Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest | England)

If and when it does go through, then very well done to Woodsy.

Hoping with a bit more experience and a couple of solid seasons behind him over the past couple of years will stand him in good stead for the Premier League. A good team to suit his style of play as well I'd suggest - well coached, disciplined and have more of a direct style of play, which should be right up his alley. A step up in intensity and quality can only bode well for NZF and the All Whites in general. Good stuff.

I wonder if any Leeds United supporters will still be wearing their shirts at the All Whites games, I swear the game against Fiji there were just as many as there were fans wearing official All Whites shirts.

And some cracking comments from some upset Leeds supporters to accompany it.

Confirmed now he is going. All Whites striker returning to football's big time as his manager at Leeds confirms his sale to Burnley

Great to have a second kiwi in the premiership

Hope he finds the net early and keeps them up

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/95955084/chris-wood-deserves-his-move-to-burnley-but-now-the-hard-work-starts-again

Not good enough for the Premier League.

$25 million says you're wrong.

Value and ability are not the same.

Burnley will disagree with you on that one. I think he's good enough to be a decent striker for a lower end premier league club. 

Then what defines value in a footballer?

Premier League clubs buy players who are not good enough for the top flight regularly. 

He will get on the end of a few balls in and score a few, but ultimately don't think he is cut out technically for that level.

Also worth noting he is the same striker as Vokes, so offers nothing different to him up top, and is probably a lesser striker.

A withdrawal from the AW's coming up ?

There's a difference between a football team which is a billionaires play thing and nd Burnley who apparently have the poorest ownership group in the premier league (worth tens of millions not billions). If they spend a record transfer fee on Wood its because they plan to play him.

Just ask Pogba. Horrid first half against Swansea.

That would be Burnley, 44th most valuable club in world football, with a higher brand value than Sevilla and Ajax. Hardly struggling to cobble a few pennies together.

And i'm sure he will play but if starts up front with Vokes that is two strikers with the exact same style of play which simply won't work.

I hope he fu cking slays.

#fakeittillyamakeit

Yep, they're one of the EPL 20 but worth and value aren't the same thing ?

Scarcity? Who else was Burnley going to sign? Wood was one of the best strikers in the Championship last season. I think Wood could do well but he is a limited player. Doesn't create much for himself and is a real poacher.

Wood is good enough to be signed by a premier league club. Is he good enough to play 38 games and score around 15 goals? I'm doubtful but he has the chance to prove me wrong.

Well, he did have four assists last season.

4 assists in 40 odd games isn't that great a record.

True, you would know more than Burnley about his skills. They just spent a record fee on a player who isn't good enough for the league they play on. Silly them. 

We'll see in 6 months time. Fancy a wager on how many he'll score then pal? You sound confident.

If he starts enough games, then he's good enough to be there. He's a top championship/lower EPL quality player. That's not really a huge or controversial call given his record, and level of interest from clubs (One of which paid a record fee for him..)

When compared with other strikers who have made the jump as shown in the BBC article, his stats stack up.

Also, he's a different player to the one who had a few games as a 22 year old, or as an 18 year old. Vardy's record was worse than his at Championship level... different player, but people can make the step up.

Comparing 26yo Wood's record to 28yo Vokes' (and bearing in mind Vokes is in the middle of a run that is probably an outlier) I'd want Wood every day.

As a Leeds fan I'm gutted.  Can quite easily see the two clubs trading places on the football league pyramid next season.  We're also a bigger team then them hands down... still £15k a week is not to be scoffed at. :-(

15k? Isn't That what you guys were offering him in the improved 3 yr contract? I've seen reports he's on 20 to 30k at Burnley.

I thought he was on 20k a week when he first signed with Leeds

I think at that sort off price tag he would be on a minimum of 40k sterling a week

I disagree entirely. He is a striker. His job is to primarily score goals, or secondarily provide an effective outlet in the final third for attacks. If he gets starts or appearances off the bench then good on him, but you cannot say he is good enough to be there unless he actually contributes to the team in a positive fashion. If he doesn't, he is just another player given a chance who has shown to not be cut out for that level.

He may prove me wrong. Like i said i'm more than happy for a wager or two if people are confident he will succeed. I can donate money to a charity or your own bank account, whichever you choose. I don't see him having the ability to do well at Prem level. Championship yes, but not Prem.

He will do well to score 10 goals me thinks...Peter Crouch did well enough tho so if Burnley can change their style it may well work.  I see the signing as hoping to keep them up rather than make them do well.

Burnley are just making up the numbers and will sink, Chris Wood and all.

Burnley had 20 shots on goal v WBA and missed with all of them. This has not gone unnoticed. Wood will get game time next week v Spurs for sure.

First Kiwi to score at Wembley?