The talk of us selling Dean Ashton has been picking up pace recently. Oh the irony.
I’ve been battling with whether or not we should sell him and I’m sure many of you are still unsure. On one hand we have a top class goalscorer and it would seem silly to sell him considering that’s exactly what we are missing at the minute (the Sp*rs game made that all the more evident). On the other hand, he has never played a full season for us and is a liability on the injury front.
Stoke’s manager Tony Pulis has been reported of saying that Ashton’s injury record will not put him of signing him for £5m, the same article from the Daily Mail is saying that he is definitely leaving pending us finding a replacement. Make of that what you will. But it does beg the question, “why would Pulis be happy to resk forking out £5m, yet we seem happy to let him go”.
Essentially it’s a gamble on both teams parts and I for one do not want to get to the mid point of next season and find that our gamble of letting him go has severly backfired and that he his banging in the goals for Stoke.
Anyways, I figured a half decent way to get a rough idea of what everyone else is feeling is to roll out a poll…please vote below, and I’m also looking forward to reading your comments – Stoke fans, would you actually be happy with the risk of bringing Ashton’s injury record on board?
Even now I don’t know what I would vote.
[poll:4]
IRONS
Sam
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some Ashton facts, firstly i think a fit Ashton is the best striker in the prem, But , whu aint paying his wages,he keeps telling the club he doesnt think he is ready when the club docs think he is.Zola thinks he isnt up to the pace of his style of football, and they will hold out for a lot more than the silly 5 mills etc being quoted, so unless he gets his head together and stops thinking every tackle will break his legs, he will be sold.
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I hope they do hold out for more than £5mill – not enough imho
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We are all missing the point, 70K per week means he no longer fits into the plans fit or unfit. Were skint and a selling club thats why we are after young unpro ven players or loans, such a shame and Duxbery just a politician with his spin interviews, Ashton, Sears, Di Michelle and the loanees gone so who plays up front?????????
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The way I look at it is, a fit Ashton = a proven goalscorer, who could be one of the best in the premiership. Why would you take the risk? I believe there is more to this than meets the eye. Have a feeling he could come back and bite us on the arse!!
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Its very simple – we just don’t have the number or quality of forwards in our squad to let him go.
IF we sign two established forwards (i.e. not kids for the future) such as Gudjonnsen and Toni then that might be different. But until players like that are actually wearing our, colours keeping Ashton is a necessity.
To sell him and still be scrabbling around for replacements at the end of August would put us at risk of relegation and that is not an overstatement. A team without enough goalscorers will always struggle.
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i agree with this, I’d far rather keep ashton on board than simply be forced to ‘make-do’ with whoever is available at the end of the month
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if he wants out sell him, if he wants to play then play him he is under a contract so let sort him out, a two year investment in his rehabilitation should not be ignored.
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That’s also a major factor – two years we have paid his wages and worked him through his treatment…if it is in fact his decision to want to leave, then it’s a joke.
The fact that zola has said he will only sell players who want to leave, kind of makes it clear that deano himself wants out..
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All of us TwinHammers believe that Deano is technically the best of all the big strikers that have played for west Ham since WW2.
That Includes such greats as Vic KEEBLE,Geoff HURST,David CROSS,Clyde BEST,John HARTSON to name the cream of them.
If Dean ASHTON is to score goals and don a Premiership strip again it should be with the HAMMERS and no one else
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A fully fit Ashton is worth £20 mil in todays crazy 0% inflation world. However he’s not fully fit and we don’t know if he ever will be! On the other hand neither is he fully crocked. Stoke have bid accordingly – personally i’d take the money (assuming Ashton could agree terms and pass a medical)and buy a fit and experienced forward. But please Gianfranco, not another one for the future or else Sears could be spending more time in the Championship than planned but this time not on loan !!
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Dean Ashton, when fit, is a very good player but he is no use to us in the treatment room. When will he be match fit? Will he last a season? Will he continue to be in and out all year?
