Burnley boss Scott Parker calms for 'calm' over ex-Chelsea and Everton striker Armando Broja https://www.burnleyexpress.net/sport/fo ... ja-5331456

Apologies if already posted.

Scott Parker being sensible and rational in his views, as always. Poor the other night but the reaction to Broja was off the scale ‘irrational’.

Absolutely off the scale. I couldn’t believe what I was reading on here.

Irrespective of the fact that players shouldn’t be written off after a few games, I actually thought he did okay. Some very intelligent movement, good runs, shots on target but not hit well enough. That will come with games and fitness. He’ll be fine.

Some of criticism was balanced & measured in my view albeit raw in the aftermath of the defeat. It's not his fault he's unfit & had serious injury setbacks most of this career thus far. It does call into question though the suitability to be rehabilitating a player like that when our need is somebody fit & firing almost straightaway & the players were available suited to our cause.

The article is one filled with sense.

It almost reads as though Parker has been made aware of some of the stupid stuff posted about him (and will no doubt be posted on tis thread too) and he is trying to educate them a little.

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 9:15 am

Some of criticism was balanced & measured

It was ********, absolute ********, written by bollockers…

bobinho wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 9:50 am

It was ********, absolute ********, written by bollockers…

As was the guff posted about Ings/Vokes/Foster.. even Wood and Barnes ...the internet is badly infested by these tripehounds.

Mostly written by people sat at a desk with pants around ankles searching the internet for adult diapers & dreaming of wrestling with Katie Hopkins whilst necking kestrel lager!

Stockbrokerbelt wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 10:19 am

dreaming of wrestling with Katie Hopkins

I jut did a little bit of sick in my mouth.

Back on topic, very sensible comments by Parker. Players need time after injuries to get back up to speed. I'm sure Broja will have a part to play later this season once he sheds some of the rustiness.

I was there and I actually thought he did ok. At times he looked sharp and had some speed but other times he looked a bit slow and struggling to keep up with play. Obviously this is only down to fitness which will come back. Glad he was on and with the amount of game time he had. He held the ball well and looked a handful at times - which is what we want.

He hasnt had a solid 6 months and a good pre season under his belt for a couple of years.

He does look like he lacks a spring in his step.

He will need a good 6 months and mayb another pre season before we can judge.

Remember Kevin Davies couldnt get a game at Millwall. He wasnt even on the bench at Bolton for 6 months, got an England cap.

He might never make it but he isnt a quick fix

£20m and might never make it

And you wonder why players get stick

Dyched wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 11:23 am

£20m and might never make it

And you wonder why players get stick

Do you think he will get 10 goals this season?

My point on Tuesday- which I’ll stand by- is that Chelsea Academy have developed a player who has spent 4 seasons playing in the Premier League and (when not injured) has managed a total of 8 goals.

-And for the privilege of that glittering CV, we have had to fork out £20 million and another £10 million in wages over the next 5 years. The Premier League is absolutely bonkers.

Easy to write him off and tempting to pile in after Tuesday. However, as someone who wrote off Danny Ings the first season, I've learnt to keep schtum and give these young players a bit more time....

Winstonswhite wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 11:29 am

My point on Tuesday- which I’ll stand by- is that Chelsea Academy have developed a player who has spent 4 seasons playing in the Premier League and (when not injured) has managed a total of 8 goals.

-And for the privilege of that glittering CV, we have had to fork out £20 million and another £10 million in wages over the next 5 years. The Premier League is absolutely bonkers.

Didn’t Sky Sports report the fee as £10m + £5m on potential bonuses? £10m seems a fair bit more realistic for what we paid based on his recent injury record. In fact I’d say the chances we have paid £20m are <1%. It is fascinating how the top side of fees are mentioned when a player isn’t doing too well (yet). I even saw someone make up £22m on the match thread the other night. Same happened with Trafford in the Prem, then last season, the made up £20m fee was never mentioned, and instead people went with the lower reported fee of £14m.

steve1264b wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 11:24 am

Do you think he will get 10 goals this season?

I’ll let you keep bumping this post.

He won’t ever score 10 goals in a PL season.

RVclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 12:57 pm

Didn’t Sky Sports report the fee as £10m + £5m on potential bonuses? £10m seems a fair bit more realistic for what we paid based on his recent injury record. In fact I’d say the chances we have paid £20m are <1%. It is fascinating how the top side of fees are mentioned when a player isn’t doing too well (yet). I even saw someone make up £22m on the match thread the other night. Same happened with Trafford in the Prem, then last season, the made up £20m fee was never mentioned, and instead people went with the lower reported fee of £14m.

