Exactly - guess a large proportion of that disappeared in running costs, but even if you took the TV games alone, that was worth another approx. £18m
Do we know if Chelsea have rejected the bid because it's not enough, or because they don't want to sell him?
Even if we have £40m and end up blowing £25m on Kenedy there's two key points. a) Given that we know he works well here and fits our system he's almost certainly better than anyone else we'd get for that money b) We either have Mitrovic up front of a £15m+ fee plus whatever is left of our budget after purchasing Kenedy and Dubravka. That's not nothing.
Ok it was a wee bit less. But 55m is still not to be sniffed at. If we had 55m this summer I’d be happy enough.
£50m this summer should be enough for this year Dubruvka is in £4.5m Kenedy possibly £20m Full Back £5-7 (Davide Santon is getting death threats over in Italy and his Mrs is desperate to come home) Striker £18-20m (Anyone proven in the EPL - although this guarantees nothing but will be an upgrade on what we have. After that any sales to provide funds for a CM and CB if/when Mbemba goes and there are some good free transfers to be had. Saying that I haven't taken additional fees/wages etc in to account.....
If ashley had him hed ask for 50. Its a waste of time we wont sign him we cant even compete with the likes of accrington stanley never mind the likes of city.
Plus player sales? It would be acceptable. Mind you, it's looking like it will cost us £25m just to stand still with Dubravka and Kenedy prices.
I think we'll pay up to £20m for the right player. Maybe a bit more for a proven international striker. Given the increases in TV revenue and now that we are a bit more financially secure having survived a year in the Prem they will loosen the rules on signings a bit. Doesn't mean that they would think Kenedy is worth £20m mind. I'm not sure that he is tbh.
Hmmmm i dont and id be very surprised if we stand still in 10th on our funds in fact if rafa goes we will get relegated.
We over achieved this season so spending decent coin and finishing 10th next season would be an achievement or at least on par with expectations. By standing still I just meant in terms of squad personnel. And if Rafa goes we'll be screwed, I agree. I think the odds are that he'll stay, though
That’s what happens when you don’t invest. One of the reasons why I’m against loans. You don’t stand still when you loan you’re effectively going backwards and then have to spend just to stay still. You’re forever then playing catch up. One of the reasons Sunderland started to struggle was their over use of the loan system IMO.
Unless you get another loan. They can be useful. Certainly if you don't have the cash to buy but need a boost like we did in January. It worked a treat. It is also extremely useful as a 'try before you buy' option. We could have bought Dubravka and he might have been ****. Another £5m down the drain. He came in on loan and now we buy with confidence knowing his ability, the character of the lad, how he trains, if he enjoys living in the region, and if he gets on with the players and manager. I think the problem with loans can be if you have too many of them and certainly with clubs like Man City and Chelsea who just monoplise talent which has detrimental effects which we have discussed at length on here in the past. Even worse we could have bought Slimani for £20m. Would we be happy with that?
