Andre Gray

[ZENITH R]

Signed a five year contract with Watford in August 2017, so unless he has signed an extension he should be available on a free this summer.

Since signing on loan on 31 August 2021 he has had 15 starts and 13 as a sub . Of those 15 starts he has only played the full 90 minutes 4 times. Nine goals (currently our leading goalscorer) plus a converted pen in the FA Cup shoot out.

Worth offering him a contract?

Personally, I would say yes. But, if we want a better goal return he needs more game time on the pitch.

[old pauline]

Not for me. Yesterday, and Huddersfield were clear indicators for me that the future is with quicker and more athletic players that are quicker on and off the ball. Gray to me always looks like he is playing off the back of having run a marathon. I wouldn't want to see Gray starting for us next season and I don't think tis viable to retain him just as a sub. Similar to Austin really.

[deadendjob]

Charlie's in contract until 2023, so I'd prefer to have him as the 3rd Striker. Grey offers us pace up front which we don't' really have with Lyndon or Charlie.
With Watford set to go down, they may want to give him a year in the Champ and offload a few of their more expensive players.

[UxbridgeR]

Not for me. Yesterday, and Huddersfield were clear indicators for me that the future is with quicker and more athletic players that are quicker on and off the ball. Gray to me always looks like he is playing off the back of having run a marathon. I wouldn't want to see Gray starting for us next season and I don't think tis viable to retain him just as a sub. Similar to Austin really.

Completely agree with this. We have two quite highly paid (at least by our standards) strikers, who mainly seem to be effective as impact subs. Neither really link the play, and both look like 90 minutes is a struggle for them. Not a luxury we can afford on our budget. Austin is contracted for another year, so he'll still be here, but Gray shouldn't be.

[LP]

Unless I imagined it, wasn't he offered to us on a free initially - but we wanted a loan?

At that stage I'd have said no. 9 goals later I'm still not sure - if we can get him in for cheap or another short term deal, he could have a Nakhi Wells-style purple patch and tempt Bristol City to spunk another cool £5m?

Think we've got work to do up-front, not least because you don't get much for your money nowadays do you?

I know he's our player, but not sure if Bonne's return would benefit either party (though I'm inclined to try as he did set us back £2m). Feel like Kelman and George Thomas both need a decent loan move. As much as I love Charlie, I think we've given ourselves a problem there - think an amicable parting of ways and him being allowed to focus on a media career would probably be a win-win.

Puts Gray on a 'free' (wages etc notwithstanding) into context.

In an ideal world, I'd like another main man to rival (and offer a different option to) Dykes + 2 (Gray/Wells/etc on a free & maybe a (decent) PL (Aaron Connolly, Folarin Balogun, Liam Delap) / Championship (Knockeart? Kieffer Moore) loan?)

[UxbridgeR]

Agree about Austin, although I think he will see out the last year of his contract anyway.

After a great start at Ipswich, Bonne has scored one goal in five months, so it's unlikely they'll want him back, unless he's happy to sit on the bench there instead of at LR. We're never getting our money back on him, but should try and move him on in the summer for whatever we can get.

[Nw6ranger]

Do we have a scouting network in South America?. There must be a decent prospect that will cost us peanuts and will bang in 15 to 20 goals next season.

[luke_mullet]

Do we have a scouting network in South America?. There must be a decent prospect that will cost us peanuts and will bang in 15 to 20 goals next season.

And they will get a work permit how?

[Andy_N19]

Do we have a scouting network in South America?. There must be a decent prospect that will cost us peanuts and will bang in 15 to 20 goals next season.

I know latin America well and there are plenty of hungry young strikers there, but they wouldn't get a work
permit having never played regularly for their national sides.

There are however young, hungry strikers in many lower league and semi-pro clubs right here within the M25.

[UxbridgeR]

Do we have a scouting network in South America?. There must be a decent prospect that will cost us peanuts and will bang in 15 to 20 goals next season.

I know latin America well and there are plenty of hungry young strikers there, but they wouldn't get a work
permit having never played regularly for their national sides.

There are however young, hungry strikers in many lower league and semi-pro clubs right here within the M25.

Would you care to name any ? I’d love to know which semi-pro strikers are ready to make the step up to the Championship and score 15-20 goals a season.

