Why sell Issa ?

[perry geyton]

this one baffles me, off the back of a fantastic world cup, for 10 Mil.

am I missing something

[Bronaldinho]

1 year left on deal and likely we have Nwaiwu incoming.

Given the fee we'd have to recoup for Joa, unlikely he'd go.

Cuenca had early interest, but we valued him higher than Benfica would go

Bassey is untouchable for us.

Diop could discuss pre-contract terms in January, so we had to get something.

Shame, as I thought he was good but we need funds in to fund another move it seems.

[Enfield]

Gone to Ipswich for only £8.5 Mil

[jayffc]

Discussed at length in many messages in the summer transfer and Nwaiwu thread. Makes perfect financial sense given his expiring contract, for SCR and accounts generally, and with the view to moving towards a new transfer model with younger talent.

TLDR:
This is good for this seasons books - money goes straight to his replacement
Stops him walking away free next summer.
His seeming replacement Nwaiwu looks a beast and is on half the wages.

[alfie]

I was led to believe that he refused to sign a new contract, can anyone confirm that?

[Angus Telford]

I get that from time to time we'll be offered such a financially transformative fee, the economic implications for the club trump the football-side arguments about that individual player - eg Palhinha. But that clearly doesn't apply to the £5m or whatever it is we gain in the books here.

So if we see him starting 10+ games next season I'd say offer him an extension and focus our resources on improving other areas, rather than losing a solid first team player for a trivial amount of money.

On the other hand if he's only going to sit on the fringe of the squad next year then fine, I can see the long-term argument for cashing in and bringing in someone with potential to improve in value/quality above Diop.

I'm torn between the two myself because I'd like to see some squad rejuvenation but I do also rate Diop.

[Karlos]

Would rather keep him than Anderson but Issa has been more than patient playing back up for a number of seasons now and deserves a move for more 1st team games.

Shame the fee is so small but thats what you get for letting contracts get to the final year

[jayffc]

I get that from time to time we'll be offered such a financially transformative fee, the economic implications for the club trump the football-side arguments about that individual player - eg Palhinha. But that clearly doesn't apply to the £5m or whatever it is we gain in the books here.

So if we see him starting 10+ games next season I'd say offer him an extension and focus our resources on improving other areas, rather than losing a solid first team player for a trivial amount of money.

On the other hand if he's only going to sit on the fringe of the squad next year then fine, I can see the long-term argument for cashing in and bringing in someone with potential to improve in value/quality above Diop.

I'm torn between the two myself because I'd like to see some squad rejuvenation but I do also rate Diop.

Agree that I like Issa, but...

Highly possible he wasn't showing much interest in extending - or wanted terms we didn't. People have said this a fair bit about extending him - but we don't know if he even wanted that. It might also have meant paying him more than his already considerable wages, or him expecting to be played more etc.

Given there were rumours he wanted to go to Paris last year but we turned down the offer...and now he's gone to a promotion team - logic suggests it's highly likely he's keen to go somewhere he's almost guaranteed to start. That isn't currently the case here, much as I like Issa and wanted him played over Anderson by end of season.

In a world where SCR is now key - Nwaiwu will likely be paid half the wages Issa was on (without any additional raise on top he might have wanted) which would save us about 2.5m a year on squad cost for each year Nwaiwu is still on that contract.

I rate Diop - but this means we don't risk getting nothing and possibly having to replace him without the fee that we book this summer - which is good for this years accounts and can go straight towards his replacement. Who...whilst untested, looks a bit of a beast. People seem to often talk about a couple mil, or about £5m like it's in isolation, and even then, rather flippantly like it's nothing, millions of pounds really are not trivial for a club like ours operating in tight margins. It's still alot of money, and if you are constantly looking to find those millions each time you do such a deal, it accumulates towards a much bigger picture when SCR and FFP is involved.

[@jolslover]

I get that from time to time we'll be offered such a financially transformative fee, the economic implications for the club trump the football-side arguments about that individual player - eg Palhinha. But that clearly doesn't apply to the £5m or whatever it is we gain in the books here.

