Rumour - Josh Laurent

[The Royal Forester]

Biggest danger is the owner gets fed up with these FFP restrictions, loses interest in running the club and trying to get us up - will be in a world of trouble then - fortunately (based on various interviews such as Paunos recent one with Dellor where he said the owner deserves a statue) he seems to be interested still, but for how much longer...

We never hear from the owner. Perhaps his business interests aren't performing as well in this Covid era and the interest in his Reading Premier League project is waning. Cut the losses and make an exit.

So, from what you say, his interest has been waning since the day he took the club over., seeing that we didn't hear a word on that day or since, except one, maybe a couple of statements since.

[hughsies no.1]

Biggest danger is the owner gets fed up with these FFP restrictions, loses interest in running the club and trying to get us up - will be in a world of trouble then - fortunately (based on various interviews such as Paunos recent one with Dellor where he said the owner deserves a statue) he seems to be interested still, but for how much longer...

We never hear from the owner. Perhaps his business interests aren't performing as well in this Covid era and the interest in his Reading Premier League project is waning. Cut the losses and make an exit.

I have no problem that we don’t hear from the owner as long as he keeps bank rolling the club. There’s no questioning what he’s put into the club so far with training ground and transfers (all be it very much rolling the FFP dice with the later). Wolves and Bournemouth did the same and went up, we tried the same and failed now find ourselves in an FFP hole. By turning down big money moves for Swift and Moore in recent windows he’s also outlined his intentions.

Just genuine concerns now that he will get fed up not being able to spend his money to make us a premier league club and take it elsewhere to try with another club.

[Snowflake Royal]

Attracting the interest of Nottingham Forest according to Alan Nixon.

That's nice for them.

Wouldn't dismiss this, hardly going to take a lot for them to sign him is it? Last year of his deal and must be on a reasonable wage so it is not like we are going to put up much of a fight is it? The last thing I want to do is sell Laurent but we have to be realistic and say he is probably going to go, maybe not to Forest but he'll go.

Sorry, why would he be on a reasonable wage, I read that as reasonably high wage? Didn't he sign from Shrewsbury during our we can't really make signings desperate trimming?

[NathStPaul]

That's nice for them.

Wouldn't dismiss this, hardly going to take a lot for them to sign him is it? Last year of his deal and must be on a reasonable wage so it is not like we are going to put up much of a fight is it? The last thing I want to do is sell Laurent but we have to be realistic and say he is probably going to go, maybe not to Forest but he'll go.

Sorry, why would he be on a reasonable wage, I read that as reasonably high wage? Didn't he sign from Shrewsbury during our we can't really make signings desperate trimming?

Depends on what your definition of a reasonable wage is i guess. I see him as being on around 10k a week which is well below the Championship average but high enough for us to not afford an improved deal.
I'm using that £8500 we are allowed to spend on weekly wages as the benchmark, no way he is on less than that imo. Someone ITK might be able to elaborate further.

[Snowflake Royal]

Wouldn't dismiss this, hardly going to take a lot for them to sign him is it? Last year of his deal and must be on a reasonable wage so it is not like we are going to put up much of a fight is it? The last thing I want to do is sell Laurent but we have to be realistic and say he is probably going to go, maybe not to Forest but he'll go.

Sorry, why would he be on a reasonable wage, I read that as reasonably high wage? Didn't he sign from Shrewsbury during our we can't really make signings desperate trimming?

Depends on what your definition of a reasonable wage is i guess. I see him as being on around 10k a week which is well below the Championship average but high enough for us to not afford an improved deal.
I'm using that £8500 we are allowed to spend on weekly wages as the benchmark, no way he is on less than that imo. Someone ITK might be able to elaborate further.

Ah right. Slight misunderstanding then.

I thought you meant he's on enough that we need to move him on to save money, rather than that we're unlikely to be able to offer an improved deal to get him to stay so may want to capitalise.

Personally, I think he's more valuable to the team this season than the few million we could get for him and the saving of his wage. So even if he won't sign on, I'd rather he left for free next season.

If we're talking £5m+ it's a different story.

It's frustrating that it's the likes of Laurent and Olise we're potentially selling... players with sustainable wages who perform fair consistently and have years of improvement left.

Rather than the players with completely unsustainable salaries.

[NathStPaul]

Sorry, why would he be on a reasonable wage, I read that as reasonably high wage? Didn't he sign from Shrewsbury during our we can't really make signings desperate trimming?

