Nixon reporting we're interested but West Ham are favourites, would be a very good addition imo

In for him along with West Ham according to Nixon.

West Ham in for him as well as us according to Nixon

West Ham links have been around for some time while our target has been Dawson. I believe we'd still prefer Dawson but that is proving to be very difficult because of the money they want for him.

ClaretTony wrote:West Ham links have been around for some time while our target has been Dawson. I believe we'd still prefer Dawson but that is proving to be very difficult because of the money they want for him.

The Dawson link is strange though, £20M or so for a third choice central defender? Unless Dyche sees him replacing Lowton at right back or maybe we're going to lose a central defender...

This is the sort of signings we should be targeting,young plus wages should be viable,possible replacement for Ben Mee

Where's this link coming from and are there any other clubs in the picture?

Mawson is younger, and cheaper, makes more sense than spending £20m on Dawson.

Strange link with West Ham.

They’ve already spent £20 million plus on a centre-back, they’re signing a Paraguayan centre-half who is captain of his club side in Brazil plus they have Winston Reid, Declan Rice, Ogbonna and Reece Oxford.

Yes please.

Socrates wrote:Strange link with West Ham.

They’ve already spent £20 million plus on a centre-back, they’re signing a Paraguayan centre-half who is captain of his club side in Brazil plus they have Winston Reid, Declan Rice, Ogbonna and Reece Oxford.

They have bid £25m for Lascelles this week and were also interested in Dawson.
Reid was injured a lot last couple of years, Rice is young and inexperienced and Ogbonna looks like he maybe going. Reece Oxford was sent out on loan last year I think.

Plus they blew a small fortune on Fonte.

If West Ham are interested we stand little chance of competing on wages....and surely Alfie Mawson is a cockney name !!

Think we should sign them both at whatever cost, just so we can field a centre back pairing of Mawson and Dawson.

Squarepusher wrote:Think we should sign them both at whatever cost, just so we can field a centre back pairing of Mawson and Dawson.

If we sign England left back Steph Houghton that would mean a back 4 of Lowton, Houghton, Mawson and Dawson

Assuming ben is staying, i would be concerned that tarkscould go if we sign either mawson or dawson, as both would expect to start. Although we may be thinking of 352 with brady as a left wing back.

Would be a good signing. Exactly the sort we should go for.

Young enough to improve. But should get plenty of game time even if not automatic first choice.

Who knows perhaps we may even use the Europa to try a different system? 3 at the back?

TVC15 wrote:If we sign England left back Steph Houghton that would mean a back 4 of Lowton, Houghton, Mawson and Dawson

Reffed by Craig Pawson....?

sounding like a team from Trumpton...

I know Swansea were relegated but Mawson had an excellent season for them
I would have put him on a par with Keane when playing for us in his last season, so a value of between £25-30m will most likely have to be paid
Same sort of figure would need to be paid for Lascelles or Gibson and if we think Mee is worth around the same, a fee of £20m is not that high for Dawson
The big question is whether we can afford to pay out that sort of money for a 4th CB
Until the Mee situation is resolved one way or another I don't think we will

Hope there is something in this

Alfie Dawson

We'll end up with Dawson IMO. I'd like Mawson if it's a possibility but I fancy there's a bit of game playing here with regards to WBA lowering their demands. The fact is they've got a player on their books who has put in a transfer request and refused to go on the pre-season tour. There's absolutely no chance he'll be welcomed back into the first team squad so he's leaving the club this summer. If it's a question of Burnley or West Ham and we both suddenly look elsewhere it won't take long for the WBA board to realise that £15m is a fair price.

I think most would agree that we need a better back-up centre-half given how many times they'll generally be playing in the season giving injuries and suspensions (Kevin Long played in over 40% of the Premier League games last season and we have Europa League this season). It's a bit simplistic but when Long played we averaged ~ 1.19 points per game, when he didn't we were on ~ 1.59 points per game.

A good centre-half who can challenge our first choice pairing is going to be expensive but the likelihood is that they won't just be there to sit on the bench and there's always the risk of two centre-half injuries meaning we really need two spares.

Added to that, Tarkowski's struggles in playing on the left to accommodate Long and I'd be more than happy to get a left-sided defender like Mawson in.

Or is the link a tactic to get West Brom to lower the price for Craig Dawson in a similar way we used Robert Snodgrass to get Brady?

Tarek Hamed
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/ ... ces-claim/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gibson > Mawson > Dawson

Interesting development. You'd imagine we have plans for the fact that Dawson may not happen, because its dragging on a bit and we don't really appear to be getting anywhere. We're talking about two clubs who have form for being extremely stubborn on valuations (whether that's a strength or a weakness is a different point) and so its not immediately clear how we unlock negotiations.

