[Albion] Daily Mail reporting Albion have rejected £4m from Burnley for Dale Stephens

[Springal]

Was his Twitter bio always so, well, vague?

View attachment 77019

Not from what I remember...

 

[Eric Youngs Contact Lense]

My belief is that we would have signed another central midfielder, regardless of whether there is a risk that Stephens goes. Loss, of form, injury, suspensions just mean that we are light given that CH doesn't fancy really trust Ince unless he has to, and in that scenario losing momentum for a run of games can be horribly costly. Kayal's injury record, prior to last season isn't that impressive, and so losing 2 midfielders is always a real possibility.. That said, the risk of losing Stephens makes the Norwood signing even more crucial, but not necessarily because Stephens is going..
The longer there is no news, the more risk that Stephens is going of course in my mind.. things outside of our control still at play..

 

[Mr Bridger]

when the speculation gets to this stage I switch off and cut that player out of the equation. I'd love him to stay as he's quality but if he hasn't come out and stated that he wants to stay , then do one!
We'll take the money and move on.

 

[GOM]

Now then, what was one of the reasons Oliver Norwood gave as the reason he came here. Oh yes, that TB said we were keeping everyone. Be a poor show to sell someone straight after that then.

 

[Stat Brother]

As I posted before, Albion fans seem to rate Kayal over Stephens whilst outside of that bubble Stephens is seen as the better player.

Stephens brings us goals and Kayal just does not score enough for me, although his game is clearly very strong in other departments.

And, outside of any direct comparisons, they just seem to work so well together. Will your Stephens Mk II, be it Oliver Norwood or A.N.Other, work as well in tandem with Kayal?

I take issue with Stephens bringing goals.
For me that needs to be a double figure number, not 7, esp coming from a player that takes and misses so many free kicks.

There's no doubting Stephens and Kayal's chemistry of which the obvious concern is if it can be replicated.
If it can, happy days take the money and run, but if not that's a massive problem for CH.

 

[fleet]

Just from what Tony said at the fans forum, it seems to me that Stephens is going. Would like to hear news of the forward and CB coming in to soften the blow if I am right on this - Stephens would be a huge loss

 

[Giraffe]

Stephens is definitely going. And that is the right decision provided it enable us to bring in a quality striker.

 

[Bigtomfu]

I can't believe that Norwood, who just a few weeks ago was in the Euros unlike any of our other players except Jiri, was bought as cover. He was bought to play, whether alongside or instead of Stephens I have no idea. I'd love Stephens to stay but if he goes he goes and we move on.

I doubt that's the case. To get a high performing squad you need truly competitive alternatives in each position. CH just doesn't/didn't see Ince, JFC or Holla as pushing the incumbents far enough.

As for Dale unless Burnley meet our valuation he'll be staying, and if he stays and we go up he's in the best negotiating position personally, and the Club aren't in a bad one either.

Dale then risks us looking at better alternatives and not offering him a better deal....

 

[Sussex Nomad]

We did ok without Stephens on Saturday, I'm sure it's been said but I can't be bothered to read through a tsunami of messages.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Whilst never entirely enamoured with the Dalester as an individual footballer, was a massive part of the team last year, being part of that midfield motor that seemed to do the work of 3 or 4 players, and did it with gusto and might. It'd be sad to see him go, but such a handsome bid, with players like Sidders and Norwoody ready to step in and up to the plate, would be difficult to say no to. I just want to see 1 of those replacements do a Dalesque lunge at some point - not a gashy one - taking the ball off the pitch and cleaning out the player. That would be missed.

 

[chaileyjem]

The Oliver Norwood signing appears to be a ready-made Stephens replacement and, listening to him on BBC Sussex ahead of the Derby game, it sounded like the deal came out of nowhere last week.

He genuinely sounded surprised in his interview at the speed of it all,(all wrapped up in 48 hours)
There was some discussion / rumour that this was in the works. See this tweet from over 2 weeks ago. (unless a well informed guess)

[tweet]756079187111374848[/tweet]

 

[Blue3]

From someone who knows someone Dale Stephens apparently has confirmed he expects to be a Burnley player shortly

 

[bhanutz]

From someone who knows someone Dale Stephens apparently has confirmed he expects to be a Burnley player shortly

Mystic Meg?? Honestly this one is obvious. He is gone..

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Will we miss him? Yes
Will we still be challenging without him? Yes
Will we cope? Yes

I'm already of the same thought as many, he is no longer a Brighton player. We will move on, and be stronger.

 

[saafend_seagull]

He's gone, £6.5m is incredible business.

He hasn't got the pace for the premiership though, he could do well in a better team like Everton for example but not burnley.

Need to spend that £6.5M on a number 10 ASAP.

Only risk him going is knockaert and dunk might get ideas and then we are screwed. I can't see us accepting anything less than £15m for each of them though.


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[perseus]

I believe WA was excelling himself with poorly thought out waffle on the radio. Dale Stephens signing a long contract for Burnley is no more a considered career move than extending his contract at the Albion. Such a commitment might not look so good by January. The danger is that another Premier League club will make a bid.

There is no suggestion that Norwood was a replacement for Stephens, more than likely a second choice after Pritchard got too greedy However, Norwood and Kayal are both low scoring midfielders, so it might have been Pritchard and Norwood. I prefer Norwood to Pritchard anyway as this will allow Dale Stephens to be pushed more forward. And three midfielders are better than two over the whole of 90 minutes cause with just the two they get worked too hard and lose out on creativity. .

 

[Whoislloydy]

Bring Bridcutt back as a possible replacement? would be down the pecking order obviously

 

[Triggaaar]

I'd have thought that £5-6m would be difficult to resist when compared to £0 next May, as does seem likely.

As I posted before, Albion fans seem to rate Kayal over Stephens whilst outside of that bubble Stephens is seen as the better player.

Stephens brings us goals and Kayal just does not score enough for me, although his game is clearly very strong in other departments.

And, outside of any direct comparisons, they just seem to work so well together. Will your Stephens Mk II, be it Oliver Norwood or A.N.Other, work as well in tandem with Kayal?

£5-6m doesn't sound so great now.

 

[The Andy Naylor Fan Club]

If Dale is to go, it makes sense that it was after our first league game. That way he serves the last game of his suspension with us and can go straight into the ( Burnley ) team. If he had been sold before the start of our league season to a prem team he would have missed their first game.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Now then, what was one of the reasons Oliver Norwood gave as the reason he came here. Oh yes, that TB said we were keeping everyone. Be a poor show to sell someone straight after that then.

I suspect Norwood was made fully aware of the Stephens situation, which would have been a reason why he did sign for us, I'd have thought he'd have been less likely to sign if Stephens was staying.
I'm not too upset about this transfer. We've already got a replacement, who's potentially a better player? Certainly easier than trying to replace Knockaert or Dunk.