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Official - Siggi
- Thread starter Denmark Spur
- Start date
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
Yup.
He's done well. He makes the players all happy and massages their egos by saying they are all great and mainly don't need to be replaced. He impresses the board with his ability to spin and defend the club's decision, and he gets the fans on-side by having a sly dig at the player 'He went to Tottenham for whatever reason...this club is a great footballing institution' which actually has most of them saying they are glad they didn't stump up a relatively measely 40k a week for a proven quality player in a Rodgers system. And to top it off he sugar coats the dig at Gylfi with a 'He's a great lad though, no hard feelings' type comment to let all players know that he is a man of the people and doesn't become vindicitive.
Very clever man. It's impressive, an art. To placate so many people and spin a bad situation like that is bloody good going. I don't think AVB has that skill to be honest. Kind of wish he did.
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BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
And that's the reason they didn't go for him. It wasn't to do with assessing the squad (he'd already made the bid!), or thinking Gylfi wasn't worth 40k. It's 40k ffs, and it's Liverpool. They will easily pay their squad players that, let alone their proven players and players who are likely to start.
But the club couldn't risk getting into a bidding war, and loading the wage bill with another attacking midfielder when they already have loads they need to move off the books. I don't believe he thinks he is going to get the same level of performance out of a past-it Cole or an Aquilani who has never settled, and he probably knows it.
Jurgen the German
Tommy Harmer
Signing Sigurdsson has been worthwhile purely for the comedy value of the Liverpool fans reaction!
One Liverpool fan even said to me that Spurs are "the new Chelsea", in other words he came to us for the money alone. I said I'm pretty sure you have a higher wage bill than us!
One Liverpool fan even said to me that Spurs are "the new Chelsea", in other words he came to us for the money alone. I said I'm pretty sure you have a higher wage bill than us!
bankrupt
Darren Caskey
Thanks, that's encouraging.
tommysvr
Justin Edinburgh
braineclipse
Willie Hall
That is funny
I particularly like how he complains about the "only 5 months of PL experience" then to spend the next 4-5 points pointing out individual high variance stats based on that (admittedly) small sample size. Internal consistency for the (not exactly) win...
Not going to pretend that Sigurdsson is Xavi and Gerrard merged into one Icelandic son of Thor, but for around 8 million it's about as good of a gamble as we're likely to find anywhere.
http://www.visir.is/gylfi--eg-elska-ensku-urvalsdeildina/article/2012707059955
Interview with Iceland's largest newspaper, "The Newspaper"...original, I know!
---------------------------
Icelandic international, Gylfi Þor Sigurdsson, has signed a contract with Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. The buying price is thought to be around 8 million pounds, or 1.6 billion ISK. The contract is for 5 years.
A lot has been written and talked about Gylfi's future in the media, abroad as well here in Iceland. The uncertainty around whether he'd join up with his former Swansea manager, Brendan Rodgers, who recently took charge at Liverpool, or Tottenham, which up until Tuesday was without a manager, was big.
"I took all the time that I had to, and even though the drama and anticipation surrounding the media was huge, I took my time in order to come to the right decision," says Gylfi who won't talk about Liverpool's interest in him for now, according to the wishes of his new employers.
Tottenham hired a new manager on Tuesday, André Villas-Boas. The Portuguese, who was sacked from his job at Chelsea in early March, has spoken to Gylfi over the phone.
"He convinced me that this was a great club and I'd never had finalized my decision until it was clear who'd become the new manager," says Gylfi but admits he'd been in talks with Tottenham for quite some time.
"I spoke to the board and the club at first, but you don't make a decision until you hear from the manager. It's very important to feel wanted by him," says Gylfi, but a lot of Icelandic players have been burnt by going to clubs due to the will of boardmembers instead of managers.
Germany never in the picture
It's been almost two years since Gylfi joined up with German Bundesliga club Hoffenheim. By then he'd been selected Reading's player of the season, but financial troubles above all else made sure the Hafnarfjorder(Note: Gylfi's hometown, Hafnarfjordur just outside of Reykjavik) was sold to the German club.
After a decent first season, Gylfi battled injuries and his opportunities were cut short during the first half of his second season at Hoffenheim. He was then loaned to English Premier League club Swansea, where he played under Brendan Rodgers, who he knew from his days at Reading. Gylfi was an instant hit and was awarded Player of the month in March, and it became clear that he wanted to play in England.
"After my time at Reading I'd grown accustomed to England and always wanted to go back there. I love the Premier League, just like most people do. After I was loaned to Swansea I felt the football in England suited me much better. I speak the language fluently, understand everything and it's just very different," says Gylfi and adds that he always wanted to return to English football after his stay at Swansea, a club he's sad to leave.
"Of course it's hard to leave Swansea, because my time there was fantastic and it's a very entertaining club. This, however, is the next step in my career."
