Quincy Abeyie wrote:
Sicario wrote:
We are Arsenal football club.
This time next year we may as well lose out on players to Brentford.
Isn't this Brentford's first ever PL season? As far as names go the distance between them and Aston Villa is much farther than between us and Aston Villa.
And I'm not saying we're not a big name, I'm saying that our big name doesn't mean we can offer worse financial terms both to Norwich and Buendia than Aston Villa did and expect a player to join us despite that just because our name is Arsenal.
But according to those reports there wasn't a material difference in the offers and it also doesn't sound like there was much in the way of negotiations. If Buendia really wanted to come here but wanted us to match the pay, it would have simply been drawn out longer. I mean the transfer window isn't even open yet, why the great rush?
Similarly from our point of view, if we really wanted Buendia why lose out because we want it structured differently? The narrative that it's down to money just doesn't wash with me.
If I had to put up a theory I'd say he'd not our first choice, we would have liked this to be drawn out but Villa knew their best chance of getting him was forcing it through quickly. From Buendia's perspective, if you know you're only a backup option, you go with the team who wants you most.
