CONFIRMED Hamza Choudhury

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

I don't think we'll be paying his full wage, Leicester will have written some of it off.
He'll still be relatively expensive though and it's a terrible, lazy signing

Considering we have Seriki, Doherty, Curtis and Shackleton to cover RB and a million players for CM - I'm genuinely baffled as to why we'd do that...

A pacey winger and/or a 6ft 4in CF would be much more impactful.

 

[YES Blade]

What is we'd paid Leicester £2.5M and he agreed to play for free for a year?

I’m not just looking at the wages it’s the overall cost, as you point out, £2.5m.

For £2.5m, I don’t think he’s value for money. I’d like to think we could get a squad player who offers similar at half that money.

 

[Akrotiri_Blades]

Considering we have Seriki, Doherty, Curtis and Shackleton to cover RB and a million players for CM - I'm genuinely baffled as to why we'd do that...

A pacey winger and/or a 6ft 4in CF would be much more impactful.

Seriki out injured, Doherty defo not match fit, Curtis now out on loan, Shackleton not match fit, we some how bizarrely found ourselves without a proper RB that can last 90 mins, don't make them like Del-Boy anymore!

 

[Ron_Justice]

I’m not just looking at the wages it’s the overall cost, as you point out, £2.5m.

For £2.5m, I don’t think he’s value for money. I’d like to think we could get a squad player who offers similar at half that money.

I'd like to think that too, but Elite PL loans are often caveated with a 50%-100% wage obligation. Back to square one, except, Choudhury will be here next season too.

 

[YES Blade]

Considering we have Seriki, Doherty, Curtis and Shackleton to cover RB and a million players for CM - I'm genuinely baffled as to why we'd do that...

A pacey winger and/or a 6ft 4in CF would be much more impactful.

It’s a crazy signing when you look at the competition for places where Choudhury plays, then compare it to the lack of options in attack.

It’s the type of signing I expect a club with plenty of cash to make. Not a club that’s skint and selling any player that will fetch a half decent transfer fee.

 

[YES Blade]

I'd like to think that too, but Elite PL loans are often caveated with a 50%-100% wage obligation. Back to square one, except, Choudhury will be here next season too.

I get it’s easier said than done and it’s likely a cheaper alternative wouldn’t be as good, but I just think we could’ve managed without Choudhury and used that money elsewhere.

What’s concerning is there isn’t an eye on the future with our signings. They’re all short term, experienced players. It would be nice if we signed one or two younger players that could develop into valuable assets. There will come a point where we’ve got no players of any significant value left to sell!

 

[Bladeloyal]

I’m not just looking at the wages it’s the overall cost, as you point out, £2.5m.

For £2.5m, I don’t think he’s value for money. I’d like to think we could get a squad player who offers similar at half that money.

There's probably a understanding that he signs a new reduced contract later in the season for another couple of years

 

[Ron_Justice]

I get it’s easier said than done and it’s likely a cheaper alternative wouldn’t be as good, but I just think we could’ve managed without Choudhury and used that money elsewhere.

What’s concerning is there isn’t an eye on the future with our signings. They’re all short term, experienced players. It would be nice if we signed one or two younger players that could develop into valuable assets. There will come a point where we’ve got no players of any significant value left to sell!

Agreed, future planning is the dream. I'm not sure the current owners, at the present moment, are that interested in that direction. I'm sure, ideal world, they'd like to establish a Cat1, buy up and coming L1 & 2 starlets, sell high, build a squad capable of sustained PL existence. I'm also sure they're pragmatic realists and have decided to cut our cloth accordingly. A philosophy that looks pretty uninspiring right now.

 

[Proper Blade]

Yeah I don’t think people are factoring in just how expensive he is…

He’s fine squad depth at RB and CM but he’s coming in as by far the top earner in our squad, probably the top earner in SUFC history… and he doesn’t even get near our best XI. Surely we could fill that squad depth for much less money?

£50k a week plus bonuses is at least £2.6m outlay… For that money we could be taking a punt on a couple of the exciting league 1 or 2 players, who can fill the squad and might actually have upside and resale value.

Where exactly has this ridiculous idea come from that Choudhury is on 50k a week? We've just sold off our best players and not spent a penny on transfer fees, yet people also believe we're paying him bigger wages than any player we've ever had?

McBurnie's Premier League contract was worth 20k a week (it came out during his court case). Do you really, honestly think Choudhury is on more than double that?

 

[Ron_Justice]

Where exactly has this ridiculous idea come from that Choudhury is on 50k a week? We've just sold off our best players and not spent a penny on transfer fees, yet people also believe we're paying him bigger wages than any player we've ever had?

McBurnie's Premier League contract was worth 20k a week (it came out during his court case). Do you really, honestly think Choudhury is on more than double that?

It's based on the idea that the way we've structured him leaving Leicester is to take over his contract. I don't know how people know he was in 50K at Leicester, but that's the prevailing wisdom. He had a year left there, we've taken it on, a one year deal, with a view to next year's deal being more aligned with where we are and what he offers.

 

[jimmymuir]

What was the point of signing Matt Doherty? I know it sounds mental, but I'd rather see Shackleton at RB than Choudhury. He was ok when he was here on loan, he wasn't bad but he certainly wasn't impressive and we shouldn't have even looked at signing him. However, it seems a lot of our fans seemed to have zero standards and creamed themselves at the prospect of him returning.

He's a player that never regularly featured for Leicester, he was always a bit part player and if he's not good enough for them in League 1, then god knows how he's good enough for us.

 

[Tarqs]

It's based on the idea that the way we've structured him leaving Leicester is to take over his contract. I don't know how people know he was in 50K at Leicester, but that's the prevailing wisdom. He had a year left there, we've taken it on, a one year deal, with a view to next year's deal being more aligned with where we are and what he offers.

