But those moments have become few and far between - sorry I just think he’s not kicked on and become a better player and gone backwards be that illness or system etc but even given him captaincy’s not elevated him in any meaningful way sadly - just think if an opportunity comes in and best for all parties it might be time to give another player the opportunity.
We need to sell players, and if we can get £1.2M+ for Connell, I’d happily take it. Ideally, I’d want some add-ons and a decent sell-on clause, just in case he rediscovers the form he showed two seasons ago. That said, I think he’s regressed since his illness, and I can’t see him getting back to the level he was at during his first season. There were several games last year where he didn’t justify a place in midfield, and I found his captaincy a little underwhelming. Ultimately, the head coach is best placed to judge his value, and if he’s happy to let Luca go, that’s good enough for me. He actually reminds me a bit of Woodrow – made a great early impression, but once the quality around him dropped, he struggled to step up and looked uncomfortable being the main man.
Despite their different roles, the comparison with Woodrow is perhaps apt. Connell still has 3 years left on his contract, including the one year extra in our favour. Phillips has 2 years left, also including the one year option. It's a shame that Russell, who obviously ended last season on the best form of all, has just one year left, with no extra year. On the basis that goalscoring midfielders are much harder to come by than defensive midfielders, I think the order of importance to us of the three players concerned would be 1 Russell, 2 Phillips and 3 Connell. I wonder what Hourihane's view is.
Imho a good player with lots of potential. His progression has been hampered by illness and last season he looked like a few of our players who looked like top end championship players then a pub player, who can't play a five yard pass all within 10 minutes! I'd take £1.2 million for him but as usual its who we replace him with that scares me.
From the head coach s view . He will want to keep all his best players,regards how long they have left . He will be judged on results,not players walking for free when their contracts expire.
The players that made him look better than he is that played behind him and in front of him in that first season have gone.
Conor has said he wants players who want to play for us. So no "individuals", but a team, supporting each other. Connell is best when he's got good players round him - he's a talker. He knows himself he can't do it alone.
Naturally. I am sure they will make sure the paperwork is all in order to sell players LOL. Buying players, hmm, now where did I put that contract? Oops, we missed him. I hope, but remain hugely doubtful, that we have a replacement agreed. This saga has been dragging on long enough, so plenty of time to line up replacements.
No disrespect, Luca, and I'm not sure I even want to know where you're getting your info, but honestly mate, I'd just keep it to yourself. You're on a hiding to nothing on here and will end up getting pelters whichever way things turn out. Your Koroma/Sormaz saga has got me not knowing which one of them I dislike the most.
But I don’t care what people think ik there’s actual people on here who know how football works and that not everything goes your way we may still end up signing Koroma but it’s yet to be determined
Personally, I don't give a toss if Koroma comes or doesn't. I do give a massive toss about how we're going to stop shipping goals like a junior school XI.
I agree entirely. I'm sure Hourihane, ideally, would like to keep all our regular midfielders. There's absolutely no doubt that midfield is currently our strongest area.