Ben Brereton Diaz

[Nuttall is lost]

It was funny when he had the ball on the wing yesterday and tried to kick it with the outside of his right foot and just kicked it straight out of play for a throw like a pub team player.

[DE.]

3 hours ago, Groundhog said:

In the end, the irony is we've literally spent £7 million on getting Tony Mowbray's Sunderland promoted. Diaz came through for Big Tone the Lemon Drizzle King in the end. 

Can they chuck us a few million as a tip when they win the playoffs? 

I suppose you could argue his goals helped us not get relegated, as without them we would have been in trouble. On the other hand, £7m could have been spent across multiple areas of the team and even if only £3m had gone to the striker position good recruitment could have brought the same if not better return than Diaz across the course of multiple seasons. Arma certainly didn't cost us 7m.

But then it comes back to this idea of the money only being available for a marquee signing, so not allowed to be spent across the team. Hopefully nonsense, because if true it's a really stupid mindset. 

[47er]

1 hour ago, Groundhog said:

just think he needs space to play,

Yet he's very hard to take the ball off. When he's on a run he's great at keeping possession and great at drawing the foul.

I think he'll surprise you but we'll see.

[Groundhog]

20 minutes ago, 47er said:

Yet he's very hard to take the ball off. When he's on a run he's great at keeping possession and great at drawing the foul.

I think he'll surprise you but we'll see.

I hope he does. I've really enjoyed his time here. 

[riverholmes]

13 hours ago, tomphil said:

Not having a go at the player himself but the wisdom ( never a word associated with Venky owned Rovers ) in the whole scenario of signing him has proved to be utterly pointless.

Two good spells a year apart in 4 years plus at the club, no return on the 7 million or even a penny back towards it. No top 6 finishes and we are losing him anyway instead of having a player we've grown pay us back in time if not money.

That fee could and should have been so much better used, a pointless experiment and a costly one.

Good luck to him though seems a decent guy and when he's at it he was a joy to watch.

I see your point but, perhaps, the wisdom of signing him can be separated from the wisdom of not investing in a central midfielder or a central forward, I feel - or turning down offers for him when it was clear he was not going to sign a new contract. Had we had a DM and a striker, Brereton-Diaz's goals may have helped to push us into a top six place. Moreover, had the club recognised that promotion chances were slim without aforementioned roles filled and that selling Diaz and reinvesting would sustain us long-term, then there might be less ambivalence about his time here now.

It has to go down as a good signing, overall, which was not managed for the best of the club. Likewise, Rothwell, who also struggled for quite a long time, had his golden spell and then tailed off as he was leaving the club on a free. The club should probably have sold him in, at latest, January, albeit, they were banking on play-offs.

Overall, I agree, however, that there is absolutely little point in buying big money players whilst neglecting the rest of the squad and then letting them leave on a free. It is a huge net loss.

Edited May 9, 2023 by riverholmes

[philipl]

Ben has given me huge pleasure watching him.

He has an infectious presence on the pitch which communicates whether he is down or up and above all a joy for the game. 

All the players were obviously told to look fiercely serious stepping forward in those selection gifs- except for Ben who explodes forward with that huge smile on his face.

I think he will surprise people and become a regular goal scorer for Villareal.

I will miss him playing for Rovers.

[Exiled_Rover]

2 hours ago, 47er said:

I'm in total accord with everybody who believe he went missing for weeks on end this season but yesterday showed us his best.

No coincidence that when we play well he plays well. The whole team and staff have to look at those games when we didn't turn up. JDT should spend summer looking at replays of every game!

(I'll bet he doesn't!)

He's the epitome of a confidence player, he only turned up against Millwall after he scored his first goal - which fell very kindly for him. 

After that he was brimming with confidence again and actually wanted the ball.

[Mattyblue]

We’ve all missed seeing him play football for long periods whilst here too…

[Exiled_Rover]

14 hours ago, Miller11 said:

What a strange saga it’s been. I think a lot of the recent criticism has been harsh, that said I mocked him for 2 years.

Signed out of the blue, to all intents and purposes outside a transfer window, for an extortionate fee. Touted as a project signing that will generate a big profit by Mowbray and Waggott which appeared absolutely ridiculous due to his hopeless performances for 2 years. Finds some minor form, gets recommended to the Chile set up thanks to some football manager players and a throwaway comment on a Rovers TV interview, blags a passport, becomes a national hero, becomes a goal machine, wins a load of Rovers fans thousand of pounds, Rovers completely fail to capitalise on his newfound celebrity and literally knock back lucrative opportunities, fail to negotiate a new deal, reject offers for him, watch him walk away on a free.

