Josh Key...

[Egg]

Archie has played a lot more games and been captain hence my higher valuation. Different players and I would have thought a cenner midfielder would be viwed higher than a wingback but it's all a matter of opinions

Ironically, I'm not sure the fact that Archie has played a lot more games necessarily equates to a bigger transfer fee than someone who has played fewer games. Rightly or wrongly, I think there's a tendency to think someone who has played as many games as Archie in League One / League Two 'belongs' at that level. It seems to me that clubs higher up the tree are more likely to pay big money when they're taking a bit of a punt that someone who's only played a handful of games might progress to a very high level - this, I'd suggest, was what happened when Sunderland offered a seven-figure fee for Josh. Pretty sure they wouldn't be offering anywhere near as much now.

 

[Grecian Max]

Not sure about those fees. Think the club will be looking for as least as much, if not more, for Josh as Archie.

no chance

 

[andrew p long]

It will however be interesting if prospective clubs want to take the risk of letting the fees for Josh and Archie go to a tribunal. I would think City would be able to provide quite a compelling case for both Josh and Archie in terms of their value in the current market. Some clubs may be worried about this as once a tribunal sets the fee they are not able to back out of the deal. I think we as a club will be far more comfortable having the fee decided by a tribunal than prospective buyers.

The fact that apparently we have offered both extremely good deals to stay will also help City's case, as will any bids that they have rejected in the past for both players.

The ideal situation would be that both sign a minimum 2 year deal with a release clause in there so that we are safe guarded in terms of getting a fee, but also that the players interests are also looked after in that they could still leave if the clause was met. I'm sure the club has probably tried this though, and as things stand it does not look like either will be signing.

It will certainly be interesting to see how all this plays out this summer!

I wonder if there is/could be a mechanism to take the uncertainty out of the buying club's decision by determining the Tribunal fee before they become committed to sign. Its rather unfair if a selling club frustrates a transfer by quoting a too high fee that the buying club (could be us in certain circumstances!) can't pay.

Say Archie or Josh agree terms with a club who offer 250k and could and would pay up to 500k. City ask for £1m and refuse to budge but the buying club genuinely don't have the finance for that £1m. The Tribunal can only do its job once the contract terms with the player have been agreed - because the terms of that contract are part of the factors determining the Tribunal fee.

What I'm thinking of is the buying club having a conditional contract with the player which only goes ahead if (in the above example) the Tribunal fee does not exceed 500k.

 

[JCWhoosh]

Need to get away from sentiments of home grown players. Don't get me wrong. I'm proud of our academy and long may it continue but if we can improve the squad with the money then shouldn't hold on to them for the sake of it. Look at the massive upgrade of Mitchell replacing Sparks at LWB.

 

[Super Ronnie Jepson]

I wonder if there is/could be a mechanism to take the uncertainty out of the buying club's decision by determining the Tribunal fee before they become committed to sign. Its rather unfair if a selling club frustrates a transfer by quoting a too high fee that the buying club (could be us in certain circumstances!) can't pay.

Say Archie or Josh agree terms with a club who offer 250k and could and would pay up to 500k. City ask for £1m and refuse to budge but the buying club genuinely don't have the finance for that £1m. The Tribunal can only do its job once the contract terms with the player have been agreed - because the terms of that contract are part of the factors determining the Tribunal fee.

What I'm thinking of is the buying club having a conditional contract with the player which only goes ahead if (in the above example) the Tribunal fee does not exceed 500k.

You'd need a lot of people working for the Tribunal people if they had to value every single player whose contract runs out.

 

[iscalad]

Need to get away from sentiments of home grown players. Don't get me wrong. I'm proud of our academy and long may it continue but if we can improve the squad with the money then shouldn't hold on to them for the sake of it. Look at the massive upgrade of Mitchell replacing Sparks at LWB.

Massive? Hmm.

 

[rifraf]

I quite agree with this summary. Both have been excellent for us over the last few years and whilst I would rather they stayed, I think both need to move there careers up a level than we can offer.

Disagree. I think if they stay and we wisely improve the squad further (and we are lucky with the progress of further youth coming through) we could up their playing standard level even more i.e. promotion. What we can't do is match their financial expectations unfortunately, and playing time is all too short. So can't blame them ...... and others too who will follow over the decades to come. It's the way we're wired.

 

[chunkymorrinmunter]

Massive? Hmm.

 

[antman]

The thing about Josh Key is that he is able to beat a man on the flank and get a decent cross in usually, very good at getting to the byline and delivering a low ball too. It's true that he has run himself into blind alleys sometimes this season, which can cost any team these days on the counter attack, and it's also true that his ball control isn't what it should be when he's forced to switch his balance from one side to the other, but as a purely right sided player he's very dangerous if he understands his limitations. It's a position where teams need a player that can provide real attacking threat so I can see why he is attracting interest. I share some of the doubts about his ability when coming inside and his decision making in general can improve. I think his defending has improved this season, for what it's worth.

 

[STURTZ]

The step up to league 1 has highlighted the abilities and deficiencies of our academy boys, some have made the transition, some haven't that much is clear.
For me Collins has proved to be effective at this level as has Kite, Hartridge and, when fit, Diabate. That, for me, would make Key, Sparkes and Jay as players most likely to thrive at league 2 level. Josh's control is just so poor.