De Jong gone

[Nephy]

Mixed emotions about this one. I personally feel he showed glimpses of being a good player and am sad he never got a proper run of fitness to prove himself worthy (or not) of a place in the team. That said, his wages are now off the books and his injuries won't be keeping our physios busy. We reportedly got about £4m for him. Hopefully the wages we've saved on him and Riviere might be enough to bring in one good player!

[ashingtoon62]

Mixed emotions FFS!!!!
Put the pipe doon and try..
"GET THE FECK IN!!!":?

[Nephy]

Mixed emotions FFS!!!!
Put the pipe doon and try..
"GET THE FECK IN!!!":?

I just find it strange that in the past few seasons we keep buying players who are considered decent quality, who then never even get a chance in our team! De Jong seems like a decent lad with good experience and the qualities to potentially be the playmaker we've been missing. He's finally over his injuries and I fully expected him to finally play some role this season. Instead, he heads off having done nothing at all. Very odd. Selling Krul and bringing in someone like Wayne Hennessy (if the latest is to be believed) seems like a move sideways, nothing more than pushing out a loyal servant of the club for no good reason only to bring in someone no better than our other options. Also with Lazaar - we're reportedly looking to sell him, then spend about the same again on yet another untested left back from Italy. Really not sure what's going on.

[ashingtoon62]

To be fair to all those concered though,a prem player that accidentaly pokes himself in the eye,shouldnt miss two months football.
I agree theres something amiss,you would have at least thought that the MRI at his medical,would have shown a heart the size of a pea...

[Nufc24Mag]

Mixed emotions about this one. I personally feel he showed glimpses of being a good player and am sad he never got a proper run of fitness to prove himself worthy (or not) of a place in the team. That said, his wages are now off the books and his injuries won't be keeping our physios busy. We reportedly got about £4m for him. Hopefully the wages we've saved on him and Riviere might be enough to bring in one good player!

I remember the champions league game against city and he destroyed them got 3 goals over 2 legs. I think he could of been a Erickson type player if he stayed fit from the start

[MidsMagpie]

Sad as he never really got a chance after recovering from injury and certainly dont want Wayne Hennessy

[NorthernRock]

I remember the champions league game against city and he destroyed them got 3 goals over 2 legs. I think he could of been a Erickson type player if he stayed fit from the start

I agree.

He's got fantastic ability and could have been a massive player for us.

He's been here a few years now though and hasn't done **** apart from pick up a wage tbh.

I had high hopes for him this season though, Rafa obviously feels he just can't cut it in the Prem- wrong place, wrong time etc.

He obviously has a replacement/AM in mind, lets hope he gets him through the door and it's not just to put towards signing a keeper because personally I don't think we ****ing need another!

[waalsendmick]

he cost us £6m (when that was a decent sum for a player).
offered little, gave us even less, he's gone...... he won't be missed!

marginally better than his brother.

[Kal]

I just find it strange that in the past few seasons we keep buying players who are considered decent quality, who then never even get a chance in our team! De Jong seems like a decent lad with good experience and the qualities to potentially be the playmaker we've been missing. He's finally over his injuries and I fully expected him to finally play some role this season. Instead, he heads off having done nothing at all. Very odd. Selling Krul and bringing in someone like Wayne Hennessy (if the latest is to be believed) seems like a move sideways, nothing more than pushing out a loyal servant of the club for no good reason only to bring in someone no better than our other options. Also with Lazaar - we're reportedly looking to sell him, then spend about the same again on yet another untested left back from Italy. Really not sure what's going on.


What's going on is, Rafa is clearing out the deadwood, just like Pboro said he would.

[sherwoodmag]

Some players from other leagues just can't cope with the sheer intensity of the Prem.Others slot in nicely,the trick is to spot the ones who can do it.

[Nephy]

What's going on is, Rafa is clearing out the deadwood, just like Pboro said he would.

Rafa was in charge when Lazaar, Gamez, Hanley (and Saivet?) were purchased, they've barely had a game between them... isn't that a bit odd? Krul was hardly deadwood before his injury.

[ghostrider]

Let's be clear on de Jong.
I'm not going to say that he could have been this and that if only he had the chance.
I refuse to believe for a second that he was injured or less than match fit for his entire time with us, barring the odd few games.

The man is made of glass. He's a wage thief.
He has no divine right to live on the past and any club signing him have every right to get something from him.

