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Dear Roker Report,
I’m reading that the club are about to sell Mayenda for a paltry £10 million. I think this could be a big mistake, especially if Brobbey continues his excellent form at the World Cup.
We should learn from the mags and Isak. If Brobbey’s head gets turned late in the window, we could be left scrambling around for a second forward and end up paying over the odds for a donkey.
If we need to sell Mayenda, I’d prefer to leave it until the last hour of the window, when we know that Brobbey
and Wilson are locked in. At £10 million, we’ll have no problem finding a last-minute buyer.
Steven Peacock
Ed’s Note [Gav]: I don’t think the club have demonstrated that they panic about anything, really – we have a plan for all situations and, in the case of Mayenda, I think the writing has been on the wall for a while and we’ll have been working hard to find him and ourselves the best possible deal we can this summer.
I had a feeling at full time after the Chelsea game that Mayenda’s future had already been decided, as he broke off alone from the rest of the players before they did the lap of honour to have his own moment with the supporters.
I love Eliezer Mayenda, I think he’s brilliant and is going to develop into a proper top forward, but we simply cannot give him the opportunities that he needs or deserves. Yes, there’s a better chance of him playing more football when we have so many cup competitions next season, but he’s earned the right to be a leading man somewhere, and I sense that he’s probably ready for a new challenge.
Dear Roker Report,
We’ve yet to hear from Xhaka and maybe this is just media mischief and rumour. But if it is true that Chelsea want him, and he wants to go, then we simply need to name our price, and I’d say £25 million minimum. Reports of a bid of £8 million are derogatory and a joke.
Unless our price is met, we should just say no and tell Xhaka that he’s under contract and he plays for us or no one. This isn’t a 25-year-old at his peak with his future ahead of him, or a player where Chelsea may get a future sell-on. It’s a last-chance saloon deal, so if he and they want it that badly, they should pay our price or stop messing about.
And if Xhaka throws an Isak-style tantrum, let him spend the last two years of his career not playing at all, or playing in our U21 EFL Trophy team as an over-age player against Port Vale or similar. I’d rather that than see him play against us, especially if we’re only missing out on £8 million.
Lastly, in case Chelsea and Alonso have forgotten, we’re the ones in Europe next season, so treat us with a bit more respect!
Derek Cox
Ed’s Note [Gav]: I suspect that the truth here is that whilst yes, Granit very much would welcome to the move to join up with Alonso at Chelsea, the public bidding and jostling that we’re seeing is not coming from him – he’ll be fully focused on the World Cup with Switzerland.
Frankly, I wouldn’t entertain any offer below thirty million quid. That might seem excessive but when you consider what Xhaka brings to our football club, it needs to be a ‘can’t refuse’ offer and, if it isn’t, everyone needs to move on quickly. Sunderland will crack on with or without Granit Xhaka, but we cannot allow whatever is going on to drag into the summer and, worse, pre-season.
Dear Roker Report,
Granit Xhaka was Sunderland’s standout player last year. It was he who set the playing standards to another level, which led us into Europe.
That’s history now – the European chapter is still to be written.
If Granit Xhaka doesn’t want to hang around, sell him now and get good money for him. We all know there’s little loyalty in football. Sunderland move forward.
No one player is bigger than our club. The club moves forward and upwards. Come kick-off in August, I want a squad of Sunderland players who, first and foremost, want to be here and put the shirt on.
Mark
Ed’s Note [Gav]: I’m in full agreement that I only want players that want to be here, but I think we need to see how this plays out over the next few weeks. If Switzerland go out of the World Cup on Friday I suspect the noise around a potential departure will only grow – but the fact remains that Sunderland hold all the cards here. He has two years left on his contract, we don’t want or need to sell him, and we aren’t going to be bullied in sanctioning the departure of a really important player.
Dear Roker Report,
It seems inevitable that Granit Xhaka will be departing in the near future and attention is being drawn to his replacement – or replacements.
I feel we should be combing the market for players with educated left feet. I say this because balance is important in our team, and Xhaka provided that.
It will, however, be a very difficult task for the recruitment team to achieve this, and it will no doubt be expensive.
Supplementing our midfield is crucial, whether with right-footed or left-footed players, and may I suggest that a bid for Hayden Hackney’s services might be a decent idea?
Arthur Gray
Ed’s Note [Gav]: I don’t doubt that Hackney is a canny player, but I’d be seriously concerned if we sold our most important player and replaced him with a Lad that has never played top level football. Anyways, it seems that he’s signing for Everton, where I’d suggest he’s a far better fit anyways.
Dear Roker Report,
At the time of writing this, the rumours seem to have died down slightly regarding Xhaka wanting to go to Chelsea, as most of the headlines are the same as they were a few days ago.
The issue I have is that the silence from Xhaka’s camp is deafening. I appreciate he seems a very focused and driven person, which is why some fans are saying that is the reason he hasn’t released a statement – he’s concentrating on the World Cup.
However, in my opinion, which isn’t worth a lot, it’s a quick text to his agent asking him to release a statement saying he is happy at Sunderland and not going anywhere. Agents get mega bucks to deal with stuff like this. I would also assume KLD has been in touch with Xhaka.
If he ends up staying because Chelsea won’t pay our valuation, but it turns out to be true that he agreed terms prior to Chelsea contacting Sunderland, then I believe he should be stripped of the captaincy, even though he has been our driving force and has raised the standards on the pitch.
It would have been different had Chelsea contacted Sunderland first and he then said he would like to speak to them. Not great, but at least it would all have been done correctly.
Peter Welsh
Ed’s Note [Gav]: Stripping him of the captaincy whilst he’s still at the club would be an absolute disaster. Can you imagine the division and bad feeling that would cause, ahead of such an important season? There are only two real outcomes here – he stays and cracks on, which I think he’s professional enough to do, or he leaves and we move on.
Dear Roker Report,
Not even a hint of our long established red and white. Whoever sanctioned this needs his head look at.get back to reality.
Barry Stoker
Ed’s Note [Gav]: Patience, Timothy! We can’t just release all three kits at the same time. They’re spaced out mainly because each release needs its own focus and time, so that the club can maximise revenues. I know sometimes on the face of it, it can be hard to fathom certain decisions, but there are some very experienced and educated marketing folk at the club now who know what they are doing and think long and hard about this stuff.
It was revealed a while ago now that we’d be releasing one kit per month in June, July and August.
