Saint Victor!

Just seen the story in the Sun. This deal is dead, I have no doubt about it now.
Even we were willing to meet the agent's demands, Cortese hates the club's transfer activity publicised so the last think he'll want is for this situation to be all over the back-pages.
This is where it ends in my opinion. I'm sure we've already moved on and started looking at other players anyway.

 

Not Naïve at all. Just simply how the world is today. People said Man Utd were insane for paying what they did for RVP at his age, and he repaid them by winning the title for them.

 

Greg, you are possibly right, however your first line across the post doesn't really give good credibility:

Read it in sun = must be true = I have no doubt.

Mmmmmmmmm

 

I read the tea leaves they said the same thing.

 

I would love it if he moves to Cardiff has a **** season gets relegated and stays there forever.

 

Completely illogical comparison. You talked about just paying the extra fee (ok, I assumed you meant the money to the agent as that seems to be the extra in this case) and I believe that if you take that approach in any business, you stand a good chance of getting into financial ruin. Hence, "naïve"

 

I meant the deal's dead in relation to the fact the club's transfer activity is all over the backpages of the Sun, a media outlet that Cortese despises. He can hardly be blamed for wanting out of the deal for this reason alone.

 

So everytime we are asked to pay a little over the odds for something that will greatly improve the team, were just going to bottle it and hand the deal over to a rival he will more likely be willing to pay. Great logic, if that is Cortese's approach to transfers we will never be a top 6 team, ever.

 

Wages are what did for Pompey, not one-off agent fees. As for the earlier QPR comparison, their problem wasn't paying huge agent fees it was paying huge agent fees for **** players.

 

Didn't Cortese do an exclusive interview with the Sun a while back? I'm not sure he despises them.

 

I think he has a value and sticks to it. He certainly has a principle in terms of agents and in this case, it seems he is sticking to that principle. We may already be paying over the odds. We may have offered 10m and Celtic said give us another two and you're in. When does "a little extra" end?

Ok, you can't see what I'm saying so I'll leave it rather than squabble. Too much of that goes on as it is. You tend to think/post in extremes; there are "grey" areas in between.

 

I'm not sure I buy that. The Ramirez deal was also widely talked about before it was completed. I think we have a slightly cartoon version on NC we subscribe to that's a little way from the truth. It makes for better copy, and he's clearly tough - but he's not daft to the ways of the world.

 

I was using "financial overspending" as an example, not specific to agent fees. The simple practice of just giving in and paying extra can (note, not does) land you in trouble. If people can't understand that then I am amazed.

 

I'm not up for a squabble. I'm just saying if you are not willing to pay today's inflated prices you don't get, it's as simple as that. I'm not saying go over board like Man City or QPR and pay silly money. But we don't even seem to be willing to pay for peace of mind knowing we have clinched a deal. If Cortese can talk people down and get it on the cheap then fair play. But it seems to be his way or the deal if off. Sometimes that's not always the best way to do buisness.

 

True, I'm just saying wages are what can really screw a club. One-off payments are less of an issue. I'd say that for a club in our position it's almost necessary to overspend sometimes in order to progress and I'd also say we already are prepared to overspend to some extent when it's a one off payment - nobody else is (so far) prepared to pay Celtic £12m for Wanyama, nobody else was prepared to give Lyon £8m (or whatever the fee was) for Lovren.

EDIT: I'm not that bothered about the Wanyama deal itself, I'm talking more generally

 

Agreed.

 

I agree, but neither you nor I know where that inflated price is. We agreed a fee (that I think is probably already inflated and Cortese seems to be prepared to do that for the transfer fee) and now the agent wants an amount that is beyond the norm, yet you posted that we should just pay the extra and get it done. That really is not a good way to do business in my view, and no matter how much you want something, at some point you have to draw a line and say no, that is too much.

Your original post read as a little flippant and in a manner of "I want this player, just pay the dosh and sign him". I may have interpreted that incorrectly.

 

I love this! This is how polite and diplomatic we are on this forum!

 

Fair play to Nicola Cortese if the rumours about his agents demands are true. I certainly don't want my team to be paying that sort of ridiculous money.

 

The signing of Lovren shows we can attract top quality players. If Wanyama or anyone else is not interested then we just move on. He's a good player but I won't be losing any sleep over not being able to bring him in. I personally think the fee is about 4 million to high and I was hoping we were going to be looking for more technical players, as opposed to the more physical approach of Wanyama. He is not a player that gets me particularly excited, although he would definitely improve us.

I'm still holding on to the dream of signing Ever Banega, now that is a football player.