[Archived] Matteo In Rovers Talks.

[herbergeehh]

I can't see how Leeds are going to pay "some of his wages", The Producer, but he's obviously going to have to take a pay-cut to secure a transfer to Rovers - Souness and JW aren't known for their excessive wage offers.. 2 millions per year, for Leeds wasn't it?

[FourLaneBlue]

38 games last season shows him injury prone does it ?

Yes granted he has had a few problems with his knee over the past 3 yrs but last season he played almost every game.

Yes but if he played those games while carrying an injury then it obviously doesn't answer the concern. Leeds may have been forced to carry passengers last year but we shouldn't be buying them if not fully fit.

If his injury problems are over and in the past (and I presume they'll have to be to pass a fairly rigorous medical) then no problems, I was just concerned that they are in the past, as far as we know, that's all.

herbergeehh - Apparently Leeds are going to pay 70% of Michael Duberry's wages for the next two years after getting rid of him to Wolves. They really are as desperate as a team can be...

Edited June 10, 2004 by FourLaneBlue

[John]

I would think he will go through an extensive medical- sure we will know of any major problems there guys.

[LeChuck]

He's a good player, but...

...he's 30, that's going to be another £1 million we can write off in a few years time.

Having said that we could do a lot worse, I'd rather we went for someone younger who could learn of Short and Amo though.

Edited June 10, 2004 by LeChuck

[philipl]

If anyone else was at the ground around 1100ish he turned up in a Land Rover with 2 other people !

Viduka and Milner by any chance?

[RevidgeBlue]

Whilst I still think Dickov is a very poor signing I think Matteo would be a decent acquisition.

And he's old(ish) and cheap which suits our current player profile requirement perfectly!.

[greggyk]

He's a good player, but...

...he's 30, that's going to be another £1 million we can write off in a few years time.

Having said that we could do a lot worse, I'd rather we went for someone younger who could learn of Short and Amo though.

whats the point in having a youth academy if we only buy young players from other clubs!!

We will have a decent mix of young and old in next season's squad, souness does no what he's doing!

[herbergeehh]

If anyone else was at the ground around 1100ish he turned up in a Land Rover with 2 other people !

Viduka and Milner by any chance?

Actually, it was Viduka and that coach/manager, Blackwell.

Milner was in the trunk..

[herbergeehh]

herbergeehh - Apparently Leeds are going to pay 70% of Michael Duberry's wages for the next two years after getting rid of him to Wolves. They really are as desperate as a team can be...

That's just great!

However, since Matteo is on a 2 million contract, they'll probably try offloading him cheaply and let Rovers do the negotiating, wouldn't you think? Give him to JW for half'a'million, he'll persuade him into taking a crappy contract - and everyone's happy!

[78]

If anyone else was at the ground around 1100ish he turned up in a Land Rover with 2 other people !

Viduka and Milner by any chance?

No, that's Mulder and Scully.

Amoruso, Matteo, Short, Johansson, Fitzgerald, Todd

I presume that's the order Souness sees them.

The positives:

Matteo's leadership qualities, we need more leaders on the pitch

defensive qualities, well he's better than what we have at the moment, when fit.

Price, if the fee is under a million, I guess it'll be a good move.

Negatives:

Is he fit enough to play a full season? We already have Amoruso and Short two key defenders who seem to get injured every other month.

That's just a quick summary, however my main reservations is our transfer policy this summer

*Age, we seem to be bringing in more older players when we clearly need to bring down the average age.

*Transfer targets, what's happened to our scouting? The only player we seem to have looked at this year is Pedersen. Why haven't we been scouting for a central defender, midfielder and striker aswell. I sincerely hope that Souness' hasn't lost his faith in his scouts. I would hate to think that next summer, we would be going after some West Brom, Norwich or Crystal Palace senior player to bolster our squad. I know good players don't come cheap but that's why we need to extend our scouting to be able to catch hold of players with potential before their market value rises.

Edited June 10, 2004 by 78

[Rover_Shaun]

I'm sure the scouts picked up on Nissa, and what a waste of space he has been.