I’m just going off what BBC, Wiki and Transfermarkt have stated, but if you want to nitpick crack on. The point still stands, a 24 year old striker who scores only 8 goals in the Premier League over 4 years will still cost you *at least* £20 million quid in transfer fee and wages.

We have just saved 10m in less than 2 hours, he is starting to look at bargain.

Winstonswhite wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 1:22 pm

I’m just going off what BBC, Wiki and Transfermarkt have stated, but if you want to nitpick crack on. The point still stands, a 24 year old striker who scores only 8 goals in the Premier League over 4 years will still cost you *at least* £20 million quid in transfer fee and wages.

It's absolutely bonkers considering other options were available around that same figure but rehabilitating somebody who's frequently injured with an horrific injury record became the preferred way of going about business.

There is probably a jakubscouser posting on a Liverpool forum asking why on earth did we sign Leoni for around 25m and now he is out injured after making his debut for 12 months

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 2:01 pm

It's absolutely bonkers considering other options were available around that same figure but rehabilitating somebody who's frequently injured with an horrific injury record became the preferred way of going about business.

Which players are you referring to?

claretonthecoast1882 wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 2:05 pm

There is probably a jakubscouser posting on a Liverpool forum asking why on earth did we sign Leoni for around 25m and now he is out injured after making his debut for 12 months

Difference being they can afford recruitment mistakes we need to box smart it's an uphill task to start with staying in the division & signing unfit injury prone strikers isn't what I'd describe as a smart move.

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 2:10 pm

Difference being they can afford recruitment mistakes we need to box smart it's an uphill task to start with staying in the division & signing unfit injury prone strikers isn't what I'd describe as a smart move.

But surely if you can predict every footballer who will get injured, when and for how long they will be out then Liverpool can ?

claretonthecoast1882 wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 2:11 pm

But surely if you can predict every footballer who will get injured, when and for how long they will be out then Liverpool can ?

It's a complete lottery nobody can predict anything but sensible recruitment bedrock choices usually start with safer bets.

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 2:10 pm

Difference being they can afford recruitment mistakes we need to box smart it's an uphill task to start with staying in the division & signing unfit injury prone strikers isn't what I'd describe as a smart move.

Leeds, have done that, and it seems to have worked

brexit wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 2:21 pm

Leeds, have done that, and it seems to have worked

I remember the DCL & broja comparisons & who's the safer bet of the 2, 1 of them seems to have got things under way.

I’m never sure how being dogmatic about why a player shouldn’t have been signed and why he’ll never be any good is part of supporting your team. Takes all sorts. And before the usual snowflakes start with “I’m allowed an opinion” type clap trap, the key word there was dogmatic.

Personally, I’d rather be patient and see how the club develops players and get behind them. They can’t all be a success immediately and we’ve had plenty of slow burners over the years who have gone on to be huge players for us. Someone mentioned Ings earlier, but others like Elliott, Marney, Mee, Tarkowski, Trafford, etc all spring to mind as players who took time. Even Anthony in the current 1st team looks a far better player than he did this time last year.

Don't feed it ....it will go away.

Stockbrokerbelt wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 10:19 am

Mostly written by people sat at a desk with pants around ankles searching the internet for adult diapers & dreaming of wrestling with Katie Hopkins whilst necking kestrel lager!

You seem pretty aware of their habits! Do you hang out with them?

The problem with the Broja deal is why did we spend so much money on a player who wasn’t fit (who knows when he will be fit) everybody knows this is going to to be a very tough season and we will need everyone fit so to why get a player in who was clearly months away from being fit,seems like a gamble that might prove to be a very costly signing i hope that i am wrong only time will tell but even now time is something we don’t have a lot of. We already have “Mighty Mike” limping along in the background surely we can’t afford to have Borja doing the same he will be under pressure to perform when does finally make the starting lineup

If Lyle suddenly gets an injury & is out for several weeks/a month then who comes in? Would Broja be trusted by SP? Or we going for Bashley?

Dyched wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 11:23 am

£20m and might never make it

And you wonder why players get stick

Please tell me this is a wind up, seriously we didn’t pay £20 mill for Broja? I just don’t believe Parker would agree to that or am I wrong.

beddie wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 28, 2025 8:42 pm

Please tell me this is a wind up, seriously we didn’t pay £20 mill for Broja? I just don’t believe Parker would agree to that or am I wrong.

