Independent Leyton Orient Forum

Rotherham United have lodged a £300,000 bid for Ekpiteta. Allegedly.

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2019/07/31/r ... -ekpiteta/

Bergen wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 10:23 pm Rotherham United have lodged a £300,000 bid for Ekpiteta. Allegedly.

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2019/07/31/r ... -ekpiteta/

If true, I'd take it as long as it was £300k guaranteed plus other fees.

As I have said previously on this thread are we building a team or selling off more of the clubs silverware.
The lub have got enough money already from the sale of Bonne and Koroma, its time to spend some on more quality in attack and midfield, not sell off yet more of our players !!!
Where is the clubs ambition?

PoundhillO wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:00 pm As I have said previously on this thread are we building a team or selling off more of the clubs silverware.
The lub have got enough money already from the sale of Bonne and Koroma, its time to spend some on more quality in attack and midfield, not sell off yet more of our players !!!
Where is the clubs ambition?

If we continue to re-invest in youth it will eventually set us upto a point where we can become very self sufficient.

Think Crewe Alexander less Barry Bennel obviously.

Been a long time since we had a successful youth system production line.

The odd 1 would pop up every now & then cbw moses purse for example not many others , but get a fantastic youth set up and who knows where it could take us.

All clubs sell, and no point keeping a player who wants to better himself somewhere else.

Story of O wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:08 pm All clubs sell, and no point keeping a player who wants to better himself somewhere else.

We've already sold our two top goal scorers .While I agree with what you've said can we at least establish ourselves back in the EFL before we sell any more of our top players .

PoundhillO wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:00 pm As I have said previously on this thread are we building a team or selling off more of the clubs silverware.
The lub have got enough money already from the sale of Bonne and Koroma, its time to spend some on more quality in attack and midfield, not sell off yet more of our players !!!
Where is the clubs ambition?

The club haven't sold him so why are you questioning their ambition? You've done this before. You can't whine and cry like a bitch about decisions the club haven't made.

Also £300k guaranteed money is very good and we can sign a perhaps not quite as good replacement but also restock our pipeline. Is that a bad thing?

PoundhillO wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:00 pm As I have said previously on this thread are we building a team or selling off more of the clubs silverware.
The lub have got enough money already from the sale of Bonne and Koroma, its time to spend some on more quality in attack and midfield, not sell off yet more of our players !!!
Where is the clubs ambition?

I completely agree. Our squad is still under strength as it is because we've been fairly inactive in the transfer market this Summer. After selling our two top goal scorers we've only brought in three players . At the moment its arguable that our squad is weaker than it was last season . On top of that we have no experienced permanent Head Coach . IMO, our squad is still understrength so start selling our best defenders and things start to look shaky. I take it we don't want to end up back down in the National League so put a block on anymore selling until we've established ourselves back in the EFL.

Also Ekpiteta is out of contract next summer. Bonkers to turn down £300k if it's guaranteed money. His stock might never be higher. Wish some of our fans could see the bigger picture.

Smendrick Feaselberg wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:45 pm Also Ekpiteta is out of contract next summer. Bonkers to turn down £300k if it's guaranteed money. His stock might never be higher. Wish some of our fans could see the bigger picture.

I understand what you mean but I'd rather swallow the £300k and survive in the league .

RedDwarf 1881 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:47 pm

Smendrick Feaselberg wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:45 pm Also Ekpiteta is out of contract next summer. Bonkers to turn down £300k if it's guaranteed money. His stock might never be higher. Wish some of our fans could see the bigger picture.

I understand what you mean but I'd rather swallow the £300k and survive in the league .

This. If the rest of the squad was looking strong then yeah take the money. However given we've not even replaced those released, let alone strengthened it's a risky strategy to weaken the only area we can rely on if goals are hard to come by.

To go back down to NL after all we've been through to get back to L2 would be unthinkable. To do it because we sold off the squad would be unforgivable.

RedDwarf 1881 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:47 pm

Smendrick Feaselberg wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:45 pm Also Ekpiteta is out of contract next summer. Bonkers to turn down £300k if it's guaranteed money. His stock might never be higher. Wish some of our fans could see the bigger picture.

I understand what you mean but I'd rather swallow the £300k and survive in the league .

Spot on !!

RedDwarf 1881 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:47 pm

Smendrick Feaselberg wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:45 pm Also Ekpiteta is out of contract next summer. Bonkers to turn down £300k if it's guaranteed money. His stock might never be higher. Wish some of our fans could see the bigger picture.

I understand what you mean but I'd rather swallow the £300k and survive in the league .

The big flaw in your argument is it's not a case of keep him or we don't stay in League Two. We can sell him and survive in the league too. £300k and League Two football is better than League Two football and no fee.

PoundhillO wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2019 11:49 am

gshaw wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2019 11:22 am It'll be interesting how this one pans out given his contract is up next summer. If not sold now I'd think definitely in January but fee will be peanuts at that point.

Of course the logical way round it is to offer him a better extended contact with a an extremely high buy out clause or no buy out clause at all .

