Ipswich midfielder. arsenal paying 10 million of him.... Played 16 games and one goal Holgate must be worth close to it
Stones was / is an outstanding talent, an exceptional young kid who anybody could see was international class. £3m was an absolute steal regardless of his position. Let's see who wins the most caps.
I think we were robbed, in hindsight. But I have to be honest, I never expected him to progress like he has, and so quickly. Can you tell me the last time we produced a teenager who was an England cap a year later? As I say, I never saw that happening, as much I liked and rated the lad. Hindsight now suggests I was wrong and we were robbed on the fee. But if we do have a substantial sell on clause in the deal, and he continues this amazing progress, we'll still make good money. His production is going to help us sell others on too. I've been very impressed by Holgate so far. Actually reminds me of Stonesy. However, we're a division lower and so you have to take that into consideration when thinking of talent/price.
I was talking about this with our kid yesterday and we agreed that the last time we had a talent to equal Stones coming through from the academy was Hirst and we were robbed blind with his transfer too. If we have a good sell on clause it will take the sting out of the transfer but I still don't know for certain if we put such a clause into the deal.
Search back old posts of mine as soon as Stones started playing for us!! I've never seen anyone so good at such a young age in his first few games!! I said straight away, he will play for England and captain them at centre half!! I'm half way to that prediction! I rang radio Sheff a month or so before he went saying if we don't get 5 or 6 million up front plus a bulk of add ons & sell on fee's etc then we might as well pack up and go home!! That sale should have set us up for years, and we should have been able to build on it buying 3 or 4 top championship players while having good money coming in for years to come!! Now I'll say this now (and I hope I'm wrong) I just don't think Holgate is in Stones league at all. Looks a very decent prospect, again he's suppose to be a centre half, and again like Stones he needs to fill out a bit more! But can't see him being a top prem player or England player......Would love to be proved wrong though!
get a grip.... we are Barnsley FC, don't forget. we sell our best assets for next to nowt.... always have done, always will do. It's as though we have to be grateful for the crumbs off the table. Some clubs hold out for millions, we give in to whoever offers owt.
True story alert - was sat int summer wi JH outside of Manx when he reopened it. Was 2-3 hours of constant stories. One was about Wards transfer. JH said board rang him n they'd accepted a 1.5 fee from Blackburn. JH said, how can I replace him with 1.5? We need more. Day after they'd accepted 2.5! JH said I'll need it all to replace him. Day after, we've accepted 4.5, you can have half!
Mine too. I was incensed by the transfer and thinking about it still winds me up. I just struggle to believe that we negotiated hard with Everton particularly as we held all the ace cards. I think mist Barnsley fans were pretty certain that he'd go on to be an international very quickly so we were selling one of the brightest prospects in the game and his fee should have reflected this. It didn't even come close, again. Holgate is a good prospect, not in the class of Stones, but we should still get a good fee for him particularly if, as reported, premier league clubs are watching him.
Defenders are never going to demand the same transfer fees as midfielders/forwards. Especially a young one. An 18 year old defender showing promise is an investment for a premier league club. I'm sure even Martinez didn't expect Stonesy to progress as quickly as he has done. People may have spotted his potential earlier than others, but to say you knew a young lad from Barnsley who had half a seasons experience at right back in the championship was going to be able to step up to the premiership, be their stand out centre back in his first season and get en England call up...really? Ability is one thing, but to handle the pressure like he has done is incredible. He is an absolute credit to our academy. No premiership manager is going to be sums like £10million for an unproven 18 year old defender in the hope he will become the next John Stones. Harry Mcguire (I am NOT saying he is as good as Stones!) was a very highly rated centre half and Hull paid £2.5mil for him. He has played about 4 games for them...
All 3 are defenders... Stones is a centre back, Mcguire is a centre back and Holgate's long term future will more than likely be at centre back.
Stones just oozes class though, it wasn't just his defending, it was the flair he had and the way he could play out from the back!! I'd never seen anyone like him, quick, calm on the ball, great defender, positional sense, the way he used to do that long sliding tackle and come round with his leg which seemed further away from the ball. It was clear he was destined to play at the top straight away, I've never seen another young player come through at Barnsley and thought WOW after a couple of games!! know one else has come close to him in all round ability.