Rumour - Richards to Everton

[tidus_mi2]

Its not significantly different to us getting Laurent last summer. Shit happens.

Richards is younger and more talented, he would have commanded a significantly larger transfer fee if he was on a long contract than Laurent would have in the same scenario. Also if he had signed for and English club we would have at least been eligible for compensation, not the case with Laurent.

[From Despair To Where?]

Yeah, but its a bigger club picking off a smaller club's best player for nothing. Works both ways.

[Stranded]

Its not significantly different to us getting Laurent last summer. Shit happens.

Richards is younger and more talented, he would have commanded a significantly larger transfer fee if he was on a long contract than Laurent would have in the same scenario. Also if he had signed for and English club we would have at least been eligible for compensation, not the case with Laurent.

Let's be honest, in the summer if we had offered Richards a new deal, there would be lot of people complaining about it.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Seen some of the reports on Twitter, would not be happy in the slightest and unlike what seems to be the majority opinion on Twitter, I wouldn't wish him well. We're getting mugged off by one of the biggest clubs in the world when we're already struggling to meet FFP.

It just feels shit.

Personally I would wish him well but be seriously hacked off if we lost him on a free.

Could we have offered him a deal in the summer though, we couldn't do hardly anything due to FFP

[Zip]

Seen some of the reports on Twitter, would not be happy in the slightest and unlike what seems to be the majority opinion on Twitter, I wouldn't wish him well. We're getting mugged off by one of the biggest clubs in the world when we're already struggling to meet FFP.

It just feels shit.

Personally I would wish him well but be seriously hacked off if we lost him on a free.

Could we have offered him a deal in the summer though, we couldn't do hardly anything due to FFP

I do wonder if FFP is part of the problem which is why it’s so important we get good money for our best players when they do leave.

[Hound]

It’s a tough one isn’t it - handed out plenty of long contracts recently which haven’t worked out - East, Smith, Kelly etc

Richards hadn’t really stood out until this year - and then suddenly he starts playing like a Prem League player

It’s a shame but at least we get him to the end of the season still

[Zip]

It’s a tough one isn’t it - handed out plenty of long contracts recently which haven’t worked out - East, Smith, Kelly etc

Richards hadn’t really stood out until this year - and then suddenly he starts playing like a Prem League player

It’s a shame but at least we get him to the end of the season still

Yeah have to say I was never convinced by him. Jnr has always really rated him. He is a different player this season.
Absolutely outstanding.

[Stranded]

It’s a tough one isn’t it - handed out plenty of long contracts recently which haven’t worked out - East, Smith, Kelly etc

Richards hadn’t really stood out until this year - and then suddenly he starts playing like a Prem League player

It’s a shame but at least we get him to the end of the season still

This. If he had left on a free transfer in the summer, I doubt it will have caused a stir. He has been superb this year and any agent worth their salt will have kept him away from contract talks until now just in case a possible move like the one allegedly on the cards appeared.

It's shit but it's just circumstance in this case.

[Notts Royal]

Its not significantly different to us getting Laurent last summer. Shit happens.

Richards is younger and more talented, he would have commanded a significantly larger transfer fee if he was on a long contract than Laurent would have in the same scenario. Also if he had signed for and English club we would have at least been eligible for compensation, not the case with Laurent.

Let's be honest, in the summer if we had offered Richards a new deal, there would be lot of people complaining about it.

Who? With both Blackett and Obita leaving I don’t know who would’ve complained

The issue is he was very inconsistent when he first came onto the scene and that 1st impression seems to have persuaded some fans that he wasn’t very good...it takes a while to shift that label I suppose

From my viewpoint...
18/19 he was inconsistent but showed enough potential
19/20 he was very good
20/21 he’s become sensational

Personally I thought he was very good last season

[Stranded]

Richards is younger and more talented, he would have commanded a significantly larger transfer fee if he was on a long contract than Laurent would have in the same scenario. Also if he had signed for and English club we would have at least been eligible for compensation, not the case with Laurent.

Let's be honest, in the summer if we had offered Richards a new deal, there would be lot of people complaining about it.

