Kalas - Signed for Schalke04

[Kid in the Riot]

Not sure if I'm adding much to what is already known/suspected about the current situation but...

Apparently he is very keen to stay at City. He likes the area and is settled with his partner who is from the area. 

The contract offer on the table from City is half of his currently contract, which is rumoured to be £25-30k pw depending on whether you include the signing on fee which is spread across the contract length. So the offer on the table is somewhere around £12.5k - £15k pw.

There has been tentative interest from abroad but no firm contract offers as yet.

Clearly, the longer there are no firm, better offers from other clubs, the more likely it is he'll sign a new deal at City.

But it's certainly not clear cut he'll leave the club and I'd reiterate, his strong preference is to stay at City.

[BLRed]

Then sign! Waiting around for a better offer doesn’t scream that he’s committed to the club despite being settled and happy in the area.

if anything, his indecision is delaying our ability to replace him if we need to with our primary targets. 
 

personally think we should move on from him. Bring in someone with longer term potential on much reduced wages but that can still come in and do a job now. Would rather we push for obrien than keep him on what is still high wages

[Silvio Dante]

Good to know, thanks - and pretty much plays to what we thought the scenario was. Kalas is predisposed to stay unless he gets something great elsewhere and NP clearly wants him to stay.

I’ve said on another thread that the interesting thing for me is what all this means for Vyner. Assuming we’re still in for O’Brien, it would give us CB options of Vyner, Dickie, McCrorie, Kalas, O’Brien, Atkinson (when fit) plus Pring and any U21. Vyner has one year left on a deal and we don’t appear close to agreement. We also know that prior to last season, he was on the way out. I also stand by that we shouldn’t offer Zak a deal that is in excess of what Nige sees as his value to the team over the next, say, 3 years

It wouldn’t shock me at all to see TK signing, us completing the O’Brien deal and then Vyner departing. It’d mean we cash in before he’s a free agent and off the back of a good season that we don’t know at this point if it was reflective of standard moving forward or just temporary good form, so probably get the most £.

[Taz]

So from his perspective he would like a bit more p/w, but is weighing up the options out there. The club it appears, are firm with the offer and will not break through the new wage barrier (for arguments sake let's say £15k p/w which would fit with the above).

I applaud the club for sticking to this, regardless of who is on the other end of the contract. When you think about how dodgy it looked about 12-18 months ago, that's how it should be moving forward.

I also don't blame Kalas for waiting and weighing up the options. If he signs great, we're really well equipped at the back, and if he doesn't sign, then we're still really well equipped at the back.

Obviously with him wanting to stay in the area, that's going to help his decision. If for example someone in France offered him the same terms or slightly more, then he needs to weigh up if it would benefit him and his partner.

Let's see what happens, but as much as I like Kalas, he isn't irreplaceable.

[Silvio Dante]

2 minutes ago, BLRed said:

Then sign! Waiting around for a better offer doesn’t scream that he’s committed to the club despite being settled and happy in the area.

if anything, his indecision is delaying our ability to replace him if we need to with our primary targets. 
 

personally think we should move on from him. Bring in someone with longer term potential on much reduced wages but that can still come in and do a job now. Would rather we push for obrien than keep him on what is still high wages

I’m not sure that’s how it works. If you check all of the retained lists across clubs, none of them say “x has signed a new contract”, they all say “x is in negotiations with the club”. There is an expectation that players won’t just “sign” and will explore what’s out there, particularly if they’re Kalas’ age and it’s the last major contract. 
 

I have no problem in players exploring what’s there. The time for a decision is probably by pre season start.

[BLRed]

With injury and age not on his side, I can see it as 2-3 years of 15k a week thrown away. Think it’s time to cut losses and move on.

[westonred]

I really cant see how he could live on only £15k a week can someone start a crowdfunding page for him

Edited June 12, 2023 by westonred

[Kid in the Riot]

10 minutes ago, BLRed said:

Then sign! Waiting around for a better offer doesn’t scream that he’s committed to the club despite being settled and happy in the area.

