Or he might be good but we still go down. Or he might be unable to play major minutes ahead of other players. Or he might be outright poor. Point is, that’s money that isn’t coming back regardless. So we simply have to stay up for us to get away with the signing regardless of performance. At least with other signings there is a safety net.
Sancho is meant to be a knob but why does a manager get so public and arrogant. It unsettled a few at the club that. His overreaction was his downfall. Then read his statements this week .
It’s a big decision to make but I think the club being in advanced talks and negotiating so much suggests we aren’t just going to walk away once our first offer was rejected
it’s a risk for sure. I guess we don’t have to break even / make a profit on every player as long as we do in totality. The club may see whatever price for Xhaka as a worthy investment in protecting the value of the other players or in prize money from staying up. I’d also more importantly want to ensure we have a relegation clause in there to protect us salary-wise
I'm not bothered about the fee really. I'd say 15m euros should surely get it but I do think he is worth getting at slightly more as well.
TBH that's as vague as can be. If I sign up to buy a new car the deal may involve a part exchange, I could sell my car privately ... ... I could pay cash, use the garage's finance plan, lease or whatever. A football deal will be infinitely more complicated than buying a car but I think the outcome will be the same. Xhaka has obviously talked the whole thing through with his family, friends, etc ... I've already ticked him onto my list.
Probably only talking a couple of million indifference it’s not like we are 20 million apart in valuation
But do we not also have to put it into perspective that we are trying to sign the 23/24 Bundesliga champions captain. The quality of him demands a decent fee for me regardless of age
Maybe. And maybe all of this is just chatter and brinksmanship. But a deal that looks pretty tasty at 10m euro looks a lot less so at double that. Deals for older players are hugely dependant on price and outcome. If we fail to stay up then Xhaka hurts us regardless of his own performance. Stay up and we can probably swallow it regardless. But the stakes are much higher with an older player. It’s a lot easier to convince a buyer that a bad season was just a blip when you’re talking about a younger player.
I do get your point for sure. I personally think it’s worth it and think the squad needs someone like him in the side. I don’t think we will pay the full €20m I think we will probably strike a middle ground
We’d probably have to lock in a sizeable fee loss to protect ourselves from the wage issue. At a £15m purchase price he’d still have a book value of £10m if we get relegated. We’d struggle to claw back half of that in a fire sale. That sort of thing is a killer for a relegated side - even one with parachute payments. Hopefully it’s all gamesmanship anyway
Leverkusen said 12m then 15m to NEOM now 20m to us. It’s all just a game of brinkmanship to see how far we’ll go. If I was the club and it was my money I’d offer them 12m take it or leave it then “walk away”. I’d even get Romano and other journalists to leak interest in other midfielders. Show Leverkusen we have options. Wait a couple of weeks. meanwhile we are keeping Xhaka and his agent warm saying we still want him first choice. then go back in with 14-15. Leverkusen will sell. They’re expecting to sell. The slower this goes the better deal we’ll get
Oh also according to reports KLD has personally been convincing Xhaka to come for weeks now. He and his family was going to stay at Leverkusen. I Can’t see us binning the deal off over the sake of 5 million or so.