He's on a contract from their premier league years. He was a prem league player (albeit bit part), for years. He will comfortably still be on 50k a week.

 

[Hallamboy87]

He had such a poor game yesterday! Questions should be asked as to why we bought him!

 

[YES Blade]

He's on a contract from their premier league years. He was a prem league player (albeit bit part), for years. He will comfortably still be on 50k a week.

What’s it rumoured to be £70k a week? Could be bollocks but I’m sure those types of numbers were being mentioned

 

[Tarqs]

What’s it rumoured to be £70k a week? Could be bollocks but I’m sure those types of numbers were being mentioned

Yeah, i'm just referring to the 50k mentioned above.... it's not exactly unrealistic for him to have been on that.

If it's true we've taken the remainder of his contract on, for 2.5m plus, i'd have rather put it into someone else with a potential upside.

 

[Frank the tank]

What’s it rumoured to be £70k a week? Could be bollocks but I’m sure those types of numbers were being mentioned

Think it was 100 gazillion a day I heard

 

[Good Pinch Of Snuff]

that block on the line though from Afolayan, haters will say he was lucky though

 

[Caveblade]

that block on the line though from Afolayan, haters will say he was lucky though

To be fair though, thier goal is absolutely down to Hamza playing it back into trouble.

 

[Ron_Justice]

To be fair though, thier goal is absolutely down to Hamza playing it back into trouble.

Couple of times, him and Donovan managed to turn inside in the final third and pass into trouble. The result of Blackburn's left pressing the ball in our final third.

Peck could have done better with the Hamza pass, he said as much himself, but Hamza fed him a shocking ball. The TV coverage didn't show the right angle but I suspect Hamza turned inside because Donovan wasn't showing for the ball up the line.

Not a dig at Donovan either, at his age, you win some you lose some, but both players were guilty of taking too many touches into dangerous areas.

 

[SwissBlade]

Couple of times, him and Donovan managed to turn inside in the final third and pass into trouble. The result of Blackburn's left pressing the ball in our final third.

Peck could have done better with the Hamza pass, he said as much himself, but Hamza fed him a shocking ball. The TV coverage didn't show the right angle but I suspect Hamza turned inside because Donovan wasn't showing for the ball up the line.

Not a dig at Donovan either, at his age, you win some you lose some, but both players were guilty of taking too many touches into dangerous areas.

I thought they targeted our right last night and Donovan was not at his best either, perhaps because he had 2-3 on him everytime he got the ball after running the show the other week in the cup. So there weren't many outlets for Hamza a lot of the game.

Defensively, Hamza is still getting himself up to speed, he looked better at times yesterday and looking at Doherty when he came on, he looked much more assured as a RB.

Where Hamza looked better though was when we went with a back 3 and Hamza was a little further forward, he seemed more relaxed on the ball and was able to play the ball better.

Hamza and Donovan both gave Peck shocking balls on the edge of the box. Perhaps sometimes it needs a launch forward to get out of trouble and take the pressure off for a second or two

 

[Ron_Justice]

I thought they targeted our right last night and Donovan was not at his best either, perhaps because he had 2-3 on him everytime he got the ball after running the show the other week in the cup. So there weren't many outlets for Hamza a lot of the game.

Absolutely, he made an impression alright. At the start of the game, not sure if it was the stadium announcer or the Radio Lancs commentators, when reading the teams out, put great emphasis on Donovan's name. So much so that for a moment , I thought he may have been a favourite, returning loanee.

 

[SwissBlade]

Absolutely, he made an impression alright. At the start of the game, not sure if it was the stadium announcer or the Radio Lancs commentators, when reading the teams out, put great emphasis on Donovan's name. So much so that for a moment , I thought he may have been a favourite, returning loanee.

Yeah I noticed that as well.

Radio Lancs were pretty good apart from Gallagher being a bit of a cock, the main commentator reading shout outs all game and then saying we got their player booked for a foul on McCallum (which Gallagher said could’ve been a red, it wasn’t, but “seen em given”)

 

[Red Wing Blade]

I have a feeling that Choudhury was only signed because Seriki is off in January. He's out of contract next summer and we don't have the best record of getting our best players to sign a new deal before their current one expires when they enter their last year.

 

[WORKSOPBLADE]

I have a feeling that Choudhury was only signed because Seriki is off in January. He's out of contract next summer and we don't have the best record of getting our best players to sign a new deal before their current one expires when they enter their last year.

We’ve got a year’s option on Seriki.

 

[ancientblade]

with the state of our midfield we could do worse than stick choudray in there

 

[Blademan89]

with the state of our midfield we could do worse than stick choudray in there

Hes definitely more mobile than 90% of our central midfield so I guess thats something, he can help cover.

Need someone like blaster or phillips in there for him to pass ball too.

I did mention previously once we have our rb back something like...

.............choudhury
-----Phillips...........peck
Donovon..bamford....BBD

Allowing those two to go box to box and hamza to just be the anchor.

 

[YES Blade]

I have a feeling that Choudhury was only signed because Seriki is off in January. He's out of contract next summer and we don't have the best record of getting our best players to sign a new deal before their current one expires when they enter their last year.

If that’s the case, it’s a stupid signing. Choudhury is nothing like Seriki

 

[Nick Jansky]

I have a feeling that Choudhury was only signed because Seriki is off in January. He's out of contract next summer and we don't have the best record of getting our best players to sign a new deal before their current one expires when they enter their last year.

At the time of signing Choudhury Wilder talked about playing Seriki further forward.

 

[ancientblade]

At the time of signing Choudhury Wilder talked about playing Seriki further forward.

i think he was thinking choudray and seriki down the right in a 442 but we cant just go with 2 in midfield were outnumbered every game with that system