Ashley Fletcher - £7 million transfer to Boro

[Sidney1st]

21yrs old, 20 appearances for West Ham in all competitions, 1 goal (cup game)

Had a loan spell at Barnsley when they were in league 1, scoring 9 goals in 27 appearances.

I'm struggling to see where or why he's worth £7 million, but I'm wondering if Boro have had their pants pulled down over this one.

[claretdom]

Is Patrick going to be crying in his car again ?

[jlup1980]

Ridiculous fee. Just ridiculous. He's done nothing to justify a sizeable fee. It's deals like this that make me understand why we're doing the business we're doing this year!!

[UpTheBeehole]

He's the kind of player we should have been signing when he went to West Ham from United. £1m for a highly promising striker.

They've turned a huge profit on him in no time.

[HelloHiGoodbye]

One of those players who I look at and just think - "What a life". Done pretty much nowt but on his second relatively big transfer, getting signing fees left, right and centre, amazing wages and all at twenty-one. Fair play. I'd love to be fairly average and a millionaire.

[claretdom]

Perhaps he is the player Boro should have been signing when he went to West Ham

[burnleyaremy2ndteam]

I don't get it! Seems a high price. Boro struggled for goals last year so we seem to be trying to remedy that by just buying as many strikers as possible. Does anyone know if Garry Monk prefers a 2-3-5 formation?!?

[dsr]

That'll get Bamford crying.

[Sidney1st]

I don't get it! Seems a high price. Boro struggled for goals last year so we seem to be trying to remedy that by just buying as many strikers as possible. Does anyone know if Garry Monk prefers a 2-3-5 formation?!?

I spotted this last night somewhere else..

boro formation.jpg (77.94 KiB) Viewed 4587 times

[Sleeping Cat]

Boro should have just kept hold of Rhodes instead.

[ClaretEngineer]

Sid,

Something went wrong in the design department at Boro.

No good having a big V8 up front if you've no fuel pump to supply it!

[Bordeauxclaret]

I think Bamford is still celebrating that goal he scored in a losing cause so won't actually notice.

[ExistentialWanderer]

He's the kind of player we should have been signing when he went to West Ham from United. £1m for a highly promising striker.

They've turned a huge profit on him in no time.

Nope. Just nope. Not even remotely worth £1 million, let alone 7. Done bugger all and when he has played has looked dreadful! Do you actually watch football?

[UpTheBeehole]

Nope. Just nope. Not even remotely worth £1 million, let alone 7. Done bugger all and when he has played has looked dreadful! Do you actually watch football?

There was another lad we paid £1m to a Manchester club for after he spent a successful loan spell at Barnsley. Young lad, plays for England now.

Another young player signed for a million was this 18 year old at Bournemouth. Fired us to promotion, played for England and plays for a Champions League club now.

Then there was that gypsy lad at Swindon. Paid £1m. Played for England, played in Europe.

There's a theme developing here don't you think?

[LoveCurryPies]

Have we reached a time when any Premier League player is worth a minimum of £1million?

[cricketfieldclarets]

It will be a deal worth up to 7m probably. That being the case a player of his potential could be a bargain. Presuming they got him for closer to £2m with price rising accordingly.

That said 7m is the fee that West Ham paid for Javier Hernandez. Which then makes it look a bit more mental again!

[burnleyaremy2ndteam]

Haha, thanks for that Sid although personally I'd play Gibson for Ayala if we keep him!

[Clarinetclaret]

There was another lad we paid £1m to a Manchester club for after he spent a successful loan spell at Barnsley. Young lad, plays for England now.

Another young player signed for a million was this 18 year old at Bournemouth. Fired us to promotion, played for England and plays for a Champions League club now.

Then there was that gypsy lad at Swindon. Paid £1m. Played for England, played in Europe.

There's a theme developing here don't you think?

Ah so this means automatically that this guy is going to go the same way, I admire your logic.

[claretdom]

I remember us taking a chance on a young lad who had represented England at under 21 level as well as GB in the Olympics, he cost less than a million. It didn't work out, he is now used as a player to hammer Dyche with.

[ExistentialWanderer]

There was another lad we paid £1m to a Manchester club for after he spent a successful loan spell at Barnsley. Young lad, plays for England now.

Another young player signed for a million was this 18 year old at Bournemouth. Fired us to promotion, played for England and plays for a Champions League club now.

Then there was that gypsy lad at Swindon. Paid £1m. Played for England, played in Europe.

There's a theme developing here don't you think?

This theme you speak of hasn't worked for this guy though at Man Utd or West Ham. What makes you think it will with us? You're going on about us not spending money on decent players and then you throw this guy into the mix, expecting us to spend £7 million on someone who has done the square root of F*ck all anywhere! The difference between him and those mentioned. They all had promise. Keane, even Man Utd coaches were baffled at van Gaal's decision to sell him. Austin had a good track record, Ings I'll give you as he was an unknown. Fletcher is known and has not done much to merit a £7 million price tag.

[UpTheBeehole]

You haven't read what I've posted at all, have you?

[dsr]

This theme you speak of hasn't worked for this guy though at Man Utd or West Ham. What makes you think it will with us? You're going on about us not spending money on decent players and then you throw this guy into the mix, expecting us to spend £7 million on someone who has done the square root of F*ck all anywhere! The difference between him and those mentioned. They all had promise. Keane, even Man Utd coaches were baffled at van Gaal's decision to sell him. Austin had a good track record, Ings I'll give you as he was an unknown. Fletcher is known and has not done much to merit a £7 million price tag.

He's not saying that we should sign him now, but that we should have signed him when he cost £1m. Basically, West Ham have done what we did with Keane, Ings and Austin (except that we got productive play out of them as well as profit) and he doesn't like to see someone else doing what we have done so well.

You can of course add Trippier to the above list; probably Mee as well, except that we haven't sold him.

[UpTheBeehole]

Trippier was my basis for the first example, not Keane, but yes, Keane can be added to that list as well.

[ExistentialWanderer]

He's not saying that we should sign him now, but that we should have signed him when he cost £1m. Basically, West Ham have done what we did with Keane, Ings and Austin (except that we got productive play out of them as well as profit) and he doesn't like to see someone else doing what we have done so well.

You can of course add Trippier to the above list; probably Mee as well, except that we haven't sold him.

I must have read it wrongly. Apologies Beehole if so. Still, no point crying over spilled milk. Onwards and upwards.

[Holtyclaret]

It will be a deal worth up to 7m probably. That being the case a player of his potential could be a bargain. Presuming they got him for closer to £2m with price rising accordingly.

That said 7m is the fee that West Ham paid for Javier Hernandez. Which then makes it look a bit more mental again!

£7million with £2 million in add ons. Pants squarely pulled down!

[Holtyclaret]

Wasn't Hernandez £16 million plus massive wages, massive signing on fee and massive add ons?

[cricketfieldclarets]

I stand corrected