Asterix So it seems normal that we would have essentially agreed terms with Sesko and Gyokeres before negotiating with the parent club.
Don Pacifico Glass half full take for ya.
Coombs Why would it be bullshit @Burnwinter and @Meatwad?
Well, first reason it would be bullshit is that an ITK said it (that's why I used the term), but we can leave that aside.
Let's say we are advancing the finer details of deals with both Šeško and Gyökeres to get leverage on fee and wages.
If so then we're talking about a £10m delta on fee and maybe £2m per annum (or £50k per week) on wages.
Our modelling of these two options (and other options) should be being carried out in a holistic way with a view to maximising trophy success and squad value over time.
For example, a few years ago we had the Premier League's youngest squad. Now it's the 13th or 14th youngest. Because we've got an established roster, Arsenal is also heading into a series of tricky player retention negotiations in which the club would benefit from already having major silverware in the cupboard.
If our analysts were to think (hypothetically but in my opinion not unreasonably) that Gyökeres gives us a 20% greater chance at a major trophy in 25–26 than Šeško, the mean gain from that 20% will already squash the difference on fee and wages in these negotiations. That's if a major trophy is worth, say £40m in player pull, sponsors, prize money: advantage that is reinvested in sustained success.
So if there were a problem, it wouldn't be that we're doing too much due diligence by going into forensics on player deals. It would be that dicking around on player deals suggested we're not doing enough due diligence. A deeper awareness of the market would mean we already knew one or the other of Šeško and Gyökeres was a decisively better option.
I reckon that based on some system we've got we do have a preference. So it's a bit confounding to me if we delay our pursuit of that preference, given the benefits of a full preseason to integrating a new marquee player before the outset of a league where the rankings are so often determined by fine margins.
On the other hand—and this would be my glass half full take—it's only early June so this is probably just a lot of hand-wringing by the pundits for attention and clicks about a deal for one or the other that may already be well advanced.
