The Rumour Mill

Fenerbahçe lodge £5m Heitinga bid

24/07/2012 |

Comments (35)

The Mirror, the Star, the Express and the Mail all up the ante in the John Heitinga speculation by claiming that Fenerbahçe have offered £5m for the Dutch defender, though there appears to be some confusion over when his Everton contract expires.

The papers report that the Blues will look to cash in now on Heitinga, the supporters' Player of the Year last season, rather than risk losing him for nothing next summer but Everton's official site, Wikipedia and even this website all state that he signed a five-year contract when he joined the Blues in 2009.

The Star and the Express both claim that David Moyes will look to hijack Stoke City's proposed move for USA defender, Geoff Cameron, as his replacement.

Original Source: Daily Mail, The Mirror, Daily Star, Daily Express Rumour source ranking:
1 = Poor; 2 = Fair; 3 = Good; 4 = Very Good; Empty (grey) = Unranked

Reader 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

Kazim Amin
764 Posted 24/07/2012 at 22:59:28

With the Yobo fiasco, we shouldn't deal with them again.

John Crook
765 Posted 24/07/2012 at 23:02:00

What lazy journalism, he has 24 months left.

James Flynn
767 Posted 24/07/2012 at 23:04:58

I bid 2 mil. American. Hey, why not?

Mike Hayes
768 Posted 24/07/2012 at 23:04:59

He should seek advice from Joey Yobo!

Phil Davies
773 Posted 24/07/2012 at 23:18:39

I think this has got to be something we firmly put our foot down on and tell Fenerbahce to go and find a large spike and sit on it.

If the Yobo deal is off no other deal will even be considered.

Jon Ferguson
777 Posted 24/07/2012 at 23:27:20

A) I think the club should make an official statement that they won't be dealing with Fenebache again, after their dishonorable approach to the Joseph Yobo deal.

B) If we were to consider selling Heitinga (which I hope we're not), then we should be looking at £10 mil. Also, a concrete deal should be in place for his replacement before any deal is done.

Steve Barkwill
778 Posted 24/07/2012 at 23:32:11

Pretty sure he signed a 5-year deal, I thought he had 2 years left. It's worrying when players are down to their final 12 months; I wouldn't sell unless for £10M, although with Duffy and Distin this season it seems maybe worth the risk as he seems to be content but always open to offers... is anyone positive on his contract length and its remainder?

Jem Traynor
780 Posted 24/07/2012 at 23:35:44

I really would like to comment on this at the way Fernerbahçe seem to operate as we have seen with the Yobo deal but I honestly cannot muster the words that would suit... oh sod it, here goes:

Go and take a long walk off a short pier, you back-peddling bunch of fickle arseholes!!!

Jim Knightley
781 Posted 24/07/2012 at 23:40:37

Lol, funny stuff. Heitinga should cost approaching 15million, and Fenerbahçe can go fuck themselves. I imagine this is bullshit...

(It's the Daily Mail actually... of course it's bullshit!)

Tom Bowers
786 Posted 24/07/2012 at 23:45:58

Heitinga is still one of the best defenders in the Premier League and we really needed his good form of last season when Jags was out for a while. He is versatile and can also play in front of the back four if needed. Still has some good years left in him and certainly we should keep him another season unless of course he gets disillusioned by Moyes and wants to go.

Chris Owens
791 Posted 25/07/2012 at 00:04:33

1st April already?

Steve Smith
793 Posted 25/07/2012 at 00:13:10

The same report also states that Yobo signed for them yesterday!

Tony Rice
804 Posted 25/07/2012 at 00:44:55

Maybe Yobo pulled the pin BECAUSE Johnny is coming???

Seriously....after today .... (Tour cancelled / Yobo not done / Cahill not confirmed / Pienaar etc. ) it would surprise me to see Everton do a cheap deal with the Turks for Johnny... sometimes we are such a joke!

Naismith back to Rangers next?

Simon Smith
805 Posted 25/07/2012 at 00:46:32

I hope we tell the Turks to go take a running jump off a short pier. Failing that, tell them they can have another great defender who is on our books and goes by the name of YOBO for the same price!

