We were unwilling to pay 3.5mil for Atsu?? I cannot believe that. He's well worth that, we paid about the same for bloody assaidi. REally think we need to strengthen our bloody transfer department tbh, maybe even a sort of DOF in place as I think we are not being shrewd enough in the market.
well we would not bid for him would we? ergo we don't want him.... wow... cheslea buy someone cheap and let him rot... where have we seen that one before... SHOCK.. parker, sidwell etc etc... its a pointless piece of business by them
So! Just because you think this guy is worth it doesn't mean that he actually is, or that he would meet our needs, or that we were already aware of a potential problem with him. It's absolutely no basis upon base an argument that we either need a DOF or that said person would be shrewd!
Like I said, we aren't going to make anymore signings. Either we're being skinflints and refusing to pay decent fees or the players aren't of the acceptable 'quality'. It's make do and mend from now until Jan.
It's a bit more than make do and mend! We have improved the squad. Like him or loathe him we'll soon have Suarez back. If we don't spend now then we have more for the pot in January.
Defensively speaking then. Don't want Suarez back, doesn't want to be at the club so isn't a long term solution.
It's called an opinion. It's my opnion that Atsu would be worth the 3.5 million. This is a forum after all... And I think having a DOF would mean Ayre wouldn't have to do it all himself, he's the chief exec afterall and him running around and unsuccessfully negotiating transfers can't be a good way to use resources- and I also I don't have full faith in Ayre bringing in the big names, compared to say Baldini who I think is much slicker. Again, just my opinion.
If we could get more cover this week for the defence then that would be good. But once bitten and twice shy about last minute buys. As for Suarez. It's a 2 edged sword. Who are you going to replace him with. That takes long and hard consideration and then a lot of time putting plans in place to attract him/them to the club. But we have a whole season in which that has to be our major task. In the interim we need to get the best out of him that we can.
The exchange of opinions is, as you say what a forum is all about. So excuse me for having the temerity to voice on that differs from yours It's not just Ayre doing the negotiating. Apparently the Willian negotiations were dealt with by Billy Hogan. I can't comment upon Baldini. Making deals is exactly the same as playing poker - you're only as good as your last hand. Too many times, in too many English clubs we have seen the relationship between the manager and the DOF breakdown. Employing a DOF carries as many negatives as it does positives.
Suarez is probably going to stay for another year, and may stay beyond if we're in champion league next season. For the moment, I do not think the club of his choice (Real Madrid wants him).Also Arsenal who wants him are not suitable candidate.
Yeah, so he's not a long term solution then. We need players who actually want to wear the shirt for seasons to come and find success in it. Difficult though when a lot of the top players are largely in it for the short term. That's fine if you're CL and can turn them over season in, season out. From our position we can't do that, we have to build and maintain instead.
have we all calmed down yet? LFC have 4 key players we cannot afford to walk away..... coutinho, sturridge, lucas and mingolet now (as much as i hate what they did to reina) gerrard is going no where. so.... lets be frank here. lets take a look at spurs (not this summer yet but when bale goes it will be zero net) Last year http://www.transfermarkt.com/en/tottenham-hotspur/transfers-alle/verein_148.html Moussa Dembélé 19.000.000 € Hugo Lloris 12.600.000 € Jan Vertonghen 12.500.000 € Gylfi Sigurdsson 10.000.000 € Clint Dempsey 7.500.000 € Emmanuel Adebayor 6.400.000 € Lewis Holtby FC Schalke 04 Schalke 04 1.750.00 v Luka Modric 30.000.000 € Rafael van der Vaart 13.000.000 € Vedran Corluka 7.000.000 € Niko Kranjcar 7.000.000 € Steven Pienaar 5.750.000 € Sébastien Bassong 3.000.000 € Giovani dos Santos 1.000.000 € David Button 630.000 € Heurelho Gomes 400.000 € Ezekiel Fryers 3.500.000 € thats a net spend of 5.75mil eurodollar fake money. the pervious year they made 23mil in profit selling the likes of crouch and pavelachenko so they added hugely for little cash. ......................................... so? so if we sell suarez for 60mil next summer having him score 25 goals and go to the world cup and star.... we are quids in and can build on our 4 key players can't we? if we lose skertl or even agger i could not give a bollox.. .why cos they aint top players... same for johnson and the rest. they are replaceable. Build build build..... ........................................ even in the short term a side with a hot striker like sturridge and a player of quality like coutinho and suarez to come in should not be panicking over one CB getting injured.
Some nice optimism MITO, I like it! Very true as well of course, we have 2 of the hottest players right now in Coutinho and Sturridge and a world class player that we have forgotten about to come back. I also think that Skrtel is about the best we are going to get in terms of a squad player waiting for the injuries of Agger and Toure - he is not completely **** just because BR doesn't rate him as first 11 anymore. Yeah ok not ideal as he earns a packet but we've reduced ALOT of that over the last 18 months or so - I'm sure we can let this one slip for a minute.
Well it's only become a case of "last minute buys" because we've been ****ing useless again though Dave. CB was the first position we needed to strengthen this summer and yet we're going into the third week of the season with only two first team centre backs one of whom hasn't kicked a ball in anger for months (and who knows the manager doesn't even want him). We've wasted two months trying (and failing) to strengthen the wrong areas. Genius.
Funny isn't it. Wherever you put your magnifying glass becomes the main centre of your focus. You think CB, others DM and yet other WR/L - plus the continual CF. I thought we were well covered when Toure. Then Wisdon gets bullied in the Celtic game and Coates becomes a long-term injury and we are looking 'thin' again. I don't know much about Illori but a mate of mine is a Sporting fan and he rates him. If that deal can be done by the weekend then OK. If not then it's down to Agger, Skertl and Kelly.
In fairness Dave how many needed a magnifying glass to say that we finished last season strong in attack but shaky as hell at the back. I have no issues with Toure, I was chuffed the minute we were linked but he wasn't "strengthening" he was Carras replacement. Personally I'd have been a bit more accepting of us not strengthening further had Rodgers not completely alienated Skrtel (the latest whipping boy amongst some). I rate Ilori and Atsu but I can't be the judge as I haven't seen them enough but what I do know is our scouting department SHOULD know their abilities. The money being quoted for BOTH is less than we paid for Allen alone and half what we were willing to splash on Mikiterryfella or Willyam, players who would have been great but not urgently required. The fact we seem to be "bidding" often but never quite matching the price looks a lot like the Arsenal model of running a club...prudent or actually just dangling the fans a nice juicy carrot whilst spending **** all? (I know there's a thread for that).