Who? With both Blackett and Obita leaving I don’t know who would’ve complained

The issue is he was very inconsistent when he first came onto the scene and that 1st impression seems to have persuaded some fans that he wasn’t very good...it takes a while to shift that label I suppose

From my viewpoint...
18/19 he was inconsistent but showed enough potential
19/20 he was very good
20/21 he’s become sensational

Personally I thought he was very good last season

There was already opinion in the summer that we had to but a 1st choice LB. People were even saying sign Obita back, there was no groundswell of people saying, oh yeah let's tie down Richards now. People just were not fussed. He was OK last year but nobody saw this form coming, without hindsight. Nobody saw the form of most of this team coming.

FFP meant we couldn't offer more in wages anyway this summer and likely less, so very little chance any deal offered in the summer would have been accepted. At that point, any agent will tell a player esp. one who will start the season, perform and who knows who may want you in January.

[Hound]

I guess there was probably a window round about October when it was clear he was performing and may well have signed up. But even then his agent may well have been putting the feelers out elsewhere

[WestYorksRoyal]

It's still disappointing; not sure how much responsibility we have. We were skint in the summer, and couldn't even agree terms with Osho when his alternative was uncertainty and possible unemployment. Could we have made a deal good enough to Richards for him to accept? Could we have seen it coming earlier and tied him down on a 4 year deal on relatively low wages that reflected his importance at the time? Or is it all a case of a talented young player kicking on at exactly the wrong time from our perspective?

What I would say is that it's not an isolated incident. Loader left on a free. Olise only has 18 months left and possibly a release clause way below his value. It's rumoured big clubs are monitoring Tetek; if he kicks on in the next 2 years, what's our plan to tie him down? We need to get better at selling players for good money.

I've seen Liam Kelly mentioned, but was the issue with him not the size of the wages after one good season, as opposed to duration? If we'd tied him down on a wage that reflected a talented youngster following a breakthrough season, would it have been a problem?

[NewCorkSeth]

I'm disappointed for 2 reasons. Firstly it's a shame to lose him. Even if it was for a fee, it would still be a shame. Hes been so tidy.

Secondly the history of our academy graduates leaving for very little is becoming a big problem despite the decisions seeming logical at the time in a lot of cases.

[Zip]

It's still disappointing; not sure how much responsibility we have. We were skint in the summer, and couldn't even agree terms with Osho when his alternative was uncertainty and possible unemployment. Could we have made a deal good enough to Richards for him to accept? Could we have seen it coming earlier and tied him down on a 4 year deal on relatively low wages that reflected his importance at the time? Or is it all a case of a talented young player kicking on at exactly the wrong time from our perspective?

What I would say is that it's not an isolated incident. Loader left on a free. Olise only has 18 months left and possibly a release clause way below his value. It's rumoured big clubs are monitoring Tetek; if he kicks on in the next 2 years, what's our plan to tie him down? We need to get better at selling players for good money.

I've seen Liam Kelly mentioned, but was the issue with him not the size of the wages after one good season, as opposed to duration? If we'd tied him down on a wage that reflected a talented youngster following a breakthrough season, would it have been a problem?

Our incoming transfer signings have massively improved over the past two years starting with the January window in 2019. Just look who we got on loan. Martinez, Miazga, Ejaria, Baker and Oliveira. Exceptional.

We have been dreadful at selling for a long long time. We got decent money for Barrow but it’s been an age since we got big money for anyone. Partly because we have not had many saleable assets but even so with FFP such an issue for us we do need to ensure that we get what we can for our star players. Richards following Loader out on a free will be painful. I know it’s not easy and hindsight is a wonderful thing but we now have to tie up the likes of McIntyre, Southwood, Laurent, Morrison and ideally Olise at this stage to prevent losing them on frees over the next 6-18 months (appreciate we wouldn’t get that much for Morrison but he is worth another season or two)

[Hound]

not selling Loader when Wolves made the offer was certainly a big error.

Arguably we should have accepted the 10m or so we got offered for Moore as well, but thats been as much due to a dip in performances at times more than anything else

Loader never really seemed to happy here tbh - I think he would have left whatever really. I'm not sure we've missed out too much on other sales in the recent past.

[Stranded]

It's still disappointing; not sure how much responsibility we have. We were skint in the summer, and couldn't even agree terms with Osho when his alternative was uncertainty and possible unemployment. Could we have made a deal good enough to Richards for him to accept? Could we have seen it coming earlier and tied him down on a 4 year deal on relatively low wages that reflected his importance at the time? Or is it all a case of a talented young player kicking on at exactly the wrong time from our perspective?

