Bilal El Khannouss (Stuttgart loan, official)

[coolhandfox]

5 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

We need to sell him for "a lot" (given the circumstances) just to not take a loss in the year. 

 

What was he, 20m on a 4 year contact, so roughly 15m worth of amortisation left.

 

Anything north of 25m is tempting!

 

Very elegant player, but nothing special output wise.

 

Depend on what we need to do financially.

 

 

Edited 16 July 2025 by coolhandfox

[Dan]

Had a feeling this would be their replacement for him. Completely depressing but just accustomed to it at this point.

[fox_favourite]

8 hours ago, Royston. said:

shift Bilal and Wilf and use the reddies for Ox's wages

I mean this in the best possible way.. bum off! No way I want that to happen!!!!!!!!

[Jon the Hat]

8 hours ago, DezFox said:

If we have placed a silly release clause

in I give up, it was this obvious we were getting relegated. what is the point in getting behind a new manager or feeing positive about any of it. Different functions of the club actively working against each other. Rotten.  

Quite clearly a player of his talent would not have signed for us to play in the Championship, so a release clause was unavoidable.  We had the choice to sign him and improve our chances of staying up, while accepting he leaves is we don't, or not signing him at all.

[Verumex]

7 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

Quite clearly a player of his talent would not have signed for us to play in the Championship, so a release clause was unavoidable.  We had the choice to sign him and improve our chances of staying up, while accepting he leaves is we don't, or not signing him at all.

Except he didn't improve our chances of staying up, did he?

 

I'm going to keep saying it because it's important. 

 

2 goals

3 assists

2000+ minutes

 

That's fine for a b2b CM, but he was supposed to be the 10, the playmaker.

 

Madders got 10g and 9a in the previous relegation season playing the same role.

 

Obviously there's a big difference in the stages of their careers, so it's unfair to directly compare them, but it all adds to my point that he has not demonstrated that he's at the level that a lot on here are thinking.

 

He may well go, he may stay. I hope he stays, I think a year in the Championship is exactly what he needs to step up in his career. But he certainly is not above the Championship right now. He is not at a PL level, last year proved it. 

[AKCJ]

10 hours ago, Dan said:

Had a feeling this would be their replacement for him. Completely depressing but just accustomed to it at this point.

Life under Aiyawatt. 

[DezFox]

13 hours ago, murphy said:

Well known that he was reluctant to join and insisted on a release clause. 

 

 

 

Where was this? 

[murphy]

4 minutes ago, DezFox said:

Where was this? 

Really.?

 

I thought that Kante's reluctance to come here was widely known.  He wanted Marseille who were also interested.

 

Anyway, I t's all out there if you care to look.  I'm not doing it for you. 

[Simonb]

Read the release clause was 22.5m, shame if it is as there should be plenty of takers at that. Ideal situation would be to loan him for a season and he comes back in to the fold if we go up or flog him next summer for more if promoted or just to stay alive if not 

 

If he goes alongside mads and Okoli.. what would that be, around 55m? You'd hope there'd be something left for a forward and a number 10. How much would Chair be from qpr? 

[Dan]

£22.5mil release clause  surely not. We paid about that for him!

[Lesta Legend]

21 hours ago, Dan said:

£22.5mil release clause  surely not. We paid about that for him!

Im certain there is a sell on fee due back to Genk (they wanted more for the player from memory), maybe I'm mistaken. But that combined with a low release clause would mean we'll end up with possibly less money than we payed. 

Edited 18 July 2025 by Lesta Legend

[Ric Flair]

A relegation release clause is fairly likely. I thought there'd were signs the deal might not have been straight forward for us when the contract length was only 4 years, but to thrn agree to a release clause as well would have been weak on our part. 

[scinnell]

1 hour ago, Verumex said:

Except he didn't improve our chances of staying up, did he?

 

I'm going to keep saying it because it's important. 

 

2 goals

3 assists

2000+ minutes

 

That's fine for a b2b CM, but he was supposed to be the 10, the playmaker.

 

Madders got 10g and 9a in the previous relegation season playing the same role.

 

Obviously there's a big difference in the stages of their careers, so it's unfair to directly compare them, but it all adds to my point that he has not demonstrated that he's at the level that a lot on here are thinking.

 

He may well go, he may stay. I hope he stays, I think a year in the Championship is exactly what he needs to step up in his career. But he certainly is not above the Championship right now. He is not at a PL level, last year proved it. 

