the 'paying over the odds' thing is a bit meaningless for us in this case, anyway

They may have been pleased and surprised to get whatever they got, because he had so little left on his contract - so they were braced for him leaving for nothing in the summer. Fine, good for them.

But the same doesn't apply to us. He's exactly the same player to us as if he'd still had three years on his contact at Leeds. Even if we paid ?2m for him (which I doubt) - ?2m for a 23-year old midfielder who's already captained a championship club? I'll take that, acknowledging that all transfers are gambles, of course.

(Of course, the only way it could matter for us is if we think *we* could have got him for nothing in the summer, and we don;t expect much out of him for the remainder of this season. I imagine we paid now because we didn't fancy our chances in the summer, when he could have gone anywhere.

So we're all happy.

Posted By: Tricky Hawes, Jan 30, 17:19:01