Lerma contract

It looks unlikely, he's 28 peak of his career, can't blame him if he wants to try out somewhere else, he's given us 5 years.
 
KingKieffer said:
Jeff Lerma is a decent PL level midfielder who I imagine most of the bottom half would be interested in recruiting. He has his strengths and he has his weaknesses, he would be a loss for sure but he’s far from irreplaceable if we recruit correctly. Players will come and go, nobody stays forever and he has done his time here if he feels the need to move on.

The one I’d be more concerned about is Billing, one year left on his contract. I think the attributes that he brings to the table would be a lot harder to replace in the short term.
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Without getting you all wound up. Earlier in the season, You said Lerma was championship level with just about all of our players.
Although lately you seem keen on Rothwell now we’ve seen him fit.
 
borisatha said:
Without gerltting you all wound up. Earlier in the season, You said Lerma was championship level with just about all of our players.
Although lately you seem keen on Rothwell now we’ve seen him fit.
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You’re wasting your time mate.
It’s the scatter gun approach.
 
The average salary outside the top three in Spain is under £20k a week. He's already on about three times that with us and I'm sure we're offering a pay rise.

Genuinely think he might be looking at other Premier League options.
 
borisatha said:
Without getting you all wound up. Earlier in the season, You said Lerma was championship level with just about all of our players.
Although lately you seem keen on Rothwell now we’ve seen him fit.
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He’s proven me wrong.

Although funnily I didn’t think he was particularly great in the championship, I think that was due to playing in a possession dominant team. Lerma needs to play for an underdog team with a direct style of play to thrive I feel. Even under Eddie he struggled quite a lot playing such a possession based game. All about context I guess. Put him at the base of Brighton’s midfield and I’m certain he would struggle. Stick him in West Ham’s team and he would likely thrive.
 
KingKieffer said:
He’s proven me wrong.

Although funnily I didn’t think he was particularly great in the championship, I think that was due to playing in a possession dominant team. Lerma needs to play for an underdog team with a direct style of play to thrive I feel. Even under Eddie he struggled quite a lot playing such a possession based game. All about context I guess. Put him at the base of Brighton’s midfield and I’m certain he would struggle. Stick him in West Ham’s team and he would likely thrive.
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Fair comment.
 
Kudos said:
The average salary outside the top three in Spain is under £20k a week. He's already on about three times that with us and I'm sure we're offering a pay rise.

Genuinely think he might be looking at other Premier League options.
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He'll either go to Spain or stay with us, why would he want to go to any other English club? :wagging:
 
Financially, must be attractive for Jeff to a get a big signing-on fee as a free agent somewhere else. Maybe, if he sees potential at afcb to play in a team looking up and not down the league, then staying is more attractive.
 
zigger zaggar said:
He'll either go to Spain or stay with us, why would he want to go to any other English club? :wagging:
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Like the vast majority of posts, it's purely speculation but unless he's got solid interest from one of the top three in Spain he's looking at a significant pay cut.

It's not impossible that he would sacrifice his peak earning potential to go back but it feels very unlikely. Outside of elite European clubs, the only league that can and is likely to compete financially is the Premier League.

I'm hoping that he agrees to a mutually beneficial contract but as I mentioned on the JZ thread another club could see £10-15M over two to three years as a bargain but the ~£100k a week for us as being very unpalatable.
 
Smidsy said:
Wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up at Newcastle. Especially with the connection to Eddie.
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I think he's OK for where Newcastle are right now, but not where they're going. Don't think he's Champions League quality.

Be surprised if he goes to another PL team as suspect our latest offer is decent and he isn't going to go to a top 6 team as a starter (except possibly Spurs).

He has mentioned going back to Spain but that would likely involve a pay cut unless top 3 as others have said, so I'm actually thinking he might end up staying here on decent money and going back to Spain in a year or 2. Just a hunch though.
 
AFCBade said:
Financially, must be attractive for Jeff to a get a big signing-on fee as a free agent somewhere else. Maybe, if he sees potential at afcb to play in a team looking up and not down the league, then staying is more attractive.
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He can probably get a 'signing on fee' with us, given he's out of contract.

If he wants to move countries, then fair enough.

More likely he will sign for us than anyone outside the top 5.

Newcastle may be tempting if Eddie wants him, but can't see it.
 
As much as I don't want to see Jeff at another club in England, if that what he goes for then fair enough. People can argue his ability, but not his attitude. Could've spat his dummy out when we went down but just got on with it, he's more than earned whatever comes next in his career. Hopefully that next step is with us.
 
Leeds are one of the teams linked. If they go down we can remove them from the equation.

West Ham also mentioned, and it looks like they'll have to sell Rice this summer. However, they're also linked with Ward-Prowse so another good reason for that lot to be relegated.

If I was a betting man, out of the other English club links I'd put money on Wham. They'll sign him on a free and JWP on the cheap because any reason to try and underpay from other English clubs. Then they'll also buy another centre midfielder from some random foreign club for £50m who will turn out to be a bit rubbish.
 
Changing my mind from my earlier post... The fact he hasn't signed with a team in Spain already suggests to me he'll go to another PL club when he's able to officially negotiate.
 
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