Disclaimer: I don't think Brede Hangeland is going anywhere this month. I'm not convinced he's leaving in January, either. We're 7th in the league in Marginal Goals and Goal Difference, which is as good a predictor of future success as anything. That would likely put us in Europe, which is always a great selling point when recruiting (or trying to keep) players.

But that's not the point. What I want to know is, what happens if Real Madrid jumps in with a €20m bid? My previous post is encouraging. Chris Baird, in his limited action, has actually outperformed Hangeland. Being realistic, we know he's not going to keep that up, but let's say he settles at the midpoint between this season (.188 MGP per 90 minutes) and last (.083). That puts him around the level of the underrated Dejan Stefanovic, a level which would also be easily obtainable in the transfer market.

At this point in the season, Hangeland's defensive contribution is worth just over 1 win. By having Hangeland in the lineup instead of someone like Dean Leacock, we are 3 or 4 points better. That might not sound like much, but for a half season, that's a huge impact from a single outfield player. Surely, we can do better than a player of Leacock's ability. Let's say we replace Hangeland's .18 MGP per 90 minutes with Chris Baird's target MGP per 90 of .13. Over the remaining 19 games, that's a difference of 1 marginal goal prevented - about a single point the rest of the way for team like Fulham. I can live with that, but a long-term replacement would be ideal. Can Baird even keep pace at that level, equivalent to that of the outstanding Aaron Hughes? Will we suffer from the lack of a taller, more "dominant" centre half? The numbers can't really answer these questions, unfortunately. Fortunately, we can probably say that no one player's loss will doom us to relegation. No "I" in team, right?