Sone Aluko to China!

[Snowflake Royal]

Neither of those are really entirely true .

If his salary was excessive that’s the club’s fault. They didn’t have to pay it. Presumably the transfer fee was Fulham’s fault rather than our’s ?

Ive never said we werent at fault in signing him,paying that much or agreeing his contract. But its not like we forced him to have that particular contract.

Im not accepting that Notts suggestion Stam and Clement are to blame for his atrocious performances either. Yeah, they didnt help. But hes the guy on the pitch making continual dreadful decisions, giving the ball away and playing the position he was given (hardly a massive departure from his normal game either) incredibly badly.

oxf*rd anyone making excuses for the waste of space.

This argument could go on for days but the borderline fact is it was a ridiculous signing - and I knew it at the time whilst 95% of people were waxing lyrical about how we were getting promotion. Simple fact is he is not a 4-3-3 player and I could have told you that at the time

It's not making excuses. It's like hiring a French teacher and getting them to teach Spanish instead. Yeah, the roles are similar enough but you're never going to excel in something you're not as good at

Also at the time we already had about 5 "wingers" compared to 1 striker. Splashing the cash on Nelson would have been a lot more beneficial but what's happened has happened

Well I also called it as terrible at the time, so nyar.

[Hound]

I don’t remember anyone saying at 7.5m and. 4 year contract it was a good signing

[Denver Royal]

It was a ridiculous signing - and I knew it at the time whilst 95% of people were waxing lyrical about how we were getting promotion. Simple fact is he is not a 4-3-3 player. I could have told you that at the time.

Actually around 95% were skeptical of the player, and the contract, and of promotion.
Sorry, you weren't the only smart one, while everyone else was a dumb ass waxing lyrically.

This argument could go on for days

Hopefully not. In the last few years its been done to death and then some. It was a mistake, and we move on.

[From Despair To Where?]

I seem to remember about 95% of the posters on here saying that £7.5m for Aluko was utter madness and that if we had that sort of money to spend we'd be better off getting Oliviera. It was no great feat of insight to suggest so.

[URZZZZ]

It was a ridiculous signing - and I knew it at the time whilst 95% of people were waxing lyrical about how we were getting promotion. Simple fact is he is not a 4-3-3 player. I could have told you that at the time.

Actually around 95% were skeptical of the player, and the contract, and of promotion.
Sorry, you weren't the only smart one, while everyone else was a dumb ass waxing lyrically.

This argument could go on for days

Hopefully not. In the last few years its been done to death and then some. It was a mistake, and we move on.

I was mainly talking about twitter, this site is a completely different ball game to things such as twitter, and I recall a vast number of people saying things along the lines of you have to pay big if you want promotion so it wasn't much of an issue

Hypothetically speaking, would you have taken him for say 2 million? Irrespective of the price, I wouldn't have taken him simply because of the way he plays and the way we played. But yes, we need to move on from it, the past is the past

[From Despair To Where?]

I remember saying at the time that anything over £3m was too much and £2m was more realistic.

[Hound]

When 1.5m first came up I think I said it would be reasonable business. Would have been happy enough with that on a 2 year deal

[Muskrat]

Ok well I’ll just go fcuk myself then.

FWIW I agree with you. He's like an embarrassing incident in one's past that never gets spoken of again. I won't be tuning in for Aluko updates and I'm out!

[Notts Royal]

I’m not saying a player’s performances is totally down to the manager - but it does help when they are played in a position they excel in.

Completely agree with the effort side of things but then there’s also a confidence factor & as a fanbase we’ve been really poor towards Aluko.

Granted he really hasn’t performed well. But across that period of time, were other players excelling noticeably more than Aluko? I don’t believe they were. The reason he was getting so much more stick than the others was due to his ridiculous transfer fee, which was the club’s fault not Aluko’s.

All comes back to that Dutch Clown to me...the day he left the club was a very very happy one for me!

[Hound]

Considering how bad he was, I think the fans treated Aluko very bloody well tbh

[Denver Royal]

I’m not saying a player’s performances is totally down to the manager - but it does help when they are played in a position they excel in.

Completely agree with the effort side of things but then there’s also a confidence factor & as a fanbase we’ve been really poor towards Aluko.

Granted he really hasn’t performed well. But across that period of time, were other players excelling noticeably more than Aluko? I don’t believe they were. The reason he was getting so much more stick than the others was due to his ridiculous transfer fee, which was the club’s fault not Aluko’s.

All comes back to that Dutch Clown to me...the day he left the club was a very very happy one for me!

