West Ham's Ljungberg Close to Roma Deal
Tuttosport are saying that Roma have tabled a pre-contract agreement with West Ham's Freddie Ljungberg. Ljungberg is one of the top earners at the club and it has been rumoured that West Ham are keen to lessen the wage bill by moving Ljungberg on.
posted by Keir Clarke @ 7:59 PM
17 comments
17 Comments:
And replace him with what? somewhat less expensive,but a lot less talented ? what is the point in lowering a wage bill ,only to finish in 14th place and not 8th?
There are already some season ticket holders having second thoughts about renewing. the club has already spent a year in which some very unentertaining football was on display. The owner isn t going to make a dime out of maintaining a mediocre west ham.
surely this owner has to be smart enuf to take on board that his only shot at turning a profit on his investment in the club is if we make timely progress towards being a consistent top 6 /top 7 outfit. Anything less than that is a waste of his time, and a waste of his money.
The only justification for offloading Ljungberg wud be if the club replaced him with somebody as good,but younger.if this is soley about reducing wages,it s very shortsighted.
g portugal
tbh i think they only signed him due to long term injurys that we picked up and so it does make sense to offload a player that will next season be surplus to requirements
anon 10:14 PM: sorry, but how exactly will he be surplus to our requirements?
does WHU want to move up the table or not?
does WHU want to play in the CL or not?
does WHU have another attacking midfielder/winger who has ljungberg's level of experience or not?
i don't think this is rocket science: this team needs experienced, ambitious players alongside the up and coming youth if we want to move forward and win silverware.
just look at the top four clubs in the EPL. with the exception of maybe one of them, all have a nice balance of experienced players and youngsters. the one that doesn't seem to get that balance right happens to have a top notch manager who has a track record of success under his belt and has won silverware in several countries. WHU does not have such a manager. he is still green.
i just hope this club's owner/management knows what they are doing...
wel the way i c it is that is dyer expected to play through the middle next season leaving us with either noble parker or even mullins on the bench... or is he going to be playing wide on the right with faubert behind him. i cant c ljungberg playing on our left side and dont see how he will fit in the side next season unless we get many injury's
we also have bowyer who can play right or centre so i dont see any problems and personally i would strengthen up our left side and i dont thing ljungberg is the right man for the job. so if we want to pay huge wages for a played who i honestly feel will be a backup player at best then so be it.
your comment would make sense, to me, if dyer played even a small portion of the games last season coupled with if faubert had played a good portion of the season.
neither occurred.
when speaking about faubert that seems even more wildly hypothetical imo because he is not used to the style of play in the EPL.
it all seems like such wild conjecture...
well that is what i believe and lets be honnest did ljungberd really contribute much last season? he got more games but i can only see him getting injured more and more as he gets older.
i still believe right wing will be given to faubert or dyer and ljungberd will be left out.
"... lets be honnest did ljungberd really contribute much last season?"
how do you define contribute?
i define it as making goals/goal opportunities/assisting with goals. and let's not forget players can contribute off the pitch, which, i hope he did.
as you said, you have your beliefs and your opinions and we should agree to disagree.
i still hope the management and owner know what they are doing. i don't want to see the team free fall next season because we made the wrong off and on pitch decisions.
one last thought!
i remember reading on this blog interviews of at least 2 of the players. they were stating unequivocally that they want to stay at WH and the reason they gave: it looks as if we are moving forward and our twin goals of playing in the CL and moving up the league table are within reach.
i wonder how they will feel now if these latest speculations are true. again, how will this play on the morale of the young players who ambitious enough to want CL experience.
The Ljungberg rumour is just a rumour at the moment. tbh I'm actually a bit more upset at losing Solano.
Although realistically he would probably struggle to contribute next year - I think he gave as good as he could give last year (which was far better than a lot of our younger players) and I would say West Ham probably owe him another years contract for his contribution last year.
