The Austin Auction begins...

[Tarbie]

Liverpool pay £29m for Firmino from Hoffenheim. Apparently he has scored 47 goals in 151 appearances - one goal every 3.2 matches.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/33250535

And Charlie, who scored 18 goals in 35 matches in the Premier League last season - one goal every 1.95 matches (which is 64% better in case you were wondering) - isn't worth half that? You must be joking.

Give him a suntan and change his name to Austintinho and we'll be quids in mate!

[geejaybee]

Great memories with Johnny Spencer, agreed there. I just don't think the club is looking to buy a like for like replacement. Think club's agenda is ask 15m, prob settle for 12 or maybe 10 with some add ons, then spend a couple of million on a lower league striker. Our days of writing big cheques are over for now at least imho.

Really nice bloke John Spencer.Met him in Quinta do Lago Portugal when he was playing for us and he told me Mike Sheron was to join us during the summer break our own version of SAS,not Sutton and Shearer,but Spencer and Sheron.What a disappointment Sheron turned out to be.Anyway,during our chat I discovered John only lived half a mile from me in Farnham Common,Bucks.After returning from Portugal we met up a couple of times round his house and shared a few beers in his custom made den/TV room watching football and sports on his massive TV.Lovely guy.

[klonk]

... or does it?

Charlie Austin fears £15m price-tag is putting off potential buyers
- Queens Park Rangers goalscorer will plead with club bosses to cut his transfer fee as he fears being priced out of a move from relegated Londoners

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...al-buyers.html

[Hove Ranger]

... or does it?

Charlie Austin fears £15m price-tag is putting off potential buyers
- Queens Park Rangers goalscorer will plead with club bosses to cut his transfer fee as he fears being priced out of a move from relegated Londoners

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...al-buyers.html

There isnt any direct quotes from Charlie so am sceptical but I would be disappointed in him if this was true

[Stanley]

There isnt any direct quotes from Charlie so am sceptical

Exactly. No quotes, so probably made up BS from a lazy editor just looking for something to help fill a page.

[Del]

... or does it?

Charlie Austin fears £15m price-tag is putting off potential buyers
- Queens Park Rangers goalscorer will plead with club bosses to cut his transfer fee as he fears being priced out of a move from relegated Londoners

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...al-buyers.html

There's over 2 months of the window to go yet.... Yeah, let's panic because he's not been sold already and lower our demands... Utter ######. We need to stick to our guns on this because in the market for strikers he's worth at least £15m.... Young, English, proven in the prem.

[brightonr]

Can't imagine Charlie pleading to us for a second. Usual made up paper talk with no substance.

I think the thing to do now is to give him and any potential new club a week to agree a deal that meets our valuation or he stays. Quite simple really.

We should be grateful for what he has done for us, but we don't owe him anything. Same as he should be grateful to us for what we have done for his career, when others weren't prepared to. He owes us nothing either, other than to see out his contract or move to a club he finds acceptable, provided they meet our asking price. We had to meet Burnley's after all.

[Hove Ranger]

Can't imagine Charlie pleading to us for a second. Usual made up paper talk with no substance.

I think the thing to do now is to give him and any potential new club a week to agree a deal that meets our valuation or he stays. Quite simple really.

We should be grateful for what he has done for us, but we don't owe him anything. Same as he should be grateful to us for what we have done for his career, when others weren't prepared to. He owes us nothing either, other than to see out his contract or move to a club he finds acceptable, provided they meet our asking price. We had to meet Burnley's after all.

Completely agree Brighton. Neither parties owe each other anything so if we value him at £15 mill then we should stick to it. We have done as much for his career as he has done for us.

[Jimmy Floyd Rabbit]

Remy got sold a day before the window closed. He'll go. And he'll go for what we want, not what him, his agent or any other football club wants him to go for.

We call the shots for once on this one.

[Burnside]

Remy got sold a day before the window closed. He'll go. And he'll go for what we want, not what him, his agent or any other football club wants him to go for.

We call the shots for once on this one.

As long as we don't buckle on the last day and shoot ourselves in the foot again.

[1QPRDK]

Remy got sold a day before the window closed. He'll go. And he'll go for what we want, not what him, his agent or any other football club wants him to go for.

We call the shots for once on this one.

[qprted]

i think

i think he will sell for 20 million in the end

[vanhoop]

Remy got sold a day before the window closed. He'll go. And he'll go for what we want, not what him, his agent or any other football club wants him to go for.

We call the shots for once on this one.

Burnley said that when Charlie was on his way to hull Jim.

[Jimmy Floyd Rabbit]

With all due respect Van Burnley would of desperately needed that cash. We don't. FFP or not our owners are minted and we have learned a lot from getting burnt fingers the last few years. The last thing they'll do is sell our prize asset for under our valuation. Just won't happen.

Charlie will want to go, fair enough. It can be argued he's earned his right to top flight football, but NOT at our expense. If he goes, it's at our price. I'm sure Les would of made that perfectly clear to him and his agent and any potential suitors.

[dsqpr]

With only Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane and Diego Costa ahead of Austin in last season’s Premier League scoring chart, QPR believe their valuation of Austin is fair.

Aguero, Kane and Costa would all fetch well over £30m, while Aston Villa are demanding £32.5m for Christian Benteke, who scored five fewer goals than Austin.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...al-buyers.html


If Benteke is worth £32.5m then Charlie is worth a helluva lot more than £15m!

The other teams have us pegged as mugs and are now just playing the usual negotiating game, pretending they don't really want an 18 goal scorer and the price is too high anyway. We finally seem to be playing a decent game ourselves and just sitting tight while they posture - when we know very well that everybody very much wants to add an 18 goal scorer to their team! We need to stay the course and we will get a fair price for Charlie - or his goals next season, it matters not.

And if Charlie really wants to go, and I believe he does, then all he needs to do is sign a new multi-year contract. This would not only at least double his wages for the next year in case we can't work out a deal (assuming we are willing to pay him what he is now worth) but would also instantly increase his PRICE in the transfer market, making it much more likely that we will get our valuation for him this summer and he will get the move he wants. The new contract could include a release clause for £15m (plus whatever add-ons we want, and there ought to be some rather significant ones!) but it would need to be active only until about mid-July, to make sure we don't get stuck in another Remy-like situation. Then it would be up to him and his agent to get him a move.