Perfect time to slip in under the radar and get another defender in. While the press is obsessed over our move here hopefully we can avoid coverage elsewhere.
There isn't the foul stench of a Chelsea returning to their habit under Mourinho (which Man City have recently adopted) where they buy a player for the sole purpose of note letting a rival - in this case Spurs or Arsenal - have them in their squad running through this article by any means...
Was abit surprised Chelsea didn´t go for him in the transfer window to be honest an obvious successor to Terry.So if they go for him in January that counts us out as usual.
Should have got the extra few quid from down the back of the sofa and captured him this window. Our chance has gone now I fear.
Unfortunately, Chirpy, that's Levy all over. If he was offered a new Rolls-Royce for 20 grand, he'd still be trying to haggle the price down, while somebody else steps in, and buys it.
Bolton supposedly wanted about £15m or more for a player with one year left on his contract. We'd have had to be mad to pay that.
If that's the figure, then I agree. However, if you leave everything to the last minute, as we always do, then you run the risk of seeming to be desperate; and then get held to ransom. Having said that, didn't Citeh just cough up well in excess of £20mm for a player in the same position?
No it wouldn't, because Bolton would've informed the other clubs if anyone actually matched their valuation in an attempt to drive the price even higher. The price simply won't go up in January, either. He'll sign a pre-contract agreement and Bolton will either keep him or let him go for a smaller fee.
Luke, he's out of contract at the end of the season, and can leave for nowt, how will his price tag in Jan be more than the one just gone?. Within 6 months of the end of a contract, he can make enquiries elsewhere, consequently other clubs can contact him without rule-breaking. Anyway, I thought Nasri had a yr left too, and he went for 24m was it?
I hope Arsenal go back in for Cahill too. Although we've strengthened with Mertesacker and having Vermaelen back to fitness, I think we still need one more CB. Although Gartside rubbished our bid, it was a lot more than the 'derisory' £6m that he quoted. I can only guess that Levy offered a bit more on the last day of the window, but Gartside played hard ball and lost. Cahill will be off in January, I don't think he'll go for much more than £6m-£8m Unless the Chavs get invloved......
More interest will likely put the eventual transfer value up but it won't be more than it was this summer. As with Pienaar, after Chelsea agreed a fee with Everton it forced us to put up the extra 500k that we were haggling over. I suspect with Cahill it will be a case of a club getting him to sign a pre-contract deal and then trying to negotiate an earlier release with Bolton.
It doesn't matter what we do, if Chelsea and/or City are involved. They can easily match any bid that we make and offer the player double or triple the wages that we can.
In that case; and, assuming he would have signed for us, maybe Luke is right. We should have grabbed him while we had the chance.
...and that's where the market is badly skewed. Even if two or three clubs reach an agreement with Bolton on a fee, City or the Chavs will scupper that with a massive incentive for the player with an astronomical wage
