Eddie Nketiah (14)

So we pay him 100k/wk, right?

Let’s say he stinks the place out for two years and we want him to leave. We’re in for 10.4m already which doesn’t include any signing bonus.

This is a real mess having no strikers.
What other club starts a season with three strikers and at the end of it have none?

This lack of urgency means we have to sign Nketiah because, if we don’t, we’ll have to buy two quality strikers who will have to adjust to our first team straight away.

It’s going to be extremely expensive because every selling knows how desperate.we are.
We’ll also have to pay them more in wages than we’d pay Nketiah.

This is just another example of poor decision making and squad management from a board and manager who seem to stumble from one error strewn season to another.

I bet they’re regretting saying that finishing outside the top four places will make no difference to our transfer window.

I thought Nketiah and Jesus as our strikers next season would be the absolute bare minimum but it’s actually starting to look quite attractive.

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Where was this said?

Not sure it was said, but given the way the club handled January you’d like to think it is the case.

During the season the board and Josh Kroenke said they were happy with Arteta and the expectation wasn’t to necessarily finish top four and he was on course.

This just shows a tolerance of mediocrity that I can’t remember seeing at the club before.

The lack of urgency, since our move to the Emirates, has seen us, not only without CL football but finishing behind spurs for several seasons.

This is a new low and the main reason why we can no longer attract genuine top quality talent to the club.

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For the record, 100k/w is obviously above market value.

But what is he worth then? 70k/w? The difference between that and 100k over 2 years is £3.1m. That’s nothing for a club like us over a 2 year period.

The only real reason to be hung up on the cost is the potential knock on effect on what other players will want. And him taking up a striker spot when we think we can do better.

We haven’t financially ruined the club by giving him this salary, or destroyed our transfer budget / wage spend. He’s probably getting 30% more than what we’d be comfortable with. That’s it.

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No I get that. I’m just skeptical of people cheering the deal as somehow protecting his value.

If we pay him 10.4m over two years and he stinks, nobody is paying us handsomely for his services and he’s on 100k/wk.

Seems like an ok guy, still don’t think he’s at the level to start for us, really disappointed the club look like they’re cutting corners.

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That’s true but it could be the same for anyone we buy.
At least Nketiah knows the club and is used to playing in our system.

I agree the club are cutting corners but that’s down to their incompetence at losing three strikers.
I can’t remember a situation at any other club where they started a season with three decent strikers and at the end of it have none.

We’re in a precarious position because other clubs will have the upper hand when selling to us.
So we’ve been pushed into a corner and need a minimum of two top quality strikers, which would cost at least 100m but keeping Nketiah and buying just one brings the cost down considerably.

It’s a shambles and indefensible but yet another illustration of how poorly the club is being run.

Crystal Palace’s top earners are Zaha and Benteke on £100K+ p/w.

Neither of them scored more than 15 goals last season respectively.

If a club of Palace’s stature can afford to pay those sums for experienced players and that sort of output then they could definitely take a gamble on Eddie.

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Thread title makes it sound like we have a 13-year-old playing for us

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Add “Never in doubt” in the Fabrizio vocabulary. I think he said that for Messi last summer and that certainly backfired. :sob:

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This title as in Horrid Henry

Such big faith shown in this guy as our 2nd option at No 9, really hope he delivers when required.

I suppose now we’ve signed a top tier Portuguese talent and close to signing Jesus and Tielemans you need to search for something new to moan about as its what keeps you happy lol

Nah I’ve always had my doubts about this, got my doubts about Tielemans also.

Jesus is a quality player but his lack of goals might be more of an issue here than such a well rounded team like city. Still happy with adding him though…

The Portuguese kid, never seen but love the price for the metrics I’ve looked at.

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That’s fair enough if you have doubts I think all are positive buys.

No one really has a world class backup striker tho as he usually is never subbed and starts every game

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What I’m most interested in is who’s going to net more G/A next season between Nketiah & Jesus. If adjusted for goals per 90 mins played, I don’t think it’d be as clear cut as many fans think. 50m is extreme for Jesus who’s got 1-yr left on his contract.

Hope he contributes 20+ G/A for us. We need that at a bare minimum for it to be successful. For Eddie, I hope he can get 20+ G/A too, though more likely will end up in the 15+ range.

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Eddie could thrive in his limited minutes next year with the creative players we’re likely adding. He has always had good movement and an eye for goal.

If we can play in the opponents half a lot and usually have three of Odegaard, Tielemans, Vieira, and Saka on the pitch, a striker who is a willing runner and good finisher will get service.

Kek

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