What I would say is that it's not an isolated incident. Loader left on a free. Olise only has 18 months left and possibly a release clause way below his value. It's rumoured big clubs are monitoring Tetek; if he kicks on in the next 2 years, what's our plan to tie him down? We need to get better at selling players for good money.

I've seen Liam Kelly mentioned, but was the issue with him not the size of the wages after one good season, as opposed to duration? If we'd tied him down on a wage that reflected a talented youngster following a breakthrough season, would it have been a problem?

The only issue with Loader was the board not selling in January. Though again we don't know that a deal was not offered to Loader before that was perhaps not offering a big enough wage increase, all we know was he didn't sign a contract. Seems he made it clear fairly early he wanted out as well, so we should have sold especially as he didn't seem quite good enough to force himself in as a first choice.

Olise was 17 when he signed - for all we know, if the release clause exists (and if it does and it such a steal why has no-one tried to steal a march and offer it yet, a week into the window?) it may have been inserted at the request of Olise and his agents i.e. we won't sign that unless there is a decent release clause.

We also, all of us as fans, need to get better at understanding that contracts are two way streets and also stop comparing what happened pre-Covid to now - the world has changed, timing of contract negotiations have changed as well - this isn't just a Reading issue, it is a pecking order issue. Some clubs will be able to hold out but as it stands most have next to no income and roughly the same outgoings - so players will end up going for less than we expect to those clubs who have cash.

Also worth noting, that we will have been "unlucky" if Richards goes to Bayern in that we have lost players abroad as this is the only way we don't receive any funds for them.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

If we sell Richards now, we can at least have some control in his contract - sell on clauses / app bonus / cup bonus - If it is genuinely Bayern Munich, they are almost certain to win cups / leagues. Also command decent fees for their players.
Also for a player looking in - teams like Bayern looking at our players must be a huge plus to to attract new additions.

[Sutekh]

Oh well, never mind just have to find a replacement. Good luck to Omar, obviously no way he’ll turn down this sort of opportunity, though if he does help Reading to promotion this season he might regret things a little. By the way wouldn’t there be some sort of compensation due even though it is an overseas club though just not as great as if he’d moved to another English club?

Also, out of interest, now the U.K. is not in Europe what are the rules for EU clubs signing English players who are NOT 21 or younger, are not internationals, are not playing in the PL and have never played club European club football? Is regularly playing division 2 football in a top 50 ranked nation sufficient to qualify for whatever criteria the EU has, or have the U.K. authorities made a rather one sided agreement on overseas player transfers?

[Nameless]

If we sell Richards now, we can at least have some control in his contract - sell on clauses / app bonus / cup bonus - If it is genuinely Bayern Munich, they are almost certain to win cups / leagues. Also command decent fees for their players.
Also for a player looking in - teams like Bayern looking at our players must be a huge plus to to attract new additions.

We have virtually no say over any deal if he leaves now.
He can sign a contract now with a club to join them for nothing in the summer and refuse any other deals we may get offered.
Bayern have no need to fork out money for him, he’s not being looked at to go straight into the first team and probably their preferred outcome would be to sign him up now for a summer move and let him keep playing here.

[Nameless]

Oh well, never mind just have to find a replacement. Good luck to Omar, obviously no way he’ll turn down this sort of opportunity, though if he does help Reading to promotion this season he might regret things a little. By the way wouldn’t there be some sort of compensation due even though it is an overseas club though just not as great as if he’d moved to another English club?

Also, out of interest, now the U.K. is not in Europe what are the rules for EU clubs signing English players who are NOT 21 or younger, are not internationals, are not playing in the PL and have never played club European club football? Is regularly playing division 2 football in a top 50 ranked nation sufficient to qualify for whatever criteria the EU has, or have the U.K. authorities made a rather one sided agreement on overseas player transfers?

Yes, there is a compensation payable for players going abroad burn Imthink it tend so to be lower than the English one,
I asked the question about restrictions and the answer a few pages back and the answer was there aren’t many. It’s nothing to do with any agreements, each national FA can set their own criteria and we have decided to make ours a bit more complicated and random,