Alessandra off?

Apologies if posted elsewhere but the Herald is speculating that out of contract Lewis Alessandra is attracting interest from Bury and Walsall. The Herald has spoken to sources at the club who don't think he'll re-sign with us anyway as his family is based in the North West-

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He is 99.9% certain to be off. Unless Shezza or whoever can give a pep talk of such brilliance that he changes his mind in the meantime which i dont think would work either.

Brent might give him a pay rise 

Not to sure if he's a big loss or not, but if he wants to go then he can jog on and we'll move on as well

I think we'll be lucky to keep any of our decent players

I don't think so, I think our club is held in higher esteem in the football world than what we think

Overrated. Cheers for the service Lewi and bye bye you perennial name searcher!

If he doesnt want to play here I say what I say every time in this situation - you are history to me!!

We will miss him up front. I dont think we can easliy replace someone that would do all the work up front to allow reuben to finish.

His stock will be fairly high after being one half of a prolific striking partnership so I would imagine that now would be the time for him to cash in with a move closer to home, so it would be no surprise if he did move back up North.
I liked him, I thought he was a cut above most of your usual League two donkeys, but then again over the years I've liked quite a few players who've moved on to another club, and somehow Argyle has managed without them, so I won't be mourning the loss if he does go.

As I've said before, you could never question his effort or workrate, however his decision making and finishing made him very frustrating to watch in about 8 out of every 10 games, I suppose that's why he's playing in League 2 and not the Championship. Thanks for your service and good luck for the future, it's nailed on that you'll score against us somewhere down the line.

Would be sad to see him go. Good servant for the club and his goals have been important.

Chances are we won't get like for like if he does go but someone less able.

Mr. President Angry wrote:

We will miss him up front. I dont think we can easliy replace someone that would do all the work up front to allow reuben to finish.

Alessandra scored more from open play (I.e. Without Reuben's penalties) so who is the real 'finisher'?

I personally don't think Alessandra will be TOO hard to replace.

There's a ready made player in fact. His name is Zak Ansah. Aggressive intentions, creative, fast and can finish.

And another club's player.

He is not ready for Championship football yet, which means Charlton likely to either realise this and let him go, or loan him out again. Judging by his twitter he would be keen to return. Same for Bobby Reid.

ejh wrote:

He is not ready for Championship football yet, which means Charlton likely to either realise this and let him go, or loan him out again. Judging by his twitter he would be keen to return, as will Bobby Reid.

Alessandra is a good player, but he is (without this being too harsh a criticism) replaceable. The issue of our ability to actually replace him however is questionable; are we financially able to truly replace him. During the time he's spent here we've only had 2 other strikers that have come in that would challenge him for a starting birth, Zak Ansah and Caolan Lavery - both were young wildcard loanees. Lavery came in and made a fantastic impact, the issue being however that he wasn't our player and we had him in our squad for about eight matches (if that). Ansah, while he wasn't recalled, he was only with us for a short period of time. Loanees are unreliable, take O'Connor and Bobby Reid for example, both ever-presents in last season's side (are we referring to 14/15 as last season yet?) yet the team suffered due to an, at times uncertain, in-out situation of their loan spell here. If we're serious about challenging, and Sheridan would like Bobby Reid and Zak Ansah back in the squad (which would be a good thing in my opinion) then the club has a duty to ensure that they are both contracted to us for the season - no bullshit recall clause, we need committed players - because while Lewi lacked consistency, he never lacked commitment and that needs replacing as much as ability.

To be fair, what player in history has been able to resist the pull of Bury or Walsall?

Sigh.

SwimWithTheTide wrote:

ejh wrote:

He is not ready for Championship football yet, which means Charlton likely to either realise this and let him go, or loan him out again. Judging by his twitter he would be keen to return, as will Bobby Reid.