[78]

I'm sure the scouts picked up on Nissa, and what a waste of space he has been.

What do you expect when he plays one match every season?

Johansson hasn't had a decent chance to stake a claim in the team, we seem to want a sound central pairing but aren't willing to give the pair 10-15 games to sort out the partnership.

Wes Brown came back from a serious injury earlier this year and was genuinely rubbish but Sir Alex stuck with him for a long spell and towards the end he showed why before his injury he was one of the most promising centre halves England has at the moment.

Nisse has been a centre half that was highly rated when he was young and at Bayern Munich but how do you expect a player to improve when you don't get to play and the only way you improve is by making mistakes and learning from them, it seems that our club we seem to have a very short sighted strategy by getting older players and by chopping the squad if they make a mistake during the match.

[FourLaneBlue]

*Age, we seem to be bringing in more older players when we clearly need to bring down the average age.

I'd rather we didn't go after too many young players via the transfer market. They are expensive and a big gamble. Why go out spending money on players when we can give lads coming through the Academy a chance? If they are not good enough fair enough but usually it isn't possible to see their potential until they are given a chance in the first team.

I'd certainly hope the likes of Donnelly were given a chance this coming season.

[krislu]

I'd certainly hope the likes of Donnelly were given a chance this coming season.

02/03 : McEveley was introduced, and made an impact

03/04 : Gallagher and Stead, stars in the making

04/05 : Please give Donnelly a chance at PL football...

05/06 : "The 23man squad for the World Cup in Germany includes Blackburn stars Ciaran Donnelly and Jonathan Stead..."

[1864roverite]

the position that leeds find themselves in is pretty dire as we all know through the media reporting over the past 12 months.

Leeds have had to agree to release players at seriously low prices and offer to pay part of the players wages as they cannot afford to pay any loyalty bonuses, this is the reason why.

for example

Mills is on 40k a week, he has 4 yrs of his contract to run with a hefty bonus to come at the end of his contract.

Leeds cannot afford to keep him never mind pay him.

Therefore Leeds will let him go for free, saving agents fees, bonus payments and at the same time agree to pay say a quarter of his wages for a period of time.

This is a much better option for them rather than laying out massive money all at once as the club would gain nothing financially.

There is a much bigger problem looming as some of the big earning players hold the ace card in that they do not have to move whilst Leeds have to honour the contract !

So its all in Leeds interest to cut their cloth accordingly.

To date its 3 players off for at least two thirds of their "true" value, there is more to come.

bargains to be had at Leeds

[rover6]

It's not as if good, young central defenders aren't around.

I mean, Iain Dowie picked up Mikele Leigertwood for 150K from Wimbledon - and what a signing he's turned out to be. Admittedly, he hasn't proven himself in the Premiership but I strongly suspect he will have done this time next year.

It takes a scout with a bit of intelligence and experience to spot an emerging young talent like that.

It seems we're adopting the Steve McClaren theory to signing players:

'Bring in anyone who used to be good or has just had a good season'.

I don't mind Souness bringing in a few like Dickov and Gray but by going for Matteo he's quite obviously admitting that he has no faith in his scouting system and a limited knowledge of the foreign transfer market so is just going for familiar names that have done it in the past.

Edited June 10, 2004 by rover6

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

To an extent I would agree about the age thing with Dickov (though I do beleive that he is a good short term signing, while Stead and Gallagher pick up more experience).

But for a central defender, surely Short demonstrates that experience is vital at Premieship level - and Matteo brings loads of experience. He is also potential cover for the defensive midfield position.

Provided we don't break the bank for him (either wages or fee) - I think that this is another excellent deal.

Get Pedersen and we will have had a good close season (though probably not as spectacular as some people would like)

[roversWASmylife]

He's a good player, but...

...he's 30, that's going to be another £1 million we can write off in a few years time. 

Having said that we could do a lot worse, I'd rather we went for someone younger who could learn of Short and Amo though.

whats the point in having a youth academy if we only buy young players from other clubs!!

We will have a decent mix of young and old in next season's squad, souness does no what he's doing!

I can see your point there greggk.

