Lacroix

[martinelliff]

Agreed, I'm excited to see how he get's on, and how he will be used.

Anyone signed on a free if they are of the right quality is good business in my eyes. Yes I know we have to watch out for signing on fees, agents fees, and high wages too.

If we do sign Tomiyasu, I think that will be a good bit of business again on a free.

In Jan we shelved out a fortune, and broke our transfer record twice. It turned out to be quite ill-advised.

Right now, sales are more of an issue than purchases. The debate about Eze and Guéhi is well known and over-beaten, but it's a far more clear cut situation with Lacroix; we have been royally done up the rear by Chelsea and lost the bedrock of the last season for peanuts.

50m+ is not peanuts. He was good but not Guehi good.

 

[Hootie121082]

So he has left us for a club that will not be playing any European football this season. I would have liked to have thought he would have stayed on with us due to us being in Europe but obviously money talks. Good luck to him.

 

[martinelliff]

This is probably the only one of the big departures that doesn't have an obvious explanation. I mean, I get why the player wanted to go, but not why palace sold at this point in time and for that price. Unlike with other big sales, there is no suggestion of a release clause, or a dwindling contract.

Perhaps it's as simple as the club wanting to get some money in early so that we can buy some players, and this is the only notable offer on the table at this stage?

It's still a bit unusual, though.

He is at his peak value post World Cup (not that he was that great in it). If we have a poor season next year, our players value diminishes and he becomes a 30m player, a year older and shorter contract. Its a gamble. Would we pay 70m for a Lacrouix duplicate if that was an option? 49m for Larsen was extreme and he is a "good" striker who are like rocking horse poop.

 

[martinelliff]

People questioned the sanity of selling Anderson and look how that turned out. Lets see what happens. As many have said centre backs are the easiest position to replace. Losing Wharton or Sarr leaves a much bigger hole. But all players get replaced eventually.

 

[palace99]

I think the highlighted three are completely different, Esse was 14m, only 21, i haven't given up on him yet, Franca was expensive, but is on a low wage, and you cant blame him for his injury, Strand Larsen has only started 12 games, his best feature is his strength and power in the air, not ideal with no wingers playing, Johnson is extremely disappointing so far, and Ahamada was crap, Vieira should pay the refund for him out of his own pocket.

For his size Larsen regularly gets muscled off the ball and he has scored very few headed goals since he's been in the prem.
So IMHO he's neither that strong or powerful in the air, however, with a decent coach he could be.

 

[cyprussteve]

We have absolutely no idea what happens in transfer negociations. Players may be ademant that they are leaving (e.g. isak, guehi), there may be clauses we dont know about, etc. Some players are enticed to come to Palace because they know it is a stepping stone to better things. If the club prevented an ambitious player going we become less attractive. Lacrouix may have done a Guehi and seen out his contract and we get £0. Its a difficult balancing act. Olise had a clause, Guehi saw out his contract, Eze probably had a clause/agreement. The club have to do what they see as best. We dont know all the variables.The £s in/out are irrelevant as long as the club balance the books and keep refreshing the team.

I understand your opinion and you may be right to a certain degree but that does not excuse wasting 110m on 3 hopeless muppets

 

[CPFCSaturn]

For his size Larsen regularly gets muscled off the ball and he has scored very few headed goals since he's been in the prem.
So IMHO he's neither that strong or powerful in the air, however, with a decent coach he could be.

Agree with you - I think he gets misprofiled as a 'target man' type because of his size, but I don't think it's his game at all really. His hold-up play in particular seems quite a weak area in his game.

Where I would agree with Lanzo is that he is a forward who I think would benefit conisderably from earlier crosses/more deliveries into the box - from memory, the vast majority of his goals at Wolves were first-time finishes arriving in the box.

 

[doombear]

50m+ is not peanuts. He was good but not Guehi good.

Agreed. The issue for many is a view that Van Hecke has gone for the same amount despite having only 1 year left on his contract and not being as good as Lacroix. I simply don't know if Lacroix is better than Van Hecke. It seems to me they're very much on a similar level and that's not Guehi level. The length of contract might be a point. However, it may simply be that Spurs were desperate to buy and we needed to sell.

 

[JHB]

Yes of course Parish and co have to agree to all business done, but it's usually nothing more than a rubber-stamp. That's why we have a DOF.

We don't have any Abramovich's or Boehly's in our ownership group. Steve had to step in for a brief period after Dougie departed, and he spoke about that publicly. Dougie has been replaced for a while now.

It’s not a rubber stamp on big outgoing fees or incoming fees. On identification of players to recruit yes. On the finances no.

