Colby Bishop Transfer Value

[Jack_Tinn]

I will start by saying I don't think Pompey should be selling Colby Bishop this summer unless someone offers a deal that is too good to turn down. But, every player has their price and I could understand if a Championship club came in for him that he would want to consider it for his own career development purposes.

So, my question is: What do you think is the minimum transfer value that Pompey should accept this summer for Colby Bishop?

If you can provide examples of other transfers to justify your valuation that would be really interesting too.

Just a few info points for reference: Jayden Stockley went from Exeter to Preston for £750k, Mo Eisa went from League 2 Cheltenham to Championship Bristol City for £1.35m, Ivan Toney went from L1 Peterborough to Championship Brentford for £5m in 20/21. I don't think Bishop is as good as Toney but market valuations have not softened in the last couple of years and strikers with 20+ goals a season are always in high demand.

I think Bishop is a better player for the Championship that either Stockley or Eisa were (and Eisa was moving from L2 too) so I think I'd place his value as the mid point between Eisa and Toney and that puts him about £3m. If I were Pompey I would be asking for perhaps £4m and let a club negotiate me down to £3m but that would be the price at which I would walk away. Not least because if he has another 20+ season in 23/24 then he would at least maintain his value and he may have just helped Pompey get promoted to the Championship.

What are your thoughts?

[Sam_Brown]

I’m at the point we need to start holding onto our best players. Not selling them every year and having to rebuild again.

[jam tomorrow]

I’m at the point we need to start holding onto our best players. Not selling them every year and having to rebuild again.

I agree otherwise we are back to square one each time but as has been said if we receive a crazy offer. We would be mad not to accept it my gut feeling is anything above £4 million would take serious thoughts.

[Blue Walter]

I agree with all the above, but then I have been saying that for quite a while. I agree something in the region of £4 million would have to be considered but we need to build round our best players if the club is really intent on promotion. By turning down offers for our best players is a statement of intent but also the same as buying quality players.

[Milton End]

Thanks Jack - thoughtful post.

However, I would like the club to take a broader view. If we could recruit a few more skilled players over the summer, then I would like to keep Bishop - regardless of any offer - however tempting.

My reasoning is that we have been long enough in Division 1. PFC needs to be at least in the Championship and the loss of Bishop will reduce the chances of achieving this. Our club needs to be more ambitious.

Moreover, the financial payoff of a secure Championship place over several years should more than compensate for a mere £4 million short term gain on the sale of Bishop. [Though it has to be said that several Championship clubs are financially stretched.]

Hence, we need to see who will be recruited and who will leave before we agree to sell Bishop - even for a massive fee.

[NSRailings]

Yes, hold on too him. Unless he really wants to leave, then get as much as we can. I think we've sold past players far too cheaply recently. We need to build a squad to challenge.

[Blue Walter]

I will start by saying I don't think Pompey should be selling Colby Bishop this summer unless someone offers a deal that is too good to turn down. But, every player has their price and I could understand if a Championship club came in for him that he would want to consider it for his own career development purposes.

So, my question is: What do you think is the minimum transfer value that Pompey should accept this summer for Colby Bishop?

If you can provide examples of other transfers to justify your valuation that would be really interesting too.

Just a few info points for reference: Jayden Stockley went from Exeter to Preston for £750k, Mo Eisa went from League 2 Cheltenham to Championship Bristol City for £1.35m, Ivan Toney went from L1 Peterborough to Championship Brentford for £5m in 20/21. I don't think Bishop is as good as Toney but market valuations have not softened in the last couple of years and strikers with 20+ goals a season are always in high demand.

I think Bishop is a better player for the Championship that either Stockley or Eisa were (and Eisa was moving from L2 too) so I think I'd place his value as the mid point between Eisa and Toney and that puts him about £3m. If I were Pompey I would be asking for perhaps £4m and let a club negotiate me down to £3m but that would be the price at which I would walk away. Not least because if he has another 20+ season in 23/24 then he would at least maintain his value and he may have just helped Pompey get promoted to the Championship.

What are your thoughts?

I actually rate Eisa because I think he is a good player as an out & out striker. He knows how to score against us, that's for sure. I think him and Bishop would make a fearsome pairing at this level. I am not so sure I see Bishop as a Championship player but, there again, if he is a top League One player he should be OK in the next level up.

[Sam_Brown]

Great topic.

I feel my views on the way forward have changed recently. To date I’ve been very much “trust the process” and “the owners have a long term plan” but I’m getting fed up with the constant rebuilding of the team and giving managers time to settle in.

My head definitely still says it’s important to get the foundations in place for a future with strong foundations in regards to the stadium, academy and training grounds. I have no issues with that being part of the long term strategy whatsoever.

This topic has really made me realise my main frustration is with letting good players go and the constant rebuild. Yes you might make a couple of mil but you still need to use that to get the right players in and give them time to form a “team” rather than a bunch of individuals. I feel we still have the good foundations of a team and we should build upon that and not sell the good players to bring in more players that may or may not produce the performances we need. I appreciate sometimes when a player wants to go you have no choice but I feel a lot of the players we’ve sold don’t fall into that category.