Spot on

[Finnegan]

5 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

weak on our part. 

 

 

Let's be honest, that's the sad, anxious smile of a man that'd watch you eat your Fray Bentos off his missus' naked backside. 

 

Were you expecting shrewd and ruthless negotiation? 

 

[JonnyBoy]

18 hours ago, DezFox said:

If we have placed a silly release clause

in I give up, it was this obvious we were getting relegated. what is the point in getting behind a new manager or feeing positive about any of it. Different functions of the club actively working against each other. Rotten.  

 

seems silly but may have been the only way we got BEK to join us in the first place. i'm as critical as the next man about the board but we don' know how much BEK's agent pushed for a release clause 

[coolhandfox]

22 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

A relegation release clause is fairly likely. I thought there'd were signs the deal might not have been straight forward for us when the contract length was only 4 years, but to thrn agree to a release clause as well would have been weak on our part. 

We were in a massively weaken negotiating position favourites to be relegated, before you even added in the possibility of a point deduction. 

 

[murphy]

2 hours ago, Verumex said:

Except he didn't improve our chances of staying up, did he?

 

I'm going to keep saying it because it's important. 

 

2 goals

3 assists

2000+ minutes

 

That's fine for a b2b CM, but he was supposed to be the 10, the playmaker.

 

Madders got 10g and 9a in the previous relegation season playing the same role.

 

Obviously there's a big difference in the stages of their careers, so it's unfair to directly compare them, but it all adds to my point that he has not demonstrated that he's at the level that a lot on here are thinking.

 

He may well go, he may stay. I hope he stays, I think a year in the Championship is exactly what he needs to step up in his career. But he certainly is not above the Championship right now. He is not at a PL level, last year proved it. 

It is not a fair comparison because he had Ayew to one side of him, Reid the other and played in a team that was mostly camped in its own half.  No attacking player Could shine in that team. 

 

Maddison had Barnes, Tielemans and a prime Jamie Vardy alongside him. 

[slymunn]

10 minutes ago, murphy said:

It is not a fair comparison because he had Ayew to one side of him, Reid the other and played in a team that was mostly camped in its own half.  No attacking player Could shine in that team. 

 

Maddison had Barnes, Tielemans and a prime Jamie Vardy alongside him. 

He also had similar numbers at Genk, so it wasn't a one off.

 

[Wink84]

1 hour ago, JonnyBoy said:

 

seems silly but may have been the only way we got BEK to join us in the first place. i'm as critical as the next man about the board but we don' know how much BEK's agent pushed for a release clause 

Then we should have moved to another target instead. 

[VLC86]

Are we now arguing his price is too high or two low? I’m very confused  

[Buzzell]

17 hours ago, Silebyfox_89 said:

30m sell.

 

Drain the swamp.

I wouldn’t class Bilal as part of the swamp.

[Buzzell]

Just now, VLC86 said:

Are we now arguing his price is too high or two low? I’m very confused  

£22m for Bilal is a steal. He’s going to be a bargain for anyone that’s looking at him.

[VLC86]

1 minute ago, Buzzell said:

£22m for Bilal is a steal. He’s going to be a bargain for anyone that’s looking at him.

I know, but some people are throwing stats out about his 3 goals  meaning he’s not ready for the prem having argued his release clause was too low.

[stu]

 

[Lambert09]

The problem with Bilal, is that I have a niggling feeling that he’s one of those players that always looks good but won’t necessarily get good numbers. 
 

I think he may be the number 10 equivalent of someone like Gray.  I hope I’m wrong but his delivery and shooting seems too inconsistent, I think he lacks either the quality or composure. It feels harsh but I just worry that if he stayed in the championship he doesn’t really rinse it and nobody would consider him, he’d fall into ghezzal territory of someone with talent but not able to apply it consistently  enough. 
 

one example would be someone like Enzo le fee, great player, everyone expected him to rinse the championship but he didn’t really deliver any numbers, had sunderland not been promoted he’d be considered a flop and his value would have suffered. He still looks good when you watch him, but it’s output that gains you value. As a fan I’d obviously love for him to stay and prove me wrong but financially, I just think we could do with him leaving while the stock is high. Too many of our assets have been allowed do depreciate
 

 

Edited 17 July 2025 by Lambert09