Confimred: Azeez to Millwall

[Hendo]

Azeez is a winger, inconsistency is their stock in trade.

Broadly agree, with the exception that proves the rule being Glenn Little, obviously

With Azeez, much like Kebe, you put up with 2/3rds of the season being a bit meh, for that 1/3rd of the season when he looks like a world beater.

[South Coast Royal]

Daily Mirror yesterday reported that an offer of £750,000 has been made by Millwall.

[Snowflake Royal]

We do need to start making regular big value sales to help fund the club. But we also need to start building toward a promotion back to the Championship within the next few years.

We're almost certainly losing Azeez anyway at the end of the season, so pocketing £750k to £1.5m seems a no brainer. But we really must strengthen the squad if he goes.

Camara, Ehibhatiomhan and Tuma isn't enough on the wings. And Azeez going puts huge goal pressure on Smith, Knibbs and Wing.

With Azeez we could probably cope with a winger and a rigyt back coming in. Without him I think we need two wingers a right back and a striker minimum.

[Clyde1998]

What impact on the squad would selling Azeez have and would it be better to lose him on a free rather than sell him for £750k (or whatever) now?

We're obviously very light on the wing already and we're restricted in what we can bring in to replace him. There are a couple of free agents left the club may be interested in, but any movement in that regard would come down to what wage budget we'd have once the takeover officially happens.

Had a look at wingers on the TransferMarkt free agent list, there's a very limited list of players out wide (looking who were at either a current Championship or League One side last season):

1. Adam Reach - seems to have missed a lot of the last couple of seasons with injuries.
2. Sheyi Ojo - likely above League One standard (played top flight football in Belgium on loan last season).
3. Josh Martin - hardly played for Portsmouth last season.
4. Elliott Bennett - became a bench player for Shrewsbury towards the end of the season.
5. Shane Ferguson - barely played for Rotherham in the Championship (may have had injuries).
6. Hakeeb Adelakun - completely fell out of the Lincoln squad in January.
7. Kazenga LuaLua - 79 minutes for Charlton last season.
8. Mustapha Carayol - typically a bench player for Burton.

There may be some decent players who were in League Two or weren't playing in England last season, but I imagine we'd be dependant on loanees, academy players or players out of position to cover Azeez leaving.

[Hound]

Azeez will be 24 as well next summer so no compensation

Probably should take 1m or so if offered. Can be quality but he does have long periods where he isn’t up to much

Agree we’d need to bring someone in if he goes. Ojo from above possibly an option who would come. But otherwise looking at loans etc as long as we move quickly and sure there are plenty of those around

[leon]

Azeez is a winger, inconsistency is their stock in trade.

Broadly agree, with the exception that proves the rule being Glenn Little, obviously

With Azeez, much like Kebe, you put up with 2/3rds of the season being a bit meh, for that 1/3rd of the season when he looks like a world beater.

Jobi and Johnny Salad. Both were very effective defensively.

<cue a smart arse saying they were more left sided midfielders than out and out wingers>

[Snowflake Royal]

Azeez is a winger, inconsistency is their stock in trade.

Broadly agree, with the exception that proves the rule being Glenn Little, obviously

With Azeez, much like Kebe, you put up with 2/3rds of the season being a bit meh, for that 1/3rd of the season when he looks like a world beater.

Jobi and Johnny Salad. Both were very effective defensively.

<cue a smart arse saying they were more left sided midfielders than out and out wingers>

They were definitely both wingers.

[WestYorksRoyal]

We do need to start making regular big value sales to help fund the club. But we also need to start building toward a promotion back to the Championship within the next few years.

We're almost certainly losing Azeez anyway at the end of the season, so pocketing £750k to £1.5m seems a no brainer. But we really must strengthen the squad if he goes.

Camara, Ehibhatiomhan and Tuma isn't enough on the wings. And Azeez going puts huge goal pressure on Smith, Knibbs and Wing.

With Azeez we could probably cope with a winger and a rigyt back coming in. Without him I think we need two wingers a right back and a striker minimum.

I agree long term, but this approach needs good succession planning and recruitment. Like when we sold Long and Mills in 2011 and brought in Le Fondre and Gorkss.

