double kebes money now

[Stranded]

A lot of what will happen and what I would do would depend on where we are come January. In or around the playoffs and fight to keep him for the season. Mid table and a bid comes in you'd have to seriously consider it.

[facaldaqui]

I'm not asking what the club will do. I'm saying what would you do? And put yourself in Kebe's position if he's told to stay.

With respect, look at your questions again.

[WoodleyRoyal]

i would only sell him if the money were to be used to replace him - and there were a suitable winger available to replace him. Which i doubt as we wont be able to bring anyone else in with his quality for the money we would get for him. Wouldn't give a shit want kebe wants, he's got years left on his contract honour it. Never noticed a problem with sidwells attitude facaldaqui

[Royal Lady]

i would only sell him if the money were to be used to replace him - and there were a suitable winger available to replace him. Which i doubt as we wont be able to bring anyone else in with his quality for the money we would get for him. Wouldn't give a shit want kebe wants, he's got years left on his contract honour it. Never noticed a problem with sidwells attitude facaldaqui

Yes, I think he'd be more of a Sidwell than a Shorey. Although, of course, Sidwell knew he'd be on a free when he left.

[Wycombe Royal]

I would sell him. It would take a split second to make that decision.

[Shevchenko]

I think you have to understand the stature of the club within world football to answer this one.

We're a fairly small team. Even within our division, no matter how successful we are in the near future, we will still be a small club. We can't expect the players to be loyal to us. Its a job, to them. If you were offered twice your current salary, wouldn't you move company?

Its the way football works, these days. A small club gets a good player, bigger clubs buy the good player. Small clubs stay small; big clubs stay big.

[Mr Optimist]

i think the club is in a position to turn down offers now tbh - well for this season, i think it will all depend on whether jimmy wants to go, if we are still in or around the playoffs come jan i expect him to stay till the summer

I think that is the key, if Jimmy wants to go what choice realistically do you have. We might be able to persuade him to stay until the summer to see if we have a chance of going up first but it will only delay the inevitable.

Given his agent's internet publicity campaign for his client I would imagine if he keeps this form up he will be off sooner rather than later. A shame but that is the reality of supporting anyone other than Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea although even Man Utd sometimes get bullied by bigger boys!

[PEARCEY]

If we get a bid of £3 million plus he will be gone in January. Of course losing our most exciting player will be seen as good business for the club by some on here.

[URZZ]

I think you have to understand the stature of the club within world football to answer this one.

We're a fairly small team. Even within our division, no matter how successful we are in the near future, we will still be a small club. We can't expect the players to be loyal to us. Its a job, to them. If you were offered twice your current salary, wouldn't you move company?

Its the way football works, these days. A small club gets a good player, bigger clubs buy the good player. Small clubs stay small; big clubs stay big.

+ 1.

There wouldn't be big clubs if it wasn't for the little clubs.

[facaldaqui]

Yes, I think he'd be more of a Sidwell than a Shorey.

I suspect not. Kebe's much more of a mood player than Sidwell, and his form's been less consistent (it's great at the moment, thank goodness).

[facaldaqui]

If we get a bid of £3 million plus he will be gone in January. Of course losing our most exciting player will be seen as good business for the club by some on here.

To be fair, I should think everyone would rather keep him. Admitting that the club may have to sell him isn't the same thing as approving of it. Good business for the club these days means making enough money to keep it going, not making enough to splash around on new players. That's the reality; but it's nothing to cheer about.

[brendywendy]

Kebe is god. 10 million at least.best player in the division.like a 1 man arsenal team. I would vomit if he went for 3m

[Royal Rother]

Being a long term Reading fan I always look for the cloud on the horizon so picture it.

Jan transfer window and Kebe's displays have been capturing Premiership and French premiership attentions. We get a bid of £7M for him and he gets the offer of a top contract way above anything a Reading player has plus promises of European cup matches and top recognition of his footballing skills in front of large crowds. (Remind you of anyone?)

1) Do we let him go? Cue outburst of fury from fans and crowds drop.
2) Do we match his offered contract and demand he continues for us. Cue very unhappy player plus pressure on contracts from others.
3) Do we offer a better contract but not match the premiership offer?

You're the manager. What do you do? And if anyone mentions using the loyalty card Kebe will remind you that in earlier days a lot of fans said he was sh*t.

Of course we let him go.

Selling 2 players for £7m in one season would be brilliant business for the club - it would also raise our profile significantly and make other clubs take more notice of our youngsters. (I do appreciate that Jimmy isn't a youngster but is still good testimony to the club's ability to develop players.)

And the money doesn't all need to be ploughed back into the squad. Other youngsters would get more opportunities. That's how a thriving Academy is given the space and time to grow.

