I'm not saying that ALL players in that category will not be good for us, just that it can't be a good general strategy to buy people who our rivals think are not good enough for them. They see the players every day and know lots more than us about them.
The main reason Kovacic doesn't start for Los Ladrones is because Modric starts in his regular position, which doesn't make him a bad player - although you have to wonder why he and Isco are so keen to stay, knowing full well they're only going to get starts in the Copa del Rey and Champions League dead rubbers. On the other hand, most of the Barca youth prospects we're linked with every single season without fail shouldn't be treated as anything other than a.) Potential squad options b.) Likely stories planted by their agent to get a better deal
PSG are not a PL rival to Spurs. The cast-offs from apex clubs or Sugga Daddy FCs are IMHO often more than good enough for several other teams.
That's sort of my point. If we want to beat the likes of Real Madrid we need a player who is as good as Modric, not one who is worse. But I agree about signing Barca youth prospects. The only way to success is to sign about 5 young potential superstars and hope one or two make the grade
It depends why they are cast offs. PSG's first team struggles every time they play anybody good. If that's because their manager was an idiot and their best players don't start then perhaps you are right.
Perhaps I and others are correct in saying that being a cast-off from these clubs should not be the knee-jerk criteria for deciding that such players are not good enough for the likes of Spurs. In fact, we had one such cast-off who was very good for the club.
Not necessarily the manager, but whoever sanctioned the Neymar transfer as that set off a domino effect -Neymar joining meant he would have to start every game -Neymar starting every single game meant Draxler was pushed into centre midfield while Moura lost his place -Pushing Draxler back into central midfield meant Di Maria pushed up as a winger -Pushing Di Maria up as a winger meant he was rotating with Mbappe -Mbappe wanting starts meant he was rotated with Cavani -All this juggling meant Moura wasn't playing, strengthening any interested clubs' negotiating position -Ligue 1's FFP team began to take a real interest in PSG's finances Long story short, if whoever it was who decided they wanted to whip their dick out and helicopter like crazy (which is what the Neymar transfer was) is responsible not only for our ability to get Moura with little resistance, but with the FFP team taking a good look around it's possible they'd need to cash in one one of their prized assets such as Pastore or Cavani...while once again we still fail to sign Rabiot in spite three years worth of transfer rumours.
Totally agree. There’s no doubt our policy of inexperienced youth signings, and up and coming players who are fairly proven at a decent enough level has worked. But we’ve barely experimented with these so called “cast off’s”. The reason? Probably because they command a more significant fee, rather than their lack of ability. My point is that if you aim for the cast offs of literally the two best European clubs, it could be another successful transfer avenue for us, similar to the existing policies that I mention above. If we were raiding weaker CL clubs, then I would agree that perhaps they won’t be any better than what we already have. But surely there’s got so be some quality within Barca or Real, similar to that our Lucas Moura, that would well be worth looking at.
I don't think there are any proven criteria or strategies for signing players who will be successful. I do think that all big signings risk destabilising the team spirit so they have to have incredibly big effects to make up for that. I'm completely convinced that only about a quarter to one third of signings will be successful (in that the team performance will be clearly improved).
There is another issue that comes from these cast-offs. The notion of what I call 'wage poisoning' . Specifically they have been paid such high wages that even a minor reduction in them can still be too much for many clubs. In this case, you are relying on the desire to continue playing at a high level + the nature of the destination club overriding whatever merc may reside in the player. VDV was the epitome of this (Bale may yet be another) .
Course there’s not. If there was a proven criteria, we’d be laughing! What do you class a a big signing though? A big name? Big wages? Big transfer fee? All of the above? If we only ever take the approach of signing a young lad who can be developed by his existing peers, or, a nice chap that’s done quite well at his pretty decent existing club, it’ll only take us so far. And it has. We’ve got plenty of those players already, and they’ve reached the CL 3 years in a row, with some memorable moments throughout the season. But what’s the next step? I also agree that there will be several transfers that don’t work out, which ever one of the “transfer categories” they fall into. That’s football. But to say that big transfers risk destabilising the team, I don’t agree with. Not if they’re the right person. You could also look at it and say that by not signing some of these big players, our team will end up being destabilised anyway, when our existing players leave to win things elsewhere.
Totally. But that’s when you find out what their character is like. If they are blatantly a mercenary, they’re no good for us anyway. Again, more like Lucas Moura, please.
The reality though, is that a “big signing” that falls under any of those questions, is pretty much a no go for us anyway. Big name - unless it’s bale who already played for us, no other “big” players are coming this way for obvious reasons Big wages - total write off. Big transfer fee - unlikely, but potentially possible after seeing us spend £42m on Sanchez. Personally I don’t think we’re getting better year on year. The last 3 years have all been pretty much the same, give or take. In one season we may have had a slightly better or worse PL finish, and in another we may have done better or worse in the CL or cups. There’s nothing in it really. Hence why I want to see us try something slightly different with transfers. The same approach has produced the same outcome.
This is so true. Bale can’t get regular starts for RM but is on £350,000 a week. Absolutely crazy money and means very few clubs can afford him.
I bet Levy is going over the sponsorship figures etc if the star of the CL final was playing for Spurs etc. This is not over by a long way.
I’d like to have your confidence mate, but I just don’t know how even levy will be able to put a deal together.