Widely reported as a flat £15m if the £5m makes you feel better.

Winstonswhite wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 26, 2025 1:22 pm

I’m just going off what BBC, Wiki and Transfermarkt have stated, but if you want to nitpick crack on. The point still stands, a 24 year old striker who scores only 8 goals in the Premier League over 4 years will still cost you *at least* £20 million quid in transfer fee and wages.

It was widely reported at the time that we would pay around £20 million if all the clauses are met, 1 of which will be staying up! I read that the final could reach up to around 18 million but no idea how accurate that is. What is clear is that we have paid significantly less than the final figure as it stands.

If we did pay anywhere near the figures reported I can’t believe we couldn’t have found a much better prospect. I hope I’m proved wrong but with his previous injury’s I do have concerns.

Not interested in what this guy cost-we bought him as he has obvious skills. We need to play him in several U21 games-let him score a few goals with this team so that he can be ready to come on and make a major contribution in the PL. Foster has played well this season but against City the game was crying out for Broja to come on for Foster at no later than the 60 minute mark. If he continues to come on for a few token minutes we will still be having this discussion at Christmas

warksclaret wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 29, 2025 9:19 am

Not interested in what this guy cost-we bought him as he has obvious skills. We need to play him in several U21 games-let him score a few goals with this team so that he can be ready to come on and make a major contribution in the PL. Foster has played well this season but against City the game was crying out for Broja to come on for Foster at no later than the 60 minute mark. If he continues to come on for a few token minutes we will still be having this discussion at Christmas

Not this Christmas either I would suggest.

beddie wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 28, 2025 8:42 pm

Please tell me this is a wind up, seriously we didn’t pay £20 mill for Broja? I just don’t believe Parker would agree to that or am I wrong.

I doubt Parker has any input regarding players fees and contracts. The modern Coach is given a squad of players decided by a team of experts

Not sure Broja was what we needed this summer. We haven't got time to wait 6 or 7 months for someone to get up to speed.

JohnMac wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 29, 2025 4:50 pm

I doubt Parker has any input regarding players fees and contracts. The modern Coach is given a squad of players decided by a team of experts

I can’t believe that Parker would take the job on the understanding that he doesn’t make the overall decision regarding who is signed. I may be wrong of course after Kompany appeared to have a free run and signed almost anyone he decided.

jrgbfc wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 29, 2025 6:31 pm

Not sure Broja was what we needed this summer. We haven't got time to wait 6 or 7 months for someone to get up to speed.

He’s not going to take 6 or 7 months. He missed pre-season not an actual season.

Foshiznik wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 30, 2025 2:14 am

He’s not going to take 6 or 7 months. He missed pre-season not an actual season.

It's impossible to say how long it's going to take if he ever does fully recover. You are going back some way 4/5 years to his most prolific period at vitesse. Of course you hope everybody hopes but apart from that period mentioned there's been no evidence to demonstrate sustained fitness.

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 30, 2025 7:21 am

It's impossible to say how long it's going to take if he ever does fully recover. You are going back some way 4/5 years to his most prolific period at vitesse. Of course you hope everybody hopes but apart from that period mentioned there's been no evidence to demonstrate sustained fitness.

Anyone can pick up an injury, or just fall slightly short of match fitness at any time. I don't see why Broja should be seen by some as a virtual right-off.
Some fitness analysts on here who really don't know anything.

boatshed bill wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 30, 2025 8:02 am

Anyone can pick up an injury, or just fall slightly short of match fitness at any time. I don't see why Broja should be seen by some as a virtual right-off.
Some fitness analysts on here who really don't know anything.

He's not a virtual right off by any stretch but equally I don't subscribe to the notion that he'll automatically come good. It's not really a case of falling slightly short of match fitness it's the accumulative injuries & some serious 1s that cast doubt. It's nothing new when he first emerged on the radar some wise heads on the forum voiced doubts. Were they right or wrong I'll let time be the bearer & people can judge for themselves.

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 30, 2025 8:16 am

He's not a virtual right off by any stretch but equally I don't subscribe to the notion that he'll automatically come good. It's not really a case of falling slightly short of match fitness it's the accumulative injuries & some serious 1s that cast doubt. It's nothing new when he first emerged on the radar some wise heads on the forum voiced doubts. Were they right or wrong I'll let time be the bearer & people can judge for themselves.

Could you name a few of the wise heads on here so everyone else knows who to listen to

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 30, 2025 8:16 am

I'll let time be the bearer & people can judge for themselves.

That would be a very good idea