From:
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/destination-unknown-for-sigurdsson-family-as-indemand-gylfi-plots-his-next-move-7901840.html"
Sigurdsson arrived at Reading on trial in 2005 with a mission to follow in the footsteps of fellow Icelandic stars Ivar Ingimarsson and Brynjar Gunnarsson.
Steve Coppell's scouting team was then headed by none other than Brian McDermott. Four years later, and by coincidence, the now Royals chief had the chance to work with Sigurdsson in the first team after Rodgers was sacked just six months into the job.
Sigurdsson, who had undertaken loan spells at Shrewsbury Town and Crewe Alexandra, took off, scoring 21 goals in 44 games that season as Reading reached the FA Cup quarter-finals and narrowly missed out on the Championship play-offs.
By the end of the season he was voted the club's player of the season, but then Hoffenheim called in August 2010 and offered Reading a fee in the region of £6.5million.
After a good start in Germany, scoring ten goals in just 13 starts, injury curtailed his first season in the Bundesliga. In truth, he found it hard to get back into the starting team until Rodgers called to set up his loan move to Wales in January, where he didn't look back with seven goals in 18 appearances for the Swans.He seems very 'stop, start'. Scored in a burst initially for Hoffenheim but couldn't replicate that form on his return from injury. New start on loan at Swansea and he does the same.
There seems to be a big gap between his flying start at Hoffenheim and going on loan for the second half of last season, at least half the 2010/11 season and then the first half of the 2011/12 season.
So would Swansea be the burst and then he 'continues' with us having lost the momentum and form or will we get a good half season or season followed by a 'drop off' when he can't achieve a starting place and becomes just another making up the squad numbers.
Maybe he'd maintain his form in a settled enviroment or would we suffer if he picks up an injury of some sort like at Hoffenheim?
Whoever he signs for will be his fourth club in 4 seasons. That and his inconsistent runs of form mean it's sensible not to offer him wages in the 60k-90k bracket but in the 20k-45k bracket and let him prove he's worth more over two seasons.
Apparently, we haven't been able to agree a fee with Hoffenheim for some reason. It's rumoured because they are asking for much more than they had agreed with Swansea.
What is apparent is that clubs and players appear to ask for more when we're involved than for example when Spurs and Arsenal are.
We have a long held reputation of paying out large fees (unlike Arsenal) and top end salaries (unlike Spurs with their sensible salary cap).
Clubs and players appear not to try it on with those two, clubs with fees when Arsenal are involved and players with salaries (especially) when Spurs are involved.
Spurs, under Levy, have reigned in their spending, and now have a reputation for paying mid-level fees and wages. A policy which has still seen them attract some top players and be more successful in the last 3 seasons than us, whilst their policy has been running for longer and becoming more established.
In other words, it hasn't affected them.
We need to become a club that has a reputation for producing it's own like Ajax, Barcelona, West Ham (have done in the past), paying 'value for money' fees like Arsenal, having a lower (than now), unbreakable wage structure (like Spurs) and gaining maximum value when selling (like Arsenal and Barca) - asking absolute top money for players other clubs want (but we don't want to sell), inserting buy back clauses in the better youngsters we sell and inserting sell-on clauses in every player we sell, no matter their age or at least all the under 30s.