Depends on what your definition of a reasonable wage is i guess. I see him as being on around 10k a week which is well below the Championship average but high enough for us to not afford an improved deal.
I'm using that £8500 we are allowed to spend on weekly wages as the benchmark, no way he is on less than that imo. Someone ITK might be able to elaborate further.

Ah right. Slight misunderstanding then.

I thought you meant he's on enough that we need to move him on to save money, rather than that we're unlikely to be able to offer an improved deal to get him to stay so may want to capitalise.

Personally, I think he's more valuable to the team this season than the few million we could get for him and the saving of his wage. So even if he won't sign on, I'd rather he left for free next season.

If we're talking £5m+ it's a different story.

The ideal scenario is we sort ourselves out somehow and are able to offer him something around Christmas time. The player seems happy, won player of the season and is crucial to us. You'd be fairly confident he would stay provided the right terms are offered.
I'm torn on what the right thing to do is in terms of a sale before the start of the season. We couldn't replace him adequately for the wages we can offer but on the other hand we will lose another really good player for nothing in the future.

Just think about Baldock and Aluko on those cushy deals for years delivered a fraction of what Laurent has in just one season. Really sucks to be us.

[Sutekh]

Reading have rejected a 7 figure bid from Forest. A second bid is expected.

[Stranded]

Wouldn't dismiss this, hardly going to take a lot for them to sign him is it? Last year of his deal and must be on a reasonable wage so it is not like we are going to put up much of a fight is it? The last thing I want to do is sell Laurent but we have to be realistic and say he is probably going to go, maybe not to Forest but he'll go.

Sorry, why would he be on a reasonable wage, I read that as reasonably high wage? Didn't he sign from Shrewsbury during our we can't really make signings desperate trimming?

Depends on what your definition of a reasonable wage is i guess. I see him as being on around 10k a week which is well below the Championship average but high enough for us to not afford an improved deal.
I'm using that £8500 we are allowed to spend on weekly wages as the benchmark, no way he is on less than that imo. Someone ITK might be able to elaborate further.

According to a few sites out there that collate player wages, they all seem to have Laurent on between 3-4k pw - a pay rise from his Shrewbury days where he was on around 2k pw.

If that is true, then a salary increase is definitely doable if he has any wish to sign a deal of course.

[NathStPaul]

Sorry, why would he be on a reasonable wage, I read that as reasonably high wage? Didn't he sign from Shrewsbury during our we can't really make signings desperate trimming?

Depends on what your definition of a reasonable wage is i guess. I see him as being on around 10k a week which is well below the Championship average but high enough for us to not afford an improved deal.
I'm using that £8500 we are allowed to spend on weekly wages as the benchmark, no way he is on less than that imo. Someone ITK might be able to elaborate further.

According to a few sites out there that collate player wages, they all seem to have Laurent on between 3-4k pw - a pay rise from his Shrewbury days where he was on around 2k pw.

If that is true, then a salary increase is definitely doable if he has any wish to sign a deal of course.

Yeah if thats the wage then I am happy to use up one of our allotted EFL approved signings to improve his contract. I would question the 3-4k pw, seems extremely low but I guess only the player and clubs accountant know for sure.

There might even be a grey area when it comes to extending contracts of existing players, would like to know if the 8.5k a week maximum wage applies to already signed players. If a player has it in his contract that there is an increase after a certain amount of games for example then how can the EFL get involved in that? I agree with the EFL rules on finances but the transparancy and ambiguity need to be looked at.

[Stranded]

Depends on what your definition of a reasonable wage is i guess. I see him as being on around 10k a week which is well below the Championship average but high enough for us to not afford an improved deal.
I'm using that £8500 we are allowed to spend on weekly wages as the benchmark, no way he is on less than that imo. Someone ITK might be able to elaborate further.

According to a few sites out there that collate player wages, they all seem to have Laurent on between 3-4k pw - a pay rise from his Shrewbury days where he was on around 2k pw.

If that is true, then a salary increase is definitely doable if he has any wish to sign a deal of course.

Yeah if thats the wage then I am happy to use up one of our allotted EFL approved signings to improve his contract. I would question the 3-4k pw, seems extremely low but I guess only the player and clubs accountant know for sure.
There might even be a grey area when it comes to extending contracts of existing players, would like to know if the 8.5k a week maximum wage applies to already signed players.

3 to 4k isn't low if you were on 2k.

