banduan wrote:Regardless that I rate the guy, we need to be careful not to overspend. 60 mil is a bit much, we could possibly get better value elsewhere. E.g. isn't it possible to sign Locatelli for 60-70 mil?
I'd love a Castrovilli for £20-30 if possible. Guy is brilliant. Great age as well coming into his prime at only 23 or 24.
I'd be delighted with Maddison tbh, think he'd do well and would hit the ground running. I also reckon he could play alongside ESR in the midfield
-------Partey
-----ESR---Maddison
New winger-------Saka
-------Auba/Marti
Tasty
You clearly haven't been here enough lately Irish, we're all on the Pépé train now.
We finished 8th. We can't turn our noses at a quality player like Maddison. Of course we have to overpay because we are shit and its hard for good players to want to come.
If we can pull this off this would be a very good team to challenge top 4, not taking into account of our manager's ability.
-----------------Onana
Dumfries--White--Gabriel--Tierney
--------Partey---Locatelli
Saka-----Maddison----ESR
------------Auba
I take it back. Clrnc isn't on the Pépé train either.
Has Dumfries been linked?
Quincy Abeyie wrote:I take it back. Clrnc isn't on the Pépé train either.
Can't drop Saka or ESR over him 
@lorddulaarsenal wrote:Has Dumfries been linked?
Dumfries would be excellent. I think first time I noticed him, Netherlands were playing France about 2 or 3 years back and he was the standout player in that game. So he’s not a Johnny come lately.
Clrnc wrote:We finished 8th. We can't turn our noses at a quality player like Maddison. Of course we have to overpay because we are shit and its hard for good players to want to come.
Disagree. We don’t have to overpay. What you are suggesting is irresponsible and unsustainable, and I hate that almost the entire football world seems to just accept it as the way things are. We can find value. Other teams do and make progress. That is what the edu team is paid to do.
And we are not going to challenge for top 4 next season unless we get a coach who has a clue, barring some sort of miracle. A realistic goal will be to finish in top 6. We have to plan and budget accordingly.
Exactly, have we learnt nothing from the Pepe transfer. Same shit, different people in charge.
No offence Flobs but you’re delusional. Edu and his team are not paid to compete with sides spending significant amounts with his hands tied behind his back, you’re setting him up to fail.
I think the take home message is we have to be better at finding and creating value. you can find and create value whether you're on a 10m budget or 100m budget. there's a time and place to overpay. deals like the pepe one are an example where it was the wrong move, and I said as much at the time. we've become a value black hole in the last 5 years
We can do a bit of everything. We don’t have to fully depend on a portfolio of growth stocks. We have ESR, Martinelli, Saka etc. Help them by also occasionally investing in an established player who can contribute immediately and also accelerate their development. We aren’t an academy. We want to win trophies. The right answer is a hybrid for a club like us.
value doesn't just mean buying low and selling high. you can get relative value even if you overpay for a 27/28 year old with no resale value, if it's the right player deployed in the right way. we're neither here nor there with most buys in the last 5 years
You're not really talking about value then are you? That's just a good vs a bad buy.
It's a hindsight argument. If Pepe was given a proper chance and scoring goals left right centre, 20 per season everyone will be saying 72m is a bargain.
goon wrote:You're not really talking about value then are you? That's just a good vs a bad buy.
not necessarily. partey is a 'good' buy on paper, but if we mismanage his fitness or buy a partner that doesn't mesh with him, come the end of his contract he can be viewed as a low value buy
Clrnc wrote:It's a hindsight argument. If Pepe was given a proper chance and scoring goals left right centre, 20 per season everyone will be saying 72m is a bargain.
Nope, 72m was never a bargain. It would be less painful if he was scoring more. We were in a desperate position and splashed out on a shiny new signing to try and cling on to the notion we were competing. Same thing potentially happening now.
Ray wrote:Clrnc wrote:It's a hindsight argument. If Pepe was given a proper chance and scoring goals left right centre, 20 per season everyone will be saying 72m is a bargain.
Nope, 72m was never a bargain. It would be less painful if he was scoring more. We were in a desperate position and splashed out on a shiny new signing to try and cling on to the notion we were competing. Same thing potentially happening now.
Felix, Griezmann, Hazard, Maguire, de Ligt.
Ray wrote:Clrnc wrote:It's a hindsight argument. If Pepe was given a proper chance and scoring goals left right centre, 20 per season everyone will be saying 72m is a bargain.
Nope, 72m was never a bargain. It would be less painful if he was scoring more. We were in a desperate position and splashed out on a shiny new signing to try and cling on to the notion we were competing. Same thing potentially happening now.
Ask City fans if 75m euros for KDB is a bargain or not.
The fees doesn't matter as long as the player lives up to expectations