That won't happen nowadays. The players & agents hold the power now. If he were to sign a new deal (& I hope he does), there will be a minimum fee release clause in it. Not as much as the club would like but guaranteeing the club don't loose him for zilch. Him & Happe are the best young Centre halfs I've seen at the club.

Smendrick Feaselberg wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:45 pm Also Ekpiteta is out of contract next summer. Bonkers to turn down £300k if it's guaranteed money. His stock might never be higher. Wish some of our fans could see the bigger picture.

I think this is a sensible opinion, maybe the club have another Ekpiteta up their sleeves.
Bigger clubs than us have trouble holding onto star players, it's how we'll you replace them though.

Out of contract, volatile personality and we have strong options at centre half. Sell sell sell

I'm not saying £300k is the right sum (we might be able to eek a few more £££ out of a sale) but we already have enough cover in that area - certainly to start the season with. The proceeds can be used to go find another Marv, or even two!

Prestige Worldwide wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:52 am Out of contract, volatile personality and we have strong options at centre half. Sell sell sell

Have you met him?
Spoke to him at the open day & he appeared to be a really nice guy. Well spoken, appreciative & polite. Think you should leave the 'thug' comments alone now. He was cleared after all.

LittleMate wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:53 am I'm not saying £300k is the right sum (we might be able to eek a few more £££ out of a sale) but we already have enough cover in that area - certainly to start the season with. The proceeds can be used to go find another Marv, or even two!

If the club has got any ambition they will turn it down.
I would be looking at 500k minimum plus a sell on.
But there again quite a few on hear are quite happy to be bumming around in this league for the next 10 years, so maybe they will take the money.

I suspect the news is fake, or old. There was interest a while ago that came to nothing, perhaps the agent is trying to smoke out another club, or alternatively get more leverage in contract negotiations and we will have to pay him as a valuable asset. It might have worked for Happe - the Spurs rumours seemed extremely unlikely.

For a player such as Marv I don't think a move makes sense considering he has seen Bonne and Koroma move to the Championship.

Byways1 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 8:16 am

LittleMate wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:53 am I'm not saying £300k is the right sum (we might be able to eek a few more £££ out of a sale) but we already have enough cover in that area - certainly to start the season with. The proceeds can be used to go find another Marv, or even two!

If the club has got any ambition they will turn it down.
I would be looking at 500k minimum plus a sell on.
But there again quite a few on hear are quite happy to be bumming around in this league for the next 10 years, so maybe they will take the money.

You're talking out of your trousers there. I'd sell Ekpiteta for a £300k guaranteed fee plus add ons and I don't want us to be bumming around this league in three to five years time (let alone ten). £500k based on his current ability, where he is on his development curve and his contract status might be possible in cloud cuckoo land but not in reality.

At this stage of the season it may be difficult to get a replacement.

Market values for players are difficult to ascertain, and it is not as if we need the cash, but I would be inclined to look at other similar transactions.

Ethan Pinnock was a similar age to Ekpiteta and a very similar career trajectory (lots of football at low levels, one season in the National League), sold to Barnsley for £500k. After a season in League One, he's just joined Brentford for £3m.

So I don't think £500k is really that unrealistic for Marv, if a club really wants a player.

eagwgw wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 8:43 am At this stage of the season it may be difficult to get a replacement.

Market values for players are difficult to ascertain, and it is not as if we need the cash, but I would be inclined to look at other similar transactions.

Ethan Pinnock was a similar age to Ekpiteta and a very similar career trajectory (lots of football at low levels, one season in the National League), sold to Barnsley for £500k. After a season in League One, he's just joined Brentford for £3m.

So I don't think £500k is really that unrealistic for Marv, if a club really wants a player.

It's not as simple as saying that because another similarly aged player attracted that fee that Ekpiteta should. Development curves and ability differ from player to player. Ekpiteta was a good NL centre half but his weaknesses of poor distribution and decision making on the ball under pressure isn't something that will translate well in league games further up the chain. My feeling is that he caps out at most as a below average or average League One defender (no disgrace) whereas a player sold for £4million clearly didn't have the same ceiling.

Also the chances of two late bloomers of similar ages who did well in the NL for one season (small sample size) going onto much bigger and better things is low when you consider how prospects careers tend to pan out.

Of course, but then again transfer fees are an imperfect market.

I'm talking from the clubs viewpoint. You surely aren't gonna be talking up Ekpiteta's weaknesses when dealing, and the flipside of it is that he has all the physical attributes, he is young enough to make improvements, and with a good season in League One he would be worth quite a lot more. Those factors are encouraging to Rotherham.

On paper I don't think there is much difference between Marv and this other fella at the same stage of the careers, so I'd demand the same cash.
Just saying that £500k is not dreamworld as you say. Unless you've seen this other guy as much as Marv and can say for sure? Potential is not an absolute trait and depends on perception.

O my gawd wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 8:00 am

Prestige Worldwide wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:52 am Out of contract, volatile personality and we have strong options at centre half. Sell sell sell

Have you met him?
Spoke to him at the open day & he appeared to be a really nice guy. Well spoken, appreciative & polite. Think you should leave the 'thug' comments alone now. He was cleared after all.

Wouldnt want to.