I’m not stressed. It’s January 25th. Transfer window closes in 6 days. We don’t have a game for a week and a half. Chelsea and United have bought their strikers, and nobody else has been sniffing around Aubameyang. There is no need to put ourselves under undue time pressure. That’s one of the first rules of negotiation. That’s the easiest and fastest way to give up value. As things stand, there is no need to panic. We have a team on the ground. Offers are being made in what appears a predictable fashion.
The £50m that Dortmund have communicated they want is a public stance, and our bids are meant to feel out what their lowest acceptable valuation of the man is. If we had gone in on Sunday and paid £50m, we could have thrown away money without knowing. That’s poor financial stewardship. We upped the original bid by about 2,5m pounds. We also need to work out what they value the most - more money, earlier receipt of payments, higher potential upside linked to his success, or maybe even working out a loan deal for Giroud. There are so many ways to close the gap to 50m pounds without throwing in another pound, and it is worth taking the time to play around with the offer a bit to understand what is most valuable rather than just tossing money at Dortmund.
Plus the men who are there are charged with scouting and negotiations. Apart from Gazidis, whose cost to the club is about 4000 pounds a day, then the trade off staying the week and doing this properly is completely worth it.
