If Brady and doesnt start, with Hendrick and Defour out we will have £35m worth of midfielders not starting! Amazing.
Who would you say has been the best value 11 we have had since The Premier league era brought mega bucks to the game?
Heaton £0
Sinclair £0 Duff £35k Keane £2.5m Ward £500k
Alexander £200k Barton £0
Little £100k Elliott £0 Blake £250k
Vokes £350k
Total £3.9m
Tom Heaton £0. If we paid £5m it would have been a bargain. The best keeper in generations.
Frank Sinclair £0. His experience and ability was vital in a team that could easily have gone down. Who would know where we would be now had we done so? The rest is history.
Michael Duff £35k. A relatively unheard of 27 year old defender with no league experience coming in as back up. Went on to become a club legend with over 300 games including three promotions to the premier league - enough said.
Michael Keane £2.5m. The only 7 figure player. I would like to have picked McGreal who helped develop Gary Cahill and was influential in our team that year. But the fact is Keane is every bit as good as Cahill and will go for £20m minimum. Duff played a big part on Keanes progression no doubt.
Stephen Ward £500k. When we bought him almost everyone was unanimously underwhelmed. Why did we need him when we had Mee and Lafferty. Consistently solid without being flashy. Must be 8/10 every week. Our record since he came in has been outstanding. Our best performances last time at this level were with him and the side and have been ever since he came back.
Graham Alexander £200k. Who could believe we paid £200k for a 36 year old Preston right back, and on a two year deal? If anyone could, I bet they wouldnt have believed we would have converted him to a central midfielder who would be an influential part of taking us to the premier league and a league cup semi final playing all 61 games before scoring 7 prem goals. Before returning to Preston.
Joey Barton £0. Signing him once on a free was a masterstroke. Signing him twice on a free is genius. The most assured and composed footballer I have seen play for us. Outstanding. We would definitely have failed last season without him. A key player in the 23 undefeated. His teamtalk at Hull says it all.
Glen Little £100k. The most exciting, yet unlikeliest of wingers I saw play for us. had it all. Would be worth millions today. In fact he was then!!
Wade Elliott £0. Influential in taking us up culminating in THAT goal. Had as good a cross as anyone. And an engine to boot! Would thrive in a Dyche team.
Blake £250k. He was good the first time round. And they say never go back. But he was even better the second time. The goals were less frequent but the tricks werent. His performance in that Semi final was as good as you will see from a championship player. Made Spurs look like a non league outfit.
Vokes £350k. A bargain. Target men arent always known for their goals. But Vokes has bagged plenty - 1 in 3.5 games. 35 in two championship promotion seasons. As well as contributing to two of the best partnerships we have seen in the championships in years with Ings and then Gray. Neither would have scored half as many without him.
Total price less than £4m. Remarkable. Almost everyone of them players would comfortably go for that figure alone in this day and age and all have played a part in where we are now.
