Can't disagree, PL. I'm just speculating as to the possible reasons that we've seen this change in policy. Maybe Comolli did us more damage than we at first realised. Maybe his legacy has been a complete volte face in club policy.
The point you raise here makes our demotion from the CL to the EL next season all the more painful. If we had Champions League football, the projected balance sheet would be so much nicer and we could continue moving forward with numerous plans. Now we have to face another season of penny pinching and possible player sales. It's depressing. As for the likes of Dos Santos and Jenas not beign sold, I'm not entirely convinced this is solely Levy overvaluing these players. I think these players overvalue themselves. Dos Santos rejected a move to Spain (the name of the club escapes me) and Jenas still thinks he's the nuts since it was "rumoured" Mourinho wanted to take him to Inter some years back. Sometimes players make the transfer harder by being greedy, overambitious or having delusions of grandeur.
You're right we don't know how these players react and their contacts are used by them. I expect if they can't agree personal terms with the prospective club they just sit tight and collect their wages.
Which is another good reason for Levy to be cautious: everyone he signs will be entitled to collect their wages for five years. No-one succeeds in any business, sport or anything by paying more for assets than they are worth, or selling for less. I'm happy to trust Levy on this provided that he has someone alongside him who can give a good estimate of value. This someone has to be Harry in our current structure - but this is an area he will not be good at. The argument that because we pissed away ££MM on Bentley we can afford to do it on others is laughable. But our policy is also inevitably going to have some errors - no-one gets decisions right all the time. By the way each £1m we waste is about £1.50 on each ticket.
Dos Santos turned down a £13m move to Udinese, if I remember right. Sevilla offered £3m and he wanted to go there.
He wanted to return to Spain, which is fair enough - although at this rate it'll end up with him heading that way in a cash + player deal.
The deal with Sevilla was never going to happen though, Croydon and you'd have thought that Udinese would've been a better move than his loan to Galatasaray the previous season. He wants to go, but he didn't take the opportunity when it arose. Why turn down a top 4 side in Italy, when you're unhappy at your current club?