So if we see him starting 10+ games next season I'd say offer him an extension and focus our resources on improving other areas, rather than losing a solid first team player for a trivial amount of money.

On the other hand if he's only going to sit on the fringe of the squad next year then fine, I can see the long-term argument for cashing in and bringing in someone with potential to improve in value/quality above Diop.

I'm torn between the two myself because I'd like to see some squad rejuvenation but I do also rate Diop.

I agree with the first paragraph and would have liked to see second paragraph happen.

[Hatch007]

I doubt he'd sign an extension when he regularly gets overlooked for Andersen and who could blame him.

[I Ronic]

   Shame to see him go but can't be doing his career much good, not playing. He often didn't make the match day squad. I hope he does well. He'll likely have a busy season.

[DadCreature]

Bottom line is that we need to do better than Diop.  Love what he gave for this club, but we need to upgrade

[hovewhite]

Shame ,think his agent has said a new challenge and regular action after 2 years of watching Anderson getting worse on massive wages.

[Jules]

Sad to see him go but can't blame him. He should have started most games alongside Bassey last season. Andersen  should have been benched.

[Whitestone]

Diop is far from perfect. We're potentially getting an upgrade in the younger Nwaiwu with the chance to make a decent profit in years to come. Isn't this what many people have been crying out for. Seems like good business sense to me. 

[MickTheBeard]

We haven't got the Nigerian yet behave dieppe was bought by silva and tony kept him too long silva didn't care tony hadn't a clue,Anderson was loaned to us arranged by Tony and then bought for a fee which  must be the crime  of the century,hardly any return, im suprised his dad did not stop the buy seems bizarre.We might get Spanish loanees but not assets again where will it end.You never know one day he might sit with the fans at fulham at a game and tell us how found a player by closing your eyes and sticking a pin in a dictionary,similar to how they find a wrestler pure chance never mind championship is a option.Don't forget if they had bought wembley we wouldn't worry about the bogs in the happy end just tell me why we loose millions,obviously something isn't kosher and a c/o who made a hash of the new stand and still has a job another secret not told,your write I will shut up I feel the club is sinking perhaps they will explain their incompetence considering they have a successful buisness or are they trump in disguise.

[General]

1 year left on deal and likely we have Nwaiwu incoming.

Given the fee we'd have to recoup for Joa, unlikely he'd go.

Cuenca had early interest, but we valued him higher than Benfica would go

Bassey is untouchable for us.

Diop could discuss pre-contract terms in January, so we had to get something.

Shame, as I thought he was good but we need funds in to fund another move it seems.

Even if all of this is true, the point still stands - €10m or £8.5m is still too cheap for him

[jayffc]

1 year left on deal and likely we have Nwaiwu incoming.

Given the fee we'd have to recoup for Joa, unlikely he'd go.

Cuenca had early interest, but we valued him higher than Benfica would go

Bassey is untouchable for us.

Diop could discuss pre-contract terms in January, so we had to get something.

Shame, as I thought he was good but we need funds in to fund another move it seems.

Even if all of this is true, the point still stands - €10m or £8.5m is still too cheap for him

But if it's what we've been offered for him and there aren't other offers on the table above it then that's the market for him presumably ,and if we need to get moving with his replacement quickly then what do we do?

I appreciate I also would have hoped for more but ultimately he's worth what someone will pay for him, at a club he wants to go to, that will pay him the wage he wants. We had more offered last year, but he's now 29 and in last year of contract so I get it.

[AJW48361]

Shame to see him go but can't be doing his career much good, not playing. He often didn't make the match day squad. I hope he does well. He'll likely have a busy season.
[/quote Expecting Benfica to go for him?

[iansthailand]

The 8 odd million we get for Diop allows us to buy a 40 Million player on a 5 year contract (with amortisation).
Issa was also on 70,000 a week (reported) so a younger player is likely on a much lower salary.
One thing that has not been discussed (unless i've missed it) is does Diop meet Arbeloa's requirements of a ball playing centre back? I think not. Andersen, Bassey and Cuenca do.
Whatever, he's a top professional and i wish him well.