Not Signing Gyan? Now That Would Be Madness
Twitter isn’t the place to offer detailed arguments in response to seeing articles you disagree with, so I took to the comments section on The Tilehurst End instead. The response was to an article calling the imminent signing of Asamoah Gyan on loan from Shanghai SIPG "the definition of insanity". In my opinion this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Comparing Gyan to Drenthe, Pogrebnyak, Guthrie etc. is flawed. These were all permanent signings - we were chained to their wages. Gyan looks to be signing on a season-long loan, his wages covered by Shanghai, with details about any fee still vague. What looks clear is this isn’t going to break the club as those others nearly did. Those permanent signings were made at vast expense under Anton, who had no money and no idea how to run a football club. They were vanity signings either not needed or not worth their cost. Gyan however is being signed by owners that have already got out their wallets to save the club from going bust, and this year (particular focus on Tiger since he took control) have shown their competency in the transfer window, giving good backing and spending sensibly (Moore, Beerens, Blackett, they didn’t come free). They’ve made clear they won’t spend out of their means, but based on their record this summer have spent well. Comparing the transfer and financial approach of Anton to that of Tiger is ridiculous, we’re talking about completely different regimes.
Vydra is the closest comparison you could make to Gyan, though again when you look at the Vydra signing, it made total sense at the time. A proven goalscorer on a fee that was within our means (the club is still here and still spending, right?), without the risk of a longterm contract so our losses would be limited if it didn’t work out. Gyan is also a proven goalscorer, even more so than Vydra. Gyan has done it on an international level, with 6 World Cup goals to his name, the highest of any African.
Next - circumstances. Vydra was signed when we needed a striker, he ticked all the boxes, we signed him. This summer we find ourselves in the same situation, crying out for someone proven who’ll spearhead the team. Normally, they are very hard to find and very, very expensive. Yet Gyan is neither.
If it turns out Gyan isn't all that, he leaves at the end of the season with no lasting financial burden on the club. If he scores 15-20 goals, he’ll have made a big contribution to a team I think can go a long way with a presence up-front. Concerns about Gyan being a Guthrie-type disaster for moral off the pitch should also be put to rest. Gyan is captain of a national team, his temperament in the dressing room shouldn’t be in doubt then.
The article in question offers many hypothetical situations, the running theme being "big name players have never worked for us before". Here I feel recent years still colour fan’s judgement of the club’s actions. I implore those still afraid Gyan will be another disaster to let go of Anton and the power vacuum we’ve endured since. Base your judgement on what Tiger, Brian Treveden, Jaap Stam and the club have done this summer. Base your judgement on their transfer record and their running of the club since McDermott was sacked. Their work has gone a long way to rebuilding my trust in the club’s methods. They’ve bought well, recruited well and a feel-good factor is back at the club. On Gyan, base your judgement on his Ghanaian captaincy and his goalscoring record. The cost and risk is low compared to the alternative (Derby spending £8.5mil on Vydra, Boro spending £11mil on Rhodes).
DON’T start playing out your wildest concerns that Gyan is a demon who’ll deny academy players their birthright to first team football (which Samuel apparently has?), destroy the dressing room, get a nice flat by the Thames on benefits and bankrupt the club, or you’ll sound like Tim Dellor, or the Sun, or SirDodgerRoyal.
4 bad years and 1 cowboy owner has left a lot of fans cynical at everything the club does. There’s been a lot of talk this summer about getting behind the owners and the team, and trusting their judgement even if there are struggles. Don’t slip into old habits.