Emi Buendia - Injured

[wittonwarrior]

It worrying when your record signing isn’t thought of as an automatic starter

[Tayls_7]

It worrying when your record signing isn’t thought of as an automatic starter

How so?

[Ian.]

Not at all. He’s just settling in. He looked excellent yesterday when he came on I thought.

[dave shelley]

It could be worse, he could be Joelinton who's still settling in after three years.  I've few worries about this lad.

[Footy-Vill]

If he had played as many Premier league minutes as Grealish has for Man City this season he would have higher numbers that him for goals and assists.

The facts are Buendia has played one full 90 minutes and in that game he scored.
And has only played 258 minutes of football.

I predict he'll get equal or better numbers than Grealish this season.

[SoccerHQ]

It worrying when your record signing isn’t thought of as an automatic starter

Man. United signed Sancho for about 70m and he's played less than Buendia so far.

Donny van whatshisname was 40m + and he must've started about two league games for them in 18 months!

Just got to accept as we keep rising up the league we'll be signing more players in 25-40m bracket and they all won't be able to start week in week out.

Think Buendia will be back in the team before too long. Think Arsenal away will be good game for him given how they play and they wanted him in the summer. I assume he won't be around for Wolves match if Argentina call him up again.

[algy]

It worrying when your record signing isn’t thought of as an automatic starter

Really isn't. It shows how strong the rest of the squad is. In any case though, despite Emi B costing £40m-ish ... how many of our players would you turn down that money for? I'd argue we've for a number of players above that price bracket:
- Martinez
- Mings
- McGinn
- Watkins
- Konsa

All of those, I'd be particularly unhappy if we accepted a £40m bid for. We've also got a second batch of players who are approaching that level:
- Emi B (obvs)
- Ings is about £30m
- Dougie Luiz must be over £30m now surely?
- Bailey is around that figure too
- Sanson would've been £35m ish until the French League had a car crash
- Traore is in a similar boat, would've been £25m+
- Cash & Targett must be approaching that £30m-£40m bracket, if they're not already in it
- Jacob Ramsey isn't there yet, but could realistically be approaching that bracket come the end of the season if he maintains his form

We're in a weird place, for ourselves anyway, that we've got a number of players in the squad who we couldn't afford if they were playing for another Premier League club. Credit to the coaching & scouting staff for putting us there.

[algy]

Bit of a controversial view, but if also place El Ghazi at the bottom end of that bracket. I'd put it this way. £20m isn't going to get you a player with El Goalzi's stats who's got 3 years of PL experience under his belt and still has his prime years (just about) ahead of him. I'm saying he's £25m at least, but given the prices quoted for Smith-Rowe and McNeill, I think £30m+ isn't that outlandish.

I like Emi B, and as Footy said it wouldn't surprise me if he ended the season with better stats for us then Joe had, not least because there whole squad is stronger.

[Risso]

I can't see Smith moving away from the 3-5-2 any time soon, and as it stands Buendia and to be fair Bailey don't fit readily into that system as starters. If we do revert to 4-3-3 for the easier looking games like Wolves at home, then I can see Bailey starting but not Buendia. The midfield three of McGinn, Luiz and Ramsey looks set in stone at the moment. But anyway it's all good. £30m players not being guaranteed a start, just the sign of a big team on the up.

[Smithy]

It worrying when your record signing isn’t thought of as an automatic starter

Don't make the mistake of equating "record signing" with "most valuable player" or even "best player".  Because that's not how it works.  It's just a reflection of the market at the point we acquired them.  I would say we've got a few players who are now worth a bit more than Buendia, it's just we signed them before they reached their current level.

Little Emi is a great addition to our squad, and I'm confident he will prove his worth over the season and beyond, but it's not even remotely worrying he's not an automatic starter. Very few players in our squad actually are.  It would be a more worrying reflection of the quality of our squad if he WAS an automatic starter.

[Dante Lavelli]

It worrying when your record signing isn’t thought of as an automatic starter

Really isn't. It shows how strong the rest of the squad is. In any case though, despite Emi B costing £40m-ish ... how many of our players would you turn down that money for? I'd argue we've for a number of players above that price bracket:
- Martinez
- Mings
- McGinn
- Watkins
- Konsa

All of those, I'd be particularly unhappy if we accepted a £40m bid for. We've also got a second batch of players who are approaching that level:
- Emi B (obvs)
- Ings is about £30m
- Dougie Luiz must be over £30m now surely?
- Bailey is around that figure too
- Sanson would've been £35m ish until the French League had a car crash
- Traore is in a similar boat, would've been £25m+
- Cash & Targett must be approaching that £30m-£40m bracket, if they're not already in it
- Jacob Ramsey isn't there yet, but could realistically be approaching that bracket come the end of the season if he maintains his form

We're in a weird place, for ourselves anyway, that we've got a number of players in the squad who we couldn't afford if they were playing for another Premier League club. Credit to the coaching & scouting staff for putting us there.

Good post and illustrates that we are growing as a club.
 
A nice problem to have but it is hard to see where/how we can improve next as there’s few obvious weaknesses and the next level of player is unlikely to consider us (yet).

[Ad@m]

A nice problem to have but it is hard to see where/how we can improve next as there’s few obvious weaknesses and the next level of player is unlikely to consider us (yet).

Which is precisely why Smith's telling the players that we can beat anyone in the league.

If this group gel the way it looks like they might be able to, top 6 is absolutely realistic. And if we qualify for Europe then a whole different level of player will take an interest in us.

[AV82EC]

A nice problem to have but it is hard to see where/how we can improve next as there’s few obvious weaknesses and the next level of player is unlikely to consider us (yet).

Which is precisely why Smith's telling the players that we can beat anyone in the league.

If this group gel the way it looks like they might be able to, top 6 is absolutely realistic. And if we qualify for Europe then a whole different level of player will take an interest in us.

Which then begs the question, surely, that we already have top 6 players, why do we need new ones?

[SoccerHQ]

A nice problem to have but it is hard to see where/how we can improve next as there’s few obvious weaknesses and the next level of player is unlikely to consider us (yet).

Which is precisely why Smith's telling the players that we can beat anyone in the league.

If this group gel the way it looks like they might be able to, top 6 is absolutely realistic. And if we qualify for Europe then a whole different level of player will take an interest in us.

Which then begs the question, surely, that we already have top 6 players, why do we need new ones?

We want top 4 players? We want players who can win us FA cup or europa league in future?

[Dante Lavelli]

A nice problem to have but it is hard to see where/how we can improve next as there’s few obvious weaknesses and the next level of player is unlikely to consider us (yet).

Which is precisely why Smith's telling the players that we can beat anyone in the league.

If this group gel the way it looks like they might be able to, top 6 is absolutely realistic. And if we qualify for Europe then a whole different level of player will take an interest in us.

Which then begs the question, surely, that we already have top 6 players, why do we need new ones?

I reckon West Ham will eventually demonstrate why.  The squad needs to be bigger to ensure you’re no knackered for the league games.