Read 'vision's' post on 'Economics' thread for more insight.

Hypothetically speaking, would you have taken him for say 2 million? Irrespective of the price, I wouldn't have taken him simply because of the way he plays and the way we played. But yes, we need to move on from it, the past is the past

Did we pay 7.5 mil? That's been refuted by quite a few. (It won't stop the 'spunking 7.5 mil!', though.)
$2 mil? I'm with you. I might be alone, but I didn't see a lot of him before he signed here. My (limited) impression was he wasn't really my cup of tea as a Champ player. A soft, limited, confidence-type player.

[Cape Town Royal]

Neither of those are really entirely true .

If his salary was excessive that’s the club’s fault. They didn’t have to pay it. Presumably the transfer fee was Fulham’s fault rather than our’s ?

Ive never said we werent at fault in signing him,paying that much or agreeing his contract. But its not like we forced him to have that particular contract.

Im not accepting that Notts suggestion Stam and Clement are to blame for his atrocious performances either. Yeah, they didnt help. But hes the guy on the pitch making continual dreadful decisions, giving the ball away and playing the position he was given (hardly a massive departure from his normal game either) incredibly badly.

oxf*rd anyone making excuses for the waste of space.

This argument could go on for days but the borderline fact is it was a ridiculous signing - and I knew it at the time whilst 95% of people were waxing lyrical about how we were getting promotion. Simple fact is he is not a 4-3-3 player and I could have told you that at the time

It's not making excuses. It's like hiring a French teacher and getting them to teach Spanish instead. Yeah, the roles are similar enough but you're never going to excel in something you're not as good at

Also at the time we already had about 5 "wingers" compared to 1 striker. Splashing the cash on Nelson would have been a lot more beneficial but what's happened has happened

Now that I agree with - especially after Kermogant got injured. The quality, energy and dynamism he gave to the team in the play off final season was always going to be missed and from what I have seen of Oliviera is he is the perfect replacement for Kermogant... We have lacked strong focal point on top since the day Kermogant got injured... We should have got him that summer when our stock was high and if we had even with the other issues I am sure we would not have dropped the way we have. (a left back and a Williams replacement would have been nice too..)

[Woodcote Royal]

At best he's bang average.

Agreed. Never worth remotely what we paid. Some would have put Stam up against a wall and shot him for wasting money through gross incompetence.

[Royal Rother]

He was shit for Fulham against us, missed one from about 6” in the play offs iirc.

I was gobsmacked we would have contemplated paying anything for him for any more than a nanosecond.

Somebody made some good money from that deal.

[106Royal]

Aluko Update:

He's started every game since he's been out here, first few games was poor until he struck a purple patch scoring 2 in 2 and grabbing a couple of assists, his general play was also really good.

Since then he's gone back to the Aluko Reading fans will know being largely ineffective in either end third, granted he's not helped by Renhe only having 2 fit foreigners and having some of the worst domestic players in the league but you'd expect more from him playing at this level. I don't think his loan out here is going to have any direct impact on Reading bar the fact his royals career is probably over, I can't see his stock or interest levels rising as it stands.

Will try to keep you update.

[106Royal]

Aluko Update:

He's started every game since he has been out here, as previously said he started off very ineffective in the first 3/4 games until he hit a purple patch scoring 2 in 2 and grabbing a couple of assists. Since then the last few games he's returned to being the Sone Aluko Reading fans will know, in fairness he's not helped by the fact Renhe have only 2 fit foreigners at the moment and also have some of the worst domestic players in the league however you'd still expect more from him at this level.

Apart from confirming the fact he probably hasn't got a future at Reading I don't see this loan having any direct impact on us regarding interest levels or rise in his stock.

Will update again if he turns around his form!

[Larry_Parnell]

Aluko hasn't played for a while so I presume he's injured.
Beijing Renhe are struggling too, 7 games left this season and they're bottom of the league - 6 points adrift with 2 teams relegated.

[Hound]

That’s poor news. If they go down not sure he’ll stay there

Assumed he was injured as he played every game and then suddenly not at all

[StellaPlease]

That’s poor news. If they go down not sure he’ll stay there

Assumed he was injured as he played every game and then suddenly not at all

Our owners are paying him just through a different cost center. He'll stay their of were paying him the same amount.

2 years left on his contract ffs

[Ranger_762]

No matter how the contract turns out, I guess we'll have more and more good players going to Chinese clubs; from what I've heard, there are massive efforts to develop the sport there, as the CCP wants to mae it some kind of national pride/propaganda tool, like the USSR did back in the days.