Completely hypothetical as I'm confident he won't go in this window - as Moyes has said, he's more or less priceless to us at this moment in time. The West Ham alleged "name your price" quote got me thinking though... pretend they would genuinely pay literally ANY price we put on him - at what point would you be willing to let him go? (assuming all funds would be made available for reinvestment) It's a tough one as his goals are, essentially, irreplaceable to us. In fact I'm fairly sure there is no other player in the entire world, who would come to us right now, who would score as many as Jermain. Having said that, I think I personally would probably let him go for £30m - £35m. We should be able to beef our squad up substantially with decent quality at that amount, and hopefully manage to tempt a striker who could be nearly, if not quite, as prolific as JD. Thoughts? EDIT: This should have been a relatively short post with a straightforward question, I've rambled massively EDIT2: Made it even longer now
As you say around 35 mil should be enough to get someone as prolific as Defoe. Possibly someone better actually who scores as many but adds a bit more to the team in general, like a Defoe/Anichebe mutant. However if I was to hypothetically agree to selling Defoe for that much and getting a replacement in I'd have to be as certain as it's possible to be that the new guy is going to settle in and start scoring right away and you can't guarantee that. Look at Torres and Shevchenko at Chelsea and Falcao at United. Great goal scorers but **** at those clubs.
Too much risk involved. I wouldn't sell. I realise that hasn't exactly answered your question but hey ho.
It doesn't matter if he is sold for £6 mill or £60 mill, it's all about how the money is spent replacing him. Every single one of us would go mental if he were sold for £3 mill but we'd soon forget it if a new 'super kev' was signed for £350,000 a day later. Or we could all be thinking 'great business' if he were sold for £35 mill only for us to spunk the same amount up the wall by signing Andy Carroll the same evening. At the minute, he is pretty much our only chance of survival.... but football is a strange beast so who knows what's around the corner in these next 3 weeks!?!?
I don't think we could replace him and I also don't think Moyes would get much money from the owner to buy a replacement. Have to keep him.
Personally coming from an arsenal fan I don't think you should sell him at any price. let's say you where to sell him for 30 mill which Is what i think he's worth at the least and you replace him with another 30 mill striker A. the striker needs time to adapt B.instant pressure on the guy to perform C.who is even available and premiership proven
What worries me, Every player has a price, I am guessing Short had a number in his head, if West Ham get near that number, I actually think he will sell. The repercussions of doing that is another conversation, but Short is ruthless and my belief is he would sell if the price was right.
Realistically with his age and his goal scoring prowess i would say he is worth between 15 & 20 million, for us he is worth the price of relegation. I cant see Moyes selling him at that price or any price, however if Short thinks its a good price and it turns Defoe's head then he might just go. I can see Short over ruling Moyes which will ultimately end up with Moyes jacking as well.
And that Crumble is the problem Short will have should he sell Defoe as I think Moyes is an honourable man who hasn't been given the whole truth over our financial situation and I would think if we sell Defoe for whatever figure then that would be a slap in the face for Davie boy and he would walk IMO. So would Short gamble in not only losing his best player for a sack of gold but also his number one choice manager. I hope not.
He's irreplaceable so there is no point in selling him for any money, say we got £30m for him, we wouldn't have all of that to spend on a replacement, even if we did I doubt we could attract a player of his caliber to the club. Give him a pay rise, he deserves it.
I don't see anyone out there to match his goals per games return at the minute and who would be available. Who would you suggest?