Is Hutton irreplaceable?

[Danny 9]

So the transfer talk is starting to gather pace, with a number of vultures apparently keen. And why wouldn't they be? The guy is fast becoming the best RB on earth. He is certainly the best one in the UK and one of the best in Europe, and being only 22 he will only improve.

If we're talking about his value in terms of sheer ability, it has to be up there with his peers like Alves, who is valued at £22M or so. The only reason we suggest we'd get less for Hutton is that this is the SPL and not La Liga. But I don't buy that one bit; Ukraine is no La Liga either and Milan bought Shevchenko for £18M from Dynamo Kiev. And the SPL has sold many players for near £10M - Ferguson, GVB, JAB, Gordon, even Flo.

So with that in mind it is entirely possible Rangers could sell Hutton for a really mammoth fee, but the point is WHY?

If we sell him we need to replace him - and what RB in the world for £20M+ could we buy?! You will never see Rangers buy a player for that sum, but that would be required to replace Hutton's loss. Ergo, we would end up with a lot of money but a substantially inferior RB.

So, my point is thus; we cannot sell him because we cannot/will not replace him with a similar quality of player. If we sell him, we will damage the team.

[FlippinEck 3,702]

We could replace him with a good player for good money i reckon. If we continue our progress in the champions league, we could for a player similar to Faubert (remember that guy?) in terms of the league he plays in and the team he plays for, im talking about mid-top table serie a/la liga/ligue 1/bundesliga teams, maybe even dutch. I think your hyping hutton up too much, he is replacable.

[Leiper 0]

In my opinion, he is irreplaceable. We do not have any other right backs with half the quality of Hutton. Fair enough Whittaker runs with the ball but he has been absolute shite.

As for receiving 20m + for Hutton, I cannot see it happening. I understand that amount would only be logical, considering we rate him better or just as good as players like Alves but I cannot see other managers thinking that way. Instead it will be...Good, consistant young player with a lot of potential, but he plays in the SPL. Although a lot of money would be offered (I hope) I don't think it would be anything over 10m.

I'd hope that management would want to hold onto a player like Hutton rather than cashing in and to make do with an average right back.

You also have to ask the question however, if bigger and better teams were to come in for him...Would he want to stay? Hopefully Fergy or Ally have a word with him should a situation like this arise.

[Davy 68]

He is not irreplaceable.

He is a quality player, and one of the best right backs we have had in God knows how long.

However, were we to get a £10m+ transfer fee for him, I reckon we could bring in an attacking full-back capable of filling the void.

[bigmarvloyal 0]

Hutton is a good player with the ability to be a great player.

He needs to keep working on his game and he needs to work on consistency. He has been playing well for about 9 months now so long may that continue for nine years - like the true greats.

Irreplaceable? I wouldn't go that far. Do I want to replace him? Not a chance!

[McBoyd 355]

DO NOT SELL HIM RANGERS, im fed up with progressive players going and becoming great players and we go and waste the money some seasons later on capucho

[ScotBear 144]

I think he is irreplaceable in the sense that I don't think we would be able to bring in a player that comes close to matching how effective he has been for us.

Whether or not I would sell him depends on the fee. I wouldn't even consider a bit unless it was £10m. If we got that, then we would have to weigh up whether selling Hutton to bring in, for example, a £5m attacking midfielder and a £5m quality striker, would benefit the team more overall.

But to be honest, even then, I would probably still say no. We aren't capable of attracting top class players. I think the likes of Furman, Naismith and Stevie Lennon are potentially better players than anything we could attract for modest fees. So I would rather keep Hutton, and look to show a bit of faith in our other up and coming young players.

[Emerson 2]

We have had legends such as Butcher, Gough, McCoist, Gazza, Laudrup etc in recent years and even they were replaced so I think your initial statement of intent was a bit dramatic. He is a RB, and a good one at that, but it is a position that is hardly crucial to the core of the team. Its fair to say we have not had a quality RB since Gary Stevens, and we have gone on to much better things with the likes of Cleland, Porinni and Ricksen in that position even though not one of them was fit to lace Stevens boots.

If I was offered £10M for him, I would take it, give Whittaker a go in his natural position and spend the cash on a much needed class winger or attacking mid.

[ricksen_da_best 2,034]

whats the point in selling him..

if you went out and tried to get a good foriegn right back for the same price

[Danny 9]

We have had legends such as Butcher, Gough, McCoist, Gazza, Laudrup etc in recent years and even they were replaced so I think your initial statement of intent was a bit dramatic. He is a RB, and a good one at that, but it is a position that is hardly crucial to the core of the team. Its fair to say we have not had a quality RB since Gary Stevens, and we have gone on to much better things with the likes of Cleland, Porinni and Ricksen in that position even though not one of them was fit to lace Stevens boots.

If I was offered £10M for him, I would take it, give Whittaker a go in his natural position and spend the cash on a much needed class winger or attacking mid.

We never replaced any of the names you've quoted m8. MAYBE Butcher, but that was by Gough. No one ever replaced Gough.

Just as an aside, Porrini won the CL. Stevens never won a thing. Just being pedantic though, Stevens is the best RB we've ever had, certainly in the modern era, and Hutton appears to be currently every bit as good if not better.

It's like 'what would Stevens be worth today?'

Well the answer is whatever Hutton is.

As for crucial - well ask yourself this; how good would we be if we didn't have Hutton's marauding runs? He made mincemeat of McGeady and Naylor, hell the whole Celtic team, and performed heroics in our first 3 CL games.

I think he is entirely crucial to the team.

