Wesley Fofana: Signs For LCFC

[Paninistickers]

It's an extraordinary signing. 

 

Even better, we knew it. Puel knew it. St Etienne knew it. Rudkin, Congerton, Rodgers knew it. 

And somebody 'sold' LCFC to him and his agent long ago.

 

That boy was ours and we were prepared to pay top dollar. An extraordinary piece of business. 

 

i think as a fanbase we need to up our game. We are an ugly duckling that's turned into a beautiful swan. 

 

City are building a rep worldwide as a major club. This silver medallist thing from Rodgers was bang on. We are cool as fack and 'silver medal' players worldwide - who have a point to prove-  love our vibe 

[Babylon]

[Jimbo]

1 minute ago, Babylon said:

Nicking that 

[Deeg67]

9 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Nicking that 

That's what Fo said before that tackle.

[Babylon]

14 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Nicking that 

Give me credit, took ages to get Maguire's head to scale.

[Koke]

17 December 3000, we had just beaten Charlton 3-1 at home, goals by Akinbiyi, Matt Elliot and Gunnlaugsson. Also, Wesley Fofana's mother went into labour and gave birth to a future cult hero.

[foxinsocks]

give me hope fofana

give me hope fofana

[Foxxed]

1 minute ago, Koke said:

17 December 3000, we had just beaten Charlton 3-1 at home, goals by Akinbiyi, Matt Elliot and Gunnlaugsson. Also, Wesley Fofana's mother went into labour and gave birth to a future cult hero.

The future is a scary place man

[Ric Flair]

30 minutes ago, Koke said:

17 December 3000, we had just beaten Charlton 3-1 at home, goals by Akinbiyi, Matt Elliot and Gunnlaugsson. Also, Wesley Fofana's mother went into labour and gave birth to a future cult hero.

Didn't Busted sing about this in their song? 

[Foxymcoxy]

Can he really keep this level up? Why hasn't he played more games already wtf!

[Aleksz]

The crazy thing for me, is that he’s kind of put Soyuncu’s potential into perspective.

 

We thought we had some player on our hands with Soyuncu, but Fofana has come in and somehow seems to have an even higher ceiling.

 

It’s crazy. They’ll be some pairing, or either side of Jonny in a three.

[Ian Nacho]

 

[AKCJ]

3 minutes ago, Ian Nacho said:

 

AKA - Nah he's not available for international break but will miraculously be fine for the Liverpool game.

[Xen]

4 hours ago, TRAD-DAD said:

That's how we operate selling one top player per year and using the money to recruit well. It's why we have become a top six side in such a short time. Our owners are great business men and it shows through all our dealings on and off the pitch. So far that policy has done us no harm , in fact quite the opposite.As a long lifetime fan I never thought we would be this good as a club. Thank you Top for everything.

It could be even better than that. Just because that is how we have operated so far, but it doesn't necessarily mean it is how we will operate.

 

We've had to sell a key player each year in order to fund several new transfers, and thankfully our recruitment has been good enough that we've not suffered for it - instead actually improving the squad. If we start hitting regular European football however - as this squad looks to be capable of - then the CL money would basically cover that cost in its entirety (UK clubs get upwards of £60m just for being involved, equal to one+ major sale for us). We wouldn't have to sell big players in the same way that Man City, Chelsea etc don't have to. If we can keep enough key elements of this squad together for the next couple of seasons, then there's a very realistic chance that we can keep ourselves at the highest level and manage to self-fund ourselves without any major outgoings.

 

Fofana will be here for at least a couple of seasons, and if we've established ourselves as regular CL qualifiers by then (if not better) then its not unreasonable to think he'd stay longer term. VVD joined Liverpool when they were in a similar position to us last season and he's still there, so if we can continue to progress as a club there's no reason we should resign ourselves to selling him just yet. And even if we do, you can guarantee it'd be on our terms and we'd be very well compensated for any transfer.

[Dahnsouff]

5 minutes ago, Xen said:

It could be even better than that. Just because that is how we have operated so far, but it doesn't necessarily mean it is how we will operate.

 

We've had to sell a key player each year in order to fund several new transfers, and thankfully our recruitment has been good enough that we've not suffered for it - instead actually improving the squad. If we start hitting regular European football however - as this squad looks to be capable of - then the CL money would basically cover that cost in its entirety (UK clubs get upwards of £60m just for being involved, equal to one+ major sale for us). We wouldn't have to sell big players in the same way that Man City, Chelsea etc don't have to. If we can keep enough key elements of this squad together for the next couple of seasons, then there's a very realistic chance that we can keep ourselves at the highest level and manage to self-fund ourselves without any major outgoings.

