Kristoffer Ajer

He didn’t compare his value with Eddy. He compares his value to an 18 year old striker from Porto who has played less than 100 minutes of first team football, going for £35m potentially rising to £40m. Do I think Ajer is worth £25m? No, I probably don’t. However, we got £25m for KT and he was injured and had barely played for 6 months and needed further operations. That’s a * steal. Arsenal have robbed us blind in reality. Ajer still needs to buck up his game, no doubt but the potential is there. You’re effectively saying he’s worth 90% less than Harry Maguire. And that’s just simply not the case. He needs to improve but he’s not as bad as some fans make out.

 

It all comes down to ability v potential in terms of guessing the transfer fee

Tierney had proven he was a £25m player on ability and that's with the added premium that comes with being a LB.

I'm not convinced Ajer has proven that he's a £20m player on ability but he has shown the potential to become one.

Tierney was ultra-consistent, rarely got done by his man, was contributing in attack too, doing it at Champions League level eg. v Man City & Anderlecht and also at International level.

By contrast Ajer is nowhere near as consistent, last season he was done on a number of occasions and not always at a high level (Dykes, Katic, Cosgrove, Ogkympe) and he hasn't proven himself in Europe in the same way that Tierney had (not exclusively his fault as the club has failed to qualify for the Champions League) he was poor when Cluj turned us over at Parkhead and really poor away to Rennes in the group stage. Scouts pay more credence to those games than they do our domestic football but things like that won't go unnoticed.

A club like Milan can afford to take a £15m punt on Ajer and hope he irons out the weaknesses in his game to become a truly top CB but unlike virtually all of our big money sales, this is one where I would be confident that we could replace him with a more dependable player for a lesser fee.

 

He is poor, there is no other way to look at it. Since his facial injury he’s went backwards at an alarming rate, how can someone so tall get bullied in the air every week? Someone may take a punt, I hope so. The only thing he does reasonably well just now, and it’s reasonable, it’s not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination is to bring the ball out. What else does he do well?
If we were a team that splashed the cash, 99% on here would be raging if we spent anywhere near £15 million for him. If he played for some Norwegian club and he was offered to us for £5 million this place would go into meltdown with everyone saying “NO”.

 

That’s what I mean when I say we should be able to comfortably replace him, but that doesn’t take away from the fact he was part of a centre back pairing that topped a strong Europa League group last season. I think we should be holding out for £20m personally. I also think his potential far outweighs limit of a £20m price tag. He’s just tuned 22 years old. Defenders don’t come into their prime until they’re in their mid twenties. He could go to Milan, have a good season and he’s already worth 3 times what they paid for him. It’s Van Dijk all over again. I’m not saying they’re close in terms of ability because we always knew VD was on his way to stardom but he still made mistakes, he was part of a team that struggled and failed to make the champions league. Is anyone seriously suggesting that his valued rocketed to over 600% more than we sold him for after less than 2 years at Southampton? This is the point I’m making. Very rarely have we sold a player for bigger money and they’ve failed to make the grade.

 

He’s not poor. He’s got great potential but needs to iron out some of the folds in his game. Well, I mean he’s not the only one who gets bullied in our team? Julien, Biton and Elhammed have all struggled against physical strikers. It’s the reason why we went and got Duffy. The reality is if he goes down to the premier league, he’s not going to be dealing with that a whole lot. Can only think of maybe 4 teams down there who have big strong * up front. Us getting Duffy kinda illustrates that. Brighton fans would keep him but the manager goes a different way. He doesn’t want a straight up CB, he wants someone who can play football. That’s they way these big leagues are going now, route one football is barely played.

 

Defensively I've no doubts we could replace him with a better one..

I'm pretty sure we'd find it hard to get a player in who starts our attacks as well as he does..

I'd rather keep him and get his head straight for 1 last season..

Gets touch tight/pulls jersey's. Rolled. Beaten in the air by anyone but he offers us a lot with his pace going both way's and his ability to drive out with the ball..

See Sheep winner with Edouard in the 2-1 last season. Our first or second at Dingwall for Christie last season. His ability to get up for the sheep winner away when shunted to right back (where he had his 2 best game's last year for me at Pittodrie and Fir Park)..

Also was good when he came on at Tannadice. Took the pressure off us with our second at home to Motherwell with the assist. Watched that brutal Christie miss again from Ferencvaros and he makes it all the way with his run to their box from deep to lay it off to Taylor..

In a league like ours where everyone camp's in...a centre half ball carrier is massive..