Good luck to him, it’s been bizarre, enthralling and frustrating. He’ll probably go down as a cult hero to many. He has to go down as a dreadful piece of business too, but it could’ve been oh so different. This is “the project/model” at work.

It's nothing to do with the 'project / model'. Mowbray and Venus never actually had a plan.

By the time Broughton and JDT got here it was too late to sell Brereton-Diaz - last year of his contract and very little time to find a replacement, we're in a relegation battle without his goals. He'd agreed a Bosman by the time January came around. 

I have a love-hate relationship with Ben - as one of the few people on here that saw a player in him during the early days it's been gratifying to watch him score 40+ goals over the last few years. In the same vein it was infuriating to see him go into his shell during the last 6 months after signing his new deal with Villarreal when we were desperate for his goals.

Like Travis, to me he's a Mowbray stalwart that doesn't fit the new system we're playing, so I think ultimately we'll be better off without him, but I sure would have liked £10m+ to rebuild the team. 

 

[arbitro]

I have been excited and frustrated by Brereton in equal measure for most of his time here but more recently exasperated by him. I have no axe to grind with him for going, he is doing what the vast majority of us would do. He seems a popular figure amongst the other players which is always a good sign.

I wish him well for the future

[tomphil]

11 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

It's nothing to do with the 'project / model'. Mowbray and Venus never actually had a plan.

By the time Broughton and JDT got here it was too late to sell Brereton-Diaz - last year of his contract and very little time to find a replacement, we're in a relegation battle without his goals. He'd agreed a Bosman by the time January came around. 

I have a love-hate relationship with Ben - as one of the few people on here that saw a player in him during the early days it's been gratifying to watch him score 40+ goals over the last few years. In the same vein it was infuriating to see him go into his shell during the last 6 months after signing his new deal with Villarreal when we were desperate for his goals.

Like Travis, to me he's a Mowbray stalwart that doesn't fit the new system we're playing, so I think ultimately we'll be better off without him, but I sure would have liked £10m+ to rebuild the team. 

 

Yep that pair and Waggot had no real plan at all they were just shrugging their shoulders and winging it from season to season. 

[RoverCanada]

25 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He's the epitome of a confidence player, he only turned up against Millwall after he scored his first goal - which fell very kindly for him. 

After that he was brimming with confidence again and actually wanted the ball.

The intensity he had as he ran the ball up the pitch before the 4-3 goal... I hadn't seen that in a while.

In many ways a frustrating end to his Rovers career, but I'll at least keep some fond memories for that 2nd half send-off.

[AllRoverAsia]

12 hours ago, Fraserkirky said:

Nah…don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for his level of performance in the last couple of months. We needed him to step up, and he was absolutely dreadful. Then leaving on a free…

He can piss off, doesn’t need our thanks or our well wishes.

That's the part that makes him a cnut and not a cult.

Apart from 45 minutes yesterday he'd not been interested in putting himself at risk all of this year.

He only looked good when the whole team looked good after HT.

Fair weather bellend.

Edited May 9, 2023 by AllRoverAsia

[AllRoverAsia]

3 hours ago, Groundhog said:

I wish he'd won that header at the front post for the Coventry equaliser, instead of turning his back on it.

I'm fed up of watching opposition forwards bust a gut to fly through the air and out jump and muscle their opponents.

I called him out for that cowardice at the time.

[Groundhog]

10 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

I called him out for that cowardice at the time.

I remember, and I agree.

I'll add him to the list, with Rothwell, Lenihan, Armstrong etc using our club as a "lowly" stepping stone to better things, fed up of watching players play with their heads elsewhere. I want players like Szmodics who want to drag the club up the league and further their career at the club, rather than away from it.

[Miller11]

59 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

It's nothing to do with the 'project / model'. Mowbray and Venus never actually had a plan.

Mowbray and Waggott are both on record as saying that the plan was to “polish him up” and sell him at a profit. That’s been touted as the Rovers model for at least 5 years and it’s failed more often than it’s worked.

[roversfan99]

An absolute joke that our shoddy owners have allowed him to leave for free.