 

Fofana will be here for at least a couple of seasons, and if we've established ourselves as regular CL qualifiers by then (if not better) then its not unreasonable to think he'd stay longer term. VVD joined Liverpool when they were in a similar position to us last season and he's still there, so if we can continue to progress as a club there's no reason we should resign ourselves to selling him just yet. And even if we do, you can guarantee it'd be on our terms and we'd be very well compensated for any transfer.

Do you assume we would have bought Fofana had we not sold Harry?

Its not just about financials, you also need the space and need within the current squad.

 

The argument about Liverpool is also incorrect as Liverpool have never been out of the public eye, even when they were crap, I mean just look at Man Utd?

 

Think your argument needs much more thought

[StanSP]

23 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

AKA - Nah he's not available for international break but will miraculously be fine for the Liverpool game.

Fine by me!

[Xen]

3 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Do you assume we would have bought Fofana had we not sold Harry?

Its not just about financials, you also need the space and need within the current squad.

 

The argument about Liverpool is also incorrect as Liverpool have never been out of the public eye, even when they were crap, I mean just look at Man Utd?

 

Think your argument needs much more thought

Im not saying we wouldn't sell key players, Im saying we wouldn't need to sell key players to keep ourselves self-sufficient. Of course, if a player would improve us and the signing would mean someone gets pushed out, then we can make that decision and sell the player in question, but thats certainly a better position to be in than selling a key player each year and hoping that we can spend that money wisely, otherwise being left with a glaring hole in the squad.

 

As for Liverpool of course they weren't out of the public eye, but they'd certainly gone through an indifferent patch and weren't seen as the perennial CL qualifiers at that stage. Aside from the 2nd place under Rodgers in 2014, since 2010 they had finished 7th, 8th, 6th, 7th, (2nd), 6th, 8th, 4th, 4th. Is that really all that different to how we've been the last few seasons? Obviously we don't have the global appeal of Liverpool/United, but we can certainly put ourselves on a similar pedestal in terms of performances, and that counts for a lot. The likes of Spurs are also comparable, and they've managed to keep hold of Son, Kane, Lloris etc who would all have plenty of suitors abroad at the big clubs despite having a notoriously stingy wage structure. The fact is that if we can get a modicum of consistent success, we'd be about as well placed as any other PL club to keep a hold of our key assets, and with all the positive development going on they may well feel inclined to stay.

 

I'm not claiming that the financial side of it governs everything, but that it could secure us enough that we won't be restricted to solely operating on a sell-to-buy basis.

[Dahnsouff]

1 minute ago, Xen said:

Im not saying we wouldn't sell key players, Im saying we wouldn't need to sell key players to keep ourselves self-sufficient. Of course, if a player would improve us and the signing would mean someone gets pushed out, then we can make that decision and sell the player in question, but thats certainly a better position to be in than selling a key player each year and hoping that we can spend that money wisely, otherwise being left with a glaring hole in the squad.

 

As for Liverpool of course they weren't out of the public eye, but they'd certainly gone through an indifferent patch and weren't seen as the perennial CL qualifiers at that stage. Aside from the 2nd place under Rodgers in 2014, since 2010 they had finished 7th, 8th, 6th, 7th, (2nd), 6th, 8th, 4th, 4th. Is that really all that different to how we've been the last few seasons? Obviously we don't have the global appeal of Liverpool/United, but we can certainly put ourselves on a similar pedestal in terms of performances, and that counts for a lot. The likes of Spurs are also comparable, and they've managed to keep hold of Son, Kane, Lloris etc who would all have plenty of suitors abroad at the big clubs despite having a notoriously stingy wage structure. The fact is that if we can get a modicum of consistent success, we'd be about as well placed as any other PL club to keep a hold of our key assets, and with all the positive development going on they may well feel inclined to stay.

 

I'm not claiming that the financial side of it governs everything, but that it could secure us enough that we won't be restricted to solely operating on a sell-to-buy basis.

Fair enough, and I apologise for my churlish tone in the previous response (As the Boomtown Rats once sang...)

 

I understand what you are saying about Liverpool and Tottenham, but I think its all part of this undeserved (in my opinion) longevity that some clubs seem to have, a non contemporary merit based size, way beyond their recent accomplishments. 

 

So, yes having the choice when to sell , if at all, rather than a need would certainly be most welcome!