 

[CPFCSaturn]

Agreed. The issue for many is a view that Van Hecke has gone for the same amount despite having only 1 year left on his contract and not being as good as Lacroix. I simply don't know if Lacroix is better than Van Hecke. It seems to me they're very much on a similar level and that's not Guehi level. The length of contract might be a point. However, it may simply be that Spurs were desperate to buy and we needed to sell.

I think Van Hecke is more of a specialist in that he's pretty outstanding on the ball for a centre half, which obviously is very in demand these days.

I think they're comparable as defenders, but VH's technical ability probably makes him a more desirable profile for the top clubs.

 

[Linford]

50m+ is not peanuts. He was good but not Guehi good.

When Elliot Anderson has just gone for 115m, yes it is peanuts.

That's how the market is now. We are trailing behind the times with our valuations.

He is statistically better than every other defender at Chelsea. He played practically every minute of our long season.

51m in this market gets you an average defender. Cucurella has just gone for the same fee, so has Van Hecker. Lacroix is well above both of them, and had 3 years left on his contract.

 

[Stirlingsays]

When Elliot Anderson has just gone for 115m, yes it is peanuts.

That's how the market is now. We are trailing behind the times with our valuations.

He is statistically better than every other defender at Chelsea. He played practically every minute of our long season.

51m in this market gets you an average defender. Cucurella has just gone for the same fee, so has Van der Ven. Lacroix is well above both of them, and had 3 years left on his contract.

Yep, I can't help thinking that we have been robbed and shafted.....A lot of money left on the table there.

Three years left on that contract.....A strong argument that unless the money coming in was amazing that we should have waited another year.

Probably finances are an issue with a manager who is demanding we get players.

 

[syd snot]

Bye then.

 

[Nicholas91]

Agree re Tomiyasu, assuming we're confident he is over his injury woes.

I don't feel too gutted about Lacroix, which even I am finding hard to explain!

He's clearly an excellent pro, leader in the dressing room and a very good defender. But I don't think he's a Guehi or an Eze - unlike with them, I think there's a reasonable chance we can sign a replacement of similar quality.

I'm inclined similarly.

He's been fantastic for us, a really good defender and part of our success. He also looked to be a great character as part of the squad.

On the former, I agree, I think we can get someone of similar quality in.
On the latter, he wants to go, and he's gone to bleeding Chelsea. Says something in itself.

 

[radicalsteve]

It's groundhog day again! - sell a key asset, don't have a replacement in the bag, scramble to find someone who comes in without prem experience, look desperate, so we overpay or get a free that no-one else wants and then it becomes a complete crap shoot. JD Canvot ended up on the right side of that "formula", but equally, he still is not the finished product yet. I despair at our transfer business and we have made some very poor acquisitions recently...... not looking good at this stage

 

[samprior]

Sad to see him go, a huge part of our success over the last couple of seasons. He quickly built a very strong chemistry with the squad and fans. Hopefully he goes on to have a decent career... Just wish it wasn't at Chelsea and I still think we should have got at least 60m for him.

Thanks for the memories Max.

... Now I hope we've got some good replacements lined up who need to be good footballers and also strong leaders!

 

[Willo]

It's groundhog day again! - sell a key asset, don't have a replacement in the bag, scramble to find someone who comes in without prem experience, look desperate, so we overpay or get a free that no-one else wants and then it becomes a complete crap shoot. JD Canvot ended up on the right side of that "formula", but equally, he still is not the finished product yet. I despair at our transfer business and we have made some very poor acquisitions recently...... not looking good at this stage

A view expressed by some supporters with whom I have been in conversation with recently.

 

[CPFCSaturn]

When Elliot Anderson has just gone for 115m, yes it is peanuts.

That's how the market is now. We are trailing behind the times with our valuations.

He is statistically better than every other defender at Chelsea. He played practically every minute of our long season.

51m in this market gets you an average defender. Cucurella has just gone for the same fee, so has Van Hecker. Lacroix is well above both of them, and had 3 years left on his contract.

Cucurella is one of the best left backs in the world and has been for some time.

Lacroix isn’t in that bracket, IMO.

 

[Linford]

It's groundhog day again! - sell a key asset, don't have a replacement in the bag, scramble to find someone who comes in without prem experience, look desperate, so we overpay or get a free that no-one else wants and then it becomes a complete crap shoot. JD Canvot ended up on the right side of that "formula", but equally, he still is not the finished product yet. I despair at our transfer business and we have made some very poor acquisitions recently...... not looking good at this stage

Yep, plus we don't know yet whether Pierre has the same ability to evolve those raw projects like Oli did.

 

[Linford]

Cucurella is one of the best left backs in the world and has been for some time.

Lacroix isn’t in that bracket, IMO.

Cucurella is dross