Moussa Transfer thread - merged

[bobby01]

Mikie and grant,the intertoto we won it one time..

[HatterDon]

If Dembele has a £15m trigger clause and Spurs offer £15m there is nothing that the club can do to stop him talking to Spurs.

That would be no different if we were a much wealthier club, it is just the contractual position we find ourselves in...

Unless the club can make him a sweeter deal -- and I don't see how we could afford that.

[Martinsback]

I don't resent him moving on! He is a fantastic player.
But I see top clubs strengthening, other mid clubs strengthening even newly promoted clubs strengthening.
Us, we have depleted our squad. We needed to replace the players that have left and then strengthen.
I hope we don't get injuries!

Hopefully the money from Moussa will pay for three players..

[CH FFC]

Whatever the fee, so long as it was acceptable to Fulham we didn't have a lot of choice. We've had a couple of years pleasure watching him, he always said he was ambitious and has conducted himself with dignity to the end. It's a sad day for Fulham fans but good luck to him.

Now go shopping, Martin and get us the next Moussa!

Jol already signed the "next" Moussa Dembele!  Still a tad young though.

[CH FFC]

I believe there is a translation problem here, as I have seen a number of different figures.  What keeps popping up is 16.2 million pounds + add ons.  16,200,000 British pounds sterling = 20,468,538 euros.

I am hoping that the fee is already spent on 3 new players!

[The Rock]

My initial reaction was - oh no - here comes a relegation scrap with Demps gone as well.

But 19mm + 4mm in add ons is silly. Add ~ 8mm from Demps and thats 27mm + 31mm in add ons. They were gone and we knew it and didn't want to admit it.

~ 30mm is enough to replace these 2 players.

[HatterDon]

As you saw in my report, Mr. Boyo, Mr Gale was indeed acting as if he were Moussa's agent. He said that Moussa was the most creative player on the pitch, undoubtedly top-four quality, and the like.

Having said that, you may remember that most of the 2nd half of the season, Jol was also acting like Moussa's agent saying over and over again that he is a brilliant player, we know we're going to lose him one day, and we want to make sure we get his best while he's here.

Unless Jol was speaking out of line [in just about every other interview for 4 or 5 months], it seems as if there was a concerted effort to big Dembele up. I'm sure everyone's happy with the 15m -- well, except for most of us.

[bucksfulham]

 :clap_hands: This one says it's £23 million. Let's hope it's true.

http://www.examiner.com/article/tottenham-land-fulham-midfielder-moussa-dembele-massive-23-million-deal

[aussierod]

Mikie and grant,the intertoto we won it one time..

Lol, I'd completely forgotten about the intertoto cup, we're european trophy winners, Europa League finalists, and are consistently in the top half of the league

The fact is, although some here don't want to admit it, we are little old Fulham in most outsiders eyes, and thats because we've a tiny stadium in comparision to a lot of other clubs. Some I imagine even consider us somehow lucky or fortunate enough to stay in the league each season

The fact is, in my eyes, Fulham are a small club continuously punching above its weight (eg Europa League x2 +1 final, level on points with Liverpool and their £100mill transfer windows etc etc), but we are a well run club these days. Yes, we are unable to hold onto our star players, but almost every club outside of Barcelona and Real Madrid have the same difficulty (Arsenal, Tottenham, Man Utd, AC Milan.... they've all lost star players), the small fish get eaten by the big fish and the big fish get eaten by the bigger fish. We are still a small fish in the scheme of world footbal and it will take a long time and a lot of money (both in stadium infrastructure, club setup - ie academy, and players) to make Fulham bigger club, but we are doing these things, we aren't recklessly throwing money to build a brand new stadium too big for our fan base, but we are improving and expanding our stadium in our sacred patch, we've got a Cat One academy (which is a big deal) and although we are selling some star players, you'd be hard pressed to find many players within our squad which aren't international players for their respective countries

Dembele (likewise Dempsey) was a pleasure to watch in the white and black shorts, and watching such a star, internationally recognised player play week in/week out for us only shows how far we've come as a club, we turned a rough rock into a football diamond, and yes, that diamond will shine brighter elsewhere and they may reap further rewards, but I can't wait to see what new rocks come settle on the bank of the Thames and continue to build our club further, one rock at a time  :scarf:

[HatterDon]

The most frustrating part of this for me is that, realisitically, he's not moved a club that's going to be hugely more succesful than we are in the next 5 or 6 years... Yes they're a much bigger club and he'll earn more money, but there's no way on earth they're going to beat the likes of United, Man City or Chelsea to the league title in the next 5/6/7 years, nor are they going to win the CL, let alone reach it. He's only 25, it's not like had he stayed another season at Fulham he'd have been unable to move to a bigger club then... I feel as though he's sold himself short moving to Spurs. He could have easily slotted into the likes of Chelsea, City or United, or even Real Madrid, and I would have then felt that his move was justified as he was joining a club that is realistically going to challenge for major titles. Ultimately he might be involved in a successful Spurs cup run in the next few years, but the likeliehood of him winning the league or Champions League, or even playing in the Champions League, is, in my opinion, minimal, and that for me is the most disappointing part of it all.

But anyway, good luck the Moose, you were the most talented player I've seen in a Fulham shirt in a very long time, arguably ever, and I wish you every luck in the future. I just wish you'd gone to a more likeable team, one that I have some respect for.

