New Contracts?

[dekko]

There's sure to be a nugget of truth at the bottom of this but when its the Mirror quoting the Daily Star as their source, you have to be a little skeptical.

[peter w]

I don't know, the daily Star's football coverage and reporters are actually pretty good and accurate. Are they still tied in with the Express?

[KevinGage]

See I suspect he's on about £20K too, and I wouldn't be against us going to about £35-£40K to keep him. That's not particularly big wages for the captain of the club.

Not sure we'd have been able to get a Dutch international at the peak of his career for 20K - even with his injury record. 

He does miss games, but it's not as if we're talking about an Owen Hargreaves or Joe Cole-style injury record either. 

The logical thing to do might be to offer him around parity with our current top earners. He has contributed more to the side than they have, for a start.  And then weight the rest in favour of bonuses linked to appearances.

[PaulWinch again]

See I suspect he's on about £20K too, and I wouldn't be against us going to about £35-£40K to keep him. That's not particularly big wages for the captain of the club.

Not sure we'd have been able to get a Dutch international at the peak of his career for 20K - even with his injury record. 

He does miss games, but it's not as if we're talking about an Owen Hargreaves or Joe Cole-style injury record either. 

The logical thing to do might be to offer him around parity with our current top earners. He has contributed more to the side than they have, for a start.  And then weight the rest in favour of bonuses linked to appearances.

I doubt Feyenoord were paying all that much, that's one of the reasons we went to Europe to buy players.

[dekko]

I don't know, the daily Star's football coverage and reporters are actually pretty good and accurate. Are they still tied in with the Express?

Fair enough, I haven't actually read it for years.

But again, in their story they don't even use the 'insiders claim' or 'sources in the Villa/Vlaar camp' kinda language its just 'reportedly'.

That said, if he's on 25-40K now, him asking for double is both plausible and a pretty fair request given his importance to the team/club captain/what other players are on etc.  If he wants 50-60k and a 3 year contract I'd probably give it to him.

[Dave]

I don't know, the daily Star's football coverage and reporters are actually pretty good and accurate. Are they still tied in with the Express?

Eleventh most accurate out of fifteen major newspapers. With the Express twelfth out of fifteen.

The Guardian are the most accurate of the English papers by a fair margin.

[PeterWithesShin]

Ron was on £15K at Feyenoord, 25-30K with us.

[peter w]

I don't know, the daily Star's football coverage and reporters are actually pretty good and accurate. Are they still tied in with the Express?

Eleventh most accurate out of fifteen major newspapers. With the Express twelfth out of fifteen.

The Guardian are the most accurate of the English papers by a fair margin.

I haven't clicked on that but I assume that's the transfer links link? What I'm talking about is different. They have a decent set of football correspondents who seem to have a good knowledge of what's going on. Not just links of who is buying who as that is mostly guesswork by papers to sell just that. Didn't Brian Woolnough (?)the one that died fairly recently) have a column with them for a while? I liked his insight.

As fpr Vlaar didn't he sign for us after having one season back with feyenoord after a lengthy injury lay-off? Also, he wasn't an established international when he joined either, was he? I'd be surprised if he was on a lot. Especially given the brief that Lambert had regarding signings and wages. If it was the O'Neill era he would have been picking up anywhere between £40-£65 000. As it is he's probably on 25-35 now. I doubt it's a double your money contract that he wants and the fact that he hasn't signed for anyone after his WC probably suggest there aren't too many takers.

I doubt Man U want him and I reckon the stalling is because we've offered only a 3yr deal on slightly more money and pointing out that we won't pay a lot more because of his injury record and age. I'd go to 40-45 but no more.

Anyway, it's Delph I'm still holding out for. One by one they've all signed new contracts with the final 2 to go. Now talk is out there regarding Vlaar I guess he's nearest to a decision and so we're hearing more about it than Delph which clearly isn't anywhere near completion.

[pauliewalnuts]

I don't know, the daily Star's football coverage and reporters are actually pretty good and accurate. Are they still tied in with the Express?

Eleventh most accurate out of fifteen major newspapers. With the Express twelfth out of fifteen.

The Guardian are the most accurate of the English papers by a fair margin.

I haven't clicked on that but I assume that's the transfer links link? What I'm talking about is different. They have a decent set of football correspondents who seem to have a good knowledge of what's going on. Not just links of who is buying who as that is mostly guesswork by papers to sell just that. Didn't Brian Woolnough (?)the one that died fairly recently) have a column with them for a while? I liked his insight.

Surely, though, in the context of this thread, it is about who is buying who - hence your reply to dekko's suggestion there'll be no truth in the story?

[ciggiesnbeer]

Without knowing his base wages then its hard to tell how unreasonable he is being. Still if he is "DEMANDING" then thats good news. I would sooner re-sign him than not.

[Dante Lavelli]

Maybe double his money for the weeks that he plays and pay him similar to the current deal for the games he does not?
Some deal like that should protect all parties.

I like the guy.  I think he is a good character to have around the place (based on not much) and could easily play till he is 34 or beyond at his current level (i.e. a good player but hampered by injuries).  In many ways I think that his injury record was already factored into what we paid. 

[peter w]

I don't know, the daily Star's football coverage and reporters are actually pretty good and accurate. Are they still tied in with the Express?

Eleventh most accurate out of fifteen major newspapers. With the Express twelfth out of fifteen.

The Guardian are the most accurate of the English papers by a fair margin.

I haven't clicked on that but I assume that's the transfer links link? What I'm talking about is different. They have a decent set of football correspondents who seem to have a good knowledge of what's going on. Not just links of who is buying who as that is mostly guesswork by papers to sell just that. Didn't Brian Woolnough (?)the one that died fairly recently) have a column with them for a while? I liked his insight.

Surely, though, in the context of this thread, it is about who is buying who - hence your reply to dekko's suggestion there'll be no truth in the story?

I wasn't making that point though. Certain football reporters have an inside to what is going on not just the random shouting out of names and clubs. My actual point was that just because the Daily Star reported the story shouldn't take away from them having some decent football people working for them.

[Dave]

My actual point was that just because the Daily Star reported the story shouldn't take away from them having some decent football people working for them.

They may have any number of brilliant journalists working for them, but the facts suggest that when it comes to stories of the type "club X want to buy player Y" (of which this is one), then their record doesn't really stand up to scrutiny. And that most other newspapers report said stories with more accuracy.

[OCD]

Ron was on £15K at Feyenoord, 25-30K with us.

Whether its £20k, £25k or £30k, doubling his salary for his last big contract sounds about right. When we signed him he was unproven in the Premier League and hadn't looked too good playing for Holland. Since then he's become our captain, is a genuine leader around the club and was one of the best defenders at the World Cup. People will point to his injury track record (which is strengthened with him being out right now) but without seeing the stats, I would guess he's played around 75% of our games since he joined. If we don't pay it, our rivals will. How much would it cost us to replace him? What message would not signing him be sent to other players? If his agent is trying to barter salary negotiations, that can only be a good thing as it shows an intention to stay.

[E I Adio]

I don't know, the daily Star's football coverage and reporters are actually pretty good and accurate. Are they still tied in with the Express?

Yes, both still owned by Dirty Desmond I believe. Says all you need to know.