Even though Short and Amoruso are still here at the club, there are also younger players like Jay and Nissa to learn off them. But with all the injuries that we suffered last season, Short and Amoruso did have a bit of time out of the team Matteo is a useful addition.

He may not be the world’s best defender but as a player he reads the game well and his positioning is excellent.

I reckon Matteo was bought in as extra cover, I’d guess he would start over Short most games with Amoruso. If injuries, suspensions hit the midfield he’s always available to play in the midfield.

Overall, for the cost of the signing and the qualities he brings, money well spent.

[mjs]

Would he add pace to our defence?

He's a solid defender but I was hoping for someone younger and faster to help out Nissa - who must be considered as Rovers long-term successor to Craig Short.

What has Nissa done in three seasons to suggest that he can be a long-term successor to Short?

[Ossydave]

Not so sure about this one, very much dependant on price.

Ok so he had what Leeds are classing as a good season, playing next to the likes of Roque Junior (sp) though it's hardly a surprise. He was one of the best from an awful bunch.

Under 1m I'd say yep pretty good signing, any more and I'd be a bit narked.

Think we'll blow the remainding funds on MGP too if this comes off.....

Matteo/Dickov/Pedersen Not a bad set of signings if they all come off.

Add to that Fergie and Thommo who'll be like new signings too, can't wait for the new season to get underway

[Manchester Blue]

It's not as if good, young central defenders aren't around.

I mean, Iain Dowie picked up Mikele Leigertwood for 150K from Wimbledon - and what a signing he's turned out to be. Admittedly, he hasn't proven himself in the Premiership but I strongly suspect he will have done this time next year.

It takes a scout with a bit of intelligence and experience to spot an emerging young talent like that.

It seems we're adopting the Steve McClaren theory to signing players:

'Bring in anyone who used to be good or has just had a good season'.

I don't mind Souness bringing in a few like Dickov and Gray but by going for Matteo he's quite obviously admitting that he has no faith in his scouting system and a limited knowledge of the foreign transfer market so is just going for familiar names that have done it in the past.

I sometimes think you talk sense but at others I honestly wonder if you are on a wind up. Leigertwood hasn't even proved himself at 1st division never mind Premier. He's just an average defender if that. He had a stinker in the play off final and has never impressed me at other times.

I've been meaning to pull you up on one of your other joke recommendations. George McCartney. I don't know hardly any Sunderland fans that rate him that highly and he's nowhere near as good as Gray. Worse than that he's an awful captain who looks scared to death most of the time.

As for Matteo not bad and would be good for a good few years depending on his fitness. If the fee is £1m or less then great.

[Exiled_Rover]

As long as he takes a pay cut and comes for less than £1m then I'll be ok with this signing

[Lathund]

Would he add pace to our defence?

He's a solid defender but I was hoping for someone younger and faster to help out Nissa - who must be considered as Rovers long-term successor to Craig Short.

What has Nissa done in three seasons to suggest that he can be a long-term successor to Short?

Played very well at CB whenever asked to do so? It's not easy when you're called in every 15th game or so, and still he does it well. If he was to play 10+ games with a good partner then I'm sure he'd prove to be more than up to it.

[Scotty]

As FLB mentioned earlier, I'm sure I read/saw an article on Matteo last season that mentioned he's got a long-standing knee injury. Apparently he hardly trains between games and often needs pain-killing injections before a match.

Hopefully that's behind him now but you have to worry that we might be taking on another Thompson here - i.e. plays for a few games then spends a year out after career-threatening surgery.

Other than that I think he's a decent player. Not sure he's any better than what we've got but he'll be handy as cover if nothing else.

[key76]

I was going to argue the case for Matteo but with such blinkered views on age, injuries, etc there really isnt much point.

Matteo has been excellent for Leeds since his move from Liverpool. He has been dominant in the games I have seen him in and was excellent against Rovers in each game he has played against us in the last few years.

And on top of that will people stop judging NEJ on a few left back appearances, and judge him when he comes into his own.....he is only young in terms of a centre half, Craig Short was at Notts County and then Derby until he was nearly 30!!!!!!