TEN MILLION! WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO KID?

If he goes for anything south of £5M Deano and Ken can get fucked.

Boggersbelief wrote:If he goes for anything south of £5M Deano and Ken can get fucked.

Correct, you're worth whatever somebody's stupid enough to offer and young English defenders go for a premium. Look at the prices that were banded about for Stones last year, ridiculous and everyone's on the lookout for the next one.

I'm hoping Bristol City pop up with an offer. Didn't those idiots offer £12M for Dwightt Gayle last year?

Breadman wrote:Everton ready second bid for Bolton defender Rob Holding after seeing initial £10m offer rejected – talkSPORT source
Read more at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


That was the Talksport article headline.

And it's quite pacific.

It might be "pacific" but there are oceans between the body of the text (where they refer to "Bolton's valuation") and the misleading headline which should have read "Bolton turn down offer for £10 million rated Holding". 

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] states "Bolton are hoping to get £5 million" - hoping being the operative word.

And [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] reiterates the £5 million price tag that the club are hoping to achieve.

Of course, Anderson could have turned down £10 million from Everton in order to then set a £5 million price tag for Arsenal and Celtic etc ....sounds like BWFC management skills.

6 million plus add ons

y2johnny wrote:6 million plus add ons

What's that Johnny? - what you think he's worth or what someone has actually offered? 

If it is a genuine offer as opposed to another valuation it would more than cover the shortfall in running costs for next year so I'd reluctantly accept it.

it's what i have heard, only a rumour of course but from a pretty decent source.  non of this nats mole bollocks!

it might turn out to be 5 mill plus add ons but either way the add ons will be 2 mill to taker it to seven.  think we want the money upfront though for obvious reasons as i don't think we will get the majority of the add ons particularly as it is from arsenal who are leading the race at the moment.

y2j I have to be honest and say if Arsenal really are offering 5 million for him even as a flat fee I don't believe we're in any position to turn it down. Cahill cost Chelsea about that much and I know Holding's got promise and a longer time left in the game but still, it's a decent chunk for a kid who's only a 'prospect' at this point and not the finished article. 

I can't see anyone really offering us that much for him though. Every club in the land knows we're skint and stuck with a bunch of players on Premiership wages that we can't offload. They know we're under embargo too, not even able to sign anyone who would play for free. 

So as far as our 'prospects' and younger players are concerned it's very much a buyer's market.

the difference is we aren't in a position where we have to sell him.  he is on a low enough wage for us to keep him and hold out for a decent price regardless of whoever else we have.

Ken and Deano are raising funds to make sure we don't have to sell unless it is on our terms.  we could be starting the season with exactly the same squad (god forbid!) but the days of flogging off decent talent and being the exception to the rule is hopefully gone now and we can move forward

I hope you're right, especially about the fundraising. However there seems to be contradictory information on that, including rumours of a row between Anderson and Holdsworth, reports that Dean hasn't been seen at the club for weeks ostensibly due to 'health' issues and that there has still only been ONE candidate for the manager's post who has actually met them both.

My fear is that players like Clough, Holding, Woolery and others will be sold and the fees used to pay the wages of those we can't offload (ie the 'high earner' brigade) in order to keep the books balanced.

I won't mention the 'E' word this time but if they were really moving us forward surely that should have been the first thing to go.

Bournemouth and Everton and Arsenal all interested!! I smell a bidding war with the opening bid starting at £5 million.

Reebok Trotter wrote:Bournemouth and Everton and Arsenal all interested!! I smell a bidding war with the opening bid starting at £5 million.

If they really are interested and it's not just some sportswriter's overactive imagination mate. This time of year always sees some silly stories about players from the lower leagues being targeted by "Big" clubs like Arsenal especially if they're young and English.

Bornemouth and Eddie Howe might be interested but they won't get into a "bidding war" with the likes of the Gunners and Toffees. They just don't have that kind of pull even if they have the cash.

