At last, the residents of Walsall can sleep easy at night, knowing that nasty Brentford will have to pay a transfer fee for Will Grigg. Until the cheque has cleared I doubt the Saddlers will be 100% content, however, at least the tribunal panel seemed to have grasped some perspective on the young striker’s value, and even if on current form £325,000 looks expensive, common sense seems to have won the day – much as Brentford did at Griffin Park when the two teams played earlier in the season.
Bees manager, Uwe Rosler, said that the club were, “happy with the outcome” and that “the panel were fair”, however the fee for the Northern Ireland international could rise significantly if he, and Uwe’s team, realise their full potential. Generous add-ons linked to appearances, promotion and a 20% sell-on clause could see Walsall receive double the initial sum.
Hopefully, now that a small cloud of uncertainty has evaporated from over Grigg’s head, the player can find the kind of form that his hefty fee warrants. Two goals in his home debut against Sheffield United underlined his poaching ability – but a niggling injury, an international break and some fairly indifferent performances since, mean that Bees supporters are hoping for a spike in form in the coming weeks following a disjointed start to his Brentford career.
As with so many other players that have pulled on the red and white stripes this season, we keep hearing or reading about the ‘potential’, the ‘magic’ and the ‘class’ this Brentford’s big squad apparently has in abundance – the team now need to put a run of results together that warrants the superlatives and praise.
Dave Lane
It really is worth re-reading these Walsall fan comments at the foot of this story, click here.