And if all gets worse, we're stuck with Soldado. He will be 30 in two years and still looking to score from open play. He must looking back to that flight, with Ryanair, signed for 26 million and we fly him over on Ryanair. He knew the move wasn't right from the start.
And the firm offers for Suarez were from.... ? So you're saying if Real had bid £50m for Suarez they wouldn't have sold him?
That's not what he was saying though. He stated that Suarez wanted to leave and we could have sold him yet we didn't let it happen and stuck by our word. Simply put, we told Suarez and his agent we would under no circumstances sell Suarez to Arsenal and stuck by that. Suarez had to deal with that even if he was unhappy with the decision, and he clearly has as he's playing great football and his attitude has been brilliant recently.
Suarez was banned for the start of the season and the only supposed firm offer was slightly lowball and from a club that Liverpool view as a rival in a variety of ways. He's played well since his return, but he probably can't afford to have a poor season with the World Cup coming up and it'll be interesting to see what happens over the next window or two.
That's all very true. However, I do believe if we weren't so adamant that Suarez would not be sold to Arsenal I think they would have raised the bid further. They certainly knew that we were being very stubborn and their offer was no where near what we would sell him to rival for, for that reason (amongst others) they didn't come in with another offer. Which backs up the original quoted post that being ruthless in a world class transfer pays dividends.
Soldado was a waste of money as there is little to no resale value - we're not going to recoup the £26m we paid for him, so the best we can say is we'll take an acceptable loss Whilst the fee for Lamela is inflated (although it isn't £30m - Soldado is our club record signing until the add-ons for Lamela come into effect) and there is pressure from that fee that wouldn't be there if he were signed for, say, £18m, he has a better chance of retaining his value. If he's played. The £7m for Chadli, meanwhile...
Lamela had a truly awful game against City, but I've seen a couple of nearly magical things from him (the penalty in the EL, and the assist in the PL), which are enough to convince me it's well worth being patient with him. You'd expect a player with his profile to get bullied not just off the ball but out of his game to some extent at the beginning. That's exactly what's happened. A steady diet of mental and physical toughening up should be on the menu and probably has already started. Of course, after all this there's still some chance he'll be a bust. But I would give him at least a year before being seriously worried about it.
Erikson, Lamella and Soldado. None are a waste of money in the conventional sense. they are a waste of money in the same way as a Ferrari would be if you bought it to drive around the corner to get the paper on a Sunday morning. AVB's system stifles the talents of all three as well as those of the likes of Lennon, Defoe, even Vertonghen and Paulinho. It is rigid, ponderous and predictable. Is it any wonder that these signings look the same? They all look a shadow of the players they were at their previous clubs. I am loathe to say it, but if Harry had these players we would probably be flying.
That's probably a total of about five touches the whole time he's been here. I know I'm repeating myself but for our (possible) most expensive signing ever - for 25m I think we're entitled to ask if that is a good investment. Forget how good he might turn out to be in the future. For 25m you want more than possible potential don't you?! He has looked totally lost in every game he's played other than the Europa game where he did not look awesome (as soe are mis-remembering) but did look decent enough. By which I mean he looked "encouraging" more than "25-30m player". He looks like the kind of player I could understand a club paying a sort of Bale-like fee for which, adjusted for inflation, might be in the region of 7m rising to 14m with add-ons. And if Roma said no to that then there are plenty of other proved-nothing, not EPL-tested young players out there who are the next Zidane/Messi/Eto that fans on websites can go on and on and on about as if they knew more than what a YouTube video showed them. People who, going by what they've seen on the pitch, believe that Lamela will, by season's end, look an astute use of our biggest ever fee are pure fantasists as far as I can see. It has no sort of basis on evidence or reason. I hope it happens, of course, but have exactly zero reasons to think they will. Every game he's played he's looked terrified and in a dodgy system, yes. But his simple movement and passing have been very poor in all honesty. And shooting?
Lamela has had literally no run of matches, let alone very few minutes in the team. How can we write this kid off with so little to assess? Madness… if he's a waste of money, what does that say about Dembélé who has been way, way more disappointing? Almost Jenas-esque!
I've tried not to bring Harry into the equation (much ) but it's so true, if Harry had these players, we'd have about an extra 4 or 5 points and probably treble the amount of goals.
Yep, I know Harry had his faults as does any manager but with us, we had a great set up and the way we played was the best I've seen, I think had the whole England fiasco not got in the way, he'd still be here and we'd be progressing further and further.
Oh how my memory isn't that short. I'd rather win 3-1 or 3-2 than sit through ****ty 0-0 or 1-0 penalty wins.
"'treble the amount of goals 'conceded." Tolerable when you had that P11 W10 D1 run in 2011-12. But if AVB ever has the P11 Pts 10 of 2012 like Arry gave us, AVB will be gone (people currently want his head for far less) .
No, its not a waste of money till we know what the end game is, if its for the future, then no, but if he's bought to produce now then yes, maybe it is a waste, because he (and the others) aren't ready yet. For me, I'm looking not only at AVB but Baldini too, these two are the instrumental factors in pinning our creativity and goals from MF on three 21yr olds, with no English league experience. Lamela, Eriksen, and Holtby will come to the fore in their careers over the next 2,3,4 seasons, what hasn't been thought about is the here and now, its way too much imo to expect these young lads to instantly perform and keep us in contention. None seem suited to this ridiculous system AVB will not budge from, who just to ram players willy-nilly into his next to useless formation. 21yr olds are used sparingly and gradually eased in, I don't know any other team thats bought so many youngsters as key players. We had a good bit of money for a spread of youth and experience, and I think its been badly used. Because of the players already signed at the time, the team needed 30m or whatever it was (pedants keep the exact figure to yourself) spent elsewhere.
