The Gylfi thread.

[Ian Royal]

If there was one player I'd have been happy for us to spunk £7m or £8m on it would have been Gylfi. If there was one signing we could have made it would have been him for me.

Very miffed we didn't sign him. But good luck to him at Swansea, I can't see him staying there more than a year or two. He's way too good for the likes of them and us long term.

This. I am shocked that we didn't even enquire about him. Buy him and build the team around him I don't give a f*ck. We need to change our style of play or we will get absolutely shat on next season when things stop going our way.

IMO - Current squad + new full back + Gylfi + striker who can play on their own (possibly Rhodes) = decent team. FB - £2m Gylfi - £7m - ST - £4-£5m. £13-£14m total, hardly going to destroy us.

I'd jizz if we ever spent that much in a single transfer window

Sorry, I don't buy that we weren't keeping tabs on the situation. I'd be amazed if we didn't know what sort of figure it would take to get him in fee and wages. Either we've had it indicated we're behind big clubs and Swansea in his preferences, we can't afford to spend that much on one player... or (and I'd be amazed if this one is true) we just didn't want him.

[adamh4608]

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... Sigurdsson

[IcelandicStokie]

The fact is Swansea are buying Sigurdsson for 7.2m pounds - he was sold to Hoffenheim for 6.5m. It's crazy to suggest Reading didnt try to sign this player. Crazy I say. I think Brendan Rodgers has promised him the keys to the Swansea team. He will be allowed to do what he wants.

[LeFondreforEngland]

This makes me super sad...

[Cypry]

Only 7M apparently. That's a steal.

If 7m is the figure that means we could have got him for around 5.5m if the 20% sell on clause is accurate. Gutted. Funnily enough if we were to spend the sell on clause we will receive from Gylfi on a player, we'd almost break our transfer record. Once this TSI deal goes through, we receive the Gylfi sell on clause, sell Antonio to Sheff Wed and work out how much we've saved from releasing players I want our transfer record broken

I think you'll find it's 20% of the PROFIT.....

So 20% of around £1.5M - about £300k...

[Stranded]

He seems to be following the never go back rule, which is fair enough. He's off to play for the manager who gave him his break in the first team and in a style that suits, with players he's got used to playing that way. Rather that coming back to the club that gave him the break and would have to rework their formation to adopt him.

This of course assumes we even moved for him.

He's made the correct choice for him and I wish him well.

[Royal Lady]

If he wanted £35k a week in wages, as has been touted, I think that was probably our stumbling block rather than the fee.

[Maguire]

Farking hell.

McDermott OUT

TSI OUT if they ever actually make it IN

Hammond OUT

[mr_number]

Hammond OUT

This. He's never been any good for us, should've gone a long time ago.

Yeah, ever since that shoddy performance in the penalties in the Cup against Cardiff.

If this news is confirmed, we shall remember this day as Black Friday. The day our hope was taken away.
I'm not sure my heart will ever recover from this.

[Geekins]

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11731/7776892/Swans-set-to-keep-Sigurdsson

Don;t worry it's a Sky Sports Understands article. That basically means it's written by someone like Jonny Fordham.

[Extended-Phenotype]

I'm saying I think Gylfi needs a certain type of player in midfield to play with him. Surely you can see the difference between Britton/Allen and Ledge/Karacan…

I do see the difference between Britton/Allen and Ledge/Karacan, and have already stated Swansea’s midfield is better suited for Gylfi. But you are arguing against my point that Reading can accommodate him, and that Tabb/Howard are not significant to Gylfi’s previous success with us. My point is that Gylfi would perform even better than before, because he would now be able to play in a midfield with two genuine, in form, holding midfielders.

I'm not arguing with you that 4-5-1 COULD work, and if McD had unlimited backing then he could probably get us playing fantastic football. But we don't have unlimited backing, and I believe that the only way we could play an effective 4-5-1 is by bringing in 5 or 6 quality (not just squad) players.

You keep ignoring the point that we played 4-5-1, with Gylfi, with a lot of success. You also seem to place a lot of importance on the formation 4-4-2. The different formation wasn’t what won us the league, the different players were. Luck going our way instead of against us. Financial support. Shrewd transfers. Players stepping up or coming into form. The lack of cup games exhausting us. A manager growing in confidence and experience. These, not a mere switch in formation, got us promoted. It’s stupid claiming we are better without him because of the difference in success between the seasons.

It all looks imaterial now anyway. But I think your reasoning throughout this discussion is severely flawed and I see no reason as to why we would not be a better side with a player of his calibre back in our now improved side.

