It is an interesting point. Stuttgart, who i think finished 2nd last season record signing is about £25m (centre forward) and quickly drops off after that. Better scouting? Not sure where they would finish in premier league but would surely do ok
There are different expectations when signing on to a premier league club. There is probably a salary any new player, especially from abroad, just wouldn’t consider moving and signing for as a PL premium This premium is applied to fees as well. It happens to most clubs and some of the higher up ones get it even worse. I’ve followed Manchester United a lot as they are my Dad’s team and over the years and it has been eye opening to see what they have been rumoured to have been quoted for some players and then compare it to what they eventually move for - often to teams a tier below in their respective leagues Some of the transfers to German clubs seem to really spring to mind. Seemingly especially between German clubs. Players have gone to Bayern or sometime Dortmund for a fraction of what they are usually quoted at if a premier league club wants them (notably but not just Haaland and Bellingham). I think Hlozek was being bandied about when he first transferred to Leverkusen. He went for €13m but I’m sure I saw premier league clubs being quoted close to £20m. I remember being surprised by what he ended up going for. Same with Rasmus Hojlund to Atalanta for a similar fee. We were definitely supposed to be interested in the latter that summer. Both were strikers when we needed them and within this crazy 10-15m bracket we seem to stifle ourselves with. But not available at that price to the premier league This Greek striker is being quoted at €25-30m to Leicester and apparently us. But sporting are favourites. They’ve never spent that on a player and would be surprised if they do this time. Doesn’t mean he won’t go there. (That one seems contingent on Gyokeres moving and they want something like triple their money after one season because premier league sides are interested despite Portugal being a garbage league)
And? It's no worse than the Dutch league (probably better TBF) and players like Gakpo, Van Dijk, Tadic, Pelle all played there before moving to the PL.
You’ve cherry picked some good examples there. And we are talking about prolific strikers. Maybe I’m just scarred from the past but I remember Mario Jardel and Alfonso Alves (there were loads more failed strikers direct from the Dutch league). Luckily not impacting us What about Antony at Man United? Or Onuachu who scored goals for fun in weaker leagues than those but was not even considered for the championship. And the players you listed aren’t players relied upon solely for their goal output - and the one who was, Pelle, was no way near as prolific. People might forget how much stick he got at the start because he was no Lambert. And he is remembered fondly now because of how bad we’ve been since and how we’ve only had one striker since. Tadic was great - but was even better in the weaker league. And had really gone off the boil in his last year (but that was because the whole team was awful) So you do have to consider the league. I’m not surprised Arsenal have blanched at the Gyokeres quotes. There are players with goal records like that in leagues like that over far more seasons that fall on their faces. But I haven’t paid attention to Arsenal and perhaps that move happens soon
Well yeah because my point is you can't judge a player solely by the quality of the league they play in. That's why teams scout players they are interested in.
Tbh Gyokeres is class and could do a job in the PL I think. He was great in the championship too. The fee they are after is insane though
You also have to consider that for teams like Sporting the money isn’t that important. They will pretty much always finish in a champs league spot so get that money coming in and they won’t be able to attract another £50m+ player. The top Portuguese teams always get loads for their star players as they basically don’t need to sell unless the player is in his last year of his contract or something.
Well that part about Gyokeres was a tangent to the main part of the post about premier league clubs being overcharged compared to when players go elsewhere. Starting to change a little with some of the fees Bayern have to pay. But there have been some surprises
According to the Beeb Chelsea currently have 55 squad players!!! Maybe there's someone worth borrowing there?
If we are worried about the squad being bloated why are we looking at Fraser AND another wide player? If we just needed depth then he makes sense, but Martin said himself we have too big a squad. Unless of course we are just looking at Fraser.
I would assume Fraser is the wide player we are looking at. My thinking is 4 players ideally come in: striker, wide player, centre mid and goalkeeper. Fraser being the wide player
A few rumours from Turkey that Saints and Trabzonspor have finally reached an agreement for Onuachu. No suggestion as to what the fee is but they are talking about Goztepe getting a loan player or 2 as part of it
I heard that a Trabzonspor exec flew over to England on Sunday night to meet with Saints face-to-face about putting an end to the negotiations. Turns out all we needed to do was put him on in a friendly!
I can think of a pretty easy way to put an end to the negotiations. Stop dicking around with lowball offers. If this is true, and if the money is the same and the only difference is Goztepe get something out of it, that will not go down well here, nor should it given our PSR struggles. Let's see. I will be glad when this dull transer saga is over.
Just noticed that our Oriel Romeu has re-signed for Girona. And Gazzaniga is still there. I saw Girona v Mallorca when I was on holiday there last September. What tangled webs we weave.
Mamardashvili to Liverpool, who are going to immediately loan him out. Shame we can’t get him on loan
Lille supposedly want Mara on loan with an option to buy. **** the option, that should very much be a obligation to buy - no get out clauses
Well, we don't want to sell him apparently. TBH I'm not ready to give up on him just yet. Loan him out and see what happens. His value won't drop so the worst that will happen is that we'll be back where we are now next summer. If he does well his value goes up.
