I don’t think it takes much reading between the lines really. He wanted a sizeable and lengthy contract, and the club weren’t willing to do that.
It’s entirely understandable. The first choice midfield has Henderson at 31, Thiago at 29, and Fabinho at 27. I don’t think the club can offer another big, lengthy contract to a player who turns 31 next season. The age needs to come down and Gini is the obvious one of that four to make way.
The concern to me is replacing Gini’s minutes. He was consistently available and that is invaluable. I would really to see another Midfielder coming in. Jones and Milner are great, but at either end of their career. I don’t think Keita is going to make 30 appearances.
Exactly, I don’t personally care about a play by play on what went wrong with the offer, why he didn’t accept the offer, etc. It’s over, everyone say thanks and move on, anything else is drama.
What I don’t understand is that, if it proves true, he’s signing a fairly moderate and shortish contract for Barca. Surely 3 years at 100k would be completely worthwhile given his stellar fitness & availability? Apparently we’ve offered him a contract and apparently he really wanted to stay. Clearly at least one of these is incorrect as something doesn’t add up.
That’s right, I had to laugh when I saw that. But the energetic, high-octane football he provides before the shot encapsulates him totally as well. He never was the most gifted shooter or goal-scorer, but the sheer amount of energy he deploys to get into that position and bring our forwards into play… boy oh boy, how will we ever replace that in our midfield?
I understand Wijnaldum had a decent base salary and certain performance related bonuses. However, he didn’t get an improved contract since he was signed.
On the other hand, all of the core players got improved contracts after 2018. I guess it’s a case of too little too late for Wijnaldum.
I don’t want to point fingers to anyone, but the fact is, both the parties walked away losing. Should be a lesson for the future.
Maybe he should have accepted the well documented contract offers that were offered to him then? The club try to avoid players starting their penultimate season with only 2 years left and at latest try to thrash those extensions out by the winter.
What if no offer was acceptable and he was always going to Barca because that’s what he wanted to do with his bezzie mate Depay? Or if “acceptable” was nothing less than comparative wages to Salah and VvD on a 4 year deal as some hint in their reports? It’s just possible the club did fuck all wrong but because they keep all this in house the player (the actual guilty party if there is one) can throw out all these hints and say how he wanted to stay (whilst signing a wage decrease on a short deal at Barca) and everyone jumps to his side and casts aspersions at the club.
I look at this and think two parties had differentiating views on the value of a player, couldn’t come to an agreement, so they part ways. It happens in life. We shake hands, thank him for his fantastic service, and wish him all the best. He was a vital cog for us, and nothing but goodwill towards him.
What information do you have for such accusations?
Did Wijnaldum have an offer in 2018 or 19, around the time when the senior players had their extension? Alisson, Robertson, and TAA recently are negotiating an extension with three years remaining in their existing one.
