Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[rowsdower]

A big part of a transfer fee is what the player is being paid and what is left on their deal, i.e. the value of the contract. His amazing season for us is the reason we're getting anything for him, and his past record and age will come into the discussion too.

I am curious as to what the add-ons could be, and how valuable they could be for us considering he's unlikely to be sold on. Maybe goals and/or appearances?

[YassinMoutaouakil]

16 minutes ago, Swello said:

500k is the bottom end of what I personally think is acceptable (although if the addons are decent based on them getting promoted, it would be a different story) - but it's way too simplistic to say that we should just turn it down and keep him for another year as we have no idea what's been discussed/agreed privately with KVV. 

Will this be the first time we've ever (post-bosman) had a transfer fee for an over-30?

 

Pearson maybe?

[Swello]

1 minute ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Pearson maybe?

Good shout.

1 minute ago, rowsdower said:

I am curious as to what the add-ons could be, and how valuable they could be for us considering he's unlikely to be sold on. Maybe goals and/or appearances?

I would assume them getting promoted would make the most sense as they would have access to more money and be in a safe position to promise something.

['WellDel]

The only way we'd get more than a base offer of £500k plus potential add ons is if multiple clubs came in for him. Doesn't matter I'd you're bidding on a signed shirt at a charity auction, a house, or a player with a year left on his current deal. It's how bidding and bartering works, go in low and bid up. No one was ever going to open at £1M plus, and as it stands no counter offer appears forthcoming. 

After the move to the Far East was kb'd I'd imagine some form of gentleman's agreement was put in place whereby he was promised that we wouldn't stand in his way if a half decent offer came in. We can argue our own thoughts all night on whether half a million is actually half decent or not, but in the eyes of the club it's a return they probably didn't budget for when signing him, and accepting it prevents the possible scenario of having an unsettled and disruptive influence in the dressing room next season, which could very easily be the case if he were to take umbrage and chuck the toys oot.

As it stands, no-one else has been mentioned as showing an interest which I find bizarre, as I thought he'd have his pick of suitors after an unbelievable run, but with a bit of luck we might see someone with an 11th hour bid to hijack the deal and add another few quid to both ours and the big man's bank balances.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Weird and/or disappointing circumstances in all three cases but I reckon we'll end up getting about a million this summer between KVV, Cornelius, and Johnston- three players we probably wouldn't have expected to be away this window at all until recently?

I know it's all amortised etc so we won't be getting a f**k off lump sum but good to see the Feghouli warchest strengthened.

[Kapowzer]

You can only hope this has acted like a dog whistle to all his suitors and those who have him on watch lists @'WellDel

Just another example of us feeling lowballed because of who we are.

It still seems surprising that none of the city clubs feel 500k plus £10k a week is worth 30 goals. This offer kinda makes Ketts "nobody in this league could afford him" shout all hot air.

We should throw Max's agent 50k to act as his hype man and see where we are in a week.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Kapowzer

[Busta Nut]

I'm surprised so many folk on here are reacting in this way.
I thought the moon howlers went elsewhere.

[rowsdower]

No one knows what has been offered to date, who has made offers, or how many offers it took to get us to finally bite. Whatever fee we end up taking will no doubt be a result of negotiations and won't (regardless of what you think about our board) be a case of us accepting the first offer. We would have had an internal valuation that offers would have to meet to start with. Anyone who was serious about getting him would have made their move or at least have enquired by now, and they certainly wouldn't be waiting to see what the daily record said.

I have a mate that was expecting us to hold out for millions, which is just silly. Buyers are paying for what they're likely to get next season,  not what we got last season. They will look at his previous seasons and see this one as an anomaly but hope he can continue his form, which isnt guaranteed. Jeez, in January we had folk wanting rid if him and he was dropped for mandron for the cup game, so we're talking about a crazy half season getting us a fee for someone we would never have dreamed of selling for anything. 

We also don't have as much leverage as some think, as he can sign a pca halfway through next season and go for nowt. He played through injury at multiple points over the last two seasons, what if he suddenly loses the motivation to do that?

It will be interesting to see how much of our style of play under SK was down to getting the most from KVV, and whether he reverts to another system after signing a whole new forward line (assuming he doesn't have some Connor shields pixie dust).

[Handsome_Devil]

5 hours ago, rowsdower said:

 Buyers are paying for what they're likely to get next season,  not what we got last season. 

It's this in a nutshell...past performance is not a guarantee of future returns.

KVV is 32, has had one career season, already a history of some niggling injuries he's played through and achieved his best playing in a 3-5-2 which Groningen probably (who knows, I'm guessing from the Dutch love of 4-3-3) don't.

He is far from a nailed on success for them.

So 500k isn't amazing but not terrible either. If the add ons are them winning the champions league it's obviously not great, if there's another 500k for him scoring 10 and they get promoted, everyone is a winner.