I'd bet if Arsenal or Everton have approached us it's more along the lines of "Is he available?" If the club say yes then it's "How much?" and I'd bet we don't get 5 million for him including add ons much less the 6 plus add ons johnny heard.

I honestly think this has been put forward by a sportswriter who's literally thought "Hmmm, Arsenal like kids, Holding's English, decent and might be cheap. Who else might like a guy like that? Everton and Bournemouth. I bet all of them are keeping an eye on the guy." And before you know it the story's blown up like a chinese whisper to "Arsenal, Everton and Bournemouth In Bidding War For Holding."

So finally the truth is out about Arsenal's offer for Holding:

TWO million plus some bonuses that could take it to £5 million - bonuses that we'll never see as he would have to get in the team to achieve the targets that trigger the bonuses.

So it's £2 million and Wanderers have since dropped their valuation from ten to seven mill. We'll be lucky to see £5 mill in actual cash as it would mean Arsenal more than doubling their offer.

wanderlust wrote:So finally the truth is out about Arsenal's offer for Holding:

TWO million plus some bonuses that could take it to £5 million - bonuses that we'll never see as he would have to get in the team to achieve the targets that trigger the bonuses.

So it's £2 million and Wanderers have since dropped their valuation from ten to seven mill. We'll be lucky to see £5 mill in actual cash as it would mean Arsenal more than doubling their offer.

Sorry to say this but it won't happen and I'm pretty sure you know that as well as I do lusty.

If Bournemouth really want him they might offer 3 million but that would be about it in my opinion. Everton might not even have the same manager in a week so I can't really see them fielding a bid until and unless the Martinez question is sorted.

He won't leave for a pittance. This is Ken Andersons game, he will get a good deal

Boggersbelief wrote:He won't leave for a pittance. This is Ken Andersons game, he will get a good deal

Problem is that only a pittance is being offered and no amount of bluster will force Arsenal or any other team to throw more money at it.

So the real question becomes "will Anderson be weak and accept a low bid just so he doesn't have to run around trying to find the £3 million shortfall in operating costs?"

Obviously his life would be a lot easier if he didn't have to find more investors but by substituting investment with asset-stripping i.e. selling Holding to pay the bills rather than investing the income in the team would be a massively retrograde step and would really get tongues wagging.

If we have to sell Holding then we need a fair price PLUS we need the inward investment that Anderson seeks on top of the transfer fees so if we get say £2.5 million for Holding and we get the £ 3 million investment on top, at least there's a chance that some of it may end up on the pitch. 

But personally, I wouldn't take anything less than £5 million CASH for Holding as he's been with us since he was 8. Forget the add ons, just money up front. We'll never get it, but at least he'll be playing for us and we could always sell him later if circumstances change again.

Boggersbelief wrote:He won't leave for a pittance. This is Ken Andersons game, he will get a good deal

Only if he can afford to hold out for it boggers. Personally I'd rather not sell Holding at all but given what's already happening and the statements coming from Ken about finding further investment and restructuring the club I'm not really hopeful of seeing Holding in our shirt next season OR us getting anything like the five million lusty suggests. It would be nice but it's unlikely imo.

He's already rejected a miserly offer.

Boggersbelief wrote:He's already rejected a miserly offer.

So I understand and I hope he rejects the current one if an offer really has been made. (I'm not nit-picking but given Mr Iles reputation for accuracy I take everything in the BN with a pinch, no a cellar of salt these days).

I'm slightly at a loss as to why Arsenal in particular would want Holding and like lusty I can't see them doing anything with him but send him out on loan or stick him in their version of the 'development squad'. It would genuinely surprise me to see him ever start a first team game for the Gunners unless it was in a League Cup game against someone like Accrington Stanley on a wet Tuesday night or something. I genuinely rate the lad and think he could be very good but he'd do better staying here where he'll be much more likely to get first team football, at least for another year or two.

Boggersbelief wrote:He's already rejected a miserly offer.

It's true, but can you see them raising their offer from £2 million to anything like want we want and need?

It's just too much of a stretch.

And as I said from the beginning, £10 million is just a bad joke.