Norwich have £55m in parachute payments so can easily outbid Boro on any deal - plus of course being second in the league rather than in the bottom three is also a better selling point.
Also appears Boro are set to lose out on Liverpool defender, Nat Philips, to Celtic too.
Two days to go but it's going to be tough to get better players in and losing McGree would be something of a disaster at this late stage.
Losing out on Cannon may mean Coburn stays - well they are both the same age so maybe we shouldn't imagine one is much different to the other in what they can offer over a season rather than salami-slicing the stats to prove who is the better prospect - Cannon and Coburn both had hot spells over a dozen games but didn't do much outside of that - it's probably what you get at that age.
Report from Northern Echo re loan deals for Sam Greenwood and Lewis O’Brien:
😎
Is Sam Greenwood a Riley McGree replacement? Don't know much about Lewis O'Brien and he's only 5' 8" but was rated as a 'driving force' in midfield for Huddersfield - hopefully he can add more defensive strength to the middle of the park - here's a view of his strengths and weaknesses from a Terrier...
@werdermouth. I hope not as I really rate McGree.
It was interesting watching the highlights of the Bolton game when he scored, he celebrated vigorously with the Boro fans and not sure if there was any significance in that; hope he was just enjoying himself.
The parachute payment system is not fit for purpose and totally distorts the market, particularly for those teams who have been in a league for a sustained period.
The sooner the system is dispensed with the better but that means the PL having to give a greater share of the broadcasting income to the EPL and that might require government intervention! 😎
Sam Greenwood has Passed His Boro Medical Ahead Of His Season-Long Loan Move from Leeds United (Football Insider)
OFB
Report from Northern Echo re loan deals for Sam Greenwood and Lewis O’Brien:
😎
Is Sam Greenwood a Riley McGree replacement? Don't know much about Lewis O'Brien and he's only 5' 8" but was rated as a 'driving force' in midfield for Huddersfield - hopefully he can add more defensive strength to the middle of the park - here's a view of his strengths and weaknesses from a Terrier...
Comment by Philip of Huddersfield on the Transfer thread:
There have been lots of rumours about new players- mostly untrue. A latest rumour is LEWIS OBRIAN . . I’d love this to be true as he’s just the midfielder Boro need. Formerly Huddersfield Town’s best player by a mile and signed for Forest with the temptation of Premier League football. Hasn’t worked out cos Forest signed about 20 players.
I guess we'll find out in the next few days if there's any substance to the McGree rumours.
As to parachute payments - well it's the wrong way round for me - maybe promoted clubs should simply get a promotion bonus from the PL to help with spending on new players and then they wouldn't get into debt spending their prize money in advance.
We shouldn't forget that even the relegated clubs have already received at least £100m in prize money for the season they've just spent in the PL - the problem is that most have already spent it before they've received.
Maybe, football clubs should just be banned from being in debt and then we wouldn't see all these ridiculous transfer fees and wage having the inflationary knock-on effect. The big clubs are hundreds of millions in debt despite having huge incomes and that cause everyone who wants to play catch up spending more than they have. Financial Fair Play only sets a limit on the debt plus it's spread over three years and full of loopholes to allow 'bogus' sponsorships deals easing the bottom line.
Anyway, nothing will be done about it so that's the way it will stay - yo-yo clubs like Norwich will keep ahead of the pack unless they employ someone like Garry Monk to blow the budget on over-priced non-performing average Championship players that burns all the parachute money away!
Martin Payero is Set to Join Italian Serie A Side Udinese (Gianluca Di Marzio - Sky Sports Italy)
Come on BORO.
@werdermouth. What is the current Parachute Payment system of payments?
I thought it had been reduced to ONE payment only, if you were relegated after only one season?
Payero gone to Udinese on loan
OFB
From what I recall parachute payments are 55% first year, 45% second year and 20% third year - with only the third-year payment being cancelled if a club was relegated after just one season in the PL. That's a percentage of the PL prize money, which around £100m for the club finishing bottom.
Which means there'll be no recoup of his transfer fee as his contract ends this season!
Not expecting that to be one of the games chosen for live broadcast - yet another invisible game to look forward to...
Bradford v Boro
Come on BORO.
I exoect the Bantams will be licking their lips - or should that be beaks?!!!
@werdermouth. Another pot of money down the drain. Probably most of his wages and little to no loan fees.
Not sure we can blame Scott for Payero. But we can for Hoppe.
The local broadcasting company informs that Middlesbrough forward Marcus Forss was left out from the Finland national team at the last minute due to an injury picked up in the English League Cup on Tuesday.
So it looks like Marcus will also miss the QPR match on Saturday. I have no info about the injury itself.
Up the Boro!
Further to your query over parachute payments - I've looked it up this morning and while the bottom club in the PL receives around £100m that figure includes domestic TV appearance money - the percentages involved in parachute payments are therefore based on the equal share of the international TV deal and an equal share of the domestic TV money - which gives a base figure of about £82m.
So, the Premier League divides parachute payments into three separate sums. The initial payment consists of 55% of the fee that Premier League clubs receive from the TV revenue - this currently totals around £46m, is paid to clubs in the initial year after facing relegation to the Championship.
This drops slightly to 45% in the second year at around £37m before a 20% payment is given to clubs that have spent more than one season in the Premier League - which is around £17m. The three payments equate to around £100m over three years.
