Claudio Fannieri

I think it’s the terms of the release clause that is putting teams off, it would appear that the clause includes majority of payment up front, so could be that clubs will negotiate after the clause has expired a larger fee but payable on more favourable terms over the duration of the contract.

I may have missed this but can anyone confirm if Winks was booed or received any backlash from the fans which has led to his on pitch demeanour this season? Or is this a club issue, which goes beyond Ruud, especially when you consider Ruud has been sacked. IIRC at the time of Coopers sacking didn’t Top read the squad the riot act in regards to their behaviour and attitude and stated the club needed the next appointment to work as couldn’t afford to make further changes, perhaps Winks as a senior player and one of the leadership group, was not stepping up in the clubs eyes. There is definitely more to this than Winks having the arse with a fanbase that largely claps off players regardless of performance or attitude.

White Hart is the designated away pub which is a mile or so from the ground.

Stolrcyrk Justin Nelson Faes Aluko Hamza Page BEK Fatawu Mavididi Monga subs Begovic Joseph Thomas Okoli Skipp Alves McAteer Evans Ayew

This is what pisses me off with Winks, happy to switch it on and off when it suits, last season he pretty much down tools for two managers, I thought cooper was a poor appointment but Winks behaviour in Copenhagen was disrespectful to Cooper and showed a lack of awareness or appreciation of the situation at the time. We don’t know the full ins and outs of his fallout with Ruud but it’s pretty clear that he know has the hump with the club and acting like a petulant child. As I have said, he is a good player but he is not irreplaceable, last season showed he is a low end prem player at best, however he is paid at a far higher level than his ability would suggest, I would sell him and if we can reinvest in a player like Charlie Savage who has the potential to grow and develop whilst also seeing a move to LCFC as a fantastic opportunity rather than a millstone round his neck and a chore.

Trouble is Marti has inherited an absolute clusterfcuk with a bloated squad on big wages and many not wanting to be here whilst the club no doubt expect an immediate return, as supporters we need to recognise this mess is not of his making and back him all the way through what is going to be a challenging season. personally I would rather see the academy players bloodied in place of the wantaways and wasters, but that is likely to mean a season of transition so as fans we have to be patient and prepared to back Marti. If we act entitled then it makes it even harder for him to shake it up. I don’t want to see players like Faes, VK, Vestergaard, Winks, Skipp, Soumare or Daka anywhere near the matchday squad, yesterday was good to see so many academy players get meaningful minutes but in the short term results may suffer as a consequence, but as a fan base if we can unite behind the manager and young players the future can be very bright.

Skipp and Soumare relegated to starting with the midweek cup team, perhaps its Winks and Page to start against PNE

No Vestergaard, JJ in the squad which is interesting, Okoli and BEK both included so not sure moves are imminent for either.

Will be interesting to see who is involved or isn’t especially if the likes of JJ, BEK and Okoli are missing from the squad and that moves away are progressing

Maybe his profile is seen as the type of player that could play as striker in Marti’s system. Plus he is very versatile far from my first choice but would be interesting to know if this is a club identified target or has this come about from Marti and his team identifying a certain type of profile that suits how he wants his strikers to play.

The way Marti is speaking about him makes it pretty clear he is held in high regard, you have to bear in mind he is currently battling BEK for a starting spot. Would not be surprised if he plays in the attacking midfield role this evening with the hope he really thrives given the highly likely departure of Bilal before the transfer window closes.

I think wages play a massive part in this, I bet both of those players are on a fraction of what Wilf was earning, if Wilf was on £40k per week we could have commanded a bigger fee. Clubs will pay a higher fee for players if wages are lower, we have hamstrung ourselves by having players like Wilf, Justin, Winks, Coady, Faes, Vesty, Soumare and Daka on big contracts so we then have to accept low ball offers on fees to try and make the deals work.