He's a weakling of the highest order.
He's a nobody.
His name will be cast into the far reaches of my little brain as quickly and as easily as all the other players that have followed the same kind of route as him.

If we got 4 million for him, we've robbed Ajax and I can't believe Ajax has scoured the place to get him.
Is he a nice lad? Could be.
Is he capable of playing good football? Absolutely.
Is he destined to play lots of football from now on? Most probably.

Why?

Because the glass man can't handle more than a few hours of the English game but can handle a lot more of the Dutch.

Good riddance to a wee taking weakling and may the rest of the wee takers follow suit as quickly.

[Kal]

Rafa was in charge when Lazaar, Gamez, Hanley (and Saivet?) were purchased, they've barely had a game between them... isn't that a bit odd? Krul was hardly deadwood before his injury.


Rafa has and will make some poor buys, Krul is deadwood post injury.

[sherwoodmag]

Rafa was in charge when Lazaar, Gamez, Hanley (and Saivet?) were purchased, they've barely had a game between them... isn't that a bit odd? Krul was hardly deadwood before his injury. These players were bought for the extra games in the Championship,Rafa has already said they need replacing.Should we keep a player who was ok before his injury out of sentiment?Sorry it is a professional sport with billions of pounds at stake,if Krul is on 30/40 thousand a week and only 3rd or 4th choice keeper he has to go.

[ghostrider]

These players were bought for the extra games in the Championship,Rafa has already said they need replacing.Should we keep a player who was ok before his injury out of sentiment?Sorry it is a professional sport with billions of pounds at stake,if Krul is on 30/40 thousand a week and only 3rd or 4th choice keeper he has to go.

Lazaar and hanley are on 5 year contracts. It's hardly for extra games in the championship.

[Nephy]

What's going on is, Rafa is clearing out the deadwood, just like Pboro said he would.


Lazaar and hanley are on 5 year contracts. It's hardly for extra games in the championship.

Precisely. Daryl Murphy was bought for peanuts and the perfect 'make up the numbers' signing for last season up front, but with those others it's less clear cut.

[Kal]

So you think we should keep the old sh!t as well as our new sh!t ? Murphy was £3 million with a 2 year contract, do we know who decided the length of contracts for the other younger players?

[ghostrider]

So you think we should keep the old sh!t as well as our new sh!t ?

I don't think it's a case of wanting to keep the old crap as well as the new. It's a case of wondering why some were given 5 year contracts if they were only for the championship.
I think Rafa saw more than makeshift players in Lazaar and Hanley,etc.
Sometimes things don't work out, so they simply move on and are cast off as a percentage fail.
He's got a lot more signings correct than wrong but he can't be attributed to getting them all right or nearly right just because his name is Rafa Benitez.

It's as near as clear cut who we have to get rid of.
A few grey areas but that applies to all players at all clubs.

[Nephy]

So you think we should keep the old sh!t as well as our new sh!t ?

No, that's not what I wrote. I said was that it is odd that we keep buying players who never get a run out. Players like Lazaar were not bought as backups, yet he never even got a chance to show whether he was an improvement on Dummett. If he was never going to be near the team, why was he bought? If they are useless and surplus to requirements of course they should be sold - I just wonder who decided to buy these players who were so sub par to begin with.

[Kal]

No, that's not what I wrote. I said was that it is odd that we keep buying players who never get a run out. Players like Lazaar were not bought as backups, yet he never even got a chance to show whether he was an improvement on Dummett. If he was never going to be near the team, why was he bought? If they are useless and surplus to requirements of course they should be sold - I just wonder who decided to buy these players who were so sub par to begin with.


Look into Rafa's past and you'll see he likes big squads. With the Championship having so many games i'd guess he wanted back up for possible injuries.

As it happened, we didn't have a major injury crisis (hindsight is a wonderful thing) but he had a mission to get this club promoted at first time of asking with all the riches that come with it.

[waalsendmick]

I think, as an international playing in Serie A, Rafa expected more from Lazaar, he seems to enjoy the life of a footballer, more than he actually enjoys being a footballer.

also, Hanley, he was captain of a championship club and even had a little premier league experience with them, so it was fair to expect hi. to be a hell of a lot better than he turned out.

another thing with Hanley, we signed him before we signed Clark, and Clark is a whole lot better than we expected.

[Zippity]

Disappointed with the way it's turned out with de Jong. Been mightily unlucky with injuries but Rafa is clearly, for whatever reason, not a fan.

