Dyche wants more for Mariappa

Watford manager Sean Dyche has mocked Newcastle United's bid for Adrian Mariappa and insists that he is looking for ten times what our reported initial bid was.

Newcastle had a bid rejected believed to be in the region of £750,000, so using some very rough mathematics I make ten times that amount to be £7.5m.

Dyche went on the attack in wake of Newcastle's bid for the 25-year-old and claims that his agent is trying to unsettle the player and force the move through. Watford currently sit in 18th place in the Championship just six point clear of the relegation zone.

“I could not tell you how far away from our valuation it is. My son has enough in his moneybox and I am not very rich. If clubs at our level are helping to develop players it is only fair the big clubs with all the money respect that,” said Dyche.

Dyche continued: “Unfortunately as you often get, the offer is nowhere near the valuation of players. That is the awkward side of the game now. We know certain teams will try to affect our players but we are not in a position where we have to sell."

“Two or three years ago we were, when we sold Tommy Smith and Mike Williamson. If that price reaches a certain level then a club like us will have to do it.”

"Rather than tickling us with offers which are nowhere near the player's worth, to try to provoke a reaction from us, we do not need to accept the first bid that comes along."

"When you think about Conor Wickham being sold for £7.5m, and Matt Mills going to Leicester for £5.5m, that's the going rate for players moving in and around our division, and we have to pitch in accordingly."

If Dyche is looking for the kind of prices paid for Wickham and Mills he'll be sorely disappointed. One has potential and was being watched by a lot of clubs while the other was a former England U18 and U19 player and was signed by Leicester to be their new Captain. They have a bit of pedigree.

Mariappa doesn't. At 25 he isn't going to improve a great deal. He doesn't have much Premier League experience and he's never exactly been sought after. He's not even a top Championship name.

I sincerely hope we don't go in for him again. Watford want far too much for him so I very much doubt we will make another bid anyway, but the fact is that there are plenty of other players in the "Mariappa" category that we could go after.

Now I suggest it's time we do so!