For me, Mass going is the sign of ambition from our club that we've not witnessed before. Until very recently we'd be expecting players like mass to come through and be the future, but i feel that the club have now realised that in order to compete, we've got to have the big names. Unfrotunately, this will impact on players that will make it from our youth system, but i don't think we've got a choice if we want to truly be successful, bearing in mind the billionnaire owned clubs around us who throw millions at anyone and everyone.
I've spoken about how we have to start thinking like businessmen now, and not football fans, as unfortunately that's the way the game has gone.
We all have players we love and have huge hopes for, but Gareth Bale is another example that players will come and go.
With our recent influx of players in order to compete at the top, players on the fringe like Mass, falque etc, are going to really struggle now. It's only the cream of the crop like Carroll and Townsend, who will make it (hopefully), IMO. The rest will be sold on to clubs below us, pocketing us a few decent transfer fees every season. There just isn't the room in the squad for as many youngsters, when you have to consider being strong enough to compete on all fronts. - That means a certain % of top drawer foreign players, which in turn destroys the chances of many of the youngsters.
However, best of luck to Mass. Swindon are a great club.
You guys really think you'll spend more?
Can't see Levy going more than 20m over the Bale money so you're about there I reckon.
I hope we don't tbh - there's already enough new faces in the squad - this squad needs time to gel.
Too many new faces can be as big a problem as no signings.
I don't get why you didn't spend a chunk on a class playmaker rather than players to fill out the squad which some of these buys seem to be. You look worse than last year imo so far. Lots of strength but very little guile.
We bought Eriksen on Friday don't forget. I think he'll prove to be a magnificent signing once he settles. I don't think there are many better players in terms of playmaking than him on the market who we could get.
Lamela is also supposed to be someone with a creative spark. Holtby is back from injury too, and while I haven't been overly impressed by him in his time here, many on here believe he can be a great player and seeing as his main attributes are playmaking, I hope their opinion is right.
Why do you think Holtby didn't play today?
Why do you think Holtby didn't play today?
There are questions about whether AVB has wasted the Bale money which is a reasonable concern but I daresay Real Madrid supporters will be thinking the same thing. "Have we wasted all that money on Bale?" For them buying Bale is just as big a gamble as us buying the seven new players. There are no guarantees of success are there for anybody? Torres flopped and so did Carroll. My advice is just to keep our prediction mouths closed and see how we do on a match to match basis and judge at the end of the season.
I'd much rather get excited about our signings and predict good things of them. What's the point in football if you don't dream about them / winning the league / winning the cups?
Also how anyone can say we "wasted" the Bale money is totally beyond me. Even if some of those signings turn out to be flops the fact we bought 7 for relatively low fees (compared to buying 2-3 mega starts for £35m each) means we should be able to recoup a majority of the money back anyway as apart from Soldado they are all young players.