[ZENITH R]

Do we have a scouting network in South America?. There must be a decent prospect that will cost us peanuts and will bang in 15 to 20 goals next season.

I know latin America well and there are plenty of hungry young strikers there, but they wouldn't get a work
permit having never played regularly for their national sides.

There are however young, hungry strikers in many lower league and semi-pro clubs right here within the M25.

Would you care to name any ? I’d love to know which semi-pro strikers are ready to make the step up to the Championship and score 15-20 goals a season.

Indeed.

Considering Gray has not played much football for us - either being subbed (usually) when he starts or coming on late in the game, he is our joint leading goal scorer with 9 goals including our goal of the season (probably). A proper run of games would have almost certainly seen him get into double figures. So, what do we want from a striker? Talent/ natural ability - I think he showed that with his winning goal at Derby. Pace - he showed that with his goal at WBA, he is certainly the quickest (by some distance) striker we currently have at the club. Consistency - he has scored goals wherever he has played. He's 30 years old which is considered to be prime for a goal scorer. Got loads of experience, and as yet the legs haven't gone.

I think it's a no brainer especially if he's available on a free. As someone else pointed out - Nahki Wells - a good example. Similar age, Brizzle paid £5,000,000 for him and have a slightly worse return (goals to games ratio) for them than we got. Statistically, Gray is more likely to score.

If we had £5,000,000 to pay Burnley for Wells, how many would have said no thanks? Not many I suggest.

[karateelvis]

Aren't Gray's wages astronomical? I always wanted to know what percentage of them we were paying, but I think he'd need to take a massive cut to come play for us full time

[Andy_N19]

Do we have a scouting network in South America?. There must be a decent prospect that will cost us peanuts and will bang in 15 to 20 goals next season.

I know latin America well and there are plenty of hungry young strikers there, but they wouldn't get a work
permit having never played regularly for their national sides.

There are however young, hungry strikers in many lower league and semi-pro clubs right here within the M25.

Would you care to name any ? I’d love to know which semi-pro strikers are ready to make the step up to the Championship and score 15-20 goals a season.

Let's pivot our viewpoint on seeking new talent. Do we have an alternative on our
slim finances but to look in those said places?

It's telling that there have been prominent television docs and newspaper articles on the talent
scouted in south London and how many reach the pro ranks. Rangers don't seem to be looking
that way, yeah lots of teams in London dipping in the same pool but getting Bonne and Dykes
and Dickie from the lower leagues is what I suggested, just that we don't have to go to Scotland
to see the same standard of football... it's on our doorstep.
I'd love to know what our scouting setup is like.
I support Warburton but there're other things to get in place to support him and recruitment
seems important in that mix.

Stop press: just heard 5 Live commentator purring about Eze's performance against Leeds this evening,
lovely if we could sniff out gems like him elsewhere.

[ZENITH R]

So, since I started this thread, two things have happened. Gray has finished the season as our leading goal scorer - despite starting 15 games he only finished 4 of them. He was also a sub on 15 occasions. It's a widely accepted view that to get the best out of a striker they need game time, and not play part of a match, but the whole 90 minutes. If I have a criticism of Warburton it is that he rotated the front 3 far too often. For me the biggest issue in a season that has fallen flat was creativity and service for our strikers. The second thing, is that Charlie has left, so we are looking for two strikers for next season.

I'd go for Gray and give Duke-McKenna or Armstrong a go as the third striker.

We don't have a lot of money, and Gray is available on a free (providing Watford don't make him an offer). Beggars can't be choosers, and we have seen what he can do. I suspect like Nakhi Wells, Gray would be more effective if he got a second season.

[UxbridgeR]

Duke-McKenna is a midfielder, isn't he ?

Gray may be on a free, but I suspect his wage demands are likely to be out of our comfort zone, particularly as it will be his last big(ish) contract at nearly 31. We have Dykes, Bonne and Kelman already on our books. I think we'll try and offload Bonne over the summer, and there's not much sign of Kelman being able to step up, even though he's been with us for 18 months now. I've no idea whether Armstrong is good enough, but we certainly don't want to be relying on him next season. First things first though, we need to get the new manager sorted out before we sign any players.