[blueroyals]

I'm not arguing with you that 4-5-1 COULD work, and if McD had unlimited backing then he could probably get us playing fantastic football. But we don't have unlimited backing, and I believe that the only way we could play an effective 4-5-1 is by bringing in 5 or 6 quality (not just squad) players.

You keep ignoring the point that we played 4-5-1, with Gylfi, with a lot of success. You also seem to place a lot of importance on the formation 4-4-2. The different formation wasn’t what won us the league, the different players were. Luck going our way instead of against us.

If you take the luck and the team spirit out of our squad it is mid-table Championship at best. Our current style of play matches that. At least with Gylfi in the side we played some decent football. Whilst watching games towards the end of the season I struggled to work out what the team were actually trying to do - a few goals from set-pieces, a couple of headers but quite a lot of it was just putting the ball into the box and hoping someone gets on the end of it. That's not a gameplan - if our luck ran out we'd be back to how we were pre-January. With Gylfi we had somebody to feed the ball to who could set up attacks and score goals. We had a threat down the middle and not just down the wings. If McAnuff or Kebe are having a bad game what do we do? At least with Gylfi we could just pass it to him and he'd have a crack from 25-30 yards. In the Championship we could rely on shit defending to give us chances but in the PL we need to be able to break down defences. We simply can't do that.

[Royal Lady]

Shouldn't have had to let him go in the first place.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Said that at the time, but got pounded by the JM blowjob brigade.

Investment will cripple the club!! Wrong. Investment won us the league.

A bit of confidence in our club and Investment seasons back, could have seen us win the league and keep some top players such as Gylfi.

[andrew1957]

Looking more and more like this is true. Really odd that no bigger club has come in for him and LOL at our ambition if the massive club that is Swansea can pay three times our record fee.

http://www.swansea.vitalfootball.co.uk/ ... p?a=283060

[winchester_royal]

I'm saying I think Gylfi needs a certain type of player in midfield to play with him. Surely you can see the difference between Britton/Allen and Ledge/Karacan…

I do see the difference between Britton/Allen and Ledge/Karacan, and have already stated Swansea’s midfield is better suited for Gylfi. But you are arguing against my point that Reading can accommodate him, and that Tabb/Howard are not significant to Gylfi’s previous success with us. My point is that Gylfi would perform even better than before, because he would now be able to play in a midfield with two genuine, in form, holding midfielders.

It is significant because the amount of time Gylfi would get on the ball completely depends on the type of players who are in the middle with him.

Playing with players good at playing intricate little passes that find Gylfi = More time, more space, more goals.

Playing with players good at running around and playing simple pass to the wings = Less time, less space, less goals.

Barca get the best out of Messi because they have players like Xavi and Iniesta in the team to find him. Would Messi be as good playing with holding players like Makelele and Gattuso? I doubt it.

Would love to Gylfi back, but only think he would be successful if we brought in other players who would get the best out of him. That would cost more money than we can afford atm, so I am out.

Obviously we're as stubborn as each other so I think it's best to end this debate with the appropriate amount of animosity and contempt.

[winchester_royal]

Looking more and more like this is true. Really odd that no bigger club has come in for him and LOL at our ambition if the massive club that is Swansea can pay three times our record fee.

http://www.swansea.vitalfootball.co.uk/ ... p?a=283060

LOL at a Club who have just finished 11th in the Premier League being able to pay more than a team that's just come up from the 2nd tier?

Why do some of our fans suddenly think we're one of the elite?

[sandman]

Looking more and more like this is true. Really odd that no bigger club has come in for him and LOL at our ambition if the massive club that is Swansea can pay three times our record fee.

http://www.swansea.vitalfootball.co.uk/ ... p?a=283060

LOL at a Club who have just finished 11th in the Premier League being able to pay more than a team that's just come up from the 2nd tier?

Why do some of our fans suddenly think we're one of the elite?

Most people have said that if a top six club came in for him they could understand. What makes you think Swansea are part of the so called "elite"? If I were you I'd give up because you are having a 'mare on this thread.

[Yorkshire Royal]

Looking more and more like this is true. Really odd that no bigger club has come in for him and LOL at our ambition if the massive club that is Swansea can pay three times our record fee.

http://www.swansea.vitalfootball.co.uk/ ... p?a=283060

LOL at a Club who have just finished 11th in the Premier League being able to pay more than a team that's just come up from the 2nd tier?

Why do some of our fans suddenly think we're one of the elite?

Most people have said that if a top six club came in for him they could understand. What makes you think Swansea are part of the so called "elite"? If I were you I'd give up because you are having a 'mare on this thread.

Perhaps he likes to bum Rodgers?

[sandman]

That's Royalee.