If I came to the end of a contract with my current employee, and they offered me half the money to stay on and do the same job, I'd definitely want to explore other options!

[RedRoss]

Do we even need him 'if' Robert signs would be my question. We will potentially have Pring, Atkinson, Roberts, Naismith, Dickie, Vyner and McCrorie and a back up of youngsters to battle for two centre back positions for the season. Would rather use the money for a CM to be honest.

[Leveller]

10 minutes ago, BLRed said:

Then sign! Waiting around for a better offer doesn’t scream that he’s committed to the club despite being settled and happy in the area.

if anything, his indecision is delaying our ability to replace him if we need to with our primary targets. 
 

personally think we should move on from him. Bring in someone with longer term potential on much reduced wages but that can still come in and do a job now. Would rather we push for obrien than keep him on what is still high wages

Seems fair for him to check the market. If he could get a two year deal at £5K extra per week, that’s half a million pounds. Quite significant towards the end of your career. And if it’s not too far away he could leave the family in Bristol and make visits home. I think Cardiff are broke though!

[Davefevs]

14 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

I’m not sure that’s how it works. If you check all of the retained lists across clubs, none of them say “x has signed a new contract”, they all say “x is in negotiations with the club”. There is an expectation that players won’t just “sign” and will explore what’s out there, particularly if they’re Kalas’ age and it’s the last major contract. 
 

I have no problem in players exploring what’s there. The time for a decision is probably by pre season start.

You’ll notice that there are mainly two phrases used:

- contract offered, and

- in discussions with

city’s wording for each:

14 minutes ago, Percy Pig said:

It's an odd one with Kalas. 

At £12-£15k pw he'd still be amongst our top earners (now that Nahki has taken a similar pay cut and the other remnants of the Ashton/LJ splurge have departed).

But, if you get a fully fit and available Kalas that will feel something close to a bargain. 

On the other hand, if he's injured again it feels like a monumental waste of money! Especially with the context of Vyner, Dickie & McCrorie all being adept at RCB.

A contract that could go either way. Almost impossible to assess without the benefit it hindsight.

For me there have got to be break clauses / incentives built in to pay that amount.  Classy player, as he showed this season.  An injury get-out clause and extensions based on appearances / availability.

[Lew-T]

Move him on I think. 

[hinsleburg]

6 minutes ago, RedRoss said:

Do we even need him 'if' Robert signs would be my question. We will potentially have Pring, Atkinson, Roberts, Naismith, Dickie, Vyner and McCrorie and a back up of youngsters to battle for two centre back positions for the season. Would rather use the money for a CM to be honest.

Yes, we definitely need another CB in my opinion!

Atkinson is injured and have no idea how he will recover, Pring is currently our only senior LB, Naismith may be needed in other areas, Roberts is unproven at this level and McCrorie has stated he wants to play right back. I think we are still a CB short, a fully fit Kalas walks into this team still. 

So for me it's Kalas or one other, if the medical team are confident he's fit and can potentially stay fit then I would love to see him stay.

[extonsred]

38 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Good to know, thanks - and pretty much plays to what we thought the scenario was. Kalas is predisposed to stay unless he gets something great elsewhere and NP clearly wants him to stay.

I’ve said on another thread that the interesting thing for me is what all this means for Vyner. Assuming we’re still in for O’Brien, it would give us CB options of Vyner, Dickie, McCrorie, Kalas, O’Brien, Atkinson (when fit) plus Pring and any U21. Vyner has one year left on a deal and we don’t appear close to agreement. We also know that prior to last season, he was on the way out. I also stand by that we shouldn’t offer Zak a deal that is in excess of what Nige sees as his value to the team over the next, say, 3 years

It wouldn’t shock me at all to see TK signing, us completing the O’Brien deal and then Vyner departing. It’d mean we cash in before he’s a free agent and off the back of a good season that we don’t know at this point if it was reflective of standard moving forward or just temporary good form, so probably get the most £.