A huge club
Gylfi says this is a huge step for himself as a footballer. "It's a huge club with a lot of ambition, they'll be in the Europa League next year and everything around them is growing bigger. They're finishing up a new training ground and the idea is also to build a new stadium, so there's a lot of ambition within the club and with the board," says Gylfi, who'll become the fourth Icelandic player to play for Tottenham at White Hart Lane in North-London. Gudni Bergsson played for the club for years, and later on Emil Hallfredsson and Eidur Gudjohnsen signed for the club.
Tottenham finished fourth in the league last season, which usually would have ment qualification for the Champions League. But after archrivals Chelsea won the competition, Tottenham had to settle for the Europa League.
"The expectations for next season are naturally high, which is great. It puts a little bit of pressure on you which is very positive. The goal is to reach the Champions League next year," says Gylfi who'll report to training with the London club on Wednesday(I do belive this is supposed to be Monday, as has been widely reported here in Iceland...) and is really looking forward to it.
"There are some fantastic players at the club like Van der Vaart, Adebayor, Modric and Gareth Bale. I could name them all, they're players known all around the world, playing in a world class. You can really improve by training and playing with them every day."
Young footballers dream of reaching far in their sport. Gylfi says determination and a lot of work has eventually put him where he is today, playing for Tottenham.
"I realized at a very young age that I wanted to play football professionally. I've worked very hard. You have to train extra, take care of your body and you'll get there."
----------------------------
Interesting to see he's been gagged about the interest from Liverpool. Guess we'll have to wait a while to really know what went on there.
Also nice to see he'd been in talks with us for a long time. Puts some legs under the story that he had completed his medical way in advance. The whispers here in Iceland is that the holdup was at Hoffenheim, not with regards to personal terms.
Interview with Iceland's largest newspaper, "The Newspaper"...original, I know!
---------------------------
Icelandic international, Gylfi Þor Sigurdsson, has signed a contract with Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. The buying price is thought to be around 8 million pounds, or 1.6 billion ISK. The contract is for 5 years.
A lot has been written and talked about Gylfi's future in the media, abroad as well here in Iceland. The uncertainty around whether he'd join up with his former Swansea manager, Brendan Rodgers, who recently took charge at Liverpool, or Tottenham, which up until Tuesday was without a manager, was big.
"I took all the time that I had to, and even though the drama and anticipation surrounding the media was huge, I took my time in order to come to the right decision," says Gylfi who won't talk about Liverpool's interest in him for now, according to the wishes of his new employers.
Tottenham hired a new manager on Tuesday, André Villas-Boas. The Portuguese, who was sacked from his job at Chelsea in early March, has spoken to Gylfi over the phone.
"He convinced me that this was a great club and I'd never had finalized my decision until it was clear who'd become the new manager," says Gylfi but admits he'd been in talks with Tottenham for quite some time.
"I spoke to the board and the club at first, but you don't make a decision until you hear from the manager. It's very important to feel wanted by him," says Gylfi, but a lot of Icelandic players have been burnt by going to clubs due to the will of boardmembers instead of managers.
Germany never in the picture
It's been almost two years since Gylfi joined up with German Bundesliga club Hoffenheim. By then he'd been selected Reading's player of the season, but financial troubles above all else made sure the Hafnarfjorder(Note: Gylfi's hometown, Hafnarfjordur just outside of Reykjavik) was sold to the German club.
After a decent first season, Gylfi battled injuries and his opportunities were cut short during the first half of his second season at Hoffenheim. He was then loaned to English Premier League club Swansea, where he played under Brendan Rodgers, who he knew from his days at Reading. Gylfi was an instant hit and was awarded Player of the month in March, and it became clear that he wanted to play in England.
"After my time at Reading I'd grown accustomed to England and always wanted to go back there. I love the Premier League, just like most people do. After I was loaned to Swansea I felt the football in England suited me much better. I speak the language fluently, understand everything and it's just very different," says Gylfi and adds that he always wanted to return to English football after his stay at Swansea, a club he's sad to leave.
"Of course it's hard to leave Swansea, because my time there was fantastic and it's a very entertaining club. This, however, is the next step in my career."
A huge club
Gylfi says this is a huge step for himself as a footballer. "It's a huge club with a lot of ambition, they'll be in the Europa League next year and everything around them is growing bigger. They're finishing up a new training ground and the idea is also to build a new stadium, so there's a lot of ambition within the club and with the board," says Gylfi, who'll become the fourth Icelandic player to play for Tottenham at White Hart Lane in North-London. Gudni Bergsson played for the club for years, and later on Emil Hallfredsson and Eidur Gudjohnsen signed for the club.
Tottenham finished fourth in the league last season, which usually would have ment qualification for the Champions League. But after archrivals Chelsea won the competition, Tottenham had to settle for the Europa League.
"The expectations for next season are naturally high, which is great. It puts a little bit of pressure on you which is very positive. The goal is to reach the Champions League next year," says Gylfi who'll report to training with the London club on Wednesday(I do belive this is supposed to be Monday, as has been widely reported here in Iceland...) and is really looking forward to it.
