His contract is up, we should never have extended it, and surely we aren't going too, the only thought was to get some return on him, if WBA buy him for 5m and we save another 3m on wages it has to be Done.

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

Indeed, but on the list of players on the 1-10 list of who fans want, there's no sign of Tekkers BUT Tomkins' name does appear.

Maybe he knows something we don't know...

Or we might know it too, and Roy doesn't.

Assuming the Batshuayi option is NOT taken up and Wickham is finally shown the door and the way to the nearest rest home, will the club be happy with just Mateta, Ayew and Zaha (who's not really a striker despite his goal tally this season)? If Benteke stays in this window and scores a few more goals in the second half of the season, he may well get another 1 year extension (and if so, hopefully at significantly lower wages).

According to the Sun he can leave but only after the window shuts so understandably not falling over ourselves to help West Brom or Allardyce.

I find the idea that we'd let Tomkins go there at this stage almost funny.

The point surely is not for us to list Bentekes painfully obvious faults, or even to debate that he has been a colossal waste of money. The point, as with all the players at the end of their contracts, is do we have a better player coming in to replace him, or at least a player as good but younger and/or cheaper?

If the answer is no then as galling as it is, we have to try and keep what we have. Mateta will of course be crucial in this regard, but even if the new boy does well we still need cover in the squad.

Mitchell aside, there isn't a single one of the dozen or so out of contract players that I'd be upset to lose. At the same time, we clearly can't lose them all at once. No matter what we save in wages it won't be enough to cover transfer fees and wages for even seven or eight new players. Like it or not we will have to keep at least half the out of contract players. In that respect Benteke staying on reduced wages might make sense. He's got at least three years left in him, and might be a better back up than Ayew.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (24 Jan 2021 11.22am)