Keeping Hooper?

its worth keeping him

 

I think there is a chance we will keep Hooper unless a deal of around 8 million comes up. For me Wanyama will 100% go and it just hinges on which club can afford his wages. I dont think victor personally is desperate to leave. I do however believe his agent is desperate to get him out of scotland and into england.

 

I don't understand why Hooper didn't sign the contract extension. Even if he knew he was going to leave later, he would be getting higher wages until that time, and the club would get more money from his transfer fee

 

He'll desperately want to be in the World Cup squad, and he'll probably see his best chance of achieving that as playing in England. Signing a new contract would have put his price up, and may have put English clubs off of making a bid for him.

 

It seams Lennon wants to keep him more than wanyama although I don't believe that because I don't think Lennon has the choice altogether!

 

Aah, I see, you can probably tell I don't have the best business strategic mind

 

Mate we have so much good mid center players that wanyama is replaceble and now is the perfect time to sell him. Think Lennon wants 12-13 imo. He's not daft, he knows those EPL teams are all desperate to spend that sky $.

I think hooper and forster are a lot harder players to replace. Best keeper & striker we've had in a long time. Expensive to replace such accomplished players.

I think watt needs game time this season. We need another striker if he does go. I think this toure rumour would be perfect. We could rotate watt,balde,stokes and toure.

Either way, I have faith in our board and manager. Hail Hail

 

Hooper will stay.

 

I think Hooper wants to stay if he was given the contract he wants

His interviews after the last couple of games this season gave me the impression he would stay but he just didn`t want to commit as there are negotiations going on. Give the man a better contract, he more than deserves it

I wouldn`t really care about many more transfers this summer. Use the money to get players like Hooper, Stokes, Ledley signed up to long term contracts

 

There is absolutely no evidence for your assertions that Wanyama loves Celtic and Hooper doesn't.

 

There are much more complete strikers out there than Hooper within our budget constraints? Why don't you list them for me, perhaps send them to John Park...

How on earth is he the most limited striker we have? Your lack of appreciation for a striker that will regularly score 30 plus goals a season for us, over "more technical" duds like Miku and Lassad is astounding. I'm all for Celtic becoming a more technical team but it's almost misty eyed, Mowbray-esque ramblings to suggest we should dispense with goal scoring poachers, at the expense of less effective but tippy-tappy strikers. I also agree that we need more creative spark from the midfield, both behind the strikers and on the wings, but that doesn't mean we should lightly let go of Hooper. His effort was insulting? I think there are more candidates you could highlight for a lack of effort, than the player that has scored 82 goals in 137 appearances (60%) for our club.

 

Out of all the strikers in our team Hooper is one that makes the most out lf his technique. His link up play is astounding, mind the wee back heel for Stokes disallowed goal last season? Wasn't even looking anywhere near where he was at any point, just knew and he had the ability to pull of an excellent bit of skill.

His technique at taking the ball down, over the shoulder, while running is one of the best I have ever witnessed for Celtic. I hope he stays and joins the centurions.

 

im in the happy to see him leave camp, his enthusiasm left with rangers.

if he does sign is he going to be the Hooper we had two seasons ago or the Hooper last season, im not too sure i want a repeat of last seasons as i dont rate him as highly as others here

 

yeah cos 30+ goals was a horrific return and shows a real lack of enthusiasm. The guy wil not be easily replaced, not on our budget, I think people will realise if he does leave exactly what he gives us. Class player, class touch, class passes, class decision making and class finishing - way ahead of anything we have.

He may not track back as much now in the SPL but he doesn't really need to, in the champs league he sealed the game against Spartak chasing back and dispossessing Eminike, he does it when he needs to.

 

A whole lot of straw-man arguments and putting words in my mouth there.

First of all, how do you know me to know that I have a 'lack of appreciation' for Hooper? You should reread my post, where I made it amply clear that I wasn't besmirching what he's done for us. He has some excellent qualities: he finds pockets of space quite well, and distracts defenders very well; his finishing is obviously exceptional. However, he's easily the most limited striker we have: he doesn't assist as often as I'd like our forwards to; he's relatively poor at linking the play; his passing sometimes leaves a lot to be desired (though sometimes he provides a good through-ball); he's too direct and often doesn't think about slowing the pace of the game to our advantage (but he's not the only Celtic player guilty of that particular flaw).

Secondly, I never advocated 'tippy-tappy' strikers; and certainly not ones who are 'ineffective'. We have to move with the times, and need strikers who can adapt and contribute in a host of different ways, including scoring goals, of course. It's obvious to anyone who watches continental football that the days of the poacher are mostly coming to an end.

Thirdly, I never said we should 'let go of him lightly'. If an offer comes in, I'd take it, and a big part of me does hope he's sold as it'd be refreshing to see a slight change to how we do things in attack. However, I'd only let him go for the right money. I'm not desperate to lose a striker who's done as well as he has; I just think it generally feels like the time for the club and the player to move on. Could be wrong, but that's my take on it.

Also, I agree that there are other players who, in certain spells, have been found wanting in terms of effort this season; but this conversation is about Hooper, hence why I 'highlighted' him.

EDIT: As for that bit in bold, there's no need to be so facetious just because we happen to disagree, or do manners go out the window because I expressed an opinion that you don't like? I'm sure Park, Lennon, etc know of many strikers who possess more non-finishing-related attributes than Hooper. My point was 'that type of player is out there'; not 'I've got a list of recommendations'. We brought in Stokes - who has a lot more to his game than Hooper - and I trust the board to bring in others.

 

I'd sell Hooper for anything over £5m to be fair.

 

Assuming he doesn't sign a new contract, that's reasonable.

If he signs a new deal, he'll be worth up to £12m next summer.

 

No one is paying £12m for Hooper regardless of how long he has on his deal. He hit the top of his time of Celtic so far when we qualified for the CL last 16, bids came in around what the £6-7m mark?

He would have to have a much, much better season than the one just finished for anyone to consider putting in a £12m bid for him, including scoring a lot of goals in Europe.

It's all irrelevant though, no doubt in my mind that he'll be off.

 

I totally agree with this. I don't get the impression that he is a player desperate to leave. If that is the case, it can only be down to the contract offer which he doens't believe is good enough.

I also agree with using the money to improve the current players contracts to get them to try and remain at the club. This team has got great potential if we were able to keep them together for a few year. I've no doubt in my mind, that this team would only get better and better the longer they are together.