goon wrote:
I donāt think anyone is saying that at all. What folks are saying is donāt let Ā£150m worth of talent leave on a free.
People are allowed to change their minds, especially when the environment changes. I wanted us to hold onto Sanchez at all costs but that turned out to be an enormous mistake. In the meantime most clubs doing well with our profile sell when they have to and reinvest.
It is easy to be wise after the event. Cashing in on Ā£150m worth of talent would mean selling your best players when they are at the peak of their powers. It would mean accepting Ā£50 million from Chelsea when they pursued Henry, or Ā£60 million from Man City for Sanchez. Taking up such offers would undermine any ambitions we have for major honours.
The reality is that we are in a predicament. We have more money than Liverpool and Tottenham, so adopting a selling mentality is an inferior strategy best left for clubs without access to large capital, who require outgoings to fund acquisitions. On the other hand, we can't spend as much as Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea, so we are unable to add freely to an already bolstered squad.
Keeping our most valuable assets past their sell by date is perfectly fine. All big clubs do this. Where we have room for improvement is managing players who quite clearly aren't going to become major players for us, and turning them over to fund new recruits. If Mustafi had secured his move to Inter Milan after his first season at the club, we may already have an able replacement in his place, and wouldn't need to budget a chunk of our summer budget towards a new CB.