[waalsendmick]

Disappointed with the way it's turned out with de Jong. Been mightily unlucky with injuries but Rafa is clearly, for whatever reason, not a fan.
if we can't ship out our deadwood we need to sell players that other clubs will buy

De Jong was one of those, and, as we seen very little of him, then we won't miss him.

[NorthernRock]

Let's be clear on de Jong.
I'm not going to say that he could have been this and that if only he had the chance.
I refuse to believe for a second that he was injured or less than match fit for his entire time with us, barring the odd few games.

The man is made of glass. He's a wage thief.
He has no divine right to live on the past and any club signing him have every right to get something from him.

He's a weakling of the highest order.
He's a nobody.
His name will be cast into the far reaches of my little brain as quickly and as easily as all the other players that have followed the same kind of route as him.

If we got 4 million for him, we've robbed Ajax and I can't believe Ajax has scoured the place to get him.
Is he a nice lad? Could be.
Is he capable of playing good football? Absolutely.
Is he destined to play lots of football from now on? Most probably.

Why?

Because the glass man can't handle more than a few hours of the English game but can handle a lot more of the Dutch.

Good riddance to a wee taking weakling and may the rest of the wee takers follow suit as quickly.

Harsh but true.

I do think he's a very good player, but the lad could be Messi-esque, if he's never gonna play then what use is he to the squad? Disappointing though, another what might have been and there's been a few.

[NorthernRock]

if we can't ship out our deadwood we need to sell players that other clubs will buy

De Jong was one of those, and, as we seen very little of him, then we won't miss him.

This.

I don't think he was in Rafa's thoughts initially but if the others aren't moving and he sees better alternatives it makes sense.

Rafa is one of those managers who goes through a lot of players that's why I'm not too judgemental on specific ones as long as the current team is performing because theyre pieces to his jig-saw and when you're moving up through divisions/levels and you're not at the very top you need to evolve your team for specific reasons.

Harry Redknapp is also that type of manager, now I'm not going as far to label Benitez a "wheeler deal" but he does like to wheel and deal >;)

I mean we're talking about signings or lack of but we've already made 6 whilst still knowing we need more- how many windows have been that fruitful under Ashley? Not many tbh.

Joselu, Merino, Atsu, Lejuene, Manquillo and Murphy all look like positive additions to me, already that's a vast improvement on a championship winning team and people slightly forget that given that they're not household names and we've "only" spent £40m... A few seasons back that would have given us even more for our money...

Everton are to blame, the daft *******s have proper spunked their wads about... 45m for Gylfie?? **** off and take that other **** they paid 30m for as well...

[Jammy89]

I think, as an international playing in Serie A, Rafa expected more from Lazaar, he seems to enjoy the life of a footballer, more than he actually enjoys being a footballer.

also, Hanley, he was captain of a championship club and even had a little premier league experience with them, so it was fair to expect hi. to be a hell of a lot better than he turned out.

another thing with Hanley, we signed him before we signed Clark, and Clark is a whole lot better than we expected.

I have some vague memory of Rafa saying that Hanley could be a club captain type figure when he signed him. I think he certainly expected more from him.

Agree about Lazaar but he also seemed to be unable to adapt to championship/English football, i thought he'd be decent i really did but he's never really clicked in. Seems fair that he went to Rafa and asked to leave for first team football.

I think it's a shame in regards De Jong, i rate him and think he could of done well here but we say this every season because he picks up an injury. Him and Toon haven't clicked and it's best he goes. The fact we've got a decent fee for him (i thought he'd go on a free so i'm count £4 million as decent) is great news.

[Davearmy]

To be fair to all those concered though,a prem player that accidentaly pokes himself in the eye,shouldnt miss two months football.
I agree theres something amiss,you would have at least thought that the MRI at his medical,would have shown a heart the size of a pea...

It was actually Riviere that poked him in the eye and it was quite bad apparently couldn't see out of it for days and thought he could lose his sight.

[Nephy]

https://res.cloudinary.com/jpress/image/fetch/w_600,f_auto,ar_3:2,c_fill/http://www.shieldsgazette.com/webimage/1.8725802.1503955069!/image/image.jpg

Pretty classy and honest farewell there. Respect.

[Zippity]

Yup. Leaves on good terms...unlike so may others.

Good luck to him.

[toonviking]

Thank god.

Good luck to him.