Elton John is a life long Watford fan and when they ran into financial trouble in the late seventies or early eighties (can't remember which) he bought the team and actually ascended them multiple times till they reached the top flight and even qualified for Europe. Then having succeeded in cementing the club in good shape he sold it. Total legend and what any of us would dream to do. He is super beloved by the Watford fans.
He is. But even more loved was Graham Taylor the manager. He promoted Lincoln City with a records point score from the Fourth Division now League Two. SEJ wanted Bobby Moore as manager but Don Revie the former Leeds manager who won several titles with that club was spoken to by SEJ. Revie advised SEJ that GT was the best young manager in England at the time. So GT was appointed and five years later the club were runners up to Liverpool in Division One now the PL. Went into Europe and reached an FA Cup final two years after that and were always comfortable in Division One. He then returned and took the club from League One to the PL in 2 seasons. There's a statue of him outside the ground. He was also a great spotter of talent, and a really nice person. A real gentleman who had time for everyone from the cooks and cleaners, right up to the top of the club and even paid the bills for a player who had young kids and was struggling to pay rent. Remember this is the time when most footballers did not earn very much. One player even lived down the road from my dear Dad's house and they used to exchange a chat now and then. That was Steve Sherwood the goalkeeper who walked (can you imagine this now ?) to the stadium on matchdays and who later became a very successful businessman. The youth side were coached by a former player and GT confidante Tom Walley. The club reached 2 FA Youth Cup finals beating Manchester United in one. As for Yaser. He and Kone are the only bright spots in a dismal season. Yaser will be off in the summer. Many clubs have noticed his metrics. £30M would be the asking price I expect or a little lower. Kone he'll be off the summer after.
Lots of Yaser's teammates saying he is their player of the season. https://www.threads.net/@watfordfco...QGzanhT2i5yC6C1MuT_ZJUT4OUIY5VWb2e8yP1WBRLlIg
Need to get him lots of minutes this summer imo. We should try running out something like this in a friendly. Ultimate Fifa tekkers, No true CF have Sini and Diaz switching runs and Arias/James/Yasser all taking turns bombing into the box. Really can do different stuff up top but we need James/Arias/Yasser/Rios on the field together for the culture. Diaz-------------Sini ---------James --Arias----------Yasser ----------Rios -------------------Munoz ----Lucemi-Mina-Cuesta
Just watched his highlights and oh boy what a player this kid is . He created so many chances and fought like a warrior . I’m baffled at the fact that he is not in a top team . Very odd . I try not to hype most of these players we have because I mostly get disappointed but this kid is a beast. His teammates are trashhh!
Plus we need to transition from James as he ages and plays less and less. I don’t see James lasting until 26
Every. Single. Week. Yáser Asprilla just incredible. Takes on and takes down 4 defenders on this magical run. So smart in the final 1/3 and a perfect layoff. Should end in a Watford goal but this young man is magic materializing before your eyes. 🇨🇴 🪄⚽️ pic.twitter.com/cHXDj093T7— Gabriel (@GespinaVelosa) April 20, 2024
His profile is a godsend for us as is Arias. We have really struggled for years because we had 2 types of midfielders, CDM's and 8's who can't really add a ton in possession aren't good at progressive passing or dribbling. Then we have the 10's like James and Quintero who are great at holding the ball and elite progressive passers but not great defensively and limited athletically to make runs out of midfield. This is a really bad combo, because you can press us to death and if you cover the forwards well, none of the midfielders can really break out with the ball and 2/3 don't really want it deep and can't pass all that well out of midfield. With Arias in the mix playing as an 8 essentially that totally changed our game, now we have 2 really good passers but adding a guy who can break out of midfield on the ball makes James and our midfield and defense harder to press and makes us much more difficult to defend against. Now we have 2 in Arias and Yaser that can cause insane chaos progressing the ball and it makes the James and Quintero's value shoot up too.
It is funny cause for us his shooting has been good in the three matches he has played in at the Senior level and for most of the Sub 20 World Cup. At Watford it has been very erratic.
Colombians being colombian We need a generation of elite finishers. Someone who will shoot at will and always put it on target
Your 2023/24 Young Player of the Season, Yáser Asprilla! 🇨🇴 pic.twitter.com/a1eoqKZ4Bm— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) April 27, 2024
En Inglaterra se habla que la Atalanta de Bergamo es uno de los clubes interesados en Yaser Asprilla, les gustaría esta opcion para el Colombiano? https://t.co/vqNvmy3BtD— Colombia Scouts 🇨🇴 🏟⚽️ (@JvenesPromesas3) April 30, 2024 Come on! Too good to be true. Imagine!
As I said in the Transfer thread, Italy please. Honestly though... ...I was not thinking about Atalanta, but after careful thought and consideration it could be a great fit. I like Gasperini's offense. And he probably won't just stick Yaser out wide like Watford does. They can play him in the Papu Gomez role from a couple years back Could be really fun to watch really.
selfishly I would want him in EPL just because it's an easier league to follow on TV/Stream options. But this kid has such a bright future and hope he has some great advisors/mentors to help him with his choices.
Italy won't be able to afford him and the fact he's in the championship will increase his odds of a EPL team going in for him probably. Brighton would be perfect for him and I know they were linked previously, might be too expensive now though.
he needs to start playing so Italy in a smaller team as a starter for a season would be awesome. I want him to go to Parma a small epl team where he starts is better than Brighton where Fati isn’t even a clear starter when he was the “new Messi” a few seasons ago At his age he needs play time to develop his pay day can come after the WC
If Fati was actually the new Messi he would'nt have been sent to Brighton. Brighton has been amazing at developing young South Americans, mid table Italian teams do not have the money to land Yaser, mid table EPL sides or top table sides in other leagues are the only financially viable options, Watford won't sell cheap.