I kept half an eye on James Tarkowski this afternoon . Remember him?
He was the defender Burnley rated at £50 million whom Moyes was apparently chasing in the summer.
Eventually we pulled out when they rejected £30 million plus extras.
Much later Burnley boss Sean Dyche admitted to talkSPORT there was never any plan to sell the former Oldham and Brentford player.
And that was despite the bloke himself claiming he wouldn’t be staying at Turf Moor when his contract ran out because he wanted to play Champions League football and get his England career underway again.
His club and the player himself really did seem to believe he was quite something and Moyes went off and signed Craig Dawson on loan instead.
The chorus of disapproval from those with agendas against both Moyes and the board was exactly what one would have expected.
I opened up by saying that I had kept half an eye on the Burnley central defender today which in fact was all I needed to realise he ain’t all that. Not a clue how to handle Mikey.
If he’s worth £50 million how much does that make Daws worth – probably about £3 million at the end of the season.
Quite how Burnley failed to accept £30 million plus is beyond me but it’s a £3o million bullet I’m delighted we swerved.
I was not impressed with the signing of Dawson, I just thought his best days were over but I have been proved totally wrong so far. I never fancied Tarlowski and I totally agree with the article he probably would have developed better under Moyes. Dawson has been so good we do not need to sign another CB.
Tarkowski’s a good player but over-valued. And I prefer Dawson. He’s got that James Collins feel about him …
He made a Collins like block today and I was thinking just the same thing ..
I never wanted Tarkawski. He’s hardly Rio. He’s what I call a stopper. Which isn’t a bad thing as a defender. He was David Moyes first choice target, who valued him at 30m. I do think he’s a Moyes kind of player and seems a good character. Who knows how he would have fitted in at WHUFC. The frustration was that we spent all summer chasing him when he had said he had no interest in joining.
In fairness if you read Watford fans comments concerning Dawson you didn’t need a vendetta against Moyes or the board to think he was a poor signing. You can have an opinion without having an agenda. The bloke has done well since coming in……. long may it continue. I think the fans were justified when we were told a center back was our main priority and lnked with a list of 20m plus options.
I totally agree, I still don’t think Tarkawski is worth 30m. I also think there are a lot of over valued players out there. Trying to get value is a skill and in fairness I think we have improved under Moyes.
I’ll continue to judge the board and DM on how they plan, perform and conduct themselves as ambassadors of my club.
We swerved a stupid buy .? . Yes definitely . But if you watch too much youtube you can be brainwashed .
What is YouTube?
Not sure how we could have justified £30 million on a central defender when that amount does not appear to be available now even though we have sold Haller. If we buy Dawson and get Diop back up to speed we have enough cover at CB now. We need a forward and cover for Rice or Souchek in centre midfield, as and when funds allow and Moyes has identified his preferences.
If Dawson had played the last 4 games in disguise under a Czech name, all the keyboard warriors would be raving about him and saying what a fantastic piece of business Moyes had pulled off yet again 😉
Dawson has been a fantastic bit of business whatever his nationality. Moyes must already have saved us a small fortune in the transfer market with the players he’s bought in. When you think they must have all gone up massively in value by now as well, especially the Czech boys, it probably covers the loss from the sale of Pellegrinis failures.
Tarkowski is a solid defender but he benefits from an established and longstanding partnership with Ben Mee. Dawson for me works great with Ogbonna because their skill sets compliment each other. Dawson is a no nonsense defender. I can see why people are comparing him with Ginge Collins. What a bargain signing though. Every one of our last four signings under Moyes have been absolute bargains, a lot of player for the money.
What good timing to pen this observation! Like many, I thought Dawson was a filler in case, and was worried that relegation had scarred him mentally. Delighted to be pleasantly surprised by his team player approach, positioning skill and understanding with Oggy. To be fair, take a bow for all of your signings DM. Four clean sheets in a row? BFS would be purring.
I do not want BFS purring at 8pm on Tues. The thought of him purring makes me feel more than a little queasy at the best of times …
Think about it often then do you?
No – that was the first and hopefully last time ….
Tarkowski is decent, no defender seems to be able to handle Antonio, Mee looks twice as good as Tarkowski. Like many I struggled to see how he was worth the money being mooted and believe Diop is better, as for Dawson he is on a good run, aerially looks very good, with the ball at his feet not so much, slow and ponderous with quite a few misplaced passes. I hope I am wrong but suspect that slowness will be found out and cost us a goal or two by the end of the season.
Is he 50m tho , or even 30, which was the point. Heading into van Dijk territory