So Norwich will probably receive about £37m in parachute payments this year after getting £46m last year but won't receive anything next year after only surviving one season in the PL.
It's pretty much the same as Boro received after relegation in 2016-17 and sadly didn't get particularly well spent!
@pedro. Northern Echo are reporting that the deal for Payero is a permanent switch and he will sign a four year contract.
It doesn’t, however, mention a transfer fee but one would hope MFC have managed to claw some of their failed investment back.
I do believe KS was in post when Payero was recruited as I seem to remember NW complaining that he new nothing about the proposed signing and had only heard about it via journalists asking questions! 😎
MFC has for many years been secretive about player transfers and loans. We are often told that Player X has been signed on an "undisclosed fee". Outgoing sales are usually the subject of mere speculation as to the fees received or details of any "sell-on" provisions. I can see there might be some "commercial interest" in avoiding having the Press dissect the monies coming in and out of the club. Maybe the club or its owner imagines some advantages to the club in keeping that information under wraps, in the way that an individual might want to keep details of his/her bank accounts/income/wine merchant's bills private. However I cannot discern a string of events that suggest there HAS been any business advantage to the club in its transfer dealings in recent years - that, for example, we were able to sign good players at bargain prices because the selling clubs were under the impression Boro had no money at all.
Has there been a series of players signed at an "undervalue" because the club has managed to keep details of the money available a State Secret? I suspect not. I would be surprised if other clubs in the Championship didn't have a VERY good idea of Boro's finances. They will mostly be in a similar position as Boro. They know the monies they receive as a share of the various TV deals and they will be aware of the "going rate" for sponsorship deals etc. Clubs in other divisions will also have a very good idea of the monies available to Boro. Obviously the club cannot keep ticket prices a secret because nobody is going to buy a ticket without knowing how much it will cost them, so money coming through the turnstiles is obviously public knowledge.
A club which wanted to carry its support along with it, wouldn't be so secretive as to keep the public in the dark. The supporters might then be more inclined to understand the realities of the financial world in which the club operates. The supporters might then be more sympathetic as to the club's plight when/if it misses out on signing Player A or fails to negotiate a deal to loan Player B.
Does the club management truly believe that keeping information secret helps the club, or is it just the result of a character trait in the Owner?
And while we raise issues like this: What was the thinking involved in signing Payero? How much research had been done about him as a player and as a character before the money was spent? What was expected from the player? Has an evaluation been done compared with those expectations? Is there any investigation or review of the signing and subsequent loan-out and sale? Presumably unless those issues are looked at, we as a club are destined to repeat the exercise in the future. It must be good for the player (I am guessing he wasn't paid the Argentine equivalent of £500 a week but would have been very well paid in comparison to players of his ability in Argentina) but what about the club?
@forever-dormo It is reported on a number of sites detailing MFC wages that Payero, along with Howson, were the top two earners on 25k a week, with Akpom just below on 22.5k a week. So in reality we have got 47.5k a week off our books and I wonder if Howson's new 1 year deal is for less than his original contract.
https://www.capology.com/club/middlesbrough/salaries/
Come on BORO.
@exmil - Interesting figures shown there. Payero's pay was clearly VERY high for a club like Boro to pay, for a player who was little more than a bit-part player. The level you might have to pay for a key player, a special player who will play many games. Payero at £25K a WEEK, is apparently worth more than we pay in total to McGree (£9.4K), Hackney (£6.5K), Fry (£5.5K) and Coulson (£3K). We have to concede that in terms of the club's history, he'll barely get a footnote. Presumably SOMEONE at the club thought it was a sensible deal at the time. How wrong could that person be...?
I have a vague recollection that Payero was recommended by Leo. I assume more research was done but, if it was also Leo that recommended Carlos de Pena, then I can't imagine him being asked for his opinion again any time soon!
In fairness, I think there is a good player in Payero and the fact that he'll have played for Boca Jnrs and now Udinese suggests others in the game think so too. The issue seems to be been one of language, personality and adaptability rather than ability.
Sounds like we've been done to me - around £6m transfer fee and £25k a week for a player that never looked interested - he then got the loan move he wanted back to South America with the option to buy but they weren't prepared to part with any cash. Now sent on loan until his contract has run down - probably what he wanted as he'll be available on free now with bargaining power for better wages - what price he signs for Boca Juniors on a free next year!
A costly gamble signing a relatively unknown 22-year on a significant fee and making him your highest earner and then him not fitting in to life in England or English football and then unable to sell him.
@werdermouth. Comment from NE on Payero :
”Reports in Italy suggest the deal will be a permanent move, with Payero set to sign a four-year contract. He's travelling to Italy today to finalise the switch.” 😎
Sounds too good to be true 🙂 might even mean we get a transfer fee/undisclosed fee/nominal fee/undisclosed free - Payero's agent must be one of the best around to get him a four year contract!
Though how does a player who can't get a kick in a struggling Championship side get to be offered a 4-year deal in Serie A - one of life's conundrums...
@k-p-in-spain. Well hopefully we will get something, even if it writes off the last amortisation on him
Werder. Thanks for looking up the Parachute info.
It does not help at all for all the other Championship clubs.
I have a feeling that there may be a couple of exits tomorrow, not counting Payero, speaking of which, I think at the time those involved possibly saw him as the next Juninho 🤔.
Come on BORO.