I think we just have to trust Rafa. If this is who his contacts are saying would be a good loan, then I assume they’ve seen something. It worked with Kenedy and Dubravka. Maybe this is his Slimani and two gooduns will follow.
If the medical shows signs of a possible re-occurence then of course we should pay less. Bloomin' common sense. Not actually going to blame the club on this one,
Well we were never going to pay the summer fee anyway but I could understand the lowering of the loan fee if there is a big risk of an injury re-occurence
A) Clubs have insurance for player injury - the insurance company picks up the majority of the tab for injured players “Over the past five seasons, Premier League clubs spent more than £200 million on players who were injured for more than 90 days at a time. We believe that almost three quarters of this cost could have been covered by a Wageroll Protection policy, where the insurance allows clubs to cover either their players’ total wageroll or a proportion of a player’s annual wage.” B) Put a release clause in - if he get's injured we terminate the loan.
But surely the point is that Lukaku was cover for Dummett, if Lukaku looks to be a risk, then what’s the point of having him on loan. We could easily have seen the both of them out and then we are back to square one. It’s just the sort of scenario that NUFC is becoming famous for! So many reports pointing the finger at Ashley over this, but l was uncertain about this loan as soon as it was reported, mainly due to Lukaku’s appalling injury record, lack of game time, fitness and bulk. The outcome of the medical has not surprised me one bit.
This story looks like it has all the hallmarks of a "Mike Ashley's Newcastle" anecdote that Rafa will still be telling at after-dinner speeches for the next 25 years. This rubbishy signing should have never been considered in the first place. Geordie lass in the Fen summed the signing's value up well.