Popular opinion seems to be that lack of investment in the squad means players are less likely to come to us. On the contrary, young players want to be given opportunities to play, and they want to come to a club not afraid to play its youngsters and then not be a block to them moving on and fulfilling bigger ambitions.

We tick a lot of boxes for ambitious young footballers of Academy age. They are the future.

[pea]

Selling 2 players for £7m in one season would be brilliant business for the club - it would also raise our profile significantly and make other clubs take more notice of our youngsters. (I do appreciate that Jimmy isn't a youngster but is still good testimony to the club's ability to develop players.)

And the money doesn't all need to be ploughed back into the squad. Other youngsters would get more opportunities. That's how a thriving Academy is given the space and time to grow.

Popular opinion seems to be that lack of investment in the squad means players are less likely to come to us. On the contrary, young players want to be given opportunities to play, and they want to come to a club not afraid to play its youngsters and then not be a block to them moving on and fulfilling bigger ambitions.

We tick a lot of boxes for ambitious young footballers of Academy age. They are the future.

It did Southampton a lot of good, selling Walcott, Bale and Kenwyne Jones for large fees and then winding up in League One for years

[Terminal Boardom]

Being a long term Reading fan I always look for the cloud on the horizon so picture it.

Jan transfer window and Kebe's displays have been capturing Premiership and French premiership attentions. We get a bid of £7M for him and he gets the offer of a top contract way above anything a Reading player has plus promises of European cup matches and top recognition of his footballing skills in front of large crowds. (Remind you of anyone?)

1) Do we let him go? Cue outburst of fury from fans and crowds drop.
2) Do we match his offered contract and demand he continues for us. Cue very unhappy player plus pressure on contracts from others.
3) Do we offer a better contract but not match the premiership offer?

You're the manager. What do you do? And if anyone mentions using the loyalty card Kebe will remind you that in earlier days a lot of fans said he was sh*t.

Of course we let him go.

Selling 2 players for £7m in one season would be brilliant business for the club - it would also raise our profile significantly and make other clubs take more notice of our youngsters.

And the money doesn't all need to be ploughed back into the squad. Other youngsters would get more opportunities. That's how a thriving Academy is given the space and time to grow.

Popular opinion seems to be that lack of investment in the squad means players are less likely to come to us. On the contrary, young players want to be given opportunities to play, and they want to come to a club not afraid to play its youngsters and then not be a block to them moving on and fulfilling bigger ambitions.

We tick a lot of boxes for ambitious young footballers of Academy age. They are the future.

That's as maybe RR but how long did it take for any of the Academy youngsters to be given a proper chance? One of the downsides of SSC's reign was that he was too loyal to the players who had delivered in the past. It was not until BR came along that we had no choice but to play some of the youngsters.

Kebe is not a product of the Academy.

How I gauge how well the club is doing is to ask how many of the current squad would walk into a side from the next league up. Kebe? Probably. Mills? Eventually. Anyone else?

[Royal Rother]

If you'd asked yourself the same question even AFTER the end of the 106 year there still wouldn't have been any more than a couple I suspect.

And you missed my Kebe edit!!

[RFCUK]

No one wants to see a decent player leave. Kebe is a class player and to stop him from climbing up his career ladder isn't fair on the lad.

Yes, we'd be gutted to lose yet another star player, but at the same time, we'd be giving the chance to others (HRK, Antonio) to show what the can do and try and make a permanent name for themselves. And for all we know they could gel better and make the second half the season more interesting than normal.

We aren't the biggest club, and if we happen to get £10m+ for two top players then we've done well and would be silly not to sell. To be fair though, I think he's only worth £4.5m at the most.

I think it also depends what kind of form we are in and our position going in to December.

December:

(A) Sheff United
(H) Coventry
(A) Derby
(H) Bristol City
(A) Hull

If we're in the top eight come December, I could see us easily taking 10 points from those, probably pushing us into the top 4/5.

January then rolls around and the offers come in. Kebe can then see us really pushing for promotion and continuing to be the leading star at the club. It's going to be hard to leave that to become a rotation player or back-up for the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton etc...

[LoyalRoyal22]

I would probably take anything over 4 million for Jimmy, as much as i love him

[Millsy]

Kebe is an integral part of the team.

I'd be very surprised if he goes.

It has to be remembered that Siggy had a minimum fee release clause so we can't blame the club for selling. What we can blame them for is not ploughing that money back in immediately but that's a different matter.

If he doesn't have a release clause I think it'd be very difficult for the club to justify selling him, especially after the BS by Madejski about not wanting Siggy to go.

[Big Ern]

Kebe will be gone by the end of the year, if not in Januuary, then certainly at the end of the season. To be honest, he deserves to play for a better run club than ours and any half decent offer will be accepted.

I just wonder who we will sign with the proceeds....Paul Parker or Lee Dixon I reckon.