27 Jul 2016 07:47:33
I still can't understand the moaning. If the reports are to be believed, Lamine Kone and Idrissa Gueye would be good signings in my opinion. Both have good stats and would cost far less than other options, which leaves more money in the pot for other positions. Some of you just assume that say, Koulibaly would automatically be better because we would be paying £45m, without considering that he has never played in the PL, and that Serie A is a much slower paced game (and may I remind you that Per Kroldrup looked good in Italy) .

I know we can afford more, but imagine where we would be now had we ignored Coleman, Baines, Jagielka, Cahill and Arteta because of how much they cost and who they played for.

1.) 27 Jul 2016
27 Jul 2016 08:51:51
I really think that Steve Walsh's influence is beginning to be felt. He is a numbers cruncher and will have studied all of the Pros and Cons of a player like Gueye verses the 45M options. He will also have been aware of the 7.1M release clause in his contract.

2.) 27 Jul 2016
27 Jul 2016 10:31:17
@Tommy personally i'm not fussed on how much we sign its the farting around we seem to do when signing someone. You could understand it when we were skint we wanted to get the most for our money and not overspend often. But now we have cash, we have a player identified that we want, but then we pussyfoot with the price and wage etc and take an age to sign someone. I like the look of this gueye (no pun intended) but if you have a target in mind just go buy him and buy him quick so he has time to settle not really arsed how much he costs.

3.) 27 Jul 2016
27 Jul 2016 11:50:30
I understand what you mean Mikey, and I probably do tend to err on the side of caution a bit too much. However we haven't got a bottomless pit of money. £100m isn't that much to spend nowadays. Just say, for example, the press is right and we go out and sign Witsel (£30m) , Koulibaly (£45m) and Sissoko (£35m) . There's our £100m gone before we have bought a new GK, a backup striker and a left winger. We need to budget smartly to ensure that if someone really good becomes available we have the money to spend on them.

4.) 27 Jul 2016
27 Jul 2016 15:06:20
I would imagine the stones money would cover the majority of the koulibaly transfer leaving more funds available, how much I don't know after wages and the individual details and clauses. But I see your point. If we start paying over the odds for players to ensure we get targets (if we are as interested as papers say) teams agents and players will take the mock when it comes to their demands. Plus the transfer dealings are complex so just getting a player you want isn't really how it goes the majority of the time. Plus teams like liverpool would have had longer for their staff and managemental to scout players and have plans and agreements within the club in place for a long period before the opening of the window, also with new moves possible. We had have huge changes so time was important.