Benny Osborn

[Alf]

Whilst I get that Benny's deal was good for him & the club from a strictly financial POV, I think Modesto's dropped a bit of a clanger here.

Not only do I reckon Carva & Lolley benefitted more from having a busy bloke like Benny in the side, but I also think he's a far better week-in week-out wide option than Ameobi, and that his work rate would be something Lamouchi would love. However on the flipside, I also think we'd have to be careful not to have too many lightweights play in the same team, so whilst I see Benny as a miss, I think it's a minor miss.

What I do think though, is that selling him for 3m, and trading that for Jenks at 2m + Muric's wages has left us weaker as a squad, with no financial benefit gained from it either. Yes we needed another RB, but we could have also just not loaned out Richardson, and either kept Benny or put a 3m + Yacob + Pants bid in for Grosicki.

Surely it wasn't Modesto's decision to sell Benny? His job is to recruit players not to sell them under the managers nose. Surely Lamouchi had the final say.

I didn't think Mouch has much say in it at all tbh. He's already stated that he wanted another striker here, yet Walker went out on loan & he didn't get one, and regards Benny he also said[i] "Of course I would like to see him stay. [color=#141414][size=small]He likes the club and I like what I saw tonight. In three weeks here, I have only seen positives with him.

Personally mate, between whispers of Warburton's target's "not being ambitious enough" (hello McGinn & James), AK's bizarre Dec wranglings, MON not getting to spend 1 single bean despite a statement to the contrary before his arrival, and the dealings since Mouch arrives here & quotes as above, I think we're very much run by fantasy football manager types who like to meddle massively and are our main Achilles heel. They're not awful, they just need to improve for the club to step up to the next level.