Vyner was excellent throughout the season which does not suggest temporary. Personally would keep Vyner ...and if we are capable of getting good money for him then that suggests we should retain him longer term!

[Philly The Kid]

I had some carpets fitted recently and the fitter had done a couple in Tomas's place recently too. He got chatting and he apparently said he wanted to stay, felt the club wanted him and he was hoping it could be sorted. He did apparently say football finance had changed after COVID and it was something we all have to accept.

Loves the area.

 

[Galley is our king]

35 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

If I came to the end of a contract with my current employee, and they offered me half the money to stay on and do the same job, I'd definitely want to explore other options!

I understand what you say but, if I wanted to stay and the money was still a minimum of £625,000pa..... 

 

[joshbristol]

1 hour ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Not sure if I'm adding much to what is already known/suspected about the current situation but...

Apparently he is very keen to stay at City. He likes the area and is settled with his partner who is from the area. 

The contract offer on the table from City is half of his currently contract, which is rumoured to be £25-30k pw depending on whether you include the signing on fee which is spread across the contract length. So the offer on the table is somewhere around £12.5k - £15k pw.

There has been tentative interest from abroad but no firm contract offers as yet.

Clearly, the longer there are no firm, better offers from other clubs, the more likely it is he'll sign a new deal at City.

But it's certainly not clear cut he'll leave the club and I'd reiterate, his strong preference is to stay at City.

Be very Suprised if we are offering that sort of money for a player who can’t stay fit 

[Son of Fred]

55 minutes ago, Taz said:

Obviously with him wanting to stay in the area, that's going to help his decision. If for example someone in France offered him the same terms or slightly more, then he needs to weigh up if it would benefit him and his partner

Indeed....the influence of his missus in this situation should not be underestimated - 

As you say, a bit more cash per week may not tip the balance in regards to upsetting the wife!

[Bas's perfect hattrick]

Agree with those saying get rid. Great defender and clearly likes it here, but his availability record over the past few seasons has been poor. We can't afford to pay someone that much money and not play them

[Son of Fred]

59 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

If I came to the end of a contract with my current employee, and they offered me half the money to stay on and do the same job, I'd definitely want to explore other options!

Your not wrong - although in a situation where you are already set for life financially (I'd imagine Tomas is), other factors can certainly drive decision making

Sadly I'm not saying this from experience

[petehinton]

8 minutes ago, Son of Fred said:

Indeed....the influence of his missus in this situation should not be underestimated - 

As you say, a bit more cash per week may not tip the balance in regards to upsetting the wife!

And also, he spent his whole career up until joining us permanently basically living in a new place every season - living out of a suitcase as they say. 
 

Im sure as long as he’s been sensible with it, money wise he’s probably set for life already and then some anyway. As you say, for the sake of earning say £12k vs £17k a week and uprooting again at his age for money he may not even really need (with £12k a week still topping up his kids/grandkids inheritance), if he loves the area as much as is assumed it doesn’t make sense to me to start again somewhere else tbh. Unless it’s at a top club in a smaller European league where he has a shot of winning a league and playing in Europe. 

[Silvio Dante]

37 minutes ago, Philly The Kid said:

I had some carpets fitted recently and the fitter had done a couple in Tomas's place recently too. He got chatting and he apparently said he wanted to stay, felt the club wanted him and he was hoping it could be sorted. He did apparently say football finance had changed after COVID and it was something we all have to accept.

Loves the area.

 

A carpet fitter? In the know?

Definitely @Bcfcshags then….

[Philly The Kid]

3 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

A carpet fitter? In the know?

Definitely @Bcfcshags then….

I didn't quote him as being ITK as he clearly isn't. His chat was on a general basis and TK threw it in the conversation. The fitter explained him and his missus were going to Prague and how beautiful it is and TK responded with how nice it was here. It went from there.