"There are some fantastic players at the club like Van der Vaart, Adebayor, Modric and Gareth Bale. I could name them all, they're players known all around the world, playing in a world class. You can really improve by training and playing with them every day."
Young footballers dream of reaching far in their sport. Gylfi says determination and a lot of work has eventually put him where he is today, playing for Tottenham.
"I realized at a very young age that I wanted to play football professionally. I've worked very hard. You have to train extra, take care of your body and you'll get there."
----------------------------
Interesting to see he's been gagged about the interest from Liverpool. Guess we'll have to wait a while to really know what went on there.
Also nice to see he'd been in talks with us for a long time. Puts some legs under the story that he had completed his medical way in advance. The whispers here in Iceland is that the holdup was at Hoffenheim, not with regards to personal terms.
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
That is funny
I particularly like how he complains about the "only 5 months of PL experience" then to spend the next 4-5 points pointing out individual high variance stats based on that (admittedly) small sample size. Internal consistency for the (not exactly) win...
Not going to pretend that Sigurdsson is Xavi and Gerrard merged into one Icelandic son of Thor, but for around 8 million it's about as good of a gamble as we're likely to find anywhere.
It would be so easy to go through each one of those points and completely knock them out of the park. So easy that it wouldn't be worth doing it.
Suffice to say, over a season Gylfi would probably get 15 goals give or take, he'd get an amount of assists that led to Downing earning his 20m move to Liverpool, when he was generally considered a good provider, would probably set up a lot of goals by assisting the assist, and knows how to play the Rodgers system. To claim that he is, considering all of that, only worth 20k a week really insults the intelligence of their fans. A player with those statistics is not worth only 20k a week. It's not about 'Rodgers knowing more' at all. Again, an insult to the intelligence of their fans. And they are lapping it up.
I
indianspur
Guest
in that Icelandic interview, he says he cant wait to play with VDV, Bale, Modric and Adebayor.....hmm, does he know something we dont about Ade????
also wonder how he will feel if VDV and Modric leave
also wonder how he will feel if VDV and Modric leave
Wow.....
NYSpur
Andy Gray
In the above quote it states that "32% shooting accuracy. Only 32 of Sigurdsson's 73 shots for Swansea were on target. Again, this is lower than many midfielders in LFC's squad, including: Shelvey (43%); Bellamy (52%); Kuyt (45%); Johnson (47%); Henderson (45%); Gerrard (52%); Maxi (47%)"
However, 32 out of 73 amounts to 43.8%.
However, 32 out of 73 amounts to 43.8%.
Baleforce
Ron Henry
exactly, how small time can you get
Rorschach
Sonny Walters
Shots on target are all well and good but Liverpool have a desperately low conversion ratio. Unless you count hitting the post.
Heda SPURSCZ
Steven Caulker
:-k
PL 2011/12: 4.Spurs - 69p; 8.Liverpool - 52p; 9. Fulham - 52p 10. WBA - 47p - I don't see the difference between Liverpool, WBA and Fulham
:ross: :ross: :ross:
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Liverpool probably thought they could get him cheap due to his relationship with Rodgers. We came in with a reasonable wage (about 40k plus bonuses is what I'm hearing), forcing Liverpool to raise their wage offer....which was still slightly below ours.
I don't blame Gylfi for being insulted. According to Lipton, Liverpool's average wage bill was 60k while hours was 44k per week. Why should Gylfi make half the wage of an Adam or Downing? Us offering a fair market wage doesn't make us a Chelsea or City, offering crazy wages to mercenaries - it just shows we weren't stingy ****s trying to screw over a young player.
Of course money matters. It's not everything, but it does show how you value a player in comparison to others in the team. If I were a Liverpool fan, I wouldn't care so much about losing out over Gylfi (in fact I place Gylfi in the "good, not great" category) but I would worry about the way FSG appear to be tightening the belt. While it's sensible, it's a bit unfair on Rodgers, being forced to work with a team not of his own style yet tasked with reaching the top four.
I don't blame Gylfi for being insulted. According to Lipton, Liverpool's average wage bill was 60k while hours was 44k per week. Why should Gylfi make half the wage of an Adam or Downing? Us offering a fair market wage doesn't make us a Chelsea or City, offering crazy wages to mercenaries - it just shows we weren't stingy ****s trying to screw over a young player.
Of course money matters. It's not everything, but it does show how you value a player in comparison to others in the team. If I were a Liverpool fan, I wouldn't care so much about losing out over Gylfi (in fact I place Gylfi in the "good, not great" category) but I would worry about the way FSG appear to be tightening the belt. While it's sensible, it's a bit unfair on Rodgers, being forced to work with a team not of his own style yet tasked with reaching the top four.
DublinSpur
Scott Parker
In fairness, it's hard to imagine that wasn't made clear to him when he was offered the job. And he still took it.