Mehmet Dalman said that we wouldn't sell Medel for less than we paid for him - "why should we?" he said. Inter have only offered about 7 mill Euros (£5M) and are flying in to discuss the deal. With Tan being apparently very good friends with Inter owner Erick Thohir, could Dalman's statement come back to haunt him (and the club)? The last thing we need now is Tan sticking his nose into any negotiations because the prospective buyer is his "mate", and undermine Dalman who's the club's best chance of ongoing sanity. Marseille are supposed to be interested Medel as well - time to play hardball with the buyers and for Tan to either persuade is pal to cough up the full monty or piss off.
I thought you were saying Tan should piss off in that final sentence for a moment Spark. I believe Tan will be all over this deal through his new mole Jimmy Choo's brother.
I think Tan will play hard ball. He is contracted to us and if he wants to leave there is a buy out clause that must be met.
Sorry Dai, but in reality, the buyout clause figure doesn't have to be met - cutting your losses to get a player off the payroll is always a possibility. Different scenario I know, but although no buyout figure for Cornelius was ever mentioned to my knowledge, we sure took a hit on that one losing £8.5M on the deal just to get rid of him. I hope Tan does stick to his guns and backs the statement made by Dalman. That was the point of the OP - I wouldn't like to see Dalman undermined now that he's come out and said to the media that we wont sell Medel at a loss. The last thing we need right now is Dalman on his toes and another change at the top.
After the World Cup Medel had, we should play hardball with Inter. Pay atleast £9m upfront with add ons. Fulham are reported to have paid £11m for McCormack so what does that make Medel worth? I would tell Inter to put up or shut up.
Like most negotiations it's about exploiting the weaknesses in the other party's position. Our weaknesses are; Medel doesn't want to be here He shouldn't be playing Championship football He didn't have a great season. In our favour Awesome world cup performances Our owner is minted and doesn't really give a **** about £5m - (we could accept a staged payment option to get the full amount back) He's under contract and we still need a DM so getting stuck with him wouldn't be the end of the world. I don't have a clue about Inter. Do they have options the same quality as Gary for less than his buyout? Are they only here because they think they can nick him off us? If they really need him they'll get close to the buyout imo. If not I wouldn't be surprised to see them and others come back on for him late in the window as other targets are missed or as a replacement for a player departing near the window closing.
Man U could have done with someone like Medel last season. I'm ambivalent. Can see pros and cons for him staying and leaving.
