daredevil There's no justification for not taking the Watkins deal. The only way the club can come away from that January window with any credibility is if they land Isak (which they won't) which would then have justified keeping the powder dry. Keeping it dry for Sesko is just not good enough.

I think it is absolutely correct to say that it is a fuck up that the team did not secure additional attacking resources in the last two seasons.
However, in an individual situation like Watkins, I think it is very harsh to say "there is no justification for not taking the deal", given that allegedly we found out about the potential for the deal while the Dhuran deal was ongoing, and within 48 hours of being alerted of Watkins' potential availability, Dhuran had been sold. Villa were most likely hedging to ensure that they had a fallback in case Dhuran didn't happen.

The biggest fuck up has been Sterling. Because not only has he been crap, he has stalled our ability to get other players.

      Claudius

      You could be right, it's hard to say conclusively without knowing what went down,

      Sterling as a loan signing at the end of the summer has been truly disastrous. He's way worse than anyone could have imagined. He's worse than Willian and Luiz which takes some doing.

          daredevil the frustrating thing with sterling is it was obvious just from having watched him last season he was finished. What were Arteta and our scouts or whoever does that work for us not able to see that this was a poor use of resources.

              awooga83 absolutely. There was never any other outcome than what we've seen with him. It was a disgusting signing and an admission from the club that we weren't serious this season. As I said earlier, the modern day "thanks for your interest in our affairs." Forget Luiz and Willian. He makes me look back at Stepanovs and Squillaci fondly. Even Kallstrom, a similarly pointless loan, came on in a FA Cup semi final and scored in the shootout.

                Yeah, he's been pretty much exactly as poor as I imagined.

                • JazzG

                • Post #159

                Missed the match but from the sounds of it didn't miss much!

                Claudius However, in an individual situation like Watkins, I think it is very harsh to say "there is no justification for not taking the deal", given that allegedly we found out about the potential for the deal while the Dhuran deal was ongoing, and within 48 hours of being alerted of Watkins' potential availability, Dhuran had been sold.

                There was no "Watkins deal" ... bear this in mind because it'll be talked about as if Olly Watkins was all lined up for £50m and a bunch of flowers over the gruelling strikerless months to come.

                  daredevil absolutely catastrophic signing. Would much prefer to have kept Nelson, ESR or Vieira. Our squad is worse this season than last season and he's a big part of that.

                    • Tam

                    • Post #162
                    • Edited

                    Claudius However, in an individual situation like Watkins, I think it is very harsh to say "there is no justification for not taking the deal", given that allegedly we found out about the potential for the deal while the Dhuran deal was ongoing, and within 48 hours of being alerted of Watkins' potential availability, Dhuran had been sold. Villa were most likely hedging to ensure that they had a fallback in case Dhuran didn't happen.

                    I don't think that is true. I'm I read we found out about his potential availability when we played Villa on 18th January. Duran was sold on 31st. That's almost 2 weeks where we could have influenced the outcome if we had the desire and killer instinct. I'm sure Villa would rather have had £40-50m for a 29 year old than £70m for a promising 21 year old.

                    There were already rumours of other bids for Duran from the likes of West Ham, and he apparently wanted out because of lack of playing time, so he may have already made his mind up that he was gone.

                    But I fully believe that if we were serious about winning the title then we would have pursued Watkins, and Villa could have 'promoted' Duran within the first team and assured more minutes, and everyone ends up happy. It's also possible Duran was just money hungry and playing time assurances wouldn't have changed things at that point. But the point is Arteta and the club didn't have conviction or desire to do what winners would do.

                        awooga83 -- my bet is they saw it, and that's why he wasn't an initial consideration. They then failed to land other targets (Sesko and co.) and cowardly walked back to Sterling knowing it would be an "easy" signing.

                          • Qwiss

                          • Post #164

                          Tam it sounded from reports that came out like Arteta was all on for it once he found out he was available but the club didn't like his profile and it was delayed. Eventually when we bid it turned out to be too late but yeah the opportunity was there if we moved faster.

                          And its not just Watkins. He's a good example because he was a ready made proven top PL striker. There were others too though. Tel was an opportunity we decided was too expensive, I don't think he's a world beater but he's a lot better than Sterling and would have helped. Morata was available on loan, again I'm not a huge fan but clearly he's a better striker than Merino. Even if all he did was give Havertz 15 minutes rest each game and provide some fresh legs it would have been worth it. There were options available, we just weren't bothered or weren't decisive enough.

                              • Tam

                              • Post #165

                              Qwiss but the club didn't like his profile and it was delayed

                              This is the bit that troubles me. So we’re to believe that Arteta had pretty much carte blanche to sign who he preferred whilst Edu was around, to the extent that Arteta’s increased influence was a factor in Edu’s departure, but when we’ve an empty glove holding Edu’s pen Arteta then faces enough pushback from the higher ups?

                              Doesn’t seem reasonable to me, but if it’s true there’s potentially a rift brewing there.

                                Qwiss I really like your Morata call but paying £400,000 a week for Tel would be beyond insane. @QuincyAbeyie would have everyone’s balls for wasting cash.

                                    And Claudius would've been happy with paying 400k a week for Tel, because if we ended up doing it he would've found a way to rationalize that it was the right decision. 😉

                                        QuincyAbeyie nah. I’m literally saying Sterling was a clusterfuck all over this forum. So I’m not just sitting here drinking Arteta’s Koolaid. I come from the perspective that 18 teams would rather be us. But we can still do better. 😝

                                            Claudius careful, someone might accuse you of letting your standards slip with that attitude. 😉

                                              Claudius I come from the perspective that 18 teams would rather be us. But we can still do better. 😝

                                              Actually thousands of teams would rather be us. And if we come 8th again some time, that will still be true. So from the perspective of how many teams would rather be us, doesn't matter much where we finish really. 😃

                                                awooga83 Llllllllllliiiiike! He's been washed for the past two seasons. His shooting has alwaaaaays been poor, even at its best. And then, without his pace? Then what the heck are you purchasing? What is the point of spending a single dollar on a player who can't run and can't score in the forward line? What is he good for? Absolutely nothing!

                                                    Tam March will be a more enjoyable month with only two games.

                                                    Two league games, but also the two CL games if you're so inclined to see the final competition exit for the season. Technically we could still go through with two 0-0 draws, but not sure where we finding 4 or 5 penalty scorers from.

                                                      I couldn't watch this as I had an early meeting in the morning, but sounds like I didn't miss much at all.