We WILL miss him and his rubbish form has done as much to highlight how poor the supporting cast are as much as anything. Still goes into the summer as our top scorer with at least double anyone else. If our owners gave a shit, we could have already had a replacement for money in the building, but that's not how they work. Dickheads.

[AllRoverAsia]

34 minutes ago, Groundhog said:

I remember, and I agree.

I'll add him to the list, with Rothwell, Lenihan, Armstrong etc using our club as a "lowly" stepping stone to better things, fed up of watching players play with their heads elsewhere. I want players like Szmodics who want to drag the club up the league and further their career at the club, rather than away from it.

My opinion of Szmodics has completely changed over the course of the season.

He's one of the very few of the current Rovers squad I'd want in the trenches with me.

Edited May 9, 2023 by AllRoverAsia

[yankfan]

6 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

If he’d have put in a couple more performances like yesterday from Easter onwards we’d have done it…

Just one really 

[yankfan]

32 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

Mowbray and Waggott are both on record as saying that the plan was to “polish him up” and sell him at a profit. That’s been touted as the Rovers model for at least 5 years and it’s failed more often than it’s worked.

Not that it makes it any better, but was it ever confirmed we paid £7 million for him?  I thought I read that was the price after sell ons, which clearly there will be none. Similar to the Armstrong deal where the fee paid was small but the sell on was quite large. 

[Silas]

Good luck to Ben, I wish him well and will keep an eye out for results and matches he's playing in.

Not convinced he'll cut it in La Liga. Have that feeling he'll be another in a long line to leave the club with high expectations of a stellar career, only for it to nosedive and peter out. 

Not hoping for that though, no bitterness, would like to see him smash it over there. Maybe he'll prove me wrong. 

[Miller11]

42 minutes ago, yankfan said:

Not that it makes it any better, but was it ever confirmed we paid £7 million for him?  I thought I read that was the price after sell ons, which clearly there will be none. Similar to the Armstrong deal where the fee paid was small but the sell on was quite large. 

Steve Waggott has said these exact words to me:

”We invested £6 million on Ben when he was one of the brightest prospects in the country”.

While the fee will have been paid in instalments, as is the norm, I don’t think that it was dependent on any clauses, the conversation around this didn’t suggest so.

I went for 7 based off that 6, plus a signing on fee and possible additional fee due to him becoming a full international.

[Sweaty Gussets]

1 hour ago, yankfan said:

Not that it makes it any better, but was it ever confirmed we paid £7 million for him?  I thought I read that was the price after sell ons, which clearly there will be none. Similar to the Armstrong deal where the fee paid was small but the sell on was quite large. 

Sell-ons wouldn't be included in the price we paid for him. Mowbray said it was £6m we paid Forest. 

[DE.]

4 hours ago, Miller11 said:

Steve Waggott has said these exact words to me:

”We invested £6 million on Ben when he was one of the brightest prospects in the country”.

While the fee will have been paid in instalments, as is the norm, I don’t think that it was dependent on any clauses, the conversation around this didn’t suggest so.

I went for 7 based off that 6, plus a signing on fee and possible additional fee due to him becoming a full international.

Take wages into account and you're well above £7m as well. Typically we'd have expected to get that back and then some with a decent sale, but now they just go into the same black hole as everything else, with absolutely nothing to show for it.

[Andy]

I liked him from the beginning - understood that we were buying potential and I felt that some genuine talent was underneath all of that initial raw endeavour.

I took a LOT of stick on here (and elsewhere) for suggesting that he'd play in the Prem and internationally, right from that first season and whilst he's not played in the Prem yet, I think it's a matter of time.

Massive, massive confidence player. If he gets off to a good start at Villarreal, anything is possible for him there. Conversely, if the ball starts bouncing off his shins or he keeps playing his simple passes into the byline, it could turn pretty quickly for him.

Hard to ignore what appears to have been a lack of effort over the last few months though. Lack of talent you can sometimes forgive; a lack of effort for any professional sportsman is unforgivable.

Pleased he's ended on a fairly positive note, but we could have done with that version of BBD for the previous several games.

Still say he's not finished developing yet and, under the right coaching & guidance, there is still unlocked potential in there.

Heard a whisper the other week that we did a deal with Villarreal in Dec/Jan whereby they were able to secure his signature and we locked in a sell-on fee. No idea if it's true, but could be an unexpected bonus if we did (and he does well out there).