Re: Stansfield
HughBlue2newblueHughBlue2newblueHughBlue2Oldham45 goals in 103 games.
Aged 21 to 23.
I can’t help but agree with earlier comments that his game needs to develop further to be worth what we paid for him. I think his overall game from when we first had him on loan to now is still the same and has not had much development.
He’s returned 20 in 66 (championship) which is decent numbers.
If he goes through a bad run of form he should be as droppable as anyone else.
I like him, he’s a good player and so far probably the flagship player of the Knighthead era. But he’s not exempt from criticism and at some point he’s going to need to hit 20+ goals in a Championship season to get near what we paid. (He could still do that this season)
If he gets that he’s worth more.
Disagree, Championship strikers have had a bad run of been good at this level and not translating into the prem for a long time.
It caps value quite considerably. Would be extremely unlikely a high bid would come from another Championship team.
2 seasons in a row of 15 plus then 20 plus may get him there but not one season.
Adam Armstrong got 16 then 28 in a poor Blackburn team and went for £15 million. He was 22-24 when he scored those goals. Pretty similar profile to Jay and never scored more than 2 in a prem season.
Not saying Stanno would have the same fate but these sort of transfers put prem teams off signing Championship strikers on the whole.
Who knows what could happen but i’d be surprised if one very good season at this level commanded more than £10 million.
Is it true that prem clubs avoid strikers who do well in the Championship? It’s anecdotal but Villa signed Watkins for £28m, but you quoted an example (personally think Armstrong is a good player but not Premier league standard). Not sure if Stansfield makes it as a Premier league player but that’s the debate I guess. If he scored 20+ having been a top scorer for us already I do believe he’d more than justify his fee. As it happens, he, like others in the team, all need fk step up if we’re going to go up the league.
Right so you knew straight away after Armstrongs 28 goal season he wasn’t a prem player before he played there? Come off it ????
I’m not on about Stanno justifying his fee for us, it’s justifying his fee for external clubs.
With the increasing pressure of the prem, would a 20+ goal champ season command over £10 mil? I’m not sure. Stanno being our top scorer in League One would have absolutely 0 factor for someone signing him for the prem.
We love Stanno; as we do Klarer and value them highly because for us they would be very hard to replace and as they are key players we hold them in high regard.
The reality is; other clubs without personal affection value Klarer and Stanno less than we do.
Also on the Championship striker to prem front:
Joel Piroe despite being prolific at Championship level looks out of his depth in the prem. 2024-25 top scorer
23-24 is a good example:
Szmodics got a move to Ipswich for £9 million but only scored 4 goals in prem level.
Armstrong was 2nd top scorer off the back of back to back 2 goal prem seasons.
I think it’s pretty clear from promoted teams struggling more than ever in recent years that the gap between Championship and Prem is ever growing.
Which ultimately means the value of a strikers goal in the Championship carries less weight than it used to for prem teams.
You say that but the Championship is rated as the seventh best league in the world. You have to look at the player. There are plenty of strikes brought in from Portugal for example whose league is ranked lower (so I presume the gap is higher).
Szmodics (be interesting to see what he does now) isn’t a great example I think given he hasn’t been playing for Ipswich this year - Armstrong for me doesn’t have the pace or ultimately the physicality to be a striker at the top level; it’s a real challenge scoring goals in a team struggling at the bottom of the Premiership, they tend not to make that many chances.
Anyway, this is some distance from the most extreme views I challenged on here - not the original post - which suggested at worst that he runs around a lot but isn’t very good at just about everything, but doesn’t get dropped because he’s one of CD’s favourites, favouritism being one of the many faults he has.