I’ve definitely had run ins with some of the more vocal supporters on the board but I think I now realise my issues in many case have been more around how they go about making their points rather than the underlying points they are trying to make.

I wonder if this is an age thing and the more time you see the club in mid table mediocrity the less patient you become.

I definitely don’t want to see the club become financially unviable but at the same time I feel my patience growing thinner and thinner with every transfer window, new manager and rebuild of the team and would like to see the club do more.

I’m not sure if it’s possible for those two views to co-exist at the same time. It’s probably a heart vs head thing and I’m definitely getting exhausted by using my head over my heart in recent seasons.

Just rambling now. Thanks for listening.

[Jack_Tinn]

interesting responses. I don't think the club should sell Bishop. A striker capable of leading the line and scoring 20+ goals is not an easy find for most teams and I agree we should be building around Bishop and not looking to cash in his talent. I am pleased that everyone so far seems to agree that we should not sell him this off-season.

I find it interesting though to know at what financial value would we all reluctantly agree that wat was on offer was too good to turn down and that the club should take the money. The view so far seems to be that £4m and above is the point to 'take the money' .

feels about right to me. I look forward to seeing what others think

[PeteM]

Really thoughtful OP and a good thread with some very balanced responses.

I'd absolutely prefer to keep Bishop and build around him. It feels like we have a bit of an opportunity next season, with two of the sides relegated into the Championship having some financial issues.

To respond to Sam's point, I think it's definitely possible for your two views to co-exist at the same time - I can totally empathise with that position because I see it a similar way. The long term strategy is totally aligned with my view on how the club should look to build with solid foundations. The frustration is with the short term failure to get out of the division. I don't think we're a million miles away, and my head says that if we can recruit well this summer (about 5 quality players for this level added to retaining what we've got), we've got a good chance to be well in the mix. My heart has heard that Messi is available on a free this summer and would like to dream

Might be a slightly different question, but I think the club would probably start seriously considering offers at around £2.5m, even if we'd like to see a higher fee. A lot would also depend on whether the player is happy to stay, or wanted to go - assuming it's the former, I'd fully expect him to be a Pompey player next season.

[Blue Walter]

This is what annoyed me so much about Cowley's vision of signing 'assets' that can be sold on for profit. I know he was talking about young players mainly but if the club are serious about promotion these so called assets should be assets for our team. There is of course an argument that the sale of one player can transform a team, as it has for us in the past, but generally speaking a team full of good players will be successful. I agree our team is not far off being a good team with the players we have got already, but imagine how many goals Bishop, and other strikers, could have got if we had players that can create chances for them.

This board seems to be in full agreement so far, but it is not that long ago that I was lambasted for suggesting we should keep our best players. I was given lectures on how football finance worked. I wonder if we would have done better had we have kept Harness instead of selling him to a rival. I think we would have done a fair bit better this season had we kept him.

[Sam_Brown]

I remember having that discussion with someone. May have been you. My thoughts were around if a big offer came in for a player like we’re talking with Bishop here. I often used the fact we sold Crouch for stupid money which essentially financed our promotion season in 03 as a prime example of how it could work out well for the club.

With Cowley I never really saw any scope for the players we got in during his tenure to go on and be worth silly money so I was against it in that regard.

I am curious as to what players people feel like we have sold in the last 3 or 4 years that were a good sale and helped finance the club to strengthen the club. Maybe some of those helped us to get Bishop in. I honestly don’t know. I feel like I’ve zoned out of the last few transfer windows to be honest.

I do feel a lot of these topics are nuanced (which is why I love this topic so much) and as a bunch of obviously passionate fans sometimes that goes out of the window when things get a bit heated.

I do find it ironic that we didn’t sell Curtis at the time for a whack and he’s not really played much for us in the last two seasons.

Edit: I did just check. Apparently he did play a load last season. I really didn’t realise that

[Pompey1984+1]

I'm not convinced he's championship material, certainly not a club with aspirations over and above scrapping to stay up.

Does he have one or two years left on his contract?

[Sawbo Blue]

For me it all depends on whether there is a good plan for reinvesting the proceeds in the squad. Like the Crouch proceeds were used to being in a cornerstone signing (Merson) and others of real quality, if Bishop's sale allows us to bring in a big fish (Matt Ritchie maybe?) to help attract one or two others, then that's a roll of the dice I can understand and support. Otherwise, unless he is going to down tools unless he's let go (but he doesn't come across like that kind of person), makes no sense to sell, as ultimately the team will be poorer for it, as it seems we've finally found a very good striker for this league.

[Dinksy]

Hang on to him all all costs but you can't stop him if he wants to go and can't blame him for wanting to further his career if it's at a higher level.
In those circumstances I agree that the £4m mark would be about right to let him go - but only if HE wants the move. All very well talking about what you could buy for £4m but I'm a strong believer in a bird in the hand....