Problem is, right now I don't see how we can sell Azeez without becoming substantially weaker. We have a paper thin squad, we can't spend transfer fees and are competing for sloppy seconds in the free transfer market after everyone else moved earlier in the window.

If Carey can pull a rabbit out of a hat, fair play. But selling him this season feels like a risk to me.

[Esteban]

We do need to start making regular big value sales to help fund the club. But we also need to start building toward a promotion back to the Championship within the next few years.

We're almost certainly losing Azeez anyway at the end of the season, so pocketing £750k to £1.5m seems a no brainer. But we really must strengthen the squad if he goes.

Camara, Ehibhatiomhan and Tuma isn't enough on the wings. And Azeez going puts huge goal pressure on Smith, Knibbs and Wing.

With Azeez we could probably cope with a winger and a rigyt back coming in. Without him I think we need two wingers a right back and a striker minimum.

I agree long term, but this approach needs good succession planning and recruitment. Like when we sold Long and Mills in 2011 and brought in Le Fondre and Gorkss.

Problem is, right now I don't see how we can sell Azeez without becoming substantially weaker. We have a paper thin squad, we can't spend transfer fees and are competing for sloppy seconds in the free transfer market after everyone else moved earlier in the window.

If Carey can pull a rabbit out of a hat, fair play. But selling him this season feels like a risk to me.

The caveat to this is if Azeez wants out. Just playing devil's advocate here, but if he does and makes it clear to the club, it's a much tougher decision. In that situation, I think Selles would probably prefer him to go. Although I doubt the final decision will be Ruben's to make.

[Snowflake Royal]

Obviously not a guarantee of anything, but with Azeez back on the pitch today we can pretty much rule out a secret done deals situation.

[MartinRdg]

Obviously not a guarantee of anything, but with Azeez back on the pitch today we can pretty much rule out a secret done deals situation.

And maybe if Azeez does want out, tell him he can leave in January when we could still get some sort of fee and also be able to replace him more easily.

[blythspartan]

I think if/when we’re in a position to do so we should offer Azeez a new 2/3 year contract and tell him he can leave if we get an offer that meets our valuation. If he has another good season we might get a lot more money for him.

[Stranded]

I think if/when we’re in a position to do so we should offer Azeez a new 2/3 year contract and tell him he can leave if we get an offer that meets our valuation. If he has another good season we might get a lot more money for him.

Only if he signs the contract of course.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yeah, I think it's a no brainer to offer him a contract. Without making any silly unaffordable offers.

[ILoveMoonPig]

We should definitely offer him a contract (and the same with our other young players, too!), but at age 24/25 for a winger, you're looking at maybe 2 or 3 years left at the peak of your career, he deserves the chance to have a crack higher up the football league, so I can't hold it against him if he wants to go and try Championship football again.

[blythspartan]

Dellor saying Azeez is off to Millwall tomorrow. Not the news I was expecting.

[yuomi]

Weird timing, and can't wrap my head around where this means the takeover is. Last year of contract or not, pushing for the move or not, this will presumably still have been Dai authorising the transfer. Wonder what the prospective new owners think of it all...

[RG30]

If Azeez has shown no willingness to sign a new deal then he has to be sold. Shame as he’s a good player but we’re not in a financial position to let an asset leave us in 12 months on a free.

[Sutekh]

Medical at the Lions today. Usual sod all info on the fee involved but presume it's for the £750k quoted somewhere above.

Not the best of ways for a new set of owners to start out. Still he's a typical winger and not consistent plus he's only played 30 mins of the season so far and would suggest Reading haven't missed him in those games. Will be interesting to see if he's good enough to play at a higher level or whether he just disappears with the other also rans of that division.

Least the money will hopefully be enough to find wages for a loan replacement for a season though (the Harvey Blair link makes even more sense now).

Let's hope the club can get some more forward options in the next couple of weeks (and perhaps the deal has only been agreed now as something has been lined up).

[Esteban]

I think we'll probably end up selling a first team player each summer from now on, but it's the right thing to do for the club financially. Far better than losing them on free transfers, which happened far too often under Dai. The academy and recent recruitment has been worth their weight in gold and hopefully that trend will continue.

As for Azeez, good luck to him. We probably only saw his very best over the second half of last season, but he's earned himself a move up to the Championship. We need to accept our current position in the football food chain.