flobaba
You remember more of what I’ve posted than I do! Anyway, I’m catching up now, and since I’m not on here constantly, I won’t be replying to everything straight away.
As I mentioned in the Madueke thread, I will revisit at the end of the season to assess the transfer, and that’s still the plan. That said, based on what I’ve seen so far (especially in the Forest game) he’s looked pretty good – happy to admit that.
It’s only 4 games but so far, he hasn’t been as bad as I initially thought. To be clear he’s not been amazing either, but he’s a £50m back-up, and I didn’t expect the club to operate that way. That’s what shaped my original view: I didn’t think we’d allocate that kind of money to depth options.
Now that it’s clear we are willing to spend big (even on depth) and it doesn’t seem to be at the expense of key priorities, I’m less bothered. So if we go out next summer and sign a Madueke-level player for £50m in a position like DM (even if he’s from Chelsea), I’d be more open to it. Without that context, I’d have been against it (just like I was with Madueke) but context changes everything.
We're now a club that signs £50m back-up players, and I'm all for it. But it is in that context that this is acceptable, I still believe Madueke would’ve been underwhelming as a starter - he doesn’t elevate us from second to first in that capacity. As a back-up to Saka, though, he absolutely adds value.