However, when fit HE IS NOT THE BEST STRIKER in the PL by a long way. Nor is he technically the best striker at West Ham since WW2. Both of those comments, although personal opinions that were well intended, are wide of the mark.
Personally I would sell him and £5M for Ashton in his current physical condition is good business. If fully fit I would really love to see him stay but something isn’t quite right about it all. Let someone else have the problem. Sad but thats life…
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I think that we should keep Ashton at least until the January transfer window in case a good striker is not bought in. The moves for Toni and the iceman are not confirmed and the move for Mancini failed even though the word from upton park was the move was in the bag. There is no money and it does not actually inspire confidence that we are capable of signing a top class striker.If Ashton plays half of the games I am sure he is capable of scoring at least 10 goals and that could mean the difference between staying up and going down. The squad is just not big enough to be able to sustain the dizzy heights of last season.
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No l do not think we should sell Ashton.. What is the rush, lets wait until January, give him a good run out and lets see what he can do.. He has never worked properly under Zola, and lets face it he has lifted Cole.. So lets keep him and by the time January comes maybe we will have another striker who WANTS to come to WHU.not one who can not give a straight answer at 33.
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No! we shouldn’t sell Ashton, not for £5 mill. That would be crazy.
We can’t buy a goal at the moment and we are selling the one goal scorer we have, that’s nuts.
We should keep Ashton and still try to bring in two strikers, a proven goal scorer and a young striker.
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I honestly think 5m is a ridiculous offer if there is any truth in it. Dean Ashton is a prover goal scorer and if we sell him for 5m, who the hell are we going to replace him with? We won’t get anyone as good for 5m, plain and simple. He is easily worth double that. We’ve kept him for a whole year injured and now that he’s finally getting fit, why should we let another club reap from the benefits?
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Does anyone know what the situation is regarding insurances for long term injured professional players?
Have we really been paying 100% of his wages (which I don’t think are £70k per week)?
I’d love to see him back to full fitness in a West Ham shirt but I think the time has probably come for both parties to move on . I also think the fact that the only interested clubs are Stoke and Hull tells it’s own story.
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Nuts to let him go. If (and I know its an if) he stays fit he will be with England at the World Cup in the summer.
Quality striker. All this talk of 70k a week is rubbish.
Will score 20 goals a season. If he isn’t fit he won’t pass a medical to move anyway.
Crazy talk for me.
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sell ashdon,we need another striker badly.he has never played well since his first injury.if we don’t we will stuggle big time
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There must be something in it and i still think this whole affair will work out in stoke city’s favour. All this talk of hull is rubbish, hull couldn’t sign an application form at the minute and brown is always poking round other people’s deals. I hope we sign him but if we don’t then i wouldn’t be gutted if you know what i mean! Good luck to the hammers next season.
.-= northy´s last blog ..R.I.P Sir Bobby Robson =-.
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Deano is arguably the most technically skilled of West Hams big central Strikers since WW2.
He is currently injured and has had many obstacles in his way, which have slowed his return.
If he is to return it should be with us.
If he were crocked the word would have got around and premiership clubs would not be interested.
If he leaves it will be a cost cutting project by the club
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[...] voting is still open here, and the comments are particularly [...]
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I am a big fan of Ashton as a player. His record as a top quality goalscorer is excellent, BUT, West Ham cannot afford to keep paying the wages of someone who spends the majority of his time on the physio table. There is no point.
If we patch him up again and he plays 12 games, probably scoring 7 or 8 goals, then gets injured again for a year – he is then worthless.
Zola has never seen him play – that says it all.
As much as I love his goalscoring record, he has to go this Summer – before he fails any medicals and we’re lumbered with another extensive wage bill for him.
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why sell ashton after investing two seasons worth of money, we are desperate for forwards, as previously stated if he goes its a cost cutting exercise
.-= viva johnny moore´s last blog ..Question of the Day Comes to TypePad =-.
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