Posted this on your summer transfers thread then saw this thread so thought I'd knock it on here as this seems to be where the discussion is.
And in Lambert we have lost 2 players. We have lost the creator of most of our goals as well as the scorer of many of them, however each year he becomes less and less a force. We can keep going with him (a la Gerrard) until he crumples up and we have no back up or we can say no we are not waiting for that moment. We bought Lambert for £1m and low wages. To get a player aged 27 (Lambert's age when we bought him) that can do what Lambert did/does would cost £20m and wages double what we can afford. We had a massive bargain for those 5 years, but it wasn't going to last forever. Does Remy score and create as much as Lambert? Does Bony? Does anyone score AND create as many? Only Rooney the man so many on here say is rubbish. We all need to get real for a while before we get carried away thinking we are going to get worldies in unless like Tadic they are gems that we pick from under others noses.
In fact it must be more. Chambers, Shaw, Lambert, Lallana, Lovren, Osvaldo, Guly, Fox, Barnard, Forte. Sharp is off too. That's a lot of wage bill freed up.
Add to that all the youngsters we still have improved deals, Fonte improved deal, Schneiderlin will if he stays, Tadic and Pelle are a decent wedge. Taider will be too as will Bertrand. More players to be signed, more contracts to be improved. I would bet our wage bill at the end of this month will exceed what it was!!! EDIT: And its way more than £150k that has gone off the wage bill. Lambert, Lallana, Lovren and Osvaldo was more than that. How much have we added to the wage bill is the question!!! That doesn't just mean adding the new players wages in.
Yeah I was originally doing a low end estimate for the 5 who've moved to English clubs. It's more like 250k-300k a week. A Fonte wage increase would be relatively small, a Schneiderlin increase is purely hypothetical at this point and the youngster increases will also be small. We can also increase our wage bill if we want and as we have a lot of money sloshing around that's an option.
I'd expect Jay to be back on the left when he's fit, with Pelle up top and Tadic on the right, or perhaps Jay could play up top and Pelle will drop to the bench where, as I suspect we'll have realised by November, he belongs.
Can we be realistic about Long please. Yes 12m is a lot of money but we know for a fact he will give us this: 1) Hard work and closing down from the front 2) A decent runner in behind 3) Solid hold-up play 4) A great ethic - will play on the left or anywhere he's told 5) He can finish and has good movement in the box. Be realistic. There's no way he's a shocking signing, just overpriced.
Long, Pelle, Gallagher and more so Rodriguez when he's fit, isn't too bad when you consider that we have Ramirez and Tadic too. I also think that Davis is fantastic in a more advanced role behind the striker.
I quite like Shane Long due to his work rate. Always seems to make a real nuisance of himself. Will he score more than 15? Probably not. Do I think he's worth 12m definitely not but we can probably thank Fulham for the inflated price! Would be happy with this signing if it was 5m cheaper!!!
Others have previously pointed this out, but Remy is only cheaper for a top four club. Any other club will be charged more, or be refused by Remy.
I feel your pain, mate. For what it's worth, I hope Spurs, Liverpool, and Man Utd all get relegated for taking our players, and that Lallana and Lovren in particular, have **** seasons. However, I assume you're sorry to see Shane Long go. Which I'm glad about.
I notice that the BBC are still reluctant to specify a price for Long. I still don't think it'll be as much as people are suggesting.
I don't think the quoted price is as disappointing as the fact that it's him we're signing and not someone else. It could turn out he cost us £50k, but the issue would remain that we were hoping for a striker better than Long, and we haven't got one.
