Promoted: Fulham striker Moussa Dembele agrees £27k-a-week deal with Galatasaray

[simplyfulham]

Well I'm with you on this MJG.

And I think anyone else who saw his hattrick in the youth league final game against Reading in 2013 would probably agree as well.

I think that's probably the best hattrick by a Fulham player I've ever seen at the cottage. And he was only 16 at the time. (Mind I think I'm a bit younger than a few of you so haven't seen quite as many games)

[Carborundum]

So, I would be firmly in the Moussa's terrific, owes us nothing, helped us stay up camp.  But that's not why I am posting.

The title of this thread asserts as fact something that there seems scant evidence to support.  Maybe he will go there, maybe not.  Maybe he has verbally agreed something, maybe not, but if he'd actually signed I rather suspect Galatasary would have told the world.  But my point is that however this story has come into the public domain, it has done a wonderful job of setting a benchline weekly salary of £27k per week from which the bidding can develop further.  We are questioning whether it's the right club for his development, the rules Jimmy Hill helped bring about and other things beside.  But the key question from a Fulham point of view is whether resigning him is the best use of at least £27k per week.  Seems a bit steep to me, but it's not my money.

some quick math, £27k/wk on a 3 yr deal, roughly the same total outlay as paying £2.5m fee plus £10k week to sign someone else for the same term.

Now in my eyes £2.5m is a bargain for a 15 goals/season striker, even disregarding how much dembele is likely to improve season on season

the issue is everyone else in the squad would want a rise to £27k/wk and that's not affordable

Good point.  Add in the signing on fee his agents will no doubt also be pushing for and the recent uplift in RMcC's wage and where does it get us?  Answer - precisely where we were last season when we only just stayed up, but at significantly greater cost.  And that's if they both stay fit.

There's one or two other key areas where we are a bit deficient and where diverting resources towards would have a certain logic.

[HatterDon]

What about Smalling HD?

Him we got money for. He had very few starts with us, so there was really no payback on the pitch.

[spikey norman]

Today's GetWestLondon reporting that we have increased our offer to Dembele to get him to remain at the club and reports that he is on his way to Galatasaray are wide of the mark.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Sounds like his people are "playing the game" to push potential wages to the maximum regardless where he ends up.

As for paying him a similar amount to stay and how much it would cost us to replace a 15+ goals a season player with sell on potential, I say do it.

If we are going to be seriously challenging for promotion its fair to say we will have to have a handful of quality players on 20 to 30 grand a week.

Lets not kid ourselves we are going to do it on a budget!