Nir Bitton

2 years left on his deal to - must sign an extension this year. Sure he said that was his intention recently.

 

We absolutely need to offer him an extension and a significant wage bump.

 

I actually rate this lad higher than I did Wanyama and I thought he was amazing.

 

I'd fancy us for a last 16 with that line up TBH. Even then, while there'd be better teams than that line up in the last 16 so we'd be underdogs, we certainly wouldn't be cannon fodder. I don't think there's a team in Europe that would be 100% comfortable coming to CP to face that.

 

With a good draw I'd fancy that for quarters. Obviously it'd depend what we'd have on the bench. I've taken that over the last 5 years so 2010. Bench could be:

Forster, Wilson, Mulgrew, Ki, Commons, Samaras, Keane

 

His technical ability is better than Wanyama, no doubt about that. Obviously when it comes to physical attributes, it's a no contest, but I think overall, Bitton has more to his game than Wanyama did.

 

Agreed but I think Wanyama was better. At least when he left us, he was an absolutely monster in Europe.

Bitton wouldn't be capable of the types of performances Wanyama put in against Barca, mostly because he's the same style as them but not as good. Wanyama was bullied them and anyone he came across in Europe and he wasn't too bad on the ball either.

And just for * and giggles, technically, what goal do you thinks better?

[ame]http://youtu.be/GcC43bcDurY[/ame]

Or

[ame]http://youtu.be/E2Wsw8DCIzw[/ame]

 

It brings up the whole question of balance. Obviously that line up is a bit extreme, if we hadn't sold any of those players and spent as we have done we'd be in a fair bit of debt right now. Where is the balance. I think Bitton will be gone next summer unless he's committed enough to sign an extension now or we blow CL qualification. If we reach the Group Stages, he will be noticed.

With that in mind, I've come round to the idea that we need to keep Virgil for one more season. I know we will lose some money from his price tag doing that, but if he performs well in the CL (which he is definitely capable of!) that could offset the fact he'll be going into the final year of his contact and his price might not actually drop by that much.

I know it's risky, but frankly so is selling him. Your hypothetical team underscores just how important creditable CL performances are to our fans. Our model is such that there will be peaks and troughs, we can't expect anymore to have a competitive (in the CL) team every year; but it's been 2 seasons and nearly 3 years since Lenny's last 16 campaign and I think we fans are due a competitive year now. In my opinion this year is a striker away from being a potential peak year ,(i.e. capable of challenging for 2nd in the Group) and if Virgil goes now and Bitton next summer, it'll probably be a few more years before we hit another peak.

The day our fans start to lose interest in CL games because they're sick of watching us finish bottom after having our arses handed to us yet again will be a bad day every bit as much for our business model as for us fans.

 

I'm wary of going down the route of we need to sell players to remain debt free, I think of that's the case, especially in the season we got to the last 16 and recieved £20m between Wanyama, Hooper and Wilson. If that is the case we being financially mismanaged, which I don't think Peter Lawwell would allow.

What we do is sell for a large sum when the player wants to go, that's the case with Van Dijk just now. He is far too important to let go at the moment though, I want us to put football first before the balance sheet. Van Dijk is professional, it won't effect him too much.

There's also the fact that the Champions League money has doubled this season, financially it is so far beyond us it's unreal. £20m, we would need to win the SPFL for ten years to reach that money, one season in the Champions League.

We need to get there every season and it if that's the case it won't be making up the numbers, we'll have the prestige and money of Europe. That will build a far higher calibre team. If we punt our players during that period we need to be clever without, so we're missing one player and not collapsing a squad. Like we did with Wanyama, Hooper and Wilson.

 

Optimistically though, we only need to come 3rd for it to be a very successful group, and that applies every year, purely because it gives us a Europa League shot after Christmas. Just think how massive that Inter game was.

I agree with keeping VVD one more year, and I think he will stay if we get into the UCL. I'd like to see us offer him a new bumper contract if we do, with the agreement (perhaps with a release clause) that he will be sold at the end of this season. That way we can still get cash for him and keep him for this season.

Without trying to use naive cigarette box maths, say we qualify and give him 35k p/w for a 2 year extension with a reasonable release clause. That way, we might sign for the cash in the short term and the near-guarantee he would be sold at the end of this season.

Aside from the release clause, we would be compelled to sell him purely because we wouldn't be able to afford those wages, so in the worst case scenario we could only get £6million (a likely scenario if we sell him next summer under current circumstances) we would take it anyway and have lost very little (assuming he isn't badly injured).

I realise this is the Bitton thread :smiley-laughing002:

 

Don't mean to blow my own trumpet but I've always had faith in him. :icon_mrgreen:

Anyways, he's a superb player and an absolute gem, we've had quite a few of these totally unknown players over the past few years.

 

I agree with this, I like the positivity but Wanyama was something else.

 

Wanyama was brilliant loved the big guy but he was always a first team player
Nir wasn't even in the squad this time last season and now I worry when he's not there guy just strolls through games he is a class act

 

I thought he deserved man of the match last night.No-one mentioned him after the game,but he was a constant thorn in the side of Qarabag.
Breaking up play,bursting forward,the odd shot on goal out of the blue,screaming back to take the ball from under the noses of players,reading play,plain stealing the ball from standing tackles,and always unfussed.
The guy never flaps,and spreads confidence wherever he is.
Sure he tried a few wild shots,and a few passes that didn't work out.The pitch might have had a part to play in that.

I never used to like the guy,but now I think he's smashin.
He's always running 'bout the place,tackling and passin'.
With his odd style and dead pan face,I didn't think he'd fit in.
But now he's always on the case,he's our big Nirlo Bitton!


FDD.

 

'Nirlo' boke

 

Looked good last night.

Quite enjoy watching him take pot-shots from far out. He has a cracking dig on him.

 

Bitton and we're all Zionists now...

To this tune:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPTk5poAa1c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPTk5poAa1c[/ame]

 

Agreed, he is coming along well. I still remember all the hype about kayal and that went pretty flat

 

Cause of that elbowing * McCulloch