Had a calf operation, details in the LT.

Disappointing.

Not unexpected. Risky signing. Didn’t fully work out.

Wasn't expecting to see him any way so not a major disappointment. Hopefully he will recover fully and be back for one last hurrah next year although sadly I doubt it.

He wont play for us again

There's a reason he was £7m. Great footballer though, still glad we signed him if just to see someone of that class in our team, however fleetingly.

Shame ( for us not him ) we activated an extra years extension only a matter of weeks before the reaccuring calf injury played up again.

That decision alone will cost the club 5/6m+

Who ?

Thats the chance you take when signing a player like him, full of quality but most of the time out with injury, pity we never got to see the very best from him apart from his brilliant set pieces, doubt if he will pull on a shirt for us again but good luck to him.

Presumably he was apart of the intense training sessions at Burnley which probably didn't help things along.

He probably needed individual training sessions designed similar to what Spurs did with Ledley King.

MACCA wrote:Shame ( for us not him ) we activated an extra years extension only a matter of weeks before the reaccuring calf injury played up again.

That decision alone will cost the club 5/6m+

I thought clubs, and players, take out insurance against long term injuries.

MACCA wrote:Shame ( for us not him ) we activated an extra years extension only a matter of weeks before the reaccuring calf injury played up again.

That decision alone will cost the club 5/6m+

I'm pretty sure we're not paying him £100k a week

aggi wrote:I'm pretty sure we're not paying him £100k a week

Squad bonus payments on top of the flat wage

bfcmik wrote:Squad bonus payments on top of the flat wage

Appearance weighted surely...

We knew we'd be lucky to get 25 league games out of him when the summer transfer window opened, that is why a large majority of people on here identified central midfield as a weak spot in the team.

I'd suggested going for player in a similar mould to Defour but much younger, they could deputise for him when he was unavailable and be allowed time to grow into our team like Tarkowski did.

We got lucky with the emergence of McNeill but the decision not to supplement areas of the team where players were coming back from long term injuries was IMO a big mistake this season.

aggi wrote:I'm pretty sure we're not paying him £100k a week

Me too

bfcmik wrote:I thought clubs, and players, take out insurance against long term injuries.

Is it long term? He wasn't injured as such, just recurring and him not feeling 100% right.

However doubt if it's fitness related, done whilst playing for our club, or the club/players choice to have surgery, such insurance would exist.

I could be wrong though.

People speculating a few other off the field issues yoo, but I'm sure it'll all come out in the wash.

I’d almost forgotten he plays for us.

Goody1975 wrote:We knew we'd be lucky to get 25 league games out of him when the summer transfer window opened, that is why a large majority of people on here identified central midfield as a weak spot in the team.

I'd suggested going for player in a similar mould to Defour but much younger, they could deputise for him when he was unavailable and be allowed time to grow into our team like Tarkowski did.

We got lucky with the emergence of McNeill but the decision not to supplement areas of the team where players were coming back from long term injuries was IMO a big mistake this season.

The reason why CM wasn't seen as a priority was that Brady and Defour would be like 2 new signings on their return,despite one having a questionable injury history,and the other being out for nearly a year.

The same mantra cannot be repeated this summer,we have to reinforce our midfield by hook or by crook.

bodge wrote:Had a calf operation, details in the LT.

Disappointing.

And at this link
http://www.uptheclarets.com/season-at-an-end-for-defour" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

moaninclaret wrote:doubt if he will pull on a shirt for us again but good luck to him.

So you think we are going to pay him for another season and a half without seeing him play?

I think he’ll move on in the summer.

Let him move on and name the new disabled end after him..

we had Defour
Steven Defour
I just don't think we understood
He's really really good
played far less than he should
we had Steven Defour

Bordeauxclaret wrote:I think he’ll move on in the summer.

I doubt it, he's under contract and he's not likely to get a deal while injured.

Won't necessarily be easy to move him on. Don't think there'll be a host of clubs queuing up to take him and he may choose to sit out the last year of his no doubt decent contact.

Thought this was the case already tbh. We have to prioritise technical quality for our replacement. Can’t just have a workhorse to take his place.

ClaretTony wrote:I doubt it, he's under contract and he's not likely to get a deal while injured.

Transfer window doesn’t open until the summer.
Depends where he’s up to with his injury by then.

I think he’ll be off.

Bordeauxclaret wrote:Transfer window doesn’t open until the summer.
Depends where he’s up to with his injury by then.

I think he’ll be off.

Played six Premier League games since January 2018, had two lots of surgery (or is it three?). Who is going to make him an offer of a deal better than the one he's on now?

bfcmik wrote:Squad bonus payments on top of the flat wage

I'm pretty sure that our flat wages plus bonuses won't add up to £100k per week (unless we win the league maybe).

ClaretTony wrote:Played six Premier League games since January 2018, had two lots of surgery (or is it three?). Who is going to make him an offer of a deal better than the one he's on now?

Chinese clubs, clubs in Qatar. MLS.
Who knows.

I think he’ll be off.

ClaretTony wrote:Played six Premier League games since January 2018, had two lots of surgery (or is it three?). Who is going to make him an offer of a deal better than the one he's on now?

China.

Hey, whatever we are paying for Steven Defour he's been worth every penny just for his part in gaining the 3 points at Stamford Bridge and the draw against Spurs at Wembley - August 2017.

