[Albion] Charalampos Kostoulas

[BevBHA]

As much as the kid looks exciting its a huge risk, I wouldn't say I'm concern just a bit cautious, we all saw what happened to that lad at Wolves (Similar age and price)

And arguably Fabio Silva was from a better league

 

[chaileyjem]

Archie Gray was a £35m/40m 18 year old signing for Spurs last summer
and Utd paid 50m+ for 18 year old CB. City paid £30m+ for another teen CB - Vitor Reis in January (Who we were after)
Always a premium for centre forwards. (if this reporting is true btw)

and we paid £30m for a 19 year old winger last summer too.

 

[GT49er]

Another way of looking at it, is that Charalampos and Tzimas are not going to be ready for the first team immediately and think that if Ferguson is going to have a good season at the Albion next season, it’ll be the perfect time to maximise his value next summer.

I'd love that to be the case, but the way we seem to be chasing strikers at the moment (there's Evann Guessand as well!) suggests that we may not be relying on our present three (Welbeck, Ferguson and Pedro) to all be around next season.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Archie Gray was a £35m/40m 18 year old signing for Spurs last summer
and Utd paid 50m+ for 18 year old CB. City paid £30m+ for another teen CB - Vitor Reis in January (Who we were after)
Always a premium for centre forwards. (if this reporting is true btw)

and we paid £30m for a 19 year old winger last summer too.

Yep. And Real paid £50m + for Endrick and PSG paid £40m + for Barcola and Doue as teenagers too. It's the going rate now for the top young talent.

I think if this kid was coming from Portugal, Spain, France or even Brazil, people would have less of an issue with the price, it's because he's coming from Greece that some are struggling with it.

 

[pigmanovich]

No clue how credible this fellow is but he’s confident this is near completion.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Yep. And Real paid £50m + for Endrick and PSG paid £40m + for Barcola and Doue as teenagers too. It's the going rate now for the top young talent.

I think if this kid was coming from Portugal, Spain, France or even Brazil, people would have less of an issue with the price, it's because he's coming from Greece that some are struggling with it.

For me it's the risk associated with it. Those other clubs have huge, forever replenishing resources. They can take a 40-50m punt on a teenager and if it doesn't work out they can just move on to the next one. Much like us with our sub 10m purchases.

However, for a club like us 40m is a huge investment and we need it to come off. There's risk associated with any signing but more so with someone who only turned 18 a week or so ago. So much can go wrong in their development at that age. That's my main worry - it feels like a huge gamble, and probably one reason(of many) that I'm not a world class poker player.

 

[Change at Barnham]

As much as the kid looks exciting its a huge risk, I wouldn't say I'm concern just a bit cautious, we all saw what happened to that lad at Wolves (Similar age and price)

That's the equivalent of a weather forecaster saying tomorrow will be a mixture of sun, cloud and showers, and to take with you a jacket just in case.

Get off the fence Jack and tell us that you think he's going to be a superstar and worth every penny.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Is he Icelandic?

No, I think he's Finnish...

 

[Change at Barnham]

I hope our new head chef has a good receipe for moussaka and halloumi for our boys Tzimas and Kostoulas.

​

 

[Clive Walker]

No clue how credible this fellow is but he’s confident this is near completion.

with under 400 followers id say he is as credible as me!

 

[Bakero]

No, I think he's Finnish...

He's just turned 18!

 

[jackalbion]

No, I think he's Finnish...

He's not Finnish he's only 20

 

[Greg Bobkin]

He's just turned 18!

He's not Finnish he's only 20

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

That's the equivalent of a weather forecaster saying tomorrow will be a mixture of sun, cloud and showers, and to take with you a jacket just in case.

Literally the forecast for where I was last week:

To be fair, they pretty much nailed it. It was sunny, cloudy and tossing it down with rain simultaneously for most of the time I was there.

I think this is an apt simile for the careers of most professional footballers.

 

[Birdie Boy]

That would be great if we could get him to sign a new deal. But i'm sure his agent would counsel him against it. If the player has performed well, it's probably in his interests to run the deal down and see what CL clubs are coming in for him

W might be a CL club by then...

 

[pigmanovich]

with under 400 followers id say he is as credible as me!

Probably - SSN reporting the same now though, that we are advancing in talks to sign the lad, for “a fixed fee of £29.4m plus £5m in add-ons” https://www.skysports.com/football/...ates-and-rumours?postid=9692945#liveblog-body

 

[Beanstalk]

I'd love that to be the case, but the way we seem to be chasing strikers at the moment (there's Evann Guessand as well!) suggests that we may not be relying on our present three (Welbeck, Ferguson and Pedro) to all be around next season.

Oh 100%. I think it is more out of hope than anything that I posed the idea that Evan will have a good preseason and all will be fine as he leads the line next year.

I expect JP to go and imagine that the club don’t want to be left in a situation where the they are reliant on a 35 year old with a history of injury problems either.

Being in the market for a forward makes a lot of sense regardless of Evan’s future, but even more so if that future is in question.

 

[severnside gull]

For me it's the risk associated with it.

So much can go wrong in their development at that age. That's my main worry - it feels like a huge gamble, and probably one reason(of many) that I'm not a world class poker player.

Evan Ferguson

 

[JBizzle]

Evan Ferguson

The mistake I think a lot of people make with Ferguson (not necessarily you) is that they appear to be of the opinion that he has finished development. It's not linear at that age, so predicting the success of any young player is at best educated and stat-based, at worst finger in the air stuff

 

[severnside gull]

The mistake I think a lot of people make with Ferguson (not necessarily you) is that they appear to be of the opinion that he has finished development. It's not linear at that age, so predicting the success of any young player is at best educated and stat-based, at worst finger in the air stuff

Agree. But could you imagine if we had paid £40m for him and he hit the wall he’s currently trying to climb