Hackney
- Thread starter Smogmonster83
- Start date
Blf
Well-known member
How can he be a key player when he only completed 11 full games in a season .
Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret
Well-known member
Words fail.
That would be very disappointing. As a young England under-21 player who has every chance of breaking through to the full squad imo, you'd hope he'd go to a genuinely big club - a top 6 outfit. Brighton, a club who have never won a major trophy, whom we beat in the play-offs but 7 years ago, nicking out our prize local talent
If he ' did ' ... It'd be, I'd guess ..
3 x £5 mill starters , One being centre mid.
( We already need one CM in addition )
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Merlin
Well-known member
I meant names of who could replace him
This seasons performances ...Pretty much anyone ..
Last season.. virtually no one in our price bracket
BoroMart
Well-known member
Jordan James from Birmingham, cracking central midfielder, good on the ball, strong in the tackle, 6 foot 2, 104 games under his belt and he isn’t even 20 yet. He’s a ready made championship midfielder with growth potential
Expat Smoggie
Well-known member
I reckon the club has been smart by keeping the lad off the pitch since his injury. But as we all know with what happened with Rogers, Hayden will want his first team slot next season and who knows by Chrimbo 2024, if he's having a blinder the club will be flooded with offers to sell in the Jan 2025 window.
sugee jung
Member
I think Hackney still has Carrick's trust.
My personal reason is he played well with Carrick's tactics.
Although O'Brien's recent run may show he can do just as well.
But it must be admitted that O'Brien's situation is uncertain.
And Howson's advancing age must be taken into account.
And personally, I think Barlaser is only suitable for certain matches.
Selling Hackney is therefore not a good idea. In fact, his recent form is unlikely to entice Premier League clubs to pay a high price for him.
My personal reason is he played well with Carrick's tactics.
Although O'Brien's recent run may show he can do just as well.
But it must be admitted that O'Brien's situation is uncertain.
And Howson's advancing age must be taken into account.
And personally, I think Barlaser is only suitable for certain matches.
Selling Hackney is therefore not a good idea. In fact, his recent form is unlikely to entice Premier League clubs to pay a high price for him.
Expat Smoggie
Well-known member
As for Lewis although I'm not totally sold on him, he definitely brings more to the squad than Barlaser as he can fill in most places around the defensive areas and he actually has enough speed to give us options on the left wing-- plus he's 3 years younger. The Barlaser situation maybe depends on how he shows up in pre-season training, and if he can compete with any new blood coming in-- if any. The J Howson situation is kind of like Luka Modric at RM, do you really think you can let someone go who offers so much? OK Howson is 36 in May, but will that make a big difference to how he plays? I personally doubt it, so I still think he out ranks Barlaser for the CM role and if Hackney stays Barlaser could be offloaded for better talent.
If we had to lose VDB, Hackney or Lath it would be VDB for me.
VDB is the only one who isn't 100% definitely in our first team. We are well stocked at CB especially if we renewed McNair.
Hackney is the best CM at the club and is a definite starter. As of the 1st July we only have Hackney and Barlaser in the senior squad. We will most likely renew Howson for a year but he's 36. O'Brien sounds unlikely. We are already thin in this position without losing Hackney.
Lath is the best striker at the club and has scored 15 goals this season showing he could be a 20+ goal/season striker. Very tough to replace.
I don't want to lose any of them but if we have to I would rather it be VDB. Providing we can get our other CBs fit, I don't think we'd miss him as much as the others.
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changingman
Well-known member
The issue with selling VDB is, in my opinion, he probably has the highest potential (not current) value of the three (although Hackney's "English premium" may make it a close run thing).
To put it another way, I firmly believe VDB will go on to play at a higher level than Hackney although there's likely to be at least one club between Boro and the very top level for him (in terms of career).
To put it another way, I firmly believe VDB will go on to play at a higher level than Hackney although there's likely to be at least one club between Boro and the very top level for him (in terms of career).
I agree with your point but like you say its likely he would either need to be promoted with Boro or prove himself with a lesser prem club before one of the big teams took a punt on him. So for that reason there will be a ceiling to what we get for him.
Putting potential sale value to the side, if we are looking at building a promotion team then Hackney would be a bigger loss than VDB. We have other CBs who can perform at top championship level. We don't have top CMs. I think most people agree now that Barlaser isn't going to cut it. O'Brien has been hit/miss since his injury and isn't our player anyway. Howson is 36 next week and is out of contract in 2 months. We've struggled to find good CMs for years. We've got a great one come through academy and we will really struggle to replace him when he goes.
The counter argument will of course be that we've played well over the last couple of months without him. But that was with Howson in the team who is just about done and O'Brien in, who isn't our player and sounds unlikely that we can sign him.
festa5
Well-known member
Thankfully it's not a choice. It's only fans that are saying it is.
At the fans event, Gibson said we don't need to sell anyone in the summer.
Scott also implied that the Rogers sale, although unexpected and unwanted, gave us headroom for the summer. If we did have to make a big sale every summer, then that was it. Plus you have the Crooks fee on top of that.
So quite why fans keep thinking we will "need" to sell one of our best players is beyond me.
That doesn't mean we won't, but hopefully it means we won't be inviting bids. If someone wants to bid silly money then not much you can do about that of course, but they're all under long contracts so the club have a very strong negotiating position.
changingman
Well-known member
You're right - I don't think we need to but we'll also entertain offers I think. Every player has their price and the right sale could actually improve the squad overall.