Alessandra is a good player, but he is (without this being too harsh a criticism) replaceable. The issue of our ability to actually replace him however is questionable; are we financially able to truly replace him. During the time he's spent here we've only had 2 other strikers that have come in that would challenge him for a starting birth, Zak Ansah and Caolan Lavery - both were young wildcard loanees. Lavery came in and made a fantastic impact, the issue being however that he wasn't our player and we had him in our squad for about eight matches (if that). Ansah, while he wasn't recalled, he was only with us for a short period of time. Loanees are unreliable, take O'Connor and Bobby Reid for example, both ever-presents in last season's side (are we referring to 14/15 as last season yet?) yet the team suffered due to an, at times uncertain, in-out situation of their loan spell here. If we're serious about challenging, and Sheridan would like Bobby Reid and Zak Ansah back in the squad (which would be a good thing in my opinion) then the club has a duty to ensure that they are both contracted to us for the season - no bullshit recall clause, we need committed players - because while Lewi lacked consistency, he never lacked commitment and that needs replacing as much as ability.

Totally agree. However if Charlton fully believe in Ansah then they won't let him go easily. Maybe persuaded with a raft of clauses.

Seeing as good quality League Two players with talent are hard to come by, it is a bit of a strange one we are letting Banton go. Will we get a contracted winger in as good as he was in the last three games? Surely worth a 12 month, low wage contract offer at the very least. I have no idea where Banton's confidence and hunger went but he definitely looked like he was back and had plenty still to offer.

Banton requested to leave....so not offered a new contract.

Charlton's programme (v Bournemouth) suggested that Zak Ansah still has an important future at the Valley......they do use imported players from their owners Belgium base......so they may allow him to go out on loan again.....but might prefer a Div 1 club this time....just my thought on the matter.....progression towards Championship football it would make sense.....but we would definately have him back wouldn't we.

Still a slight question mark about Sheridan returning from going home after the Wycombe match.....just a little quiet on that front.....can he do anymore....I'm not sure.

Just thinking about Bobby Reid...

I'm surprised that Bristol City offered him a contract for a number of reasons.

Firstly there's the Cotterill Factor. He likes his players big and physical. BReid is neither of those. Secondly he didn't seem all that close to the 1st XI in Div 1 so he's unlikely to get much closer in the CCC. Thirdly even though he has done well for us he hasn't sparkled consistently enough and when he has he hasn't really had that much impact - even in Div 2.

Don't get me wrong. I think he's a good, very good Div 2 player, he's on the up and he's been an important player for us - and he'd be a good player to sign on for next season if we can get him back again - but I don't see him figuring much in Cotterill's planning or getting much opportunity up there and he isn't going to be very sellable given his relatively few 1st XI (anywhere) appearances.

I'm very puzzled by this one.

I don't think he was offered a new contract, I believe his current contract runs until summer 2016 - so maybe a mutual agreement could be met to transfer him over to us on a free. Offloading one of their wages and gaining us a classy player.

Ahhhh. I see.

He's got to be very near the top of Sheridan's shopping list, then.

Get it done, Jimmy boy! And get it done quick before someone else does.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Just thinking about Bobby Reid...

I'm surprised that Bristol City offered him a contract for a number of reasons.

Firstly there's the Cotterill Factor. He likes his players big and physical. BReid is neither of those. Secondly he didn't seem all that close to the 1st XI in Div 1 so he's unlikely to get much closer in the CCC. Thirdly even though he has done well for us he hasn't sparkled consistently enough and when he has he hasn't really had that much impact - even in Div 2.

Don't get me wrong. I think he's a good, very good Div 2 player, he's on the up and he's been an important player for us - and he'd be a good player to sign on for next season if we can get him back again - but I don't see him figuring much in Cotterill's planning or getting much opportunity up there and he isn't going to be very sellable given his relatively few 1st XI (anywhere) appearances.

I'm very puzzled by this one.

He is a very good player but he is terrible at shooting on target, ruins his input on a game for me at times.

Having said what I initially said, Alessandra will be a loss. In these last two seasons he has been fit for virtually every game, puts in a decent shift at right midfield, on the wing or up front. He has good feet, balance, pace and does some good finishes (among his bad ones). A versatile and hard working player that is actually worth a decent wage.

Good luck to him even if he chooses to leave. I will be sorry to see him go, but at the same time I think Argyle are capable of finding a better striker. Alessandra will feel that acting as cover, a versatility player or moving back to a wing position will be regressing in his development. I can't see him starting up front (or even on the wing) at League One level - mind you, I couldn't see Paris Cowan Hall doing it either, and he totally exceeded what I thought of him.

If Lewis leaves, I hope he doesn't become a squad player and regret it.

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Bury not interested but the herald believes both Alessandra and O'Connor are not going to re sign... family reasons and a desire to play in league one.