De Jong gone

[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.