For some reason I don't have the same emotional feelings about Ljungberg. But I would agree that it seems silly to get rid just to save some money on the wage bill - I can't really see West Ham getting in anyone to replace him.
keir, i think you got it really right: I'm actually a bit more upset at losing Solano.
not renewing his contract just seems so stupid to me. there were times when he came onto the pitch and you felt a sense of relief because you just knew that solano was going to give his all and then some. and he never seemed to make some of the disastrous mistakes some of the less experienced plays made. neither did he ever seem to hesitate in front of the net. talk about someone who took his chances!
senseless! and that alone makes me question having any confidence in this management being able to make the right decisions for the coming season.
In Curbs we trust!
I'm not that confident that we are going to improve the squad over the close season. But you can't blame the management until the end of the transfer window.
You would look very stupid if Curbs brings in Ronaldinho and Deco for a million quid.
Now if he fails to capture either of them - then you can complain.
All this over Freddie? I would think past posts would have created more controversy than this Keir!
Still, I'll continue the arguement. If the Gudjohnsen rumors are true, then Freddie's contract has to be the one to go. I think it's premature to judge this in anyway until the window actually closes. If a strong left winger and creative midfielder are brought in, I doubt any of us would be singing the praises of the swede.
A lot of this smacks of supporters talking out of both sides of their mouths. On one hand, we want the club to challenge for Europe. On the other, we want to see Academy products pull through and for the club to get younger and more exciting. While Freddie was stand up all season his high wage along with injury woes, age, and the fact that there is a younger, suitable replacement that plays a similar role makes him surplus to requirements. I think it would be stupid of the club to throw top money to a player whose presence is only neccessary if someone is injured. If they are going to be as forward thinking as we hope they are, then we should be hoping that this is a sign that there is a better place for that money to be spent.
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the only reason to lose freddie is due to money issues. and if its true what the papers say he is on, then he isnt worth it. but he stil brings an age of experience to a team that really dont have the mental aspect of winning.... (YET)
nobby brings that experience but without the ego, and this season alone DESERVES a new contract. he was instrumental at times when we failed to create anything at all, he changed games for the little time he could.
id keep freddie for his experience and knowledge. i saw him play games close to his best at times, but he is a bit of a granny and if his wages are so high i dont mind...
give me a fit faubert and ill forget all about the both.. ill pay the physio myself to keep him alive..
I can't believe some of these posts. We cannot have Ljungberg, Solano, Bowyer, Dyer, Faubert and a new signing all available for the right midfield berth. It's just a waste of money. Freddie did OK for us but wasn't that great. I really am not prepared to jump down our management's throat until I see the whole plan unfold.
I seem to remember Nobby missing a couple of sitters, like at Pompey, so he didn't take all his chances that well. However I agree he has been an inspiration at times and certainly provided more hope to the fans than Ljungberg ever did.
The main thing we need to acknowledge is the fact that we have four right wingers and two left wingers. That's without counting any youngsters coming through the ranks and players who can cover the wing, like Paintsil.
AC's favourites were clearly Faubert and Dyer. He went the extra mile to sign these players. Solano was an eleventh hour signing, albeit a good one, and Ljungberg signed as cover because we had injuries and he couldn't get the big wage he wanted at Arsenal because he was 30.
If this doesn't make Ljungberg surplus to requirements I dont know what does. If we are going to move forward we need to do it with young players, especially on the wing. I have had no hint that Ljungberg is an inspiration to the younger players off the field plus he is clearly expensive and didn't really justify that expense on the pitch.
Time to skim the cream off the top of the team and start again I think.
Agree that losing Solano is a travesty. The guy clearly had something to contribute ,even if he missed a couple sitters. He also scored from a couple of brilliantly taken free kicks.
As for ljungberg , as critical as many of us were in his first few months at the club, and i admit to be one of those who faulted him then, he had a very strong second half of the season for us. that can t be denied. As for the wages, if that was such an issue ,that shud have been taken into account at the time we bought him. Why buy him in the first place if wages were such an issue? And blaming it all on Magnusson is not the answer.
Agreed that it s still early, and in that sense the owner has to be given some benefit of the doubt as w eve got over 2 months til the transfer window closes. But at the same time, player morale going into pre-season ,and during pres-season is important. Part of "the plan" shud include avoiding unnecessary damage to team spirit etc. as a result of the club obsessing over reducing the wage bill.
g portugal
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