Indeed. This was a no lose deal that should have been done at the beginning of the window. We knew we weren't getting the likes of Koulibaly and Umpalumpa in this window, if at all. We only got Virgil in this window three years ago because the deal didn't happen in the summer and we paid 25% over budget because we needed him and he was a long term plan. If they perform, whoopee. If they don't, they're out with Matip and Phillips at the end of the season with our best wishes for the future.
I get that, just structure the payments differently. The loan part is pointless and purely a paper exercise
Once they’re on the books you have to amortise the asset value though, so if it’s a £30m player on a 3 year deal that’s a £5m cost in the financial year for a 6 month period, plus agents fees, signing on fees etc. So sometimes a loan with a commitment to buy, works for the buying club but also for the selling club if they want the fee to go into the next years accounts to offset their own spend.
kabak will end up signed imo. It is all but agreed and shalke are being arm twisted to get the money as they know they are headed for a bad drop and have cash flow issues. We clearly don't have the money. No big deal. it aligns with the jota and thiago deals.
absolutely. We've in effect secured him on the option now so if he acts the loon at any point we can say bye (just in case) but he he acts like a good lad who's hungry and trains well I am sure we will snap him up no problem.
I wouldn’t use the word panic buy on Davies. Panic buying would be to randomly sign a midfielder in January when we have 70 of them at the club already! He isn’t a normal buy but these are normal circumstances. He’s more of a stop gap no risk signing to fill a short term problem with the added bonus that in 12-18 months he may prove himself to be a useful 3rd/4th choice CB who can fill in at LB in an emergency or be sold on for a bit of money with no harm done.
Im not sure about the links to all these cbs. Could be a smoke screen. It would be very unlike us (albeit these circumstances are not normal) to go and put bids in for all 3 of those defenders mentioned. We’ve normally had a target and focus on them and wait if needed and pick up at a later date rather than bid for numerous targets at once and see what’s accepted.
Fabinho isn't quick, but has the nous to compensate. Williams has neither pace nor the experience to compensate for that - he should be loaned out to gain some, imo. If the new signings are enough then perhaps he will be. Phillips is a no-nonsense old-school CB, nothing wrong with him but we probably want more of a ball player for the long term. If we get sorted then he'll probably leave and could have a decent career in a less ambitious side.
Examples of Lower league buys from not so quite yesteryear (sort of) Joe gomez. Charlton. Delle alli (missed this one due to stupidity) Danny Murphy. Crewe. Rob Jones crewe On the other hand Bogdan Jones Shelvey Kozma The main thing that's unusual about ben Davies is his age. 25 is quite old to jump from championship to a top 4 club so its up to him what pile he ends up in If I went back to folklore when Saint was young im sure lads can name most of our top legends all coming from smaller clubs in England and Scotland.
The days of finding a hidden gem from a lower league club are mostly gone tbh. Scouting networks are so much better these days that such players are found and bought earlier in their careers, never mind modern academies which snap up kids even as young as 6 early on. Apart from Vardy, who can think of a player in the last lets say 20 years who came from the lower leagues, mid 20s and unheard of who's moved to and made it at a PL club? Even considering Robbo: he was still Pl quality before we bought him, not entirely unknown.
The move to pl club is the issue. Most will be promoted and prove something. Maguire for example. Sheffield donkey to Hull donkey to Leicester donkey to utd donkey.
Small steps like what Virgil did happens. If they eventually get to the PL, they'll be snapped up higher. But the days of finding a Keegan, Hansen or Rush in the lower divisions and 'discovering' a hidden talent just doesn't happen any more, they're found before they even hit puberty these days.
