- Jan 15, 2017
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Appreciate there's another thread but I can't remember a player sale that's divided our fan base quite as much as this one so I'd like to see the opinion reflected in a poll.
In my opinion we are losing the best RB in the league, to a rival that had a major deficiency in this position last season. Not only that, but he was a player I really liked, who I felt could become Spurs captain one day and was ultimately the last relic of the Redknapp era (Rose and Kane were only reserves back then). For those reasons I can't bring myself to be happy about this - and that's before we consider that with Son and Rose out injured, our only players with any real pace are Sissoko and N'Koudou who could both easily be binned before the season starts. We may yet find a suitable replacement and I do like Trippier as well, however I can't help but worry people will start calling us a selling club now which could not only affect who we can bring in but might start making the likes of Kane, Alli or Lloris consider their own futures.
On the other hand - it's a huge amount of money. A world record fee for a defender. And whilst we may point to the fact that they paid almost that for John Stones, we need to remember that Walker is 27 years old, at the peak of his career and is hugely dependent on his pace, meaning that if that declines in the next 3 or 4 years as most footballers do when they reach that age he'll be effectively finished at this level and we could be talking about selling him for a tenth of what we've been offered. He is clearly an animated and vocal personality, and was poor towards the end of last season so if Poch has decided that his head's gone and he will be a negative influence then it makes sense to get rid of him before - he has always pushed to maintain a positive and determined atmosphere at the club and has iced anyone who has threatened that immediately, so perhaps it is best to sell him quickly and avoid him bringing any bad vibes to pre-season training. Is there any shame in being a "selling club" if you are getting the better deal? Was it a negative against Juve for letting Pogba go? Or against Chelsea for letting Oscar go?
Personally I'm very disappointed, although I can appreciate the logic in selling him now. One thing is for sure - it doesn't matter how well any replacements do, for every trophy we don't win next season somebody will say it was because of this transfer.
In my opinion we are losing the best RB in the league, to a rival that had a major deficiency in this position last season. Not only that, but he was a player I really liked, who I felt could become Spurs captain one day and was ultimately the last relic of the Redknapp era (Rose and Kane were only reserves back then). For those reasons I can't bring myself to be happy about this - and that's before we consider that with Son and Rose out injured, our only players with any real pace are Sissoko and N'Koudou who could both easily be binned before the season starts. We may yet find a suitable replacement and I do like Trippier as well, however I can't help but worry people will start calling us a selling club now which could not only affect who we can bring in but might start making the likes of Kane, Alli or Lloris consider their own futures.
On the other hand - it's a huge amount of money. A world record fee for a defender. And whilst we may point to the fact that they paid almost that for John Stones, we need to remember that Walker is 27 years old, at the peak of his career and is hugely dependent on his pace, meaning that if that declines in the next 3 or 4 years as most footballers do when they reach that age he'll be effectively finished at this level and we could be talking about selling him for a tenth of what we've been offered. He is clearly an animated and vocal personality, and was poor towards the end of last season so if Poch has decided that his head's gone and he will be a negative influence then it makes sense to get rid of him before - he has always pushed to maintain a positive and determined atmosphere at the club and has iced anyone who has threatened that immediately, so perhaps it is best to sell him quickly and avoid him bringing any bad vibes to pre-season training. Is there any shame in being a "selling club" if you are getting the better deal? Was it a negative against Juve for letting Pogba go? Or against Chelsea for letting Oscar go?
Personally I'm very disappointed, although I can appreciate the logic in selling him now. One thing is for sure - it doesn't matter how well any replacements do, for every trophy we don't win next season somebody will say it was because of this transfer.