daredevil 30m Euros up front for what it's worth. I still think they got a decent deal given the season he had at Reims.

That being said, it's looking a better deal for us as things currently stand.

Interesting that a couple of the names we've been linked to have been described as 'tough negotiator's. Wonder if it's a response to Edu's failings (or the external perception of his failings).

      Don Pacifico way to think about it is this, Don. I’d Edu had sanctioned that deal to buy Balogun from Monaco, there’d be calls for his balls

          Claudius is that more a reflection of budgets in the French league though? If a PL team paid that I don't think anyone bats an eyelid.

            Don Pacifico tbf he looks to be doing well this season.

            I was just catching up on how he's doing and I missed that on his first start for Monaco he missed 2 penalties 😂

              12 days later

              Based on my admittedly limited knowledge, I found this guy to be the least intriguing option mooted. Maybe it's my bias against the fact that he'll have no meaningful impact until next season but rightly or wrongly, I didn't feel his recruitment track record was overly impressive for a club of Sociedad's profile. Most impressive deals from my cursory check were buying and selling Isak & Merino. Doesn't feel that much with over six years in the job.

              As we've got Merino, maybe we've brought him in to help with Isak (although again given he wouldn't join until the summer, his influence would be relatively limited I'd imagine)?

              • goon replied to this.

                Don Pacifico

                I think people put too much stock in transfer history, some of which can just be a good run/luck. They're not really there to be super scouts who find you bargains. What you want is someone who knows how to plan and build a squad and play a good supporting role for the manager. Sociedad's performance in general is probably a better indicator and they've done pretty well for a club their size.

                    goon yeah, the point about Sociedad's performance is a valid one.

                    On the recruitment point, I guess it's the general opaqueness about what a DoF does, which obviously varies club to club but my gut reaction was that looking at Sociedad as a club, I would expect a bit more focus on how to use recruitment to increase squad value cost-efficiently. I don't know if you'd expect more but my instinct was that we should.

                      I'm not sure someone from PSG is the man from the job.

                      Edu's BBQ has a good in depth feature about Olabe out at the moment. It's a pretty skewed read (the blogger is a part time Sociedad anorak) but interesting.

                      What I took from it was that Olabe would be an alignment hire not an impact hire. He'd be coming from a football culture that's already informed the processes we have, and a club we already have close ties to. No surprises, and no challenges to Arteta's power base.

                      The other aspect is that Olabe has a very strong sales record at Sociedad, which is of course a selling club compared to what we are now ... but that's a set of skills we're really going to need.

                      4 days later

                      Edu leaves having given us summer 2023: Rice, Timber, Havertz and Raya. One of the best transfer windows in recent memory.

                      a month later

                      This is all turning a little too Wenger-like post-Dein.

                      Certainly sounds like the reason Edu would prefer observers to think he moved on. With all his initial squad-building out of the way and no trophies to point to, the role had run out of upside regardless of Arteta. It was a strategic time for him to leave.