Reyna out for the rest of the season

Reyna: "It was so wonderful. I was in the Premiership, playing all the time. When I woke up though, we were back in Divsion 1 and Kevin Phillips, Tomas Sorensen, and everyone else who was good was gone..."

 

Does he have a clause in his contract that lets him out if they are relegated, which looks almost certain?

If he does not, my guess is that Sunderland would not be looking to sell him if they drop (even though he is one of their top earners) b/c they have such a large stadium that is always full so that they would not struggle financially as much as other teams that drop.

Anyone with more knowledge/experience have any thoughts?

 

How much money does a team lose from going from the prem to nationwide? I think its a lot no? Anyhow, it will be interesting to see if they keep claudio or not and if they keep their manager.

 

The big difference is on TV money, but I have no idea what the difference is since the TV contract meltdown. I belive that the relegated clubs get some sort of lump sum payment upon relegation. Something like 4 million

 

You do get a payment that's supposed to help with the transition to the 1st division, but after looking through some webpages I can't find the amount or how much the 1st Division TV contract pays. You can be assured it is much, much less. Hopefully West Ham can get the hell away from the drop zone.

 

On one of the games from the EPL last week the announcer was saying that a drop is estimated to cost the team 15-20 million pounds.

 

Claudio Reyna will not play in the English First Division - clause or not. It just won't happen. And even if there is no relegation escape clause, good lawyers and agents will find a way to get him over to Southampton or Aston Villa or somewhere. If he comes back properly from his injury though next year, he will be playing EPL football.

 

One also would expect that Sunderland will not want to stay in the 1st div. They are going to want to immediately return to the EPL, and they cannot fight to return without good players.

My point..If Claudio does not have EPL clause, do not be suprised to see him playing at the Stadium of Blight next season.

question is, who are the top earners on SUnderland and how mauch do they make?

 

Claudio is almost certainly one of the top earners as he was almost a record signing for Sunderland. I would guess he is in 20,000 to 25,000 pounds a week range.

It tough to say whether Reyna would be sold or not. While his quality is unquestioned, not playing at all this season would seem to suggest that very few teams are going to shell out the $6.5m Sunderland paid for him or anything close to that.

My guess is that if there is no EPL clause, its likely he'll be back with the Black Cats, and depending on how things turn out, he may be transfered come the Jan window.

Sunderland are in pretty good shape. I don't think their debt load it to big and they have a large stadium which generally sells out. Whether it will playing Div 1 teams is another question.

 

100$ bucks says Reyna never plays a match in Div 1. Any takers?

 

I think their dept is around 20million pounds, I have no idea if that's big or not for an EPL team. It was big enough that they couldn't spend in the January transfer window, anyway. And they aren't selling out the Stadium of Light, but still drawing in the mid 30's to low 40's.

 

I agree that given the injury, it's not likely anyone would pay the 6.5m price tag for him.

Perhaps what you'll see is a loan deal to a Premiership side with some clauses such that if Sunderland makes it back up to EPL, he comes back to Sunderland -- if not, then they figure out a transfer fee and make the loan permanent.

 

I'm concerned about Claudio and his English career.

While I feel he is vastly talented and could be a solid central midfielder in the Premier League, sadly no EPL team has asked me to be thier director of player personel.

Claudio hasn't been completely healthy in a long time.
While he was with Sunderland the team never performed well. (Matter of fact, they went down in the table last year after his signing if I remember right). No I'm not saying it's Claudio's fault. What I'm saying is that Sunderland aren't a very good team by Premier league standards (obviously) and his inclusion didn't start them on the path to bigger and better things.

As for other English Premier teams picking him up... seriously what has he accomplished in England?
I don't think it's cut and dry he'll be picked up quickly, especially since if sold, Sunderland will want good $$ for him and that might be hard to find. Going back one team for Claudio he was used as a right sided mid or defender... is that where other english teams might consider his talents?

A loan to an English Premier team? I can't imagine that happening. Maybe to a foreign team but not an English one.

I wish the best for Claudio and hope he can finally shake the injury bug which has hounded him since his first World Cup.

