Most fans seem to have always agreed about this. Let's hope it's us. If we let say Burnley win with a larger fee, we will then have to replace DS at huge expense, when our finite budget will be required to upgrade our squad in many other positions.
Shelvey made every Albion midfielder look inferior for the last hour, as he has the rest of the division and many an opponent playing for LFC/Swansea/Newcastle. He's earned several caps for England.
That doesn't mean DS would fail as PL midfielder.
Good point, but I think it was just a vocal minority of Poyet lovers or Murray dislikers who didn't mind him leaving in 2011. The majority of fans didn't want the 30 goal hero to go. For myself, I spoke very briefly with Murray in April 2011 at the Fans Day and made my feelings known. The...
Interesting. I wonder what his reasons would be?
I've just been told on here he's not good enough for the likes of West Ham.
So TB matched his signing on fee, why would he want to move to the lower echelons of Burnley & co.
Swansea, Burnley, West Ham, Palace, Hull, Bournemouth, (one of Weds/Reading/Hudd/Leeds). They've all lost a lot of games this season, some have conceded a lot of goals. Any of those midfields could do with strengthening for PL 2017/18, why not with DS?
Good analogy with Dicker, but I don't think DS's pace will be inferior to other mid/lower PL table combative midfielders.
After all, Dyche has a good record on PL signings, and he wanted to add DS to his PL team.
If Stephens or his mooted replacement (such as Howson mentioned in this thread), got injured or suspended, we'd be stuffed in the PL midfield battle.
Therefore the club will seek to keep DS and get quality additions in CM too. I can't see Norwood being kept and Sidwell unfortunately is...
Lies, lies and statistics. Didn't someone say the record was pretty much balanced with or without?
Stephens is our best CM. This season, it's a question of whether Kayal, Norwood or Sidwell should accompany him.
If we match the multi £m signing-on fee that the likes of say Burnley and West Ham will off him. We can match them to keep him. He's a vital part of our CM, the right age and PL class.