DJ seems a happy man after Portugal, plus Milan on Antonio

[Furious George]

I was thinknig about that lad Leicester have signed from non league for around £1m, seems a bit of a gamble?

I agree with what your saying, i just think that there are teams in the championship willing to pay silly money if required.

No that's a fair point.

Although I might be looking at this wrong, but could it be right saying that it's easier for a striker to make that step up the divisions than a midfielder / defender? Or is that too simplistic?

[danblakemore]

No that's a fair point.

Although I might be looking at this wrong, but could it be right saying that it's easier for a striker to make that step up the divisions than a midfielder / defender? Or is that too simplistic?

Possibly and I assume that if Leicester, Forest etc were to get involved with Antonio, because he would be one of their targets, then they would already have done.

He may however fall into a teams 'panic buy' scenario, come the start of August and they havent signed the players they were after, he may be plan b.

[dannyhowsonswfc]

Anyone know what sort of reception he got from the Wednesday fans (v good obviously) and whether he acknowledged them or anything?

[camffiti]

I thought Forest were richer than Man City now. And Leicester are apparently minted.

Don't see Man City buying players for resale value / hungry players / lower wages. They pay for the players to do the job now.

It's all about the right mixture & balance in the playing squad imo ... the wages & resale values fall into place alongside it, if done right.

Man Utd squads over the years, have been a good example of that -

Age

Superstar status ... proven / unproven ... willing to be a squad player etc.

Resale value

[sweetsheri]

Antonio was not deemed good enough for Reading in the championship last year.

He has a good spell with us, although i did see him have average games..like Hudders away.

They go up a league and buy 2 new players in his position..

They obviously don't want him but equally are not under pressure to sell him.

They think we are desperate so are holding out for the money. Its FIFO time boys

and girls!

[nebneeb]

It's a bit unfair on Antonio.

They obviously don't want him and he isn't going to be in their Premiership squad.

We want him and I believe he would like to play for us again.

But their greed means he's increasingly likely to end up rotting in their reserves, or out on loan at a club he doesn't want to be at that doesn't help his career progress. Then he'll leave on a free next year, but be a year behind where he should be in terms of career.

[Manor Owl]

If the balls in our court IMO mm will have found out last night how much they want I do believe 600 k plus clauses even if a deal was struck last night Antonio still needs a medical and agree personal terms so if the deal were to happen prob won't be confirmed till weekend

10 out of 10. The only comment that mentioned personal terms....enter an agent stage left........

[steelowl]

10 out of 10. The only comment that mentioned personal terms....enter an agent stage left........

I have mentioned it prob 3 times over last 2 months where's my prize?

you can want a player too much -wouldn't surprise me if his agent plays hardball too now

Edited July 25, 2012 by steelowl

[dorian gray]

I'd be surprised at any Championship team paying a million for someone unproven at this level.

i think £700k is good money...

i might add a bit as a sweetener, but wouldn't go above £800k...

the fact is he's not played much at this level...

reading didn't need him last year, they won't this time around...

if they want more than £800k, move on...

[NHOwl]

It doesn't help with all the hype that we the fans have created. Twitter campaigns, singing his name at last nights game etc. Reading will know how desperate the fans are to sign him which could obviously put pressure on the club to get the deal done

That's a valid point. It makes it more difficult for MM to negotiate from a position of strength when the perception is that the fans really want the Antonio deal to happen, some of them at any cost.

Fortunately MM has shown he's prepared to make tough decisions. So I wouldn't be surprised at all if he simply walks from the deal if the terms aren't right and works with DJ to bring someone else in instead.

For the first time in many years I am happy to simply wait and see what happens. I think we have a manager that knows what is required at this level and a chairman that knows how to conduct business. It's fun to speculate but at the end of the day these guys will get done whatever needs to get done.

[Random Task]

If its true that we agreed a fee of £250k for him in Jan (he didn't move because he'd just had a baby) then It would be unreasonable for reading to ask for more than £700k. A players value cannot triple in 14 games.

Frankly though, I don't trust this journo - I'm sure he has said that the deal was imminent not long ago.

[striker]

I agree Antonio was a stand out player for us and a huge part of our promotion, however I agree he is unproven at this level (although I think he can cope) and I also recall someone saying he was in the last year of his contract?

Pro's are well known from his time with us, he is a very good asset for the team, however for a player in the last year if his contract and unproven above league 1, would he command a fee over £700k even from a Premiership club?

Maybe this is the quandry and MM thinks staged payments are in order (and for the record I agree) based on performance but Reading disagree hence stalemate??

Only MM, PA and DJ know but for what it is worth we seem to have a pretty decent relationship with Reading and I hope to see him in our blue and white and not theirs next season.

[The Baron]

Good wingers and strikers with pace, trickery, flair and consistency cost money at any level and to be honest £700k would represent very good value for money for any player that we feel can provide these attributes to our team. We know by now exactly what Reading will take for Antonio. We need to quickly buy the player or forget about him completely and sign another winger, or hopefully two!

One thing is for sure, we will struggle to achieve anything in this league without signing someone with ability and pace to play out wide. Our main weakness currently is invention and flair and this needs to be addressed quickly as the season is fast approaching!

[Simaniac Owl]

Moving away from another Antonio thread ..... What was the team vs Reading then ?

Not possible. There seems to be a new one every five minutes

[Dan™]

Wasn't Marshall in his last year of his contract as well? How much did he move for? £900,000?

He was unproven at Championship level so far as I know.

To be fair, Marshall had excelled at League One level for two seasons, Antonio 'only' excelled for a dozen or so games.

Plus Leicester could pay whatever Stoke wanted without giving it a second thought.

[Dan™]

He's a good player, and I'd happily welcome him to Hillsborough if a deal is agreed.

Didn't you say during the Reading game last night that a deal had been agreed over a week ago?

[Saxondale]

Didn't you say during the Reading game last night that a deal had been agreed over a week ago?

[Utah Owl]

To be honest I would hold out at the moment. Reading talk about plenty of interest from other clubs yet (please correct me if I am wrong) I've not seen one other club quoted as being interested, has anyone else? Antonio is entering the last year of his contract, so Readings options are:

1) Sell him this window at best price they can get

2) Watch his value plummet if he doesn't move in this window

For that reason I say hold out unless the difference in our positions is less than 100k in which case we should be able to reach a compromise.

[Guest We Shall Overcome]

Unless your Leicester or Forest and have money to burn

if Forest had money to burn O'Drisscoll would not have got the managers job.

[Guest We Shall Overcome]

To be honest I would hold out at the moment. Reading talk about plenty of interest from other clubs yet (please correct me if I am wrong) I've not seen one other club quoted as being interested, has anyone else? Antonio is entering the last year of his contract, so Readings options are:

1) Sell him this window at best price they can get

2) Watch his value plummet if he doesn't move in this window

For that reason I say hold out unless the difference in our positions is less than 100k in which case we should be able to reach a compromise.

Good points, reading just being facking greedy like a lot of teams who go up to the premier, as there dont want him and we have only seen him in league one.