Not the slightest chance ..

..that we would sell Winnall for a paltry £500,000 to any club, even though he has only got a few months left on his contract. Those in charge of the club are not stupid. We have a realistic hope of making the play-offs. Promotion is unlikely, but not impossible, and would be worth £100 million.

 

What if the player's head has been turned and he insists on going?

Not saying he has or would but just as for instance?

 

Let's hope it's not turned by the Fritzls.

 

He would be told he isn't moving. If it was for a few million then maybe it's a different story but he won't be leaving for 500k for the reasons above

 

Completely agree, even regardless of any promotion chance.

 

Agreed. The six months left on his contract are worth much more than £500k to us. If he wants to leave in the summer, shake his hand, thank him for his goals and wish him all the best.

 

I would still hold on even if he has to play a bit part. Fulham have made a statement with keeping Martin who isn't theirs but is under a loan contract. I think this is a time for strong leadership.

...... Unless of course the club have factored in him leaving for 500k and have an able replacement lined up.

The difficulty here of course is that a proven 20 goal champ striker ain't cheap. I still wonder if we can truely compete in the championship wage wise. Short term yes as players coming up will already be on contracts. But as we recruit the wage bill will inevetibly be a challenge a la Morsey.

 

I would just keep him, if his head is turned I would still play him because if he can't produce in the second half of the season the interest in him gets less. For him to successfully move on he has to keep scoring. And if he can't continue scoring we can pull any offer as well.

 

Is he though? We might finish a few places higher but it's very unlikely we'll get promoted through the playoffs. £500k is about 2,000 season tickets.

 

Factor in the likely cost of a replacement and the potential of switching from a play-off push to the threat of relegation making us less attractive to other players, at the club already and new signings, then I think he's worth a lot more than £500k to us.

 

More to the point, relegation would cost us £5M. We've made a great start but we're not safe yet. The absence of Sam's goals would make that prospect more likely. So to me, any of our 'in demand' players who are regular starters must command at least a £5M fee, daft though it seems. Cash rich as we currently are, we shouldn't budge from that principle.

 

We are currently 8th in the league and whether people believe we can make the play-offs or not does alter the fact that it is a very realistic scenario should we continue as we are and even push on further. In the past our financial situation has dictated that we sell players way below their realistic valuation, Vaz Te, and further back, Brian Howard and David Hirst. We have money in the bank from Stones and Mawson transfer fees therefore if we do sell we should be able to hold out for a good fee for our players. The 500k banded around in the media and on here for Sam Winnall simply doesn't add up. Reaching the play-offs would go a long way towards that amount. If Sam went to the Owls, no doubt he'd be on more money at a bigger club though not necessarily on a bigger stage.

 

Half a million quid is a lot of money to turn down for us, it's more than we normally pay for players, and probably 2 months bill money.

 

Of course half a million is a lot of money, but perspective is needed here. We are not cash-strapped that we have to virtually give away our leading scorer and a very popular player,

 

I fear if the rumours are correct and he goes it will have a domino effect and players like, Conor, watkin will also want to go now rather than the summer

 

To lose such key players in a short space of time would be very worrying. If Sam goes perhaps the club would move quickly to sign Josh and Marley on new contracts. I think Connor will stay until the summer.

 

Its the price of Moncur, our under 23's star player.

Football finances have changed a little.

 

Agreed. Sell our star striker for peanuts to anyone nevermind a local play off rival and it's just giving the others we want to sign back up more of a reason to leave and i'd not be able to blame them.

 

Of course there's a chance

It depends if we "know how good the player is".