and never will.
The time has come to cut our losses get rid him at the first offer, let another club pay his ridiculous wages and use the money saved to hold on to our dwindling number of good players.
We signed Bakayoko when he was supposed to be early 20s and Arsenal passed up on him because their tests showed him to be closer to 30-odd.
With the greatest respect to the Afcon nations ? it's quite hard to prove how old someone is.
He is a proven goalscorer though either way... that achilles injury has scuppered him though ? fair play to the lad for even coming back from that.
How many genuinely gifted strikers have you seen over the years who don't live up to the gifts God blessed them with? Just as many as not, right? Probably more flops then successes.
Yak is one of those. He should've been a Great, given his talent. He just isn't. Same as so many others. Moyes took a flyer and got the same one good year out of Yak, Yak's managers before Moyes got out of him.
The old story with professional athletes; so blessed by the Gods from the shoulders down that the Gods forgot about blessings from the neck up. Happens all the time.
Moyes has nothing to do with it.
It could obviously be a ruse, or it could be the fact Sven may have seen something he doesn't like about him.
Not sure what to make of that situation and I am equally not sure whether we should actually sell him..we need a striker..and while others have said in the past we had to lower the debts.
Moyes then came out that he the Yak wasn't ready or fit enough to play further matches and thats why he let him go off on loan..ie to try and get the Yak fit and motivated again, after all (Moyes) did say he didn't know what he was going to do with [the yak] during the summer.
Im not entirely sure what his value would be worth nowadays, whether he really has got over his injury, whether he has got fitter. If he is scoring goals again maybe he has recovered..which makes it difficult for Moyes to value him?
I am thinking more along the lines of at least 8m for him. He is still young, and still a very sale able asset to his mother country's league.
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment to the MailBag, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and MailBag submissions across the site.


1 Posted 05/05/2011 at 15:28:50
Report abuse