[Archived] Sam's January Targets

[RoversSG]

At 28, Pedersen is a good footballer who can play at the top level for another 5 years. He is using his wing skills to establish a new niche in midfield, he's loyal, intelligent, hard-working and not a moment's trouble to the management. Why sell a prize asset like that ?

Eh, what wing skills? The Pedersen i been watching the past few years can't beat a man, pass or cross accurately anything more than 5 yards and has a shots on-target ratio similiar to Roberts!

In fact, i would say the only thing he adds to the team is his long throws and even that is not exactly great...

[alexanders]

Gamst has been bad for 2-3 seasons, but so has all our team.

Sam said they had been able to rediscover gamsts form when putting him in a 3 man midfield.

right now I wouldn't even sell for £2m. He is a good player and as we know can be a 10 goal midfielder. That is important for a struggling club like us. Should actually be a player Rafa should be looking for. He is struggling with getting goals from midfield.

[Exiled_Rover]

He should be playing for Liverpool? Give over!

If someone's offering £2.5m I'd be very tempted to take it. That's what we paid for him and if his new contract demands a rise I don't see the benefit of keeping him.

[deryck guyler's spoon]

-astoundingly inconsistent

Up until I had last seen Pedersen in September he had been consistantly poor.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I agree his form has perked up since he moved into midfield. What surprises me is why it took us so long to try him there. A blind man on a galloping horse could see he'd never make it on the wing. My view is unless we get an unrefusable offer and we can replace him I'd say keep him for the present.

[gumboots]

My word, another one agreeing with you Jim! To answer your question, it's a symptom of the disease "the-grass-is-greener-itis", most commonly displayed amongst the young and easily influenced.

Influenced in part by the fact that players have exactly the same attitude. Just as players often find out it's not all it's cracked up to be when you leave Rovers, so will fans. If there were hordes of players we could get in to do exactly the same as Pedersen can, albeit less often recently, then yes, sell would be good idea. But at this stage in a transfer window? We've been looking at midfielders on and off for some time now. If we've found one ourselves in our own team, much as we found a right back in Emerton when we needed one, then selling at this stage doesn't really make sense even if he will walk for free in the summer. Settling into a new place and a new team means that anyone we bring in will be a gamble. I've never understood the venom some people display towards Pedersen. It's like he's guilty of all the faults we see at Rovers. He's not. He had a purple patch a couple of years ago and has struggled to maintain it. Through all that he's worked hard, stayed fit and displayed (in public at least) none of the attitude we've seen from some others. Yes, he's turned in poor performances but he's certainly not the only one.

[mellison24]

I'd keep him until the season's end. He's fit and on form, scoring and creating. My reasoning is that if he does leave on a free in the summer, he may well have helped earn the reported 2mil offer in league position (roughly 2/3 places?).

Can someone please clear this ruling for me? I know that a loaned player cannot play against his parent club. But I have read in Sir Bobby Robson's book that LuaLua (on loan at Pompey from Newcastle) was able to play (and scored Pompey's winner) due to there being a fee for the loan. Is this still true? Or an old ruling? Or was it because Newcastle hadn't included him 'not playing against them' in the terms of the deal?

[Bobby G]

Rules were changed to ensure that players on loan cannot play against their parent clubs in the Premier League.

Did the Daily Mail break the Basturk signing and also confirm when we will sign Lingazi? Or am I being midled? Have they also definitively said we will sign Topal?

Nicko, anything in it?

[Hughesy]

How about we sell Pedersen to Celtic for £2.5m & then buy Moses for £1.5m?!

Massive reduction in wages + a saving in fees.

[philipl]

How about we sell Pedersen to Celtic for £2.5m & then buy Moses for £1.5m?!

Massive reduction in wages + a saving in fees.

Moses is being bid for by several clubs so his fees and wages are escalating.

Don't forget the cost of doing a transaction- agents, signing on fees, loyalty bonuses to the departing etc etc.

I am backing jim on this one besides which MGP actually wants to stay with Rovers. That old thing about player loyalty...

[Hughesy]

£1.5m for a 19 year old of his talent is a snip....As for Forrest & West Brom, what do you think they will be offering? His wages wouldnt be on the same as MGP's im sure!

