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Benyon is out of contract this season, I doubt we'll get 100k with clubs knowing he's out of contract. We'll be lucky with 80k.

Interested clubs I've heard are: Swindon, bristol rovers and now Charlton athletic! I no longer believe Swansea are though.

Nothing has changed in the last month. With his conract having 6 months to run, we'd be unlikely to recieve an offer in excess of £100k. With this in mind, unless we're currently struggling to pay the bills, it's be nonsensical to sell him. If he scores 20 goals this season, his value at tribunal would exceed that which we could realistically get now. And we'd havbe the benefit of his goals in the meantime. Why sell?

Exactly what I've been thinking Fonda. Tribunals are often fair to teams who have lost a key player. If Benyon bangs in 20+ this season (which could easily be possible, if he stays, of course), then as you say, we'd expect atleast a 3-figure sum for his services.

That's exactly what I don't understand either Fonda. Fans of other clubs are amazed that we're looking at sub £100k for Benyon.

He's got 13 league goals so far, and there's still 25 league games to go. If he stays till the end of the season then he's surely going to surpass 25 league goals. A 23 year old with 25 league goals, that's been here 4 years, that we've done all his development for, who's progressed from the non-league to the league... I just don't believe that a tribunal wouldn't give us well over £100k without even thinking. We could even cut a deal with a club to avoid risking a tribunal if we wanted to.

His value isn't going down (in fact probably the opposite), so why on earth should we sell him now? If we get a great offer then fair enough, but the figures going around are just a fraction of his worth. If makes me crazy that other clubs can get fair prices for their players and we're discussing figures like £60k and £80k for Benyon.

I'd want more than a three figure sum. That could be only a hundred quid.

6 figures, please

Is Benyon under contract beyond this season? If so £250,000 should be the absolute minimum we should consider.

Bournemouth want him for peanuts, they are in a slightly poor position, we've seen their hand. We know what they've got readily available after selling their crown jewels.

If we sold Benyon for less than £100k then it would be the worst bit of business since Jamie Ward.

royalgull wrote:Is Benyon under contract beyond this season? If so £250,000 should be the absolute minimum we should consider.

contract expires in the summer.

happytorq wrote:I'd want more than a three figure sum. That could be only a hundred quid.

6 figures, please

Touché.

:Oops:

happytorq wrote:

contract expires in the summer.[/quote]

No point in selling a 15+ goal a season striker, like Benyon, as we would more than likely have to spend all of the money on a replacement who would require big wages. Much better to offer Benyon an improved contract, say 3 years & more dosh.
The plan should be to develop Billy Kee, hope that Benyon gets even better, & then sell him for really big bucks, with Billy ( or A.N. Other) ready to step in to fill the gap.

I believe that was the plan all along, wodger. I don't think the club expected Benners to be here now, so signed Kee as a replacement ready to come in.

NickGull wrote:I believe that was the plan all along, wodger. I don't think the club expected Benners to be here now, so signed Kee as a replacement ready to come in.

The problem I.M.O. is that Billy is not "ready to come in" yet, therefore we can't let Benyon go just now.

I'm pretty sure we'd have offered Benners an improved contract more than once since last summer - but it's absolutely reasonable that as a player with ambition, he wants to keep his options open at this stage. There is next to no chance that we could offer him a deal that he'd consider worthy of signing right now. It's in his own interests to see where we're at in the summer - and what offers are on the table to him (and there will doubtless be several).

The point is, he's not given any indication of wanting to leave now. And as described above, there doesn't appear to be any benefit to the club in getting rid of him now either. We should ignore the offers (unless a stupid one is made of course), benefit from his goals for the rest of this season, and see what kind of bidding war develops next summer. I don't see it as a risk - clubs want goalscorers and he's a decent one. Who knows, it might even be possible to persaude him to stay at that point...

Surely it would be better to sell him now (if he wants to go) and cash in on him, rather than wait till he is out of contract and get some crap amount from a tribunal. Are they limited as to the amount they can force a club to pay?

As described above Scott, with his contract 6 months from expiring, we'd only get a 'crap amount' if we sold him now. The value a tribunal would put on the head of a 20-goal striker (which he'll likely get if he stays), that we've spent 4 years developing, wouldn't be any lower (and would probably be higher) than what we'd get right now. Plus we'd get to keep his goals for the rest of this season. I've not seen any suggestion from the player that he wants to go?

Here is a couple of interesting facts that you may be interested in if you want a reliable valuation. this is born out of the last few years Rovers have bought players up front.
The last one who most know is Rickie Lambert. Not exactly a hit when he arrived from Rochdale and it took him a couple of seasons before he started to look good. Rochdale are about the same size as we are although now above us. Lambert was roughly the same sort of level that Benyon is. Rovers paid out £100,000 for his services and sold him for £1m.
Andrew Williams. arrived from Hereford for the same size fee. A big lad compared to benyon and bigger presence. again didn't make much impact when he arrived and didn't really cut it at League one level with Rovers and eventually moved on to Yeovil. Yet again Rovers paid £100,000 for his services.
Jeff Hughs. arrived From Crystal Palace. yes i Know they were a Championchip club, but it seems may not be much longer. The fact is that Hughes arrived to them from our league and hadn't really made it in Palaces 1st team, Rovers paid out £100,000 again though. He hasn't really cut it with Rovers to be honest, his performances have been inconsistant to say the least in my opinion.
Darrel Duffy. Can't remember where he came from but yet again Rovers paid out a similar fee for his services and a less than convincing player who scored few goals and has now left the club on a free.
The only real bargain Rovers have picked up is a player who we all know well and it would be quite ironic if Buckle went to Rovers to end up being his Boss. yep it's Our own Joe Kuffour. Rovers got him for £60,000. In my opinion a steal.
he has gone on to be a real favourite at The Mem.
Now if thats the pattern of player fee that Rovers have paid out in the last few years even bearing in mind the reccession, then surely Elliot is worth at the very least £100,000 plus add ons. I for one will be very disapointed if we get less for him. :win: