Sorry, just seen this.RVclaret wrote: ↑Fri Jun 17, 2022 9:49 amThose comments from Merson were a month ago.
Also, I don’t value Pope under 20m, I actually think he’s ‘worth’ more - but transfers don’t always play out like that.
There needs to be a market - example, Collins seems to have 4/5 clubs keen, that can then force a bit of a bidding war, plus we really need to keep him, that adds to the price we can let him go for.
Pope on the other hand, it appears Newcastle are the only club in for him, he wants/needs a Prem return, we need to sell for some funds and VK might not be over keen on keeping him anyway due to style of play.
You can’t just sit there, with the above factors at hand, and say ‘Hi Newcastle, it’s £30m or nothing’ - they walk away and get a different keeper. They hold all the cards on this deal, if there even is a deal, and hence the fee will be far more in their favour than ours.
It wasn’t actually aimed at you RV, or even Pope specifically, more a broader observation that our fan base under value our players. I think we’ll find this summer that a lot of other clubs will want most of them.
Re: Pope, what Newcastle will not be able to buy very easily is PL experience. They could of course go elsewhere but it’s unlikely they’ll get that experience. I imagine that’s what they’ll want to take them to the next level & will ultimately pay for it. But to be honest I hope they don’t and I hope he stays because I think our chances of promotion (and staying there) would massively increase if he stayed.