[philipl]

Forest have serious financial backing and West Brom are geared up as a Prem yo-yo club so are not without cash either.

Those two are in a battle for automatic promotion so if they see Moses as their £60m Prem guarrantee signing, how high do you think they will go?

[Hughesy]

I dont think Notts Forest or West Brom is a threat....

The only one I could understand him choosing is Newcastle, due to the size of them, their big stadium & also because they are more than likely to be in the premier league next season & will probably stay up - the other 2 are not as likely to get promotion and more than likely will go straight back down...

[brian_gallagher85]

Can somebody please explain to me how we are going to get 2.5 million for a player with six months left on his contract? :s

[joey_big_nose]

P.s. Victor Moses has still only had offers from Championship clubs and he will go before the window closes!

I concur we should have a look. As long as we pay less than 3m we will make our money back even if he doesn't do that well for us. Completely fits the profile of a good investment, as if he takes off we could make quadrouple our money or more, and get a couple of years of service. Plus he would give us an extra 'homegrown' player which is what we need.

However, given the stir around him, I will be suprised if we don't get priced out.

Can somebody please explain to me how we are going to get 2.5 million for a player with six months left on his contract? :s

For some reason Fener are up for paying it to get him now. They must have their reasons, probably either for a push in the league; or they think it will be more difficult to get him when Peds is a free agent and their are a lot of clubs after him.

[Amo]

Absolute bleedin' balderdash. Why do people assume a new (unknown) player will be better than one we already have ?

At 28, Pedersen is a good footballer who can play at the top level for another 5 years. He is using his wing skills to establish a new niche in midfield, he's loyal, intelligent, hard-working and not a moment's trouble to the management. Why sell a prize asset like that ?

If we're talking about loyalty, I'd think about the managers who have kept faith with Pedersen even when he's underperformed year after year. It's not hard for a player to show loyalty when he's getting paid millions for doing bog all. There's no doubting Pedersen has talent, but his time here has peaked and should make way for new opportunities. I'd say that Pedersen's pulling the wool over fans with short memories.

[Bobby G]

Who said Fener would pay 2.5m?

No one will pay more than 1.5m, I can guarantee that.

[joey_big_nose]

Who said Fener would pay 2.5m?

No one will pay more than 1.5m, I can guarantee that.

Nicko said so I think. Stranger things have happend - City paid 17m for an injured Santa Cruz who had play 17 odd games and scored 4 in the league.

[jim mk2]

.. There's no doubting Pedersen has talent, but his time here has peaked and should make way for new opportunities. I'd say that Pedersen's pulling the wool over fans with short memories.

Now that Pedersen has adjusted his game to central midfield he is one of those players who is going to get better as he gets older, and because he is lucky with injuries is going to have a long career.

He is very similar to Giggs in this respect. It would have been easy for United to have ditched Giggs a few years ago when his legs lost their "bounce" and he was unable to fly up and down the wing like he did in his youth. Giggs changed his game, and is now enjoying some of the best form of his career.

[Bobby G]

Giggs cannot be compared to MGP. Technique is much better, his legs even after they have gone are far better than Pedersen's and the footballing brain on him is miles ahead.

[Hughesy]

Who said Fener would pay 2.5m?

No one will pay more than 1.5m, I can guarantee that.

There were a few reports which put their interest around £2.1m - Nickos latest update said that Celtic were interested in a big way...so could maybe push that price even higher!

[Bobby G]

Id bite anyone's hands off at 2.5m for MGP.

[brian_gallagher85]

Who said Fener would pay 2.5m?

No one will pay more than 1.5m, I can guarantee that.

That's my view also. I'm pretty sure that the only figure ever mentioned was the 1 million in the Celtic article.

One thing that is certain is that Moses will cost a lot more than Gamst as things stand!

[Bazrakats]

Man city paid 18million for De Jong and he only had 6months left on his contract.

[Gav]

£1.5m for a 19 year old of his talent is a snip....

Seems strange, if he's that good, that only Championship clubs are in for him?

No. I'd keep Pedersen until he's too old to play any more and then I'd hire as a coach.

The lad's a gem, and a I wish we had a whole squad like him.

And no, we're not related.

Why not give him the coaches job now?

You can count on one had the amount of good games he's had in the past 3yrs……