Anyway, if Eddie ITK's tweet is right and he has, understandably, seen us as a stepping stone to the Prem then taking a slightly lower wage than he may have got elsewhere for the likelihood of more minutes is a pretty simple equation.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

So hypothetically, if we get close to £2m (he is worth much more) plus his 4k wages off the books, that could fund / free up 40k a week wages for a season. Which may solve our LB problem, replacement for Laurent and leave a bit left in the kitty for a wide player / midfield cover.
Very short sighted transfer policy but it would get us out of a hole.

[WestYorksRoyal]

According to a few sites out there that collate player wages, they all seem to have Laurent on between 3-4k pw - a pay rise from his Shrewbury days where he was on around 2k pw.

If that is true, then a salary increase is definitely doable if he has any wish to sign a deal of course.

Yeah if thats the wage then I am happy to use up one of our allotted EFL approved signings to improve his contract. I would question the 3-4k pw, seems extremely low but I guess only the player and clubs accountant know for sure.
There might even be a grey area when it comes to extending contracts of existing players, would like to know if the 8.5k a week maximum wage applies to already signed players.

3 to 4k isn't low if you were on 2k.

Anyway, if Eddie ITK's tweet is right and he has, understandably, seen us as a stepping stone to the Prem then taking a slightly lower wage than he may have got elsewhere for the likelihood of more minutes is a pretty simple equation.

But are Forest a step further? Can probably offer more money and he commands at least double the wages currently quoted after last season. But he could be in an even better idea if he allows it to run down.

I have no doubt we'd be offering a big deal were it not for FFP. Past decisions damaging. I do wonder if FFP could be adapted to stop teams making stupid decisions in the first place instead of simply punishing clubs for years on end after the horse has bolted. But I guess they try that in Spain and it hasn't stopped the Barca shitshow.

[Chairman Mao]

Biggest danger is the owner gets fed up with these FFP restrictions, loses interest in running the club and trying to get us up - will be in a world of trouble then - fortunately (based on various interviews such as Paunos recent one with Dellor where he said the owner deserves a statue) he seems to be interested still, but for how much longer...

We never hear from the owner.

good?

[Royal_jimmy]

This summer has been well and truly painful. I hope the EFL at least gives us a chance to sign some players and offer some improved deals to our better players. We've got a lot of wages off the bill and got a bit in inward fees.

Swear the EFL are trust trying to make a mockery of us and biased towards the bigger clubs. I mean ffs we only have 17 senior players now yet Derby who have done worse things are allowed 23.

[WestYorksRoyal]

This summer has been well and truly painful. I hope the EFL at least gives us a chance to sign some players and offer some improved deals to our better players. We've got a lot of wages off the bill and got a bit in inward fees.

Swear the EFL are trust trying to make a mockery of us and biased towards the bigger clubs. I mean ffs we only have 17 senior players now yet Derby who have done worse things are allowed 23.

Next summer could be even worse with half our team out of contract. I fear relegation is coming, though probably not this year.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

This summer has been well and truly painful. I hope the EFL at least gives us a chance to sign some players and offer some improved deals to our better players. We've got a lot of wages off the bill and got a bit in inward fees.

Swear the EFL are trust trying to make a mockery of us and biased towards the bigger clubs. I mean ffs we only have 17 senior players now yet Derby who have done worse things are allowed 23.

That 17 includes McNulty and out for the season Meite

[NathStPaul]

Forest Reportedly in with an improved bid.

[Notts Royal]

Forest Reportedly in with an improved bid.

£2-3m supposedly.

Are we in a position to reject that? How much say does the EFL have on incoming bids

If we had back up & it was say £5m it would be tempting to sell, to avoid him leaving on a free next summer. But it would leave a massive hole right now

[Pepe the Horseman]

Big Alan Nixon reckons it's just a rehash of yesterday's story, rather than a new and improved bid.

[Stranded]

Forest Reportedly in with an improved bid.

£2-3m supposedly.

Are we in a position to reject that? How much say does the EFL have on incoming bids

If we had back up & it was say £5m it would be tempting to sell, to avoid him leaving on a free next summer. But it would leave a massive hole right now

We have Tetek, who could step in if needed for a short period at least.

As Pepe said, this is probably a re-hash of yesterday's story and no idea how reliable Footy Insider actually is but if a bid over 3m comes in and he wants to go, I would be tempted as long as we are allowed to bring some bodies in as a result.

Like any club, we should have a list of players who we are interested in for every position and for every budget, so he should be replaceable.

Personally, I would hold on to him and hope we are one of the contracts we hope to renew in 2 or 3 months time.