 

IMO, this is the most likely scenario. I am not sure that too many EPL teams would be willing to pay much, if anything, for a 29-30 y.o. player who is recovering from a major injury without first gaining some idea (through competitive matches) whether he can still play.

 

IMO, this is the most likely scenario. I am not sure that too many EPL teams would be willing to pay much, if anything, for a 29-30 y.o. player who is recovering from a major injury without first gaining some idea (through competitive matches) whether he can still play.

 

Just to nip this in the bud, he really didn't play a lot of RB for Rangers and tho he can do it in a pinch it is certainly not his best spot nor the best use of his talent. At Rangers he mostly played on the right side of a midfield tandem (with Bazza, von Bronkhorst or Albertz on the left, most of the time) concentrating on either D-mid or A-mid duties depending on the game, the opposition, his co-middie, etc.

But Reyna is not very good in the air, not all that fast and his strengths are "holding," disrupting (something he is under credited for) and finding the seams with through balls. He has a decent corner as well.

If he recovers from the injury he is certainly a hard enough worker to get back in shape. Whether he can/will return to the EPL has to do with many, many other issues as well as his form. West Ham had been looking at him, as had a few other sides when he was at Gers, but he was never the "golden boy" like a van Bronckhorst, van der Vaart or Bazza, with teams tripping over themselves to sign him.

I only hope that whoever takes him puts him in the right spot - not an out and out A-mid/withdrawn - but rather an offensive looking CDM with two strong CDs behind him, or in tadem with a two way middie. Reyna will flounder on any route 1 team, it's not his game and he will never play it very well.

 

Considering that the 6.5 million that they paid for Claudio was pre economic recession, I don't see them letting go of him even if they drop to Division 1(which looks like a foregone conclusion).

 

Sorensen and Phillips would certainly go, maybe a Kilbane and couple others....this thread has got it pegged....Reyna not likely to move, a half-season in D1 seems the best bet so he can prove his fitness and Sunderland can gauge whether a quick return to the top flight is in the cards...

 

Gotta remember that he's coming off injury (as has been mentioned), but also that he's fragile -- quite prone to injuries. That, in combination with his age, probably doesn't make him too attractive to other clubs. That being said, he does have talent and is a big earner. He could be taken by a bigger club with depth to cover for him during the next season-ending injury he endures...

 

Funny thing was, when folks were wondering if the Ranger's phisios were witchdoctors injurying their own players, Reyna was relatively healthy - I think he was in the top ten for number of apperances his last full year. He and JOB do seem to be the kings of niggling injuries, but I think this ACL was his first "big one" in quite a while, no?

 

It tough, but I don't think anybody is going to making any kind of profit on the purchaces these days. You certianly aren't going to making any kind profit on players bought for top dollar prior to this summer.

If their debt is only around 20 million, they have a shot. They would be far better off than other struggling clubs like West Ham are admitting to something in the region of 45 million.

 

Sunderland were actually doing well ( for them ) until his injury. If you go through there forums many there actually say the begining of the end was when he got injured and question the new management of overtraining as many other players have had problems too. Also Sunderland never found a replacement for him in the middle. Hell he even made many of their all-time best lists in his short time there. In their first four matches he was MOM for three of them and one was against Manure. If his injury is recoverable he will be back cause dood works his ass off, like mcbride. And he really doesn't get injured more than any other of our side. Look at Mathis and Wolfe the newest members of the Mcfragile club.

 

If the price drops to 1.5 million pounds, any chance MLS could give him a call? Seems like Captain America might be able to draw a few people, not to mention that he's a damn fine player. Maybe if they get him before he even plays in D1 and proves his fitness he could be gotten for a lower price.

 

Re: Debt

Mountains of debt doesn't seem to be that uncommon for Prem (or European for that matter) sides. Teams like Newcastle and Leeds seem to be in huge amounts of debt (I know Newcastle were in something like £90m debt a couple of seasons ago, and that hasn't stopped them spending large amounts). Hopefully Sunderland will be able to cope with £20m debt, and I would like to see Claudio in a Sunderland shirt again, even if it is in the 1st division.