Keith Glazzard
809 Posted 25/07/2012 at 01:23:38

Players don't even like going to play in Turkey for matches.

If Johnny wants to go and live there, fair enough. But I doubt it.

And in any case, the asking price should be £15M. Put an end to that bit of nonsense.

Phil Sammon
838 Posted 25/07/2012 at 07:22:36

Tony @804.

People like you make me cringe, fella. Calling the club a 'joke' based on some totally unsubstantiated rumour.

You have no idea why the tour was cancelled. If there were safety concerns then the club were right to act. Cahill's deal not sewn up yet?! The guy has to fly to America for a medical. Can we give him chance to board the frigging plane?

Geoff Trenner
840 Posted 25/07/2012 at 07:36:54

Phil @ 838.
Well said sir.

Mark Pierpoint
848 Posted 25/07/2012 at 08:38:26

Getting a little tired of Fener. I think that we should give them a deadline to sort this out. Waiting for a few hundred grand more is becoming counter productive for us as well. If Heitinga goes, I will be gutted, and it will take our demise to a new level.

Kieran Fitzgerald
851 Posted 25/07/2012 at 08:56:50

Mark 848, I was just thinking that. The longer we leave the Yobo deal, the more we pay him in wages. The haggling does becomes counter productive at this stage.

I think that in fairness to the club, they were trying to get their transfer dealings completed early this summer. Fennerbache were a confirmed interest for Yobo at the start of the summer so it made sense that the club dealt with them first. The club should have drawn a line though once things started to get dragged out.

Matt Traynor
852 Posted 25/07/2012 at 09:07:39

Keiran #851, but where is Yobo right now? I thought he'd returned to Fener whilst this was sorted out? I really, really hope we're not shelling out for his wages as well.

Sam Hoare
854 Posted 25/07/2012 at 09:32:09

Seems to be a very busy week one way or another!!

Difficult to believe what is true and what is gossip but personally I can see the sense in losing high earners Cahill and Yobo off the books. Heitinga is slightly different as he was arguably our best defender last season and would be surprised to see him go. But then if he only has one year left on his (pretty lucrative) contract then perhaps it makes sense to recoup our spending on him and buy a cheaper replacement.

I reckon Cahill will complete his move, Yobo will end up going to Norwich or Reading or similar and Johnny will end up staying.

Mike Allison
865 Posted 25/07/2012 at 10:45:44

Heitinga is a key part of the team so obviously worth more than £5M. Personally I would start the bidding at 10, but I would make a special exception for Fenerbahce, they have to pay at least 15.

Kieran Fitzgerald
870 Posted 25/07/2012 at 10:54:22

Matt, I could be wrong but I think that loan periods, player contracts etc start and finish on June 30th. If there has been no report of a new loan deal for Yobo I am assuming that he is now back with the club since July 1st and we are paying his wages again. At roughly 30 to 40 grand a week, that's at least 120 grand we have paid him in wages this month. The money is doubly wasted in my mind because it is a wage that we could be paying to a new signing that we want at the club.

John Keating
888 Posted 25/07/2012 at 13:41:14

Kieran
you are no doubt correct.
I know we are skint but just sometimes, maybe once in a hundred years we should just have the balls to say " no "
I understand the implications to the club but Yobo and Fenerbahce have been a fucking joke !
We have all heard of players buying out their contracts etc. Yobo should be made to pay his !! If he's desperate to leave lets see him making some moves.
Apparently a deal was in place a couple of seasons ago for Yobo. They've had his services and appear to have renaged.
Either Fenerbahce pay up or Yobo does. Lets be honest he's not exactly skint !
If he doesn't want to play then fine we've got his registration, he's in the squad. Let him cook !

Spencer Ramsay
890 Posted 25/07/2012 at 14:04:59

This is all paper talk and speculation of course but £5 mill IF accurate is laughable for a 28 year old of Johnny's ability and International pedigree with 2 years left on his contract. If Jags was valued at £10-15 mill (even if that was press talk) a season or two ago, then Johnny is easily worth this amount and arguably more.

