In other words they aren’t even going to enquire about him because they know he ain’t for sale but they think it makes them look big to be linked to our player. This is why, incidentally, I think it’s crucial we are cunts to them about not letting TAA go early for the tin pot cup; they need to know we will make things hard for them at every step of the way so they look elsewhere.
I wonder if Chelsea’s interest is behind the ‘little incident’ in training that led to the player being left out the match day squad?
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Has always looked lazy to me. Probably fails the ‘no dicks’ policy also
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As well as the “small issue” that occurred in training, he was also sent off last month. Seems more suited to Chelsea than us. It’s not as if he’s a prolific goal scorer either. Only 10 this season.
I see that Forest are interested in Quansah. Maybe we could loan him to them as he might not get enough first team starts next season. It would good to have an Academy product become a first team regular.
Nottingham Forest are considering a move for Liverpool’s 22-year-old English defender Jarell Quansah. (Football Insider)
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I don’t know how we would be in a position to loan or sell Quansah. It would leave us with VVD and two injury prone options.
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The Konate contract thing needs sorting sooner rather than later, due to the rumours of RM sniffing about. We don’t want to lose another player for a free transfer. Until this is nailed either way, might suit us better to keep Quansah in the squad.
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It remains to be seen just how much faith Arne has in Quansah.
Personally, I think he should stay but if a good offer is made then he might go if only because he may feel that he’ll get more first team starts elsewhere. Notts Forest might not be a good choice for him though as their first choice CBs don’t seem likely to be leaving.
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Yeah Konate signs a new deal by 30/6 or he’s sold.
So either:
i) 2 new CBs are brought in with Quansah going on loan and Konate going wherever;
ii) 1 CB brought in with Konate staying and Quansah going on loan;
iii) Konate stays and no one is signed or loaned.
I’m not a fan of iii) as I think we need to refresh at CB, even if Ibou signs an extension.
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Why? If he’s determined to leave, we have 2 years to find a new player. If we sold him, the timeframe is much tighter.
Has it ever occurred to people that whatever we might “lose out” in transfer fees, we could well save in terms of being able to bide our time?
EDIT: (sorry @RedWhippet) but also beyond that, we would be saving on 2 years of whatever wages we would have offered him, which I imagine is rather substantially different from what he’s on right now.
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Konate’s contract ends next summer
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was just about to post similar
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An extra year then. That bought us the difference between players whose name I can’t even remember because they’ve faded out into irrelevance (and Kabak), and Konaté himself.
Can’t sell a player who doesn’t want to be sold.
He’s in a great position for him. Sounds like we want him to stay and he’s open to it. But if a deal can’t be agreed this summer we’ll become increasingly desperate as the season goes on. Meanwhile he can start looking at his options and I imagine he’d have the pick of Real, Barca, PSG, Bayern and possibly even other clubs in England.
Only way I see him getting sold this year is if PSG come calling and are willing to pay a sizeable fee to essentially jump the queue next summer. But if they don’t come forward with an offer you can’t forcibly sell him to whoever you want.
Personally I think the fee we’d get for him with one year left probably isn’t worth forcing ourselves into having to find a replacement this summer. We’re already looking at potentially two new starting full backs this summer, do we want to add a CB to that turnover too?
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Don’t disagree with this, but the World Cup next summer means he’ll want to play as much as possible this season. If we get n his replacement this summer and it looks like he won’t be first choice, he might move to protect his place in the France starting 11.
Not that I particularly want that to happen.
His replacement? Any expensive young CB we sign now will be viewed as Virgil’s long-term successor. The captain will be 34 this summer.
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If Konate doesn’t sign a new deal, he’ll need replacing and that player will come in either this summer or next, no?
As we’ve seen with Trent, we’re not going to restrict his playing time if he doesn’t sign a new deal.
Any CB you sign this summer is going to have to earn the right to take minutes off Konate. They aren’t walking in with a guarantee of being CB2 from the off. And even if they do displace Konate he’d comfortably be CB3 and getting plenty of game time.
I still think we go into next season with four CBs. Only way we get one this summer is if Gomez or Quansah move on.
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I don’t get how Konate is wanted by all the top clubs in Europe, but isn’t a guaranteed starter for us.
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They wouldn’t even have a guarantee of being CB3 or 4.