Hope we see him in a claret shirt again next season - fully fit and his injury behind him. If not, thanks for being a claret, Steven.

UTC

Goody1975 wrote:We knew we'd be lucky to get 25 league games out of him when the summer transfer window opened, that is why a large majority of people on here identified central midfield as a weak spot in the team.

I'd suggested going for player in a similar mould to Defour but much younger, they could deputise for him when he was unavailable and be allowed time to grow into our team like Tarkowski did.

We got lucky with the emergence of McNeill but the decision not to supplement areas of the team where players were coming back from long term injuries was IMO a big mistake this season.

And that mistake could cost us very dearly come the end of the season. We needed strengthening in midfield irrespective of how Brady and Defour would return and so far they havent returned to past form.

Bordeauxclaret wrote:Chinese clubs, clubs in Qatar. MLS.
Who knows.

I think he’ll be off.

I just can't imagine any club wanting to pay a sizeable fee for him and then offer him a better wage than he's on given how little he's fit and available.

How many 90 minutes will he have played for us ?

randomclaret2 wrote:How many 90 minutes will he have played for us ?

I worked out that by this summer he’ll have started roughly 35% of the games we’ve played since he signed.

I suspect 90 mins will be less than 10%.

randomclaret2 wrote:How many 90 minutes will he have played for us ?

Of 46 league starts, he's played the full 90 minutes 13 times, 11 of them last season and twice this season.

ClaretTony wrote:I just can't imagine any club wanting to pay a sizeable fee for him and then offer him a better wage than he's on given how little he's fit and available.

I can’t imagine we’d want a big fee for him.
Technically far superior to any player we’ve had in 30-40 years, but unfortunately getting him out on the pitch has been difficult.

It’s a shame he couldn’t get out there more for us but that’s football for you.
I think he’ll see out his career in an easier league, starting next season.

Goody1975 wrote:We knew we'd be lucky to get 25 league games out of him when the summer transfer window opened, that is why a large majority of people on here identified central midfield as a weak spot in the team.

I'd suggested going for player in a similar mould to Defour but much younger, they could deputise for him when he was unavailable and be allowed time to grow into our team like Tarkowski did.

Don't think anyone would argue with that suggestion, but it's a hell of a lot easier said than done.

Bordeauxclaret wrote:I can’t imagine we’d want a big fee for him.
Technically far superior to any player we’ve had in 30-40 years, but unfortunately getting him out on the pitch has been difficult.

It’s a shame he couldn’t get out there more for us but that’s football for you.
I think he’ll see out his career in an easier league, starting next season.

We'd have to get a fee that is acceptable to us, and we wouldn't let him go on the cheap. A club would have to then be prepared to pay that and pay him the sort of money that he's on with us. In an easier league, that sort of money won't be available I wouldn't have thought. He's already said he wants to end his career either with us or back in Belgium and he's not going to get the right sort of money there.

ClaretTony wrote:We'd have to get a fee that is acceptable to us, and we wouldn't let him go on the cheap. A club would have to then be prepared to pay that and pay him the sort of money that he's on with us. In an easier league, that sort of money won't be available I wouldn't have thought. He's already said he wants to end his career either with us or back in Belgium and he's not going to get the right sort of money there.

Maybe. On the other hand, if he's not going to be an asset for us next season because neither his fitness, nor his ability to withstand the rigours of the Premier League after effectively 18 months out, can be guaranteed - then perhaps there's an argument that digging in our heels to get a significant fee is a bit pointless, because it's better to get him off the wage bill and use that cash to bring in someone who might be an asset to the squad.

Any club wanting to take him on will have serious doubts regarding his ability to stay fit & the recurrence of injures, I think he will go on a pay as you play sort of deal, they’ll be too much reluctance to over commit or throw serious money at it, he just represents too much of a risk.

He gives me the impression that he is not too bothered if he plays or not.Give him away get him off the books.

Did he have a history of injuries before he joined us? surprised if he did with our forensic approach to signing players.

We only got Defour because of his risk with injuries, we have to be patient with him, hopefully he will get a full pre season and be back flying at start on next season.
Other teams have players who are injury prone, Mendy at City for example

claretspice wrote:Maybe. On the other hand, if he's not going to be an asset for us next season because neither his fitness, nor his ability to withstand the rigours of the Premier League after effectively 18 months out, can be guaranteed - then perhaps there's an argument that digging in our heels to get a significant fee is a bit pointless, because it's better to get him off the wage bill and use that cash to bring in someone who might be an asset to the squad.

It's not just a matter of that though is it? We'd have to find a club willing to take him and pay him.

Lord Rothbury wrote:He gives me the impression that he is not too bothered if he plays or not.Give him away get him off the books.

I'd certainly disagree with his not bothering about playing. I think that was answered with his brilliant attitude when he played a couple of under-23 games earlier in the season. He looked like the cat that had got the cream being able to be back on the pitch and he was superb with the young players too.

ClaretTony wrote:It's not just a matter of that though is it? We'd have to find a club willing to take him and pay him.

Yep, of course. I don't disagree with that, I was querying the suggestion that we'd want a fee as well.

Some strange posts on here. Surely, what we all want is for the operation to be a great success, for Stephen to be fit and ready for a new season and for him to be our standout midfield star once again.

ClaretTony wrote:I doubt it, he's under contract and he's not likely to get a deal while injured.

We’ve signed injured players. Naki Wells was one and I think Blake was when we first signed him.