Barnfred 55
Player Valuation: £80m
The thing is, I have no problem with Koeman being honest and saying what he thinks up to a point. The facts are, Rom is a very high quality goal scorer, he is attracting interest from more successful clubs and, for whatever reason, he hasn't committed to a new contract with us that only has 2 years left at the end of the season. Most of us realise that it is going to take a monumental effort to keep him beyond this season.I guess these quotes are all from the same press conference/interview?
It seems the very biggest names have been/are in for Lukaku, which means regardless of what Koeman says in the media, he's gone as long as they offer the right amount, but I'd still prefer him not to be quite so 'honest' about things like this in the media.
Let's hope his honesty and pragmatism delivers the results on the pitch required to have a hope of keeping Lukaku.
I'm happy for Koeman to acknowledge these facts, but what he should then be saying (even if it isn't what he truly believes) is that the club will do everything we possibly can to hold on to him longer, qualify for Champions league football and build a team around him. Not, he will go to a bigger club where he deserves to be, and that he should go with the fans blessing on the basis he has given us 4 years service during his development years.
The problem is, this is very much a European club mentality where this type of attitude is not just acceptable but absolutely the norm at all but the very top clubs. It was also acceptable at Southampton to a lesser degree.
What Koeman is mainly guilty of here is not understanding the club or it's fans. I'm sure there will be some form of backlash from this which hopefully he will learn from. Similar to Moshiri and his texting.