[Dahnsouff]

 

 

Fofana has a small knee issue apparently

[Long Eaton Fox]

7 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

think he had it before he signed

 

Fofana has a small knee issue apparently

 

[Sharpe's Fox]

12 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

 

 

Fofana has a small knee issue apparently

 

 

[Jimbo]

17 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

 

 

Fofana has a small knee issue apparently

Ricky P had a small knee issue  just hope this is talk to get a couple of weeks off

[AKCJ]

7 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Ricky P had a small knee issue  just hope this is talk to get a couple of weeks off

Ricardo Pereira has a huge knee problem.

[Jimbo]

3 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Ricardo Pereira has a huge knee problem.

Didn't seem it at the time though, that's kinda what I was saying. N’Didi had a small knee problem about this time last year too........

 

I hate knee injuries 

[shen]

1 hour ago, Xen said:

We've had to sell a key player each year in order to fund several new transfers, and thankfully our recruitment has been good enough that we've not suffered for it - instead actually improving the squad. If we start hitting regular European football however - as this squad looks to be capable of - then the CL money would basically cover that cost in its entirety (UK clubs get upwards of £60m just for being involved, equal to one+ major sale for us). We wouldn't have to sell big players in the same way that Man City, Chelsea etc don't have to. If we can keep enough key elements of this squad together for the next couple of seasons, then there's a very realistic chance that we can keep ourselves at the highest level and manage to self-fund ourselves without any major outgoings.

 

Fofana will be here for at least a couple of seasons, and if we've established ourselves as regular CL qualifiers by then (if not better) then its not unreasonable to think he'd stay longer term. VVD joined Liverpool when they were in a similar position to us last season and he's still there, so if we can continue to progress as a club there's no reason we should resign ourselves to selling him just yet. And even if we do, you can guarantee it'd be on our terms and we'd be very well compensated for any transfer.

 

37 minutes ago, Xen said:

Im not saying we wouldn't sell key players, Im saying we wouldn't need to sell key players to keep ourselves self-sufficient. Of course, if a player would improve us and the signing would mean someone gets pushed out, then we can make that decision and sell the player in question, but thats certainly a better position to be in than selling a key player each year and hoping that we can spend that money wisely, otherwise being left with a glaring hole in the squad.

 

As for Liverpool of course they weren't out of the public eye, but they'd certainly gone through an indifferent patch and weren't seen as the perennial CL qualifiers at that stage. Aside from the 2nd place under Rodgers in 2014, since 2010 they had finished 7th, 8th, 6th, 7th, (2nd), 6th, 8th, 4th, 4th. Is that really all that different to how we've been the last few seasons? Obviously we don't have the global appeal of Liverpool/United, but we can certainly put ourselves on a similar pedestal in terms of performances, and that counts for a lot. The likes of Spurs are also comparable, and they've managed to keep hold of Son, Kane, Lloris etc who would all have plenty of suitors abroad at the big clubs despite having a notoriously stingy wage structure. The fact is that if we can get a modicum of consistent success, we'd be about as well placed as any other PL club to keep a hold of our key assets, and with all the positive development going on they may well feel inclined to stay.

 

I'm not claiming that the financial side of it governs everything, but that it could secure us enough that we won't be restricted to solely operating on a sell-to-buy basis.

Chelsea are still having to sell in order to buy big. In recent times they've sold key players like Hazard, Courtois, Costa.
You can argue Man City don't have to and their players just run down their contracts most of the time, but they still lost talents like Sancho and Sané. Sales like Kelechi, Danilo and Douglas Luiz for large sums will obviously help keep them within FFP (or not )

Van Dijk joined Liverpool during the 2018 january window, so he's been there for almost three seasons - don't know what this 'last season' thing you're referring to is.

 

We've not needed to sell to even the books for years - we've been in the luxurious position of choosing to sell since our title win really. The 'one big sale' per year strategy has worked well as you say, but even if we do become regular CL participants (I'd need to see it before I believe it), we will always lag behind the so-called giants when it comes to hunting trophies, wages, marketability etc. Truly, if we really mean to compete with the biggest clubs in the world, we need an edge that they don't have, i.e. a unique marketing and branding platform for players. It's not popular among fans, but let's face it, personal marketing of players has come to stay and will only become a bigger focus for high-end talent and their agents.

 

I cannot imagine we will ever be able to break the glass ceiling, but hopefully we will be able to get some good (maybe the best?) years out of the prized talent we manage to bring in before selling on, like we have done with Mahrez, Drinkwater, Maguire, Chilwell (time will tell?) and arguably Kanté. I can see us making a gentleman's agreement of developing Fofana for 3-4 years before selling him on to someone like Man City or Real Madrid, should he keep up his explosive form.