It's the guy on the left behind the bloke in the blue baseball cap that gets me, because he looks like his entire skeleton is about to blast out of his ass
We just have to hope Lo Celso and Ndombele impress and bring in a bit of money. I can't see Lyon paying anything close to the supposed buy option but if we can get circa £40m for the pair of them, that would help immensely. I can also see us selling Winks in the summer as he is never going to be good enough to hold down a place in the team. I'm quietly optimistic he's done and will do enough this season to get himself on a number of radars and as a HG player with plenty of PL experience and by all accounts a top professional, he should have a number of potential suitors. I'd like to think we can squeeze £20m out of him and yes, that noise you can hear is DH pissing himself laughing. But I'm hopeful. I can also see Ajax (or others) coming back in for Bergwijn as he's another one I don't think will be able to hold down a place. Overmars sounded pretty disappointed they couldn't get him this window so that could be another one to watch and another £20m in the bank. So £80m to start with plus the spectre of CL money (yet another thing to hope and pray for) and things don't look too dismal. But yes, there are a lot of ifs and buts and the lingering question many have asked is how we balance these books if and when we decide to make Romero and Kulu permanent signings as that's roughly £70m gone on the spot.
Worth noting that Kulu can’t be a permanent signing until summer 2023 and the money (c.£30m) is spread over 5 years. So the cost of that one is really negligible over the years.
When exactly does the Romero money need to be paid. I feel like I’ve heard about the cost of him in the last two windows and now the next one? Surely they budgeted for him last summer?
The permanent move will be activated (I assume, because we likely want to keep him) this summer, and I imagine like most transfers that the fee will be amortised over the length of his contract with us.
Makes sense but then I keep seeing people talk of this £40million. I assume that’s already been taken into account and like you say won’t be one lump sum.
I’d be shocked if it was. Most transfers are paid over time, often the length of a player’s new contract. First instalment might be more than the others sometimes but it’s usually spread. There are even finance companies now that will help clubs spread the payments over even longer, obviously for a fee. So I think it’s very much the industry standard.
It's a bizarre situation as his Arsenal contract was terminated and he signed a contract with Barca but they apparently still haven't completed the process of registering him as a player. So they are currently giving him charitable donations every day while he is turning up to training as a tourist.
Arsenal seem to attract these dilettante hedonists, Adebayor, Ozil and now Aubameyang who is more interested in applying silver wraps to his Ferrari's than applying himself to the business of football.
Good to see #FatBoySlim is settling in to his new surroundings! https://www.instagram.com/reel/CZXWw7PgmPB/?utm_medium=copy_link
Lol, £20m is actually reasonably modest. English tax should net us closer to £30m if we look to sell in the summer. If we can continue January’s cull into the summer then there’s a fair few we could be seeing the back of. Gollini - likely won’t be signed permanently, top fella though, already helping Kulusevski settle. Rodon - tough to see a future, likely won’t even play unless we get injuries. Should’ve been loaned out. Doherty - on borrowed time. Ideally he and/ or Rodon used as bait for Lamptey. Sanchez - won’t wanna be 2nd choice once Romero returns. Would’ve possibly gone in January if Romero didn’t get that long injury. Tanganga - not matching early promise. Seems to want 1st team football too. Sessegnon - want him to come good but has barely done anything positive for us. Winks - Bentancur’s arrival likely shoves him down the pecking order. Dumb - Can’t see Lyon paying buy option. Need to hope he attracts interest with performances for them. Dumber - As above but with Villarreal (not even sure what his buy option is). Bergwijn - already struggled for game time, if Kulusevski settles well then he’s almost certainly off, especially as Ajax will still want him amongst others. I wouldn’t expect every one of them to go but it’s also not beyond the realms of possibility either. I think, providing City or other big clubs don’t come in for them, or they themselves don’t seek an exit, the players we can more or less know for sure won’t be sold are: Lloris Dier Romero (assuming we buy) Davies Reguilon Emerson Skipp Hojbjerg Bentancur Kulusevski Sarr (likely loaned again) Lucas Gil (possibly loaned again) Son Kane
I like the contrast between him pretending to want a fight and the bloke at the bottom left, who's taking it a lot better than I would be. Not pissed off enough to spill his tea or muster a frown.
Nostalgia always seems to hit when something’s finally over, lol. We can all erase the last 3 and a half years of Dele now and remember the first 3 or so. That guy was a player.
Aubameyang has signed a 3.5 year deal with Barcelona. He’s 32 now and they really think he will be still be worth paying when he’s 35-36? I know they’ve got him on a free but that’s poor business by Barcelona
It's possible, I think it depends on whether his form the last 18 months has been down to health issues or just a lack of interest. On his day he was/ is a top striker and if a fresh start was all he needed then I think he's got another two good years at the very least. So many top strikers still playing well into their 30s nowadays and don't seem to be massively regressing, if at all. Lewandowski 33, Suarez 35, Benzema 34, Cavani 34, Vardy 35... I think Kane will be another providing his ankles don't give way.