[RandomGuy.]

7 hours ago, welldaft said:

Sure he is an enigma. But anyone who has watched him this season knows he is one hell of a talented player.

If we refuse a transfer he could well spit the dummy out and yes we could be left wishing we sold him. But if he even scores half the goals it could be the difference between relegation and safety. 

£500k for the season he has just had is quite frankly insulting anyway you look at it. 

Hes 32, out of contract in 12 months, and has made it clear he wants to leave.

You cant force clubs to pay more than they want to, so you either accept £500k for an out of contract over 30 who wants to leave, or you try and demand more, likely fail, and end up relying on a disgruntled striker whos rarely scoring more than a handful of goals.

I get the impression your clubs been negotiating a fee with clubs for months and must be aware this is the limit. 

[coprolite]

6 hours ago, Kapowzer said:

You can only hope this has acted like a dog whistle to all his suitors and those who have him on watch lists @'WellDel

Just another example of us feeling lowballed because of who we are.

It still seems surprising that none of the city clubs feel 500k plus £10k a week is worth 30 goals. This offer kinda makes Ketts "nobody in this league could afford him" shout all hot air.

We should throw Max's agent 50k to act as his hype man and see where we are in a week.

There's only two "city clubs" in Scotland that would pay that sort of fee and those sort of wages for a 32 year old. 

[Antiochas III]

Oooft.  £500k and a Promotion Bonus add on which unless something seriously goes wrong will be triggered by April next year is a great bit of business for an over 30s player, who from his own words struggled at times to make it onto/remain on the field.  Aye, his goals are gonna be hard to replace but that have been the same no matter the amount.   

Not sure what planet some of our fans live on

[MurrayWell]

As I said previously, some of the "expected" fees folk are hitting out with are ludicrous, with Twitter replies and quotes being a particularly entertaining place just now. 

Let's be honest, the fee was probably agreed when we decided not to let him go in the winter. Given how good he's been, I think folk are allowed to have expected/wanted a wee bit more than £500k, without thinking it would be absolutely earth shattering. 

[welldaft]

 I left Steelmen Online a while back and have not been over there in months. However as a frequent (and proud) moon-howler someone has to restore balance on here. We cannot all be sensible all the time as much as I try. I do love the regular high horse posts. They are quite funny. 

Is not that difficult to understand that we want the most we can get for the club. And some of us rightly feel that £500k is less than we had hoped for what has turned out to be our prized asset regardless of age, future form etc etc. 

The points raised above around why £500k is a acceptable offer are all valid. But I guarantee you if he was at any of the city clubs they probably would not even entertain such an offer. Not even close to it. And despite what is said above I am quite sure Hearts, Aberdeen and even Hibs could afford £500k and associated wages for 2nd top goalscorer from last season. If I am not wrong Hibs recently paid quite a bit more than £500k to buy Elie Youan. High 6 figures was quoted. 

What is accurate is no one knows is the exact fee offered / accepted and what the add ons are. If they are realistic and could yield a further £250k+ or thereabouts then fair enough. Also hope as stated above that others may think £500k is a steal and want a bit of the action. Time will tell. 

Edited June 15, 2023 by welldaft

[RandomGuy.]

26 minutes ago, MurrayWell said:

I think folk are allowed to have expected/wanted a wee bit more than £500k, without thinking it would be absolutely earth shattering. 

Well stop ignoring the "plus add ons" line, then?

[MurrayWell]

9 hours ago, MurrayWell said:

When you look at the money being chucked around, including the reported wage offer, and the season he's had I think the club could have pushed for a £750k with a promotion add on. 

Course we don't know what the add ons etc are, so maybe it'll not be far off that kinda figure in the long run.

As you said, given we halted a previous move, he was always going to be away, so if that's the best we could get then fair play. 

Okay.

[Desp]

Hilarious that everyone has just taken the story & figures from some cabbage journalist on Twitter and taken it completely at face value.  Lol.

 

[MurrayWell]

2 minutes ago, Desp said:

Hilarious that everyone has just taken the story & figures from some cabbage journalist on Twitter and taken it completely at face value.  Lol.

 

That's a very fair point! 

[Handsome_Devil]

16 minutes ago, Desp said:

Hilarious that everyone has just taken the story & figures from some cabbage journalist on Twitter and taken it completely at face value.  Lol.

 

Also an excellent point.

You would also expect the club to play down the fee in the media (rightly or wrongly) in this one.

[thisGRAEME]

Any amount to even a quid over £500k is about right, IMO.

He's 32 years old, weird, and has had one freak season in among a bunch of talented but flaky ones, has highlighted that he's keen to leave, we've been trailing for months that we want to sell him, he cost us nothing and we currently have no other notably sellable assets, and a model built around punting players to keep the club a going concern.

I love him to bits, but lets be realistic here tbh.