I’ve always viewed writing one of these opinion columns as akin to throwing a large, big, red hunk of meat into the lions’ cage that is the message-boards and ‘social media’ – and then watching the rest of you devour it.
Invariably, me with it.
So with that in mind, here’s one for a Sunday night: how much is Grant Holt worth?
For some, I guess, even to throw that notion up into the air is to think the unthinkable; how could the Canaries possibly part with their three-time Player of the Season? After all they have already rejected his shock transfer request – surely there the matter ends?
Alas, tis the nature of the football beast that events of Friday afternoon are – in all likelihood – only the opening exchanges of a potentially long, hot summer on the transfer merry-go-round. One that could be equally extended to the managerial merry-go-round given the vacancies that still exist at Anfield and Villa Park.
Particularly now that it appears that Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has returned to Molde to face the indignant wrath of his multi-millionaire owner and boss; it now appears he is prepared to see out the final two years of his own deal with the newly-crowned Norwegian champions.
We digress; the question was how much is Grant Holt worth?
It is, of course, not an idle question.
Certainly not if you read the Sunday Sun newspaper in the North-East of England this weekend who had Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland eyeing up a move for the Canary skipper with a price tag of ‘between £5-£6 million’ suddenly slapped on the 31-year-old’s head.
“…after impressing in his first season in the top flight, Holt is believed to have attracted the attention of several big-name clubs,” the paper claimed.
“And Black Cats boss Martin O’Neill is weighing up a swoop for the hitman, believed to be priced in the £5-6m bracket.”
And there’s the number – there in black and white. What someone figures a 31-year-old Premier League striker with two years still to run on his current Carrow Road contract is worth. Given, of course, he’s just bagged 15 league goals on his debut season and proved something of a right handful to all concerned.
The Sunderland connection is interesting. Not least in the fact that Martin is a big fan of the old-fashioned centre-forward type.
Or rather centre-forwards with the kind of old-fashioned heart that Holt brings to the party. He is not, in short, the same kind of character as Nicklas Bendtner whose season-long loan from Arsenal yielded just the eight goals.
And a clutch of unsavoury headlines – cleared of criminal damage to a set of parked cars in Newcastle on a night out with Lee Cattermole, the 24-year-old Dane was clocked at 103mph in his Porsche in February and banned for 56 days. Licence restored, he was stopped by police again for ‘erratic driving’ on the day of Sunderland’s final game of the season against Manchester United.
O’Neill had dropped him from both the starting XI and the bench that day; quizzed afterwards, the Black Cats boss was typically short: “Nicklas Bendtner? I chose not to pick him.”
Point being that there appears little immediate appetite on O’Neill’s part to have the on-loan Gunner back full-time next season. And Sunderland have previous in this neck of the woods – they paid Ipswich £8.1 million for the teenage Connor Wickham last summer.
Town’s former boy wonder has started just five Premier League games this season and scored once.
Given the records of both Bendtner and Wickham, you can see exactly why O’Neill might be keen on Holt – as opposed to the Steve Bruce policy of asking a boy to do a man’s job.
Many, I know, shy away from talking such numbers; doing the math, to coin a phrase.
‘You’re just talking it up…’
For me, I think it is important to start seeing this world through the eyes of Carrow Road chairman and chief executive, both of whom have got where they are today by ‘doing the math’ on a regular and successful basis – the fact that both were good with numbers probably helped saved the club when the banks came a-calling in the depths of League One.
They will see a profit margin on Holt’s arrival and – potential – departure. A very healthy one given he arrived for a ‘mere’ £400,000 just three short seasons ago. Sees out the remaining two years of his contract and he walks for now’t.
That’s the other little reality that will niggle away; do they cash in now?
And it won’t be their decision alone, clearly. Paul Lambert will also be running the numbers; working out if X’s exit will enable Y’s arrival.
And nor is Holt himself a disinterested party in all this. He has a golden opportunity this summer to look after his family for once and for all; one, big contract and he’ll never have to change a tyre again in his life.
So, we shall see. But think about that question tonight: if push does come to shove, how much is Grant Holt actually worth?
£5m – as long as it all goes on a replacement.
Lucky to get £4m imo, still a good profit and as long as Lambert will be able to use it. That’ll be just as important as the actual fee . If the club chooses to sit on it, it could cause friction.
As much as the guy has done for us in the past three seasons and I’d love him to stay, I think if that offer of ‘between £5-£6 million’ actually came in we’d have little choice but to accept it. It’s a good couple of million more than the figure I was thinking we’d let him go for!
To us he’s worth £10m+! A replacement with the same abilities & work ethic would cost an absurd amount of money. More than we could afford I dare say!
The more pertinent question I would have asked isn’t what he’s worth, but how much would it cost NCFC to replace a player of that stature. Certainly not £5m.
“Could Martin be about to throw a big, Black Cat among the Holt pigeons?”
…No.
You mean nor is Holt an “uninterested” party, not a “disinterested” one. Disinterested means impartial, which he certainly isn’t.
Also, “to coin a phrase” means to come up with something new, rather than trot out an old cliche. Just saying 🙂
Other than that, good article. I think you’re right that this is just the start of a summer of arm wrestling for a decent fee for Holt. My guess is £5M.