We must keep Akpom at all costs

[iamborome]

Lots of people on here saying we should sell Akpom if the price is right. So what are the chances of getting someone as good as him for that money - who would score the goals, make the assists and fit into our style of play that he does?

If we are to get promoted this year we need Akpom. If we do, I suspect he would sign a new contract anyway. And just think of how much money money we would make from promotion.

We should offer him a new contract on his terms if thats whats needed to keep him. It could even have a clause in it that allows him to leave if we don't get promotion.

We must keep Akpom at all costs.

 

[MichaelDebeve]

£1 billion?

 

[changingman]

Disagree, we shouldn't (and won't) keep any player "at all costs".

It's a business at the end of the day.

That said, I'm pretty sure we'll have a sustainable figure in mind, if that aligns with where Chuba's head is at (or what he can earn elsewhere) is another question!

If there's some distance between the two parties I would almost certainly sell. January is tricky market and at the end of the season we lose a saleable asset for nothing.

 

[Dybuk]

£1 billion?

Didn't realise al-ettifaq were in for him

 

[iamborome]

Disagree, we shouldn't (and won't) keep any player "at all costs".

It's a business at the end of the day.

That said, I'm pretty sure we'll have a sustainable figure in mind, if that aligns with where Chuba's head is at (or what he can earn elsewhere) is another question!

If there's some distance between the two parties I would almost certainly sell. January is tricky market and at the end of the season we lose a saleable asset for nothing.

It is a business and I have set out the business case. Care to respond?

 

[changingman]

It is a business and I have set out the business case. Care to respond?

If I wrote a business case at work with so many wild assumptions I'd be sacked, and rightly so.

 

[sherlock]

It is a business and I have set out the business case. Care to respond?

The issue is that he's a person, not just an asset. So whether he performs as he did last season will depend at least partially on his mental state. As we've seen many times with other players, if his head is not in it then he won't be the player he was last season.

As I've said before though, I think he wants to be here and I think he'll stay, I'm just pointing out that a business case based on past performance as a guarantee of future performance is flawed.

 

[changingman]

The issue is that he's a person, not just an asset. So whether he performs as he did last season will depend at least partially on his mental state. As we've seen many times with other players, if his head is not in it then he won't be the player he was last season.

As I've said before though, I think he wants to be here and I think he'll stay, I'm just pointing out that a business case based on past performance as a guarantee of future performance is flawed.

Exactly, but as an asset there is a risk that (for the reason you've mentioned) his value could decline over the next season. This is already true to some extent as his contract expires next Summer, the closer he gets to that, the more his value lessens.

I think most would agree his value is unlikely to increase between now and the end of the season. Which is the main reason why, if we can't agree terms, we would be sensible to recoup what we can for him.

Bottom line, it's a near certainty we'll make more selling him than the initial outlay.

 

[GibbosEmpire]

No footballer, no matter how good, is bigger than the club, every player has a price, as does Akpom, clubs can't meet the price? Then he stays and runs the contract down

 

[homesickblues]

Have we got the players to provide the service though?

 

[Frankie Lee]

I couldn’t care less how much the club are offered for him. I don’t get any of that money. I desperately want him to stay. If we do sell there are no guarantees that Steve Gibson uses that cash to find a replacement.

 

[Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret]

Exactly, but as an asset there is a risk that (for the reason you've mentioned) his value could decline over the next season. This is already true to some extent as his contract expires next Summer, the closer he gets to that, the more his value lessens.

I think most would agree his value is unlikely to increase between now and the end of the season. Which is the main reason why, if we can't agree terms, we would be sensible to recoup what we can for him.

Bottom line, it's a near certainty we'll make more selling him than the initial outlay.

You are taking into account risk but not reward. Given that he has scored more goals than anyone has for 50 years, and that the reward of going up is in the tens of million, selling him is a terrible risk.

Every single transfer made in football is a gamble. The good clubs take the correct gambles. The bad ones sign Ashley Fletcher for 7 million.

 

[Morton94]

We are Middlesbrough with or without Chuba. I'd absolutely love him to stay and sign a new contract, but if we get a fantastic offer then I will not blame the club for selling. Sadly this is the risk you run when you aren't promoted and you need to sustain your club.
I don't blame the club for not breaking the bank for Giles and I won't blame them for not making Chuba a much richer man.
The club is the main thing.
There is no garuntee Chuba does anywhere near as well next season, I think he could but there's no garuntee and if we get £10-£15 million it goes a long way in the clubs coffees and the playing squad.

If you want to throw money at and keep hold of your best players at all costs you have to get promoted

 

[sherlock]

if we get £10-£15 million it goes a long way in the clubs coffees

Blimey, what coffee are they drinking?!

 

[Frankie Lee]

Blimey, what coffee are they drinking?!

They only do rubbish from Aldi. Sell Chuba and it’ll be the gourmet sh*t.

 

[Laughing]

Chubba played well last season, clearly. He will play well this season to, if he stays.

However he didn't get 29 goals because he improved 5 fold. He got so many goals because of the way we played last season.

Personally I don't mind whether he stays or goes. We didn't get promoted with his goals last season. We might this season but it isn't a given.

Gibson is running a business.

 

[indeedido]

If you want to throw money at and keep hold of your best players at all costs you have to get promoted

Yes you do, but surely when so close as last year, you look to build not dismantle?

Especially when you have FFP scope.

 

[Jonny Ingbar]

He got so many goals because of the way we played last season.

Absolutely agree with this - he played in a team that created chances for fun and scored lots of goals.

He obviously had a fantastic season, but I wouldn't back him to score anywhere near as many goals in any other team last season, Burnley aside.

Suggesting we keep him, literally, at all costs is a sure fire way to bankruptcy, or a breach of FFP, or both.

Unless he signs a new contract the club will do everything they can to sell him, which I fully understand.

 

[indeedido]

Gibson is running a business.

if judged simplistically as a business then he is running it spectacularly badly.

 

[Laughing]

if judged simplistically as a business then he is running it spectacularly badly.

Of course he is but that is largely because he has company board room with 30k seats.