[Emerson 2]

How many successful team will claim that their RB was the most crucial and important player in their team? It doesnt matter how good or bad your RB is, you will still get success due to the players in the more important areas of the field. Hell, we even won trebles with Craig Moore at RB when he was starting out and decidedly pish.

The legends have not been replaced in terms of importance to the clugbs history, but how many of them managed to get to the last 16 of the Champs league? Hamed Namouchi has done that. Gazza hasnt.

[Airdriebear 0]

No one is bigger than the club and anyone can be replaced but i seriously feel if we did sell him we would not be allowed to spend the money needed to bring in a player of his quality, especially in this position.

On a sidenote though does anyone think that Hutton is starting to adopt a Ricksen style of play?

I have thought it for a few weeks now, Ricksen came to us as a right back and played very well there, then he was asked to play right mid and done this very well, however when asked to go back to his defensive duties he continued to go forward ignoring the duties asked of him. I can see Hutton doing the same on occasions, and before i get hung i am not saying he is doing it all the time just sometimes.

[mark_ni 12]

He is irreplaceable imo. We could get another right back no problem but we wouldnt get as good a one as hutton. Hes the best RB in the uk at the moment and one of the best in europe. I wouldnt sell him full stop but if we did i wouldnt accept anything less than £15m but i doubt we would ever get that amount for him. Probably more like £6-8m if we are lucky.

[Leiper 0]

How many successful team will claim that their RB was the most crucial and important player in their team?

How about when other parts of the squad aren't coping? Stuttgart, for example.

To be honest, we didn't play outstanding. We didn't shit all over them. I do think we deserved to win but there was no real motivation throughout the whole game unless Hutton was on the ball.

You may think the right back position is not crucial...But when you think of our current circumstances - Attacking players lack of creativity - and we have Hutton who can create things and run at defenders. Perhaps it's not crucial for all teams...But at the moment Hutton is crucial to Rangers playing right back.

[nvager 498]

Hutton is very good, but by no means irreplaceable. We will be lucky to get 7m for him anyway. Sell - I hope not, but the prices mentioned here are way over the top IMO.

He will STAY at Ibrox - I have no doubt of that.

[ScotBear 144]

You may think the right back position is not crucial...But when you think of our current circumstances - Attacking players lack of creativity - and we have Hutton who can create things and run at defenders. Perhaps it's not crucial for all teams...But at the moment Hutton is crucial to Rangers playing right back.

Agreed

[machine! 15]

I did keep finding myself saying give it to hutton the other night!

[donmac 0]

No player is irreplaceable but right now I would prefer not to have that worry. The guy has been amazing this season and what a turnaround from this time last season.

[ally62 393]

No way should we sell Hutton, he's got tp be up for player of the year......

[jimmckinlay 0]

He is not irreplaceable.

He is a quality player, and one of the best right backs we have had in God knows how long.

However, were we to get a £10m+ transfer fee for him, I reckon we could bring in an attacking full-back capable of filling the void.

Agree there mate.

[Bobby 41]

rangers will not be interested in selling.

hutton will not be interested in going - anywhere.

there is no-one better anywhere, so no, we cant replace him, but thats not going to be an issue.

[finzster 0]

I think everyone should stop and take a deep breath. To suggest that a team would pay 10 million for AH is ridiculous; a year ago most people on here wanted him punted and the maniac from manure to get a second chance in the RB slot!

AH needs to spend more time at Ibrox developing his game, proving that he can do it week in week out whilst improving.

I dont need to mention a certain RB from the other side of the city that was marauding through teams each week (incl against CL teams) only to be easily dealt with as he was found to be a 1 trick pony. The dhims were expecting mega million bids from all over Europe, only for wee deedee to be left on football's scrapheap.

AH needs to show that he can handle more aspects to his game, and adapt accordingly; and do it for a number of seasons. Only then will we see the mega bucks offers flooding in.

I think that the lad is absolute quality, but the EPL and the likes dont like our league, and very seldom do SPL exports prove VFM down there (mainly due to Shellick flops) - so AH would need to be a star consistently in the CL.

[fandangoman 0]

I think everyone should stop and take a deep breath. To suggest that a team would pay 10 million for AH is ridiculous; a year ago most people on here wanted him punted and the maniac from manure to get a second chance in the RB slot!

AH needs to spend more time at Ibrox developing his game, proving that he can do it week in week out whilst improving.

I dont need to mention a certain RB from the other side of the city that was marauding through teams each week (incl against CL teams) only to be easily dealt with as he was found to be a 1 trick pony. The dhims were expecting mega million bids from all over Europe, only for wee deedee to be left on football's scrapheap.

AH needs to show that he can handle more aspects to his game, and adapt accordingly; and do it for a number of seasons. Only then will we see the mega bucks offers flooding in.

I think that the lad is absolute quality, but the EPL and the likes dont like our league, and very seldom do SPL exports prove VFM down there (mainly due to Shellick flops) - so AH would need to be a star consistently in the CL.

amen, finaly someone starts making some sense.

[YankatOxford 0]

So nooowwwww we know why Walter bought Steve Whittaker

[brissyger 8]

Don't think we'd get anywhere near the amount some people are saying and the people who say Hutton would never leave, I'm not so sure. Nothing surprises me when it comes to players leaving small clubs and moving away for big money. Those who say he's irreplacable, another thing to bear in mind is if we turn down a huge offer for Hutton and he gets injured and is never the same we'll be kicking ourselves. It's not the same situation but remember Durrant, absolutely brilliant player and then he got injured and was never the same.