I would go all in for Lautaro , we need a killer up front .

dunno where Anzac finds these sources 😆

inter have turned down 100m from Chelsea for lukaku, so they seem to be pretty firm that he's the one they want to keep. lautaro is the one they'd consider cashing in on if someone stumps up the cash

Sky Sport Italia | Inter would not have any intention of letting Lautaro Martinez go unless their valuation is met [offer around €70M]. #afc #intm [via @SempreIntercom]

No way we pay that...with Lacazette, Auba, Eddie still here. Abraham it is.

Chelsea offering them massive money for Lukaku too and they turned it down. They don't seem like they are interested in cashing in. Plus I see no indication he'd want to come here.

Well, not interested in cashing in on Lukaku. I'd assume most clubs have players that are off the table.

Inter said very early on that Lukaku and Barella are the only ones who are 100% not for sale, also Lukaku just had his best ever season. Think if we really wanted to we could tempt Inter and Lautaro by giving them more money than they could expect elsewhere

Qwiss! wrote:

Chelsea offering them massive money for Lukaku too and they turned it down. They don't seem like they are interested in cashing in. Plus I see no indication he'd want to come here.

they still need 1 more major sale, and everyone bar lukaku and barella are on the table for the right price

jones wrote:

Inter said very early on that Lukaku and Barella are the only ones who are 100% not for sale, also Lukaku just had his best ever season. Think if we really wanted to we could tempt Inter and Lautaro by giving them more money than they could expect elsewhere

Basically we are like some china or arab club now. Need to overbid and overpay top players to attract them to come for a huge payday, but risk having their motivation drop once they are on the level of wage.

Whatever though, if we can manage to attract a player as good as Lautaro and Maddison then I can handle watching Xhaka and Elneny for another season.

Yeah, it feels like we're trying to offset poor historic scouting through bigger investments to remedy the holes that are subsequently gaping in our squad.

Think Party is a great example of a player we scouted for years but didn't pull the trigger on until he was worth £50m. Same for Lacazette too.

No real need to compare us to Chinese clubs. We're in exactly the same boat as United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, and City when it comes to how much we have to pay.

In terms of paying the selling club, yes. In terms of salary, no. If you think that

  1. being successful makes you more attractive to players and
  2. a big salary is a positive for players

then the conclusion surely is that if you want a player to choose you instead of a more successful team, in general you have to pay them more.

Then why are all of those clubs' wage bills so high?

Not trying to be difficult, I get what you're saying, but at a certain point it costs what it costs, regardless of success.

Because they have a lot of world class players?

Are you trying to argue the point that if you give a top player the chance to sign for any of those 4 English clubs and us on equal wage now, they will choose us?

Obviously not. There's far more to it than that, though.

Offer them Laca and some cash and get this done. We don't have time to waste.