jones wrote:
Ricky1985 wrote:
It means we can't sell him because no club wants to pay a reasonable price for him, and we want to protect any remaining value he does have - and Xhaka isn't signing unless it suits him, so a small wage bump is necessary.
We might not be able to get the £20-25m we want for him now, but will still be able to get £10-15m for him a year from now, when he would otherwise have zero value (or little value if he has 2 years left at this point?).
I think we should take the hit and sell him for the piddly amount Roma are no doubt offering, but as much as I can't stomach having to watch another year of him, I don't doubt for a second that the guy is not a £10m player, even in this depressed market. And selling him next year will be easier when, it seems a reasonable assumption, the market will have recovered somewhat.
As Ray said though Arteta didn't care about getting a reasonable fee or paying a reasonable price when he dumped Mustafi or Özil or got in White. He didn't care when he publicly ruined Guendouzi's market value and he doesn't care that he's doing the same thing to Saliba right now. Now all of a sudden with 28 year old Xhaka, who's had a good tourney, he's concerned that Roma are only offering 15m and extends his contract with a pay rise because he believes he'll get more than 15m when he'll be a month shy of 30 at the start of next season? Some serious acrobatics you need to pull off to arrive to that conclusion.
No reason to think the market will recover to the extent we would need to get the fee Xhaka's worth. We're just absolutely horrible at selling, which definitely needs fixing but we're not getting there by extending Xhaka. And either way - you were the one who insisted that money is an absolute afterthought for you when people were slamming the club for the 50m+ we paid for White, even if I agree with you that Xhaka is worth more than 10m you can't have it both ways.
I said I'd sell him. I'd happily give him away because all I care about is bad players out and good players in. But I'm not running the football club.
Özil was near useless, as was Mustafi, that's why they were pushed out - they were international players not getting near the team because they were crap and they had to go. Guendouzi had such value he went to Hertha Berlin last summer when anyone could have bid for him, and went to Marseille this summer when he was available for an apparent bargain. And we spent big money on Ben White because Arteta clearly thinks he's excellent.
These things are not the same as Xhaka because he is not totally useless and Roma are not offering £15m.
Whilst I would do something different re Xhaka, all I'm saying is it seems to make sense for the club to extend his contract, protect any value he does have or might potentially have, and keep him happy, if he's going to stay because Roma are skint and taking the piss, which we both know they undoubtedly are.
