Is it time to consider selling Kebé?

[facaldaqui]

It might seem a strange moment to suggest this, but I think Jimmy's recent lay off has played a part in unsettling the team. It seems to me he has such regular injuries that he is only as valuable as his best replacement. It's been the same story every season: he has often been out just when we need him, and that is starting to get on my nerves. It's not so much that he is injury prone, maybe, as that he is injury sensitive--the sort of player who is physically right only when mentally right. (I think if he feels less than 100%, he's in the wrong frame of mind to play at his lacerating best.) It always seems to take him longer than expected to recover; so as long as he is number one on that wing, we seem fated to be under-strength for a significant number of games each season, with the manager too often hanging on his selection till the last minute.

I'm a massive fan of Jimmy's--he's a legend, a character, and a finer player than Robson-Kanu or McCleary. But maybe it is better for team consistency to play someone 80% as good for 100% of the time than someone 100% good for 80% (or less) of the time and keep having to rejig the starting lineup. Finally, might this close season be a good juncture to consider whether our rigid wing-at-all-costs strategy has now become a straitjacket?

[AthleticoSpizz]

sell em all for all i'm bothered, we are on the dawning of a new era

[CayeneMatt]

Agree that he's always been a bit of a sicknote but having read your post twice, I fail to see your point. So, No.

[RoyalTank]

seem to be getting rid of most at the moment so why not.

[yappy]

5 goals in 16 games this season, probably one of our only players who is genuinely good enough for the Premiership. His injuries are frustrating of course, but I fail to see how removing one of our best players would be beneficial.

[facaldaqui]

Agree that he's always been a bit of a sicknote but having read your post twice, I fail to see your point. So, No.

My point is that his injuries seem to occur at crucial points every season, the present moment being one of them. Too often, when the chips are down, Jimmy is not there for us.

[Reading4eva]

How dare you blaspheme! Kebe is Reading through and through... He gives a toss! I want him here for another 5 years minimum!

Managers come and go but Jimmy is for life

[Royal With Cheese]

Same shit any other team has to cope with.

[facaldaqui]

5 goals in 16 games this season, probably one of our only players who is genuinely good enough for the Premiership. His injuries are frustrating of course, but I fail to see how removing one of our best players would be beneficial.

I don't see how you can get consistency if one of our best players cannot be relied upon to play for a whole season.

[RoyalBlue]

Shouldn't sell him but should try to sign someone as good and view Kebe as more of a squad player due to his frequent injuries.

[sandman]

There is a possibility that he may not want to stay. BM has been a massive influence on him here and his man management of him has seen Jimmy's best form in a Reading shirt.

[Ouroboros]

Yeah Bryn's gone, Brian's been taken out the back and put out of his misery, Di Canio is goosestepping his way into the vacancy, might as well sell Kebe just to complete the journey into hell.

[SLAMMED]

No.

[Royal91]

As much as we love Kebe he isn't good enough and he is always injured

[Rex]

As much as we love Kebe he isn't good enough and he is always injured

Look where he was and where he is now. His injury problems are a vicious circle. He appeared to come back too early against Everton and a fairly innocuous turn did him again. Lol at saying he's not good enough for this league.

[Arch]

To be honest, Rex, he's not as good as people say he is. We always inflate our favourites way beyond what they really are - Kebe, Long, ALF, etc. He has good feet and he's quick, but he doesn't really have the head of good Premiership players. Give him the ball for more than two or three seconds and you just know you'll end up with either a run down a blind alley or a hit-and-hope cross. We really have no one who has enough sense of what's going on around them to be consistently relied on to put the ball in a dangerous place in the box.

[Jackson Corner]

When we are down he will go to West Ham or Cardiff. Apart from Feds our only prem qaulity player.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

I'm with arch on this, never rated the guy. Fast yes, sadly that is his main skill.

[Arch]

I'm with arch on this, never rated the guy. Fast yes, sadly that is his main skill.

I wouldn't say I don't rate him. He's entertaining and surprisingly hard-working, but for any other Premiership team he'd be an occasional.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Okay let's say he could just be a bit better, like gilkes. Just missing something, or would be our giggs