Should defo tell them Turks to 'poke it.......'!

Keith Glazzard
904 Posted 25/07/2012 at 14:57:39

I think we're unanimous on this one, so I've just done a bit of background stuff to beef up our shared opinion.

Gary Cahill, 26, capped for England 9 times (now), went from Bolton to Chelski for about £7m.

John Heitinga, 28, capped for Holland 80 times (now) including a World Cup Final, came to us for about £6.2m. He had been the Dutch Player of the Year the previous season.

Fenerbahce have simply got to be taking the piss. I know many a TWebber despairs of the club's apparent incompetence now and then, but surely they can't get this one wrong.

But, speaking of incompetence, there is one other possibility. If The Mail and others are saying £5m has been offered, that's about 13.5 Turkish Lira. Maybe they've actually offered £13.5m, and some hack got it wrong and converted the figure down to 5 - in which case we're in trouble. But Fenerbastards coming in with a high bid? I doubt it.

Kristian Boyce
908 Posted 25/07/2012 at 14:59:41

If there is any truth in this rumour and he actually does leave for 5m, then some serious questions need to be asked about the state of the club. We bought him for 6m, so why would we sell a player for a loss when he has become a better player since arriving at the club. The never ending Pienaar deal shows that we don't have money readily available to pay for a player, but how serious are the financial constraints at the club? We've released/sold a number of players already and only brought in one player on a free transfer, who I can't imagine is on a bumper contract. Fair enough the outgoing players may of been a good deal to save money on wages for the aging players or ones not making the grade, but if Heitinga goes 'cheap' then I think we are in a much worse shape than many believe.

Jeremy Benson
938 Posted 25/07/2012 at 17:31:21

£10-15 million for heitinga?

Silly season really has arrived...

Bobby Thomas
944 Posted 25/07/2012 at 17:41:27

Roger Johnson cost Wolves £7 million.

Massively experienced, at his peak, if he has 2 years on his deal double figures no problem for me, he's a quality centre half.

Although when you get to 2 years and less on a deal the club in question really is under the gun.

I certainly don't want Heitinga to leave I rate him highly. But I'm worried the next contract for Heitinga will be his last chance to negotiate a big one and all options will be on the table for him, Bosman included. We cannot Pienaar this one.

Kieran Fitzgerald
946 Posted 25/07/2012 at 17:51:17

Considering what we got for Lescott, you would need to be asking 15m for Heitinga at least. I know clubs aren't spending what they were on transfers but Heitinga's c.v is a lot more impressive than Lescott's was. Heitinga's form has been just as good for us this season just gone as Lescott's form was.

Bobby Thomas
952 Posted 25/07/2012 at 17:41:27

Roger Johnson cost Wolves £7 million.

Massively experienced, at his peak, if he has 2 years on his deal double figures no problem for me, he's a quality centre half.

Although when you get to 2 years and less on a deal the club in question really is under the gun.

James Stewart
955 Posted 25/07/2012 at 18:31:43

They are a complete joke and we should cut all communication with them. Timewasters to the extreme!

Ian Bennett
003 Posted 25/07/2012 at 21:25:28

Hope it's not why Jelavic came to us for £5M in a pre-meltdown at the 'Gers.

Karl Parsons
080 Posted 26/07/2012 at 09:05:30

Jeremy 938: Silly season arrived years ago (where have you been?). JH is well worth 10-15M in todays transfer market, even as depressed as it currently is.

Unless of course you mean he's actually worth more!

Ray Roche
086 Posted 26/07/2012 at 09:47:40

Well, if, as we have no doubt all read, Everton had lined up the USA International Geoff Cameron as Heitinga's replacement then we've lost out there,too.

"U.S. national team center back Geoff Cameron signed a contract with Stoke City and joined the Potters in Orlando on Wednesday afternoon"

Of course, it may well have been paper talk just like the Fenerbastards bid for Heitinga.

Add Your Comments

In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.

» Log in now

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 Talking Points submissions across the site.