Townsend is broken. Rondon can't even get a start when we have literally zero other strikers on our books. Gray has been crap for the most part, but there's a chance we could recoup our cash on him at some point so that MAY turn out to be a value deal in the loosest possible sense.
No goals. Might as well be carved into Rondon's headstone.
I agree with you on comparing Januzaj to these but if fair is fair I think Townsend was actually a decent signing for us and would still be good for the squad if he didn't get that injury, I also think Rondon would be seen as a lot better of a signing if he wasn't relied on so heavily last season, he's a perfectly good last 15 minutes option from the bench but should never really be starting, especially multiple games in a row. Gray also showed that he can be decent but if there was an option to get rid and replace him I'd be taking it.
Townsend is the best on that list by a mile, I agree. From a value perspective, though, we were never going to be able to sell him for a profit worthy of "good value" status so we were relying on his on-field contributions justifying our wage outlay. As it turns out he did ok for a bit and then got knackered. History will view it as a bad transfer when he leaves, however much bad luck was a factor.
Well no not really in my opinion. Most of the players we've been after would probably all be happy to stay at their current clubs or might have other options. We picked up Tarkowski for free when there were at least 2 or 3 other clubs after him and that was all before pre season even started, for example. Most players that we're after will either be sold to a different club or stay where they are and play, like Maupay who we're after, he could stay at Brighton or go to Fulham if he doesn't go to us.
That's probably true, although all in all I don't think it'll be seen as a bad transfer. Low wages, decent return for a few months and got incredibly unlucky with a bad injury. In Moshiri's era here I'd say there's probably a good 15 or 20 transfers that are comfortably worse, I'm pulling that number out of my arse and honestly don't want to check because I fear it might actually be more and that'd get me on the bottle a 2pm on a Wednesday.
No, the truth isn't in the middle. If you sell good players and replace them with worse players you get worse as a team. It's not rocket science. The job of a DoF is to identify players that can improve us. Yes, there is risk, yes, some players won't work out but it has been clear as day for some years now that we are on a downward trajectory and that the players that you claim "represent value" were poor signings that were always going to make us worse. This isn't hindsight, this forum is jam packed full of people pointing out that Rondon, Townsend and Gray were downgrades. It was obvious from the start.