He has loads of faults as a defender and that's his bread and butter now but I'd still try and keep him..

 

I think we should always hold out for the maximum we can get for our players but while potential is factored into transfer fees, there's always an inherent risk of it going Pete Tong.

We all said Tierney could be worth multiples of what we sold him for, after 1 decent half season he probably already is. Dembele before him and Van Dijk before him the same.

If we were factoring Edouard's potential into his transfer fee then we'd be looking for much, much more than the £35-40m that people report as our asking price.

Clubs always looked disparagingly at the Scottish game and wanted to see our players perform well at a higher level than domestic football to minimise the risk of paying for potential that then didn't make the grade. Wanyama only became hot property after he starred against arguably the greatest CM pairing of all time in Xavi & Iniesta, Van Dijk for all that he strolled it up here was passed on by managers down South like Rodgers, Warnock (allegedly) who weren't convinced he could step it up. Both of them absolutely strolled Scottish Football.

If scouts are over looking at Ajer regularly then they'll have seen the guy that lost Katic in his own 6 yard box, got done in the air by Cosgrove the week before, got bullied by Dykes at Livingston, that dived in recklessly in Rennes to give away the penalty. When they see that he isn't strolling Scottish Football to the same degree that a Tierney, Van Dijk or Wanyama was then it will likely be reflected in the price.

 

If he's willing to sign an extension to his deal then I'd be happy to see him stay as well. For one it would give us a bit of stability and continuity.

I'm not convinced on our ability to bring a replacement in quickly that's ready to hit the ground running and we're heading into a massive 7 weeks now in the League, Europe, Scottish Cup Semi.

I think he's looked much better in the last few games after Lennon dropped him out for Bitton and sent a message that his place on the team isn't a certainty.

If he's refusing to sign a new deal though and the comments from his agent in February about wanting away this summer are true then I can see us cashing in now rather than letting him go into the last year of his deal. Time will tell I guess..

 

Aye if him and his agent are being dicks then by all means cheerio son..

Aye we need stability back there in a position that's looked really flaky at best since we've returned..

We lack pace with Jullien, Bitton and Duffy there. Only Elhamed has it if he's no on the right. We'd certainly be more exposed that way as well..

He can be a big * though in tackles and the air. Ball watched and doesn't always smell danger..

 

I hope the guy scouting him is the same guy that got us Rafael Sh*te. He would also maybe not have seen him giving a goal away during the international break.
VVD was a standout in our league but in Europe found wanting a few times, hence he went to Southampton, Ajer is neither a stand out in our league or Europe.

 

I didn't compare him or his value to Eddy.

Jullien is probably the better player right now, albeit not by much, but there's a big difference. Jullien is 5 years older. For Ajer, you'd be paying for his potential as much as his current ability.

You seem to have it in your head that Ajer is a bit of a diddy. He's definitely plateaued, or even regressed, over the last 12-18 months, however he's still a good player with tonnes of potential and scope to improve. Just look at the recent posts in here. He was dropped for a couple of games, came back in and was excellent.

He brings something that no other centre half does for us, or has done since Van Dijk. He can drive forward with the ball and break lines. Selling him and replacing him with another Duffy type (i.e. old school defender) would be regression.

 

I don’t want another Duffy, one will do. My point is I don’t think he’s worth the quoted asking price, great if we get it. To your point about him coming back in and playing well, I assume you have omitted the CL qualifier from your memory, well done, I wish I could.

 

That’s what he always was before us. He played there when we signed him, he captained his previous team as a teenager playing there. He’s put on the weight now, he looks like a centre back. But the reason he’s good at taking the ball out of defence for us is he’s grown up a midfielder.

He’d be more than capable of playing a deep midfield role behind two mobile centre mids.

 

Ajer is our best defender by a long way.

 

Ferencvaros? Nah I remember it. He had a very good game. Better than his partners in defence, by a distance. Go back a few pages and you'll see the comments.

 

He was at fault for their 1st goal. Go and watch it again, how slow he is to get into the shape left Brown with 2.

 

Have to agree to differ. He done it when he was a teenager no a hope now, not mobile enough by a long long way.

 

You’ve been watching too much NBA ma man

 

@Big C - Bang on mate, he had a mare for the first goal, caught totally out of position. Christ knows what game old Doofy was watching

 

He’s got plenty enough about him, seen far stiffer defensive mids. Him being able to start attacks with his runs or passing knowing he’s got 2 centre backs behind him would do him the world of good. He’s trying to do both with us.