Zamora done
So says Duncan Castles on Twitter.
In which case:
- why have Fulham sold an important player to a rival?
- why is there no obvious replacement in place, even though we are not safe from relegation?
- why did we only receive £4-6m for a player who is in or around the England squad?
- how does Fulham FC benefit from making the move now rather than in the summer?
Off to bed.
16 Comments on “Zamora done”
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This was the last thing I expected when I woke up this morning…can hear the sound of thousands of jaws dropping right now.
So Bobby who is ahead of £35m Carroll in the England pecking order goes for £4m (which could rise to 6 i think depending on performance).
His mate AJ stays (to leave on a FREE in the summer) and we get some Russian dude who hasn’t played a good game of football since 2008 (just hoping our scouts know more than we do).
I know Bobby has his bad days but on his day he is bloody brilliant and we will miss him greatly. :(
Two ways this can go now:
1) This brings the best out of Ruiz, Johnson (for his remaining days), Trotta, Sa and The Russian.
2) Our season collapses, Dempsey struggles to get on the end of any more balls and we slide towards oblivion.
“Zamora added: “The ambition of the Club was certainly a drawing factor as well.”
I can’t really understand this move. I could not believe it until I saw confirmed. I would like to hear Jol’s thoughts
That does not make sense. And to QPR? There must be more to it
We get to call the Russian “Pogs”, right? That’s a great name.
Errrr No… He’s been a moody bastard all season, hasn’t been anything like his best & never will be in a Fulham shirt so let’s move him on and carry on the work the work that Jol’s started and must finish. Its going to be difficult but it will pay dividends. Would be a lot more worrying if AJ had gone.
I’m not necessarily against Bobby leaving, but to QPR for a measly £4m? The mind boggles.
The timing stinks, so one can only assume that relations had become truly poisonous. We’d not be be the first club to offload a player in such circumstances. Doesn’t make it good.
(1) why have Fulham sold an important player to a rival?
Because they are desperate and paid the most, I suspect.
(2) why is there no obvious replacement in place, even though we are not safe from relegation?
We’ve signed Pavel Pogrebnyak who seems like he could be a decent replacement. Big, strong, two-footed, good with a header, and (at least from youtube) seems to score scrappy goals. Whether he can replace Zamora’s ability with the ball at his feet, I don’t know. But with Dembele flourishing, perhaps we don’t need that now. Perhaps we need a more traditional No. 9.
And I’d say we’re fairly safe from relegation here. Not mathematically safe, but it will take one hell of a collapse for us to go down.
(3) why did we only receive £4-6m for a player who is in or around the England squad?
The rumour is that the deal is £4m upfront with add-ons up to £7m (if QPR stay up and Zamora stays fit). £7m seems a pretty nice price for a 31 year-old, injury prone, out of favour, unhappy, non-goal-scoring striker, who has been capped a whole 2 times by England. By way of comparison, the 62-times capped Emil Heskey went to Aston Villa for £3.5m when he was 31.
(4) how does Fulham FC benefit from making the move now rather than in the summer?
(a) Most likely, we can get a better price for Zamora in January than in the summer. In the summer, we can spend that £7m and get a much better, and younger player.
(b) Possibly, we feel we are more-or-less safe and think this is a good opportunity to give Pogrebnyak and Trotta games. You’d rather do that now, with points in the bag and a decent home run in, than at the beginning of a new season and see them fail then and genuinely endanger us.
(c) Possibly, we think that Zamora and his spat with Jol was spreading discontent within the squad. We think that getting rid of him and Jol showing that he has won that battle with make the squad perform better, and will improve results.
(d) Possibly, we genuinely think that Pogrebnyak is a better option for us than Zamora given the way that Jol wants us to play, Zamora’s form, etc.
Thanks rjbiii, so much more eloquent than. Could ever be
Can we at least expect a poisonous farewell letter from Chairman Mo?
I don’t mind Zamora going. There are various wholly reasonable justifications but the elephant in the room is our seeming failure to bring in the player(s) that we wanted and the simple question is why?
I don’t think for one minute that this was the transfer window we planned or that Jol will be happy with the outcome.
Not saying it has, but do you think it may have something to do with;
http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/mark-hughes-qpr-and-the-a-word/#comments
The “A” word!
Re. Carroll fetching a much-higher transfer fee, you have to bear in mind that you’re not just paying for what the player can do right now, you’re paying for what you think you’re going to get out of him for the next several years. Carroll was 22 when Liverpool bought him and had scored 11 goals in the first half of the Premier League season; there was every reason to believe he was trending upward and would be a valuable player for Liverpool for years to come. Zamora is 31 and injury-prone. And given that they’ve got 5 caps between them, I don’t think either of their standing in the England pecking order is particularly relevant.
Don’t think it’s a bad bit of business actually – and ageing, 31 year old who has time out each season with injuries. Out with the old, in with the new – lets look to the future now.