Nor is it obvious that a right sided centre back like Dawson is really what we need right now, given that Tarkowski and Long both prefer the right. That said, I do wonder whether we're judging Tarks on the left a bit prematurely - it may be that with the likes of Defour in midfield to give him an easier out ball., and perhaps with a bit of time to adapt, he'd be absolutely fine there. Getting caught in possession was one of his biggest issues on the left, and that might be solvable - presumably if Dyche is proposing to bring in a right sided defender to play alongside him, that must be his thinking.

Mawson has a really big reputation, and is left sided, but he's struck me as a bit error prone and I don't know if he's the leader we could really use if Mee does move on (and the sort of first team ready centre back we appear to be chasing doesn't alter the perception that he might be). Gibson has always struck me as the left sided centre back who has most in common with Mee - but Dyche doesn't exactly have a had record when it comes to sourcing centre backs.

Either way, we are reaching the point when we could do with concluding one or two bits of business. We don't need lots this summer, but we do need perhaps 4 players - extra forward, centre back, wide player, back-up in midfield, and we've only got a month to box it off.

Maybe we are planning on going to a back 3/5 with 3 cbs with long as back up on bench

I know it's only one game, but Mawson was pants on the Turf. So was everyone else in a Swansea shirt mind.
I'd still prefer Dawson, a little experience and proven at this level.

claretspice wrote: That said, I do wonder whether we're judging Tarks on the left a bit prematurely

If you are judging on his end of season he didn’t appear fit. Southgate played him on the left and he didn’t look out of place.

Andingle wrote:Tarek Hamed
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/ ... ces-claim/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dont know much about him. But £1.5m for a full international with world cup experience might not be a bad signing for a busy season.

He needs to come and play for us, he made so many mistakes last season - he needs Mee to tell him what to do !

Lets sign up Claret's champion Ian Lawson too whilst we're at it.

For me, Mawson is a better long term purchase than Dawson but it may well be determined but our intention with Mee. With Man City due 40% of any sell on, there might not be the same desire to cash in as we did with Keane

Squarepusher wrote:Think we should sign them both at whatever cost, just so we can field a centre back pairing of Mawson and Dawson.

Reminds me of when we had Gnohere in defence and we were linked with Balde at Celtic.

SpringHillClaret wrote:For me, Mawson is a better long term purchase than Dawson but it may well be determined but our intention with Mee. With Man City due 40% of any sell on, there might not be the same desire to cash in as we did with Keane

Will Man City still have a clause?
I thought it was linked to the first contract they sign with the new club. I know we missed out on a bonus clause recently like J Rod playing for England as he had signed a new contract for instance. Can't remember which one though.

You may well be right - I’m certainly no contract expert but thought I had read this somewhere.
Mee has been great for us, certainly since he switched to CB, and would be a loss without any doubt. Even if he does sign his contract and stay, it would be reassuring to have some quality back up.

Generally it will carry through player contracts. What the player and Burnley have in their contracts makes no difference to the contract between Burnley and Man City (in the case of Mee). The only area where it can make a difference is future payments to the selling club being triggered by the player receiving a certain wage level after a contract re-negotation.

There are sometimes time limitations (e.g. 4 years from signing or similar and that time period can match up to the initial player contract term) and sometimes the sell-on is capped (e.g. lesser of 20% of profit or £5m) but the contract between the club and the player is nothing to do with sell-on clauses, etc

According to Nixon we are trying to sign Mawson but he can't see it happening.

Who is he?

Japebe43 wrote:Who is he?

Nixon or Mawson? Nixon is a well know journalist. Mawson is the Swansea CB.

Steddyman wrote:Nixon or Mawson? Nixon is a well know journalist. Mawson is the Swansea CB.

Mawson.. Looked him up now.. Don't see why he'd be an unrealistic target.. Bit of a journeyman.

Japebe43 wrote:Mawson.. Looked him up now.. Don't see why he'd be an unrealistic target.. Bit of a journeyman.

Would suspect the unrealistic comment refers to either his wages being to high or Swansea desire to keep him.

Journeyman? I’m not sure that a few loans as a youngster qualifies a player as a journeyman.

DCWat wrote:Journeyman? I’m not sure that a few loans as a youngster qualifies a player as a journeyman.

Were they loans? Just saw loads of clubs listed on wiki.

Japebe43 wrote:Mawson.. Looked him up now.. Don't see why he'd be an unrealistic target.. Bit of a journeyman.

Aye a 24 year old who has been at all of 3 clubs. Proper journeyman.

DCWat wrote:Journeyman? I’m not sure that a few loans as a youngster qualifies a player as a journeyman.

I'm not sure that Japebe43 qualifies for talking about football.

Mawson was tipped for a call up before his injury. Suvener so I doubt he’d cum upt’north

piston broke wrote:Mawson was tipped for a call up before his injury. Suvener so I doubt he’d cum upt’north

Played for us (or was it Barnsley), previously.

Would be a superb addition, but can’t imagine we’ll get within sniffing distance.

Nigella Lawson could stop a few.