What's Fletcher really worth?

Oh, yes please - I'll even offer to personally subsidise it at that price!!!

 

With Pulis originally saying he only wants to sell and not loan those players he deems
surplus to requirements, we have to ask how badly he wants Fletcher off the payroll.
On the face of it he appears to be one that Pulis wants out.
He's played under Bilic at West Ham and Monk and Pulis at Borough ( all with Premiership experience)
and they've failed to bring the best out of him. The fee we are prepared to pay, will be determined by how
badly Hecky wants him and whether like his last spell at Oakwell, he can get him scoring again.
Taking him on loan is a gamble. If he finds his feet and starts banging 'em in, Pulis is at liberty to recall him.
The question is, given his record since he left us, what do we feel we are prepared to pay to secure his services.?
Personally I feel we could test their resolve with a bid of £1 million and be prepared to go to £2 million but no more than that.

 

What is he worth to us is the salient question.

21 games (5 goals) for us.

16 games for West Ham; 16 games for Boro (1 goal between them).

More height, more pace, and happy in a Barnsley shirt. The caveat is that his service last time came from Hourihane and a peak form Hammill, both of which are no longer present. It would need an injury-free Izzy and some supply from Mahoney to get the best out of him in a second stint. I like the thought of him playing off Keiffer.

Notwithstanding Saturday (which should be discounted) our defence have been improving. Midfield will be solid enough when Williams returns, and we can only hope that Izzy, Hedges, Hammill (impact) and Mahoney will improve the creative side of things. In that scenario, Ashley could be the finishing touch. We need to recall what relegation will cost us (£5M four years ago, on Ben's estimate) and weigh that against Middlesbrough's demands. A year lost battling back out of League One will not advance the new aims for the club. And we now have wealthy, but not spendthrift owners. But £4M would represent a substantial discount on what Boro paid, and would not be outlandish for this division. And I'd be going for it.

 

Whatever someone is willing to pay.

I would have thought 1.5m with a large future sell on clause is about right

Boro paid way way over the odds

 

I agree with that, but I think you’d probably stretch to £2m but that would be it. Any more and I’d look elsewhere. It’s not going to happen though because wages are going to be an issue. He’s one of those players who career is going to be hindered by a club over paying him in wages, that’s what he’s going to expect from every move.

I think his career is likely to be spent in reserve football, rather than somewhere like Oakwell.

7m was rediculous, plus wages of between 20-30k, is just bonkers.

I thought he was decent in the league below, but he’s been awful since. When Boro came to Oakwell he looked so far out his depth it was untrue.

 

There are two things that strike me with this, one , are Middlesboro looking to sell him ? I have only read speculation on this & no facts & secondly , his value , a player is only worth what a club is willing to pay & I do think that if Boro want to sell , they will be wanting to recover much of their original outlay which will probably result in the lad staying where he is , at least in the short term

 

He’ll rot in the reserves for the next 2 years on his big money, then he’ll go to Sheffield Wednesday on a free for equal money and do the same. Like I said, that one big contract has ruined him.

 

Don't know what his valuation is but it would go upwards stupidly if we suddenly saw the words "Sheffield Wednesday are also showing an interest."
It's as if they do it deliberately.

 

Real question is would he take a pay cut to come here?

If he’s in 20k a week, take a cut to 7k? Still an incredible amount of money for a 22 year old and he gets to play championship football...

Still, easy for us to say when he’s the one thinking about having to give up 10k or so per week.

 

Lol

 

Nudger ignoring the wage issue. Approx £6m in wages over 4 years.

 

I know I wouldn’t, if I was in his shoes, and I’d very much doubt his agent would think the same.

 

No but they might pay him up part of his contract to get rid. He would then be up on the deal.

Agree with everything you say above - shame really as he has great potential.

 

Irrespective of the transfer fee, I think his wages would be a major stumbling block. Personally, he has not shown anything to make him special since he left us.

 

6 goals in 53 games is a poor return. 1 goal in two years makes it sound bad. 1 goal in the top two leagues also makes it sound bad. It's no wonder we are going back down the Simon Davey route with signings, when British guys are vastly overpriced.

 

He's definitely with some better players where he is, and I would imagine they have some good coaches as well.

 

Totally agree.

 

There are reports online which state that AF was on £3.5k/w at Westham and is on £7k/w at Middlesbrough. If these figures are anywhere close to the truth it would mean paying him twice more now than it would have in 2016, although even then it doesn’t seem a prohibitive amount in this day and age
The big problem will be the transfer fee Boro will want. There’ll be looking to recover most of the £6.5m they payed which was a ridiculous sum considering Ashe’s record at that stage. No wonder Monk got the elbow! Be really good if we can get him for around the £2m mark but a loan looks like our best chance

 

It’s worth noting that Bilic & Pulis have not got much of a record of developing young players, I’m not too sure about Monk but I can’t remember him doing it much at Swansea.

Probably just needs an arm round him & some individual coaching