[BCFCGav]

I hope he signs. I try not to let heart rule head when it comes to what's best for City but I can't help but love TK. TK and one more centre-half would also see us sorted for that position - Dickie, Atkinson, Kalas, Vyner and one more, Naismith and McCrorie when needed.

[LondonBristolian]

1 hour ago, Percy Pig said:

It's an odd one with Kalas. 

At £12-£15k pw he'd still be amongst our top earners (now that Nahki has taken a similar pay cut and the other remnants of the Ashton/LJ splurge have departed).

But, if you get a fully fit and available Kalas that will feel something close to a bargain. 

On the other hand, if he's injured again it feels like a monumental waste of money! Especially with the context of Vyner, Dickie & McCrorie all being adept at RCB.

A contract that could go either way. Almost impossible to assess without the benefit it hindsight.

Agree with this. I think the one potential issue is if - and this is obviously speculation and may not be true - we are offering Kalas  that sort of money whilst trying to minimise what we offer Zak Vyner, who was an ever-present in the defence. I can see how Vyner might be less motivated to sign a new contract if it is clear we are making money available for others that we aren't for him. 

[Leveller]

21 minutes ago, Bas's perfect hattrick said:

Agree with those saying get rid. Great defender and clearly likes it here, but his availability record over the past few seasons has been poor. We can't afford to pay someone that much money and not play them

Unfair surely? Yes, last season was a write off, but he made a high level of appearances in the previous four seasons with us (41/24/44/37).

Edited June 12, 2023 by Leveller

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, hinsleburg said:

Yes, we definitely need another CB in my opinion!

Atkinson is injured and have no idea how he will recover, Pring is currently our only senior LB, Naismith may be needed in other areas, Roberts is unproven at this level and McCrorie has stated he wants to play right back. I think we are still a CB short, a fully fit Kalas walks into this team still. 

So for me it's Kalas or one other, if the medical team are confident he's fit and can potentially stay fit then I would love to see him stay.

Pretty sure his interview said he’s a CB and RB, not RB specifically.

54 minutes ago, Percy Pig said:

Yeah, from our perspective that makes sense. From his I'm not sure it does at all! 

It's that balancing act isn't it, we have to offer the best deal available in order for him to stay, that's logical, but we can't over extend ourselves in order to do that. 

Doesn't insurance cover wages for injuries anyway? I swear that's something I read was a thing years ago? 

Yes, very much about finding the balance.

Re Insurance, it seems to be not the same.  Player himself will have insurance, but clubs don’t tend to insure injuries and premiums too steep and conditions too restrictive.  They will cover life though…and someone said they might cover specific tournaments like the WC / Euros where they aren’t with the club.

31 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

A carpet fitter? In the know?

Definitely @Bcfcshags then….

No, you’re thinking if Bcfcshagpile!

[Taz]

24 minutes ago, Leveller said:

Unfair surely? Yes, last season was a write off, but he made a high level of appearances in the previous four seasons with us (41/24/44/37).

Been pointed out many times, at least 2 or 3 occasions by myself, that he is far from "injury prone".

Facts don't matter for some, it appears that a label has been thrown about, and some have jumped on and gone with that "fact".

Injury prone Wiemann didn't do too badly after signing his new deal whilst returning to full fitness.....

[Jimbo123]

13 minutes ago, Taz said:

Been pointed out many times, at least 2 or 3 occasions by myself, that he is far from "injury prone".

Facts don't matter for some, it appears that a label has been thrown about, and some have jumped on and gone with that "fact".

Injury prone Wiemann didn't do too badly after signing his new deal whilst returning to full fitness.....

How've you concluded that?

His availability the last couple of seasons has been utterly shite.

[RedRoss]

7 minutes ago, Jimbo123 said:

How've you concluded that?

His availability the last couple of seasons has been utterly shite.

Don't think 37 games the season before last is 'utterly shit' if your talking about the last couple of seasons.