I must respectfully disagree with how you started this post. Spurs are MUCH more likely than we are to win a League Cup, a Europa League trophy, and FA Cup, an ECL trophy than we are. They would have been in the ECL had not Chelsea won the competition. I think it's fair to say that Dembele will be involved in European competition for as long as he's with Spurs. It's also fair to say that, barring finishing top of the good-boy league, we're not. We continue to be far from interested in the domestic cup competitions which are our only ticket to Europe.

I DO agree with you that Spurs and their fans are miserable gits, and I'd weep uncontrollably if any of my family members even set foot there.

[aussierod]

The most frustrating part of this for me is that, realisitically, he's not moved a club that's going to be hugely more succesful than we are in the next 5 or 6 years... Yes they're a much bigger club and he'll earn more money, but there's no way on earth they're going to beat the likes of United, Man City or Chelsea to the league title in the next 5/6/7 years, nor are they going to win the CL, let alone reach it. He's only 25, it's not like had he stayed another season at Fulham he'd have been unable to move to a bigger club then... I feel as though he's sold himself short moving to Spurs. He could have easily slotted into the likes of Chelsea, City or United, or even Real Madrid, and I would have then felt that his move was justified as he was joining a club that is realistically going to challenge for major titles. Ultimately he might be involved in a successful Spurs cup run in the next few years, but the likeliehood of him winning the league or Champions League, or even playing in the Champions League, is, in my opinion, minimal, and that for me is the most disappointing part of it all.

But anyway, good luck the Moose, you were the most talented player I've seen in a Fulham shirt in a very long time, arguably ever, and I wish you every luck in the future. I just wish you'd gone to a more likeable team, one that I have some respect for.

I must respectfully disagree with how you started this post. Spurs are MUCH more likely than we are to win a League Cup, a Europa League trophy, and FA Cup, an ECL trophy than we are. They would have been in the ECL had not Chelsea won the competition. I think it's fair to say that Dembele will be involved in European competition for as long as he's with Spurs. It's also fair to say that, barring finishing top of the good-boy league, we're not. We continue to be far from interested in the domestic cup competitions which are our only ticket to Europe.

I DO agree with you that Spurs and their fans are miserable gits, and I'd weep uncontrollably if any of my family members even set foot there.

Completely agree with you Hatter, Spurs are a bigger club and much more likely to win something, play Champions League football etc than we'll ever be. Just playing Champions League football would be a highlight that we'll struggle to ever attain

With regards to staying with us for another season and then wait for a bigger club, career progression is all about stepping stones which Mousa has done and been open about with all of us, why stay with us rather than AZ Alkmaar then the logic goes, and hold out for a bigger club than Fulham? They were a stepping stone, we were another one and my guess would be, Spurs are as well.

Hats off to Dembele though, professional til the end and he's been an absolute revelation since Jol took him under his wing, for his sake I hope he continues to progress and one day plays Champions League for a bigger club than Spurs as I'd love to watch him and say he was our player

[Adam87]

1 year left and £17m+ in the bank is good business. My feelings now will be based on who we bring in, we must do business, i would be really really suprised if our transfer kitty was under £20m now......SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP!!!!

[HatterDon]

QPR in for a Real Madrid midfielder now.. A club with real ambition...

Feel free to support them.

I think he already does.


Oh, and best of luck in everything you do, Moussa, and I hope the Cottage faithful give you a huge ovation when you return.

[In the Enclosure]

Noticed tonight that Talksport really have their knife into QP ha Ha. They have a mocked up video on their website showing their new goalkeeper crying and getting emotional at Loftus Road and the subtitles say that he is crying because he has just seen their training ground - the size of the crowd and realising how far his career has fallen.

Then tonight the subject of Joey Barton came up and they  refused to discuss it saying what a complete farce the whole thing was. Then went on with an Evening Standard reporter to say that Fulham were waiting for their brilliant young talents to mature having won the Acadamy  Premiership title last year (think QPR are still trying to get approved Acadamy status?)

That is ambition in the long term building a future rather than buying up a load of 30 +players on huge wages
However if you would like to go and see AJ miss another open goal from 4 yards as apparently he did last night - you are welcome

[fulhamben]

Noticed tonight that Talksport really have their knife into QP ha Ha. They have a mocked up video on their website showing their new goalkeeper crying and getting emotional at Loftus Road and the subtitles say that he is crying because he has just seen their training ground - the size of the crowd and realising how far his career has fallen.

Then tonight the subject of Joey Barton came up and they  refused to discuss it saying what a complete farce the whole thing was. Then went on with an Evening Standard reporter to say that Fulham were waiting for their brilliant young talents to mature having won the Acadamy  Premiership title last year (think QPR are still trying to get approved Acadamy status?)

That is ambition in the long term building a future rather than buying up a load of 30 +players on huge wages
However if you would like to go and see AJ miss another open goal from 4 yards as apparently he did last night - you are welcome

academy and stadium developemnet, ar by far and away the 2 most important things that we need to take care of

[DJinNJ]

And Birmingham as in my post????

Birmingham were a poor team that got an easy draw and a gift from Arsenal in the final. They could hold on to their best players because the top teams didn't want them. The reason we haven't won a trophy is not that we aren't as good as Birmingham was (I recall us beating their cup winning team easily at St Andrews toward the end of the season), it's because we haven't been lucky enough. The longer we remain a solid top flight team, the better the chance that it will eventually be "our year".

[Patterson]

Sucks to lose such a great player.  Great to gain 15+ mil.