Russy Mart dobs Roberts in

[tim_healings]

Don’t blame the player at all. What really annoys me is the utter incompetent mismanagement of our assets. To allow Connor to enter the final year of his contract immediately after the euros, and subsequently have to accept £2.5m for a £15m player is frankly criminal. Not the first time it’s happened and won’t be the last. In my view it’s pure incompetence. If I managed a business and allowed a £15m asset go for £2.5m I’d be out the door. Thing is they’re ripping themselves off, bizarre, don’t get it!

 

[Itchysphincter]

Martin didn't say how much we were offering him. Clearly it was a lot less than Burnley were. No hard feelings, wish him all the best, etc...

When he’s playing well he’s a top championship player but I think the PL will be too much of a stretch for him. Nearly, but not quite.

 

[MajorR]

He definitely hasn't gone to Burnley for the money, they have a strict pay policy.

A quick look on line suggests he was on £14k per week at the Swans, looking at Burnley squad salaries, if the information is correct he’s gong to be on at least £20k per week, maybe more.

What puzzles me is the below. If I am reading the article correctly it sounds like the club/owners(?) had decided to leave the contract discussions until after the window closed - Martin disagreed and felt it needed addressing sooner rather than later, so the club spoke to the owners who were happy to offer a new contract to Roberts. I know he’s been injured (which may account for the delay while the awaited medical results) but given CR is one of the clubs most valuable assets I am surprised it had been left so late. Burnley don’t seem to bothered re the medical issue. Martin apart, it doesn’t sound like good business by the club.


"We discussed it with the owners, they understood our intention. It had been left to wait until after the window, but I didn't feel we could.

"The owners were great with that, they discussed a new contract straight away, and he had a choice

 

[Risc]

Martin didn't say how much we were offering him. Clearly it was a lot less than Burnley were. No hard feelings, wish him all the best, etc...

When he’s playing well he’s a top championship player but I think the PL will be too much of a stretch for him. Nearly, but not quite.

Agreed, don't think he has the technical ability, or nous defensively to survive in Premier League but he has his chance, and good luck to him.

 

[Dr. Winston]

He'd be a more than capable RWB for a lot of Premier League clubs so if Burnley want to use him like that he'll probably be fine. As a RB it's questionable. An ageing Kyle Naughton was still a better option there for us than he was.

 

[monmouth]

He'd be a more than capable RWB for a lot of Premier League clubs so if Burnley want to use him like that he'll probably be fine. As a RB it's questionable. An ageing Kyle Naughton was still a better option there for us than he was.

I think he turned backwards too often as first resort at wing back and can’t beat a player. A better but similar Bidwell. That could have just been Cooperball of course where everyone’s first gear was reverse. I wonder if he could develop into a Pratley type. He has the engine, can get in the box on the end of things and make tackles. He would need to learn the position of course.

 

[dickythorpe]

Don’t blame the player at all. What really annoys me is the utter incompetent mismanagement of our assets. To allow Connor to enter the final year of his contract immediately after the euros, and subsequently have to accept £2.5m for a £15m player is frankly criminal. Not the first time it’s happened and won’t be the last. In my view it’s pure incompetence. If I managed a business and allowed a £15m asset go for £2.5m I’d be out the door. Thing is they’re ripping themselves off, bizarre, don’t get it!

Excellent post.
Knocks the apologists argument of him being in his last 10 months of a contract straight on the head.

 

[Baron Goblet]

Roberts joins a 442 formation under Sean Dyche. He will play right back, hopefully get game time and do well. Will easily match wingers, so a good move from him. Asked to do too much at times last season and may have struggled under Martinola. Good luck to our lovely boy.

 

[dickythorpe]

Roberts joins a 442 formation under Sean Dyche. He will play right back, hopefully get game time and do well. Will easily match wingers, so a good move from him. Asked to do too much at times last season and may have struggled under Martinola. Good luck to our lovely boy.

I think he took a lot of extra work on himself.
I think he'll be far more settled and coached to be more controlled in the PL unless they are chasing a game.
He expended a lot of extra energy for us and I'll alway be grateful.

 

[CurtessECarr]

Good luck to him. Hope he does well.

 

[JackSomething]

Martin didn't say how much we were offering him. Clearly it was a lot less than Burnley were. No hard feelings, wish him all the best, etc...

When he’s playing well he’s a top championship player but I think the PL will be too much of a stretch for him. Nearly, but not quite.

My guess is he'll be a bit like Ben Davies. Perfectly fine in the PL in a good team, or one that allows him to play to his strengths in getting forward, but always likely to be replaced by a better player.

 

[Magic_Michu]

People seem clueless that the transfer market - especially at our level is an absolute mess. Only the Top 4 in the country are really spending big bucks now.

£2.5 million seems more than reasonable for an average Premier League full back who's injured with only 9 months left on his contract... Ive seen plenty of Swans fans thinking we should have been getting £10 million + for him!

Ronaldo was just signed for £13 million.

 

[French Jack]

Lot of time for Connor. He sent my 6 year old nephew a number of video messages who is a big fan of his and gutted he has gone. I have heard that Brentford were in for him as well as Burnley. I also heard that there had been no contract offer from us & he decided to go now. If Laird comes in & does well (Martin is obviously a fan) who's to say he would have got his place back in the team. If this happened then he would never have got a move to the prem.

Good luck lad!

 

[Dr. Winston]

People seem clueless that the transfer market - especially at our level is an absolute mess. Only the Top 4 in the country are really spending big bucks now.

£2.5 million seems more than reasonable for an average Premier League full back who's injured with only 9 months left on his contract... Ive seen plenty of Swans fans thinking we should have been getting £10 million + for him!

Ronaldo was just signed for £13 million.

There's a lot of people putting fantasy valuations on our players that don't bear an awful lot of relation to the current state of the market. Was much the same with Rodon last year. Zero PL experience yet even now people are wailing that we didn't get £20m+ for him. The valuation for Roberts, given all the circumstances surrounding it, was about as much as we were going to get.

Premier League clubs are becoming much warier about heavily investing in players with limited top flight experience. Sheff Utd are a good example of a club that got burned by doing that. £40m on two strikers who tore up the Championship and have less than 10 PL goals between them.

 

[Cooperman]

Don’t blame the player at all. What really annoys me is the utter incompetent mismanagement of our assets. To allow Connor to enter the final year of his contract immediately after the euros, and subsequently have to accept £2.5m for a £15m player is frankly criminal. Not the first time it’s happened and won’t be the last. In my view it’s pure incompetence. If I managed a business and allowed a £15m asset go for £2.5m I’d be out the door. Thing is they’re ripping themselves off, bizarre, don’t get it!

Agree with most of that apart from the £15m value.
£10m max IMO.