But at that price others are offering more. And I firmly believe as much as he "loves" the club he will love playing in the champions league or for a more established premier league club even more. All players "love the club". He's too established now. We need to aim for players that want to establish themselves in the premier league, not ones who have already proven. Not saying we shouldn't try, of course we should. But anybody genuinely thinking this is a significant possibility really needs to set their expectations.
Speaking to a couple Man U fans. They think players that they can sell, they will just want to offload as quickly as possible, they are desperate and I can see a player who’s only played less that 50 games going for 30m Just depends how desperate they are to sell
I agree we'll make eye opening moves but I think we need context on what that is. Le Feè is our record transfer. That's £20m and reportedly £60k a week (which will be out wage ceiling imo). That is eye catching. 3 or 4 players around that level is a huge statement. Thinking we'll double that outlay and giving someone a 6 figure weekly wage this season is beyond the realms of what's possible. It would a bit reckless of us to be honest, despite his ability.
All I'm saying is, this is not out of the realms of possibility, a stretch goal? Definitely, right at the top of our capacity and due to very player specific circumstances, but a possibility nonetheless. .
This may be controversial but if the fee is £40m+, I wouldn't want us to do it. We have too many areas of the squad we need to improve, dropping a large % of our budget on one player would be questionable. Love Amad but would he give us a better chance of staying up than 2 £20m players at say right wing and centre back? I'm not so sure he would.
It's also mind numbingly stupid to pay somebody £100+k per week when you have many of your squad on championship wages and have a serious threat of relegation hanging over you. We are Premier League now so our attraction to players and our spending power has increased significantly. But we're still a rung below established clubs in terms of attractiveness and spending power. And we need to keep a sensible wage budget and max. We will make eye catching signings but they'll be more "risky" signings from abroad than established premier league stars.
agree 100%, maybe next season if we have stopped up we will unlock that next level, players will be wary of joining a newly promoted club now, Amad was doing it for Man Utd, he's not going to play for a newly promoted side just because it's us. Wouldn't be shocked if the top 6 come in for him
I agree, I wouldn't pay more than £25m and any further payments to Man Utd would need to be based around the club being in the Premiership for a longer period than one season, also his wages would need to be risk assessed if relegation was to happen. I'm not suggesting the clubs should damage itself to sign the player, just to take bold yet mitigated risk.
Having said all that I've said above, if he WAS to be available at £30m and £60-80k per week, he probably does play in the one position and is the one person I'd be willing to stretch to for that. He's a risk free signing in a position we need to significantly improve. I just think he'd go for more and would want more wages. And would also interest the likes of the Milan clubs, other premier league clubs and, dare I say it, Saudi.
I like the arguments back and forth, and reason seems to be winning against hope which is fair enough. To chuck in an argument against signing £10 million / £15 million* top prospects from abroad, that can seem very sensible but end up being stupid if several of them don't settle or hit the ground running. That could be two or more players taking a significant chunk of the transfer budget, wages and squad spaces but not contributing that much. It is a risk to overspend on someone like Amad but also a risk to get unproven, though very talented, players from abroad. * Call that £15 or 20 million if it fits better
One more thing I'll add. If somebody had asked me in December if we were going to sign Enzo Le Fee in January I'd have argued they were being a bit deluded then as well. So take everything I've said with a pinch of salt.
It's very possible to do great recruitment at £20m and under. Some of my favourite PL signings last season were done at that price point. (using Transfermarkt here so apologies if fees are wrong) Huijsen to Bournemouth for €19m Lacroix to Palace for €18m Sarr to Palace for €15m O'Brien to Everton for €19m Ndiaye to Everton for €18m Milenkovic to Forest for €12m Fernandes to Southampton for €15m Bergvall to Spurs for €10m Wan-Bissaka to West Ham for €17m Agbadou to Wolves for €20m 4/5 of those types would be great.
With the talk of Man Utd showing an interest in Chris Rigg, would anyone be happy to do a swap with Amad?
Horrible conundrum. Personally I feel like Rigg is still at least 2 years away from being a top player and Amad already is one, I'd be tempted to do a swap so long as Sunderland got some kind of sell-on as well.