Lol, I wasn't even thinking otherwise, just thought it seemed a lot of dosh for someone who was only worth 17mil....ahhh, unless you think Atlanta are fiddling the rules, gotcha.
It's all smoke and mirrors anyway, Atlanta won't be getting £64m upfront, they'll be lucky to get half of that and the rest in installments.
Not just the PL, don't the Italians and Spanish do the same hence the big clamour for the European (closed shop) Super League.
I have to agree about Hojlund. Watched some clips, looked at his stats. He is only 20 and will likely improve so could make me eat my words here, but literally the buzz around him seems to be that his name is similar to Haaland and he is also Scandanavian.....because for the life of me I dont get it.
But they are, most of the clubs that signed up for it are in debt, look at the state of Barcelona last season, what happens if Barca went bang to the smaller clubs that they owe transfer fees to?
Juventus and Barca are ****ed financially. Madrid aren't in great shape either, though the Spanish government will likely bail them out again if they get into real ****. Barca literally have to give away their TV rights at a knock down price just in order to be able to register new players every window and Juventus cant even afford our £30m asking price for Lukaku, a player we bought for £97m two seasons ago. The reason those clubs are clamouring for the Super League is because they know they are ****ed and they can see how much the Premier League is killing it financially and they fear PL dominance in Europe.....which lets be honest, looking at the winners of the European trophies in the last 5 years, I can see why.
I'm not even doubting the player, I just think Atlanta are taking the piss in the asking price but I suppose if United want him that bad they aint got no choice.
This method of paying big transfer fees has been around for yonks and pre dates the collapse of the finance of all the big euro leagues - bar ours where lunatic prices continue to be thrown around
It is a pisstake. Nicolas Jackson is of a similar age, with a better goal scoring record, from a better league, and we only paid £30m for him.
Højlund agreed 5 year deal ten days ago as he only wanted Manchester United. I never heard of him and I don't recall any other team wanting him.