His agent has been hawking him around and linking him to premier league clubs left, right and centre, he has been linked to Leeds, Villa, Newcastle, West Ham, Sunderland, Wolves and Spurs, every one of those clubs will be fully aware of financial package wage wise to bring him in so if a club does decide to proceed they could easily trigger the release clause before Friday already comfortable in the knowledge that a deal in regards to personal terms are already in place. I think it will be Leeds tomorrow or Friday who get him, I think he has agreed a deal in principle but with agreement he wants to explore all available options ahead of Friday but if nothing else materialises then he goes to Leeds.

On loan or as a permanent deal, isn’t he quite highly rated?

I think we will do a deal at £15m + add ons and a sell on. iIRC the deal for Okoli was more like €10m + add ons to €13m, highly doubt any of those add ons have materlised so I think his book value is closer to £7m so anything north of £12m and we will be banking another £5m + of pure profit so could then sign Callum Doyle for £7m + add ons over 5 years would mean this year we would be £3.5m up and have a replacement.

Also does Harry Winks guarantee promotion. Personally I don’t think he does, last time round in my opinion he was no more vital than say Vestergaard was, he is good but he is nowhere near the best or most productive midfielder in the division. he is a very good player in a team set up to play a very specific way and when it clicks he is good but he is also a player who lacks physicality and even in this league there are players and teams who will dominate him and he is largely anonymous. Vardy and KDH were far more important last time round with their goal contributions. When they didn’t contribute or Mav and Fatawu weren’t creating havoc. There are no more than a couple of games where Winks actually made a match winning contribution. He is neat and tidy and in certain situations will control the tempo of a game, largely against poor opposition, however for £50k + per week in the championship you really have to be looking at a player who contributes to at least 15 goal involvements per season.

I very much doubt he would renew at this point on anything less than his existing terms and in my opinion he ain’t worth north of £50k in the Championship and £90k per week should we go back up. If the numbers are correct as previously reported it’s bloody criminal to be paying players of his calibre more than £30k a week in the champ and £50k per week in the premier league.

What on another £90k per week? Absolutely not, that would be utter madness

Wonder if the Newcastle link is being leaked by his agent to hurry Leeds and other interested parties along to get a deal done.

Exactly, really hope we get rid of every player that wants out, especially anyone on big money. So many of the current squad have been involved in 1 or both hideous relegations, would have no issues in seeing the back of Faes, VK, Vesty, Soumare, Winks, Daka and anyone who wants to get out, drain the swamp and start again with a nucleus of young players and good pro’s who are 100% committed to the club.

Joking aside if we can move him on for £7m of pure profit on top of the deals done so far and the savings on wages it may give us more leeway in agreeing outgoing deals for players like Faes, Soumare and Daka

Interesting theory ….. if true surely there comes a point where if you are Rudkin you step away from the role even if it’s a sideways step, not sure he gets paid enough to be the fall guy for someone’s else’s piss poor decision making.

Winks is nowhere near worth £90k per week and his output certainly doesn’t warrant that level of salary. There are players who could offer a similar level of ability and possibly better output and would cost a 3rd of that wage. Get rid ASAP, another of the drain the swamp mob. literally start again and if that means a season or two of consolidation whilst we get our shit together then so be it, however if that is the case all I want is some honesty and transparency from the club and at least if supporters are aware of the situation then the expectations on Marti and his team can at least be realistic.

Taking a risk isn’t paying over inflated fees and bloated contracts to absolute dog muck like Soumare, Daka, Vestergaard, Bertrand, Skipp, BDCR, Edouard, Coady, Winks etc etc When we were buying players like Maddison, Tielemans, Ricardo, Maguire, Fofana then I agree we had a successful model and it worked, but we moved away from that model, however we appear to have continued to offer ridiculous contracts and transfer fees for a lower calibre of player. Our recruitment of young hungry players continues to be pretty good, Fatawu, BEK and Okoli show we continue to use this market well, but it’s the established level players where our recruitment is horrific.

He does seem to have some decent insight on certain topics, yes he may have played last few games of last season but does not mean he hasn’t had some sort of issue in pre season, that has forced the club to monitor and manage his workload, would rather we are cautious for a few games than risk losing him long term. Fair play that the club are being proactive to protect players which wasn’t always the case under Rodgers for example.