Mods you can move this after it has run it's course or if you feel it belongs in transfer straight away. So last January we were hell bent on landing Konoplyanka, midnight signing, spent a week there, etc. Then it fell apart. Why did we not go after him again if we went to such great lengths before? Why was he suddenly just put aside? ( Similar age and 5 mil cheaper than Markovic and a similar position). We did the same with Dempsey and lost out on that, the same with Salah and lost out. Costa was one I believe we had agreed a 21 mil fee but the player did not want to leave yet. So...... when he did want to leave why did we not go back, match the cost, and get the man? Same with Kono? Trying to think of any other signings we worked hard on, didn't quite get, but then just moved on and didn't work towards them again.
I agree, especially on Costa he may have chosen Chelsea anyway but we have to be in for players of that quality.
We signed Markovic and Lallana instead. Markovic has a higher ceiling of potential than Kono, so I would understood that choice. But Kono is better than Lallana. In fact, we should have signed 1 or 2 of Shaqiri, Firmino or Kono.
Think with Costa it was a combination of Mourinho, wages and London. Also it wasn't made clear Costa wanted to leave, seems more like Chelsea made a bid, At Madrid accepted and the Costa decided to leave. It was all done fairly quickly as well, not giving other clubs much time to react. This is one massive advantage Chelsea (Citeh etc) have huge wage budgets, meaning when they want a player the contract negotiation don't take long. We seem to haggle alot and often this pisses players and agents off (good and bad thing). Reasons we lost out on Salah, Dempsey and a few others, although those players hardly made the right choices and have paid for it,, Where is Salah anyway? Kono, might it be that we were unwilling to deal with a twat of a chairman again.
I think bascially if you are mugged off by a chairman etc etc... well you just move on. Muggins has been made untouchable and that chairmans has cost himself hugely in terms of fee.... the lad ma never resurface as a player. As for costa.... excuse me but when we did he refused cos we were in 7th and replacing suarez.... he had an almost worldie year at athletico and frankly i think chelsea had him long since lined up. I honestly beleive chelsea do their business with agents months and month in advance of any offers and most players like salah (there was a least on dec 1 of a move to cheslea) know where they are going and string others along (like us who spent a full two months chasing a player who was already lined up to chelsea) Costa... it wouldn't matter if we did a newkie and turned in with double the offer costa was never coming to us.
I'm of the opinion that we just get it wrong too often I've said every transfer window for years that we need 2 or 3 players and I'm shot down with calls of 4, 5 or 6 I just think that if we had been in for top quality players and then used our academy better we'd be in a better position than always spending on 4 or 5 players that turn out not good enough.
Of course clubs try and secure their targets well in advance of the transfer window. However, buying a footballer is no different from buying a company. It is a complex negotiation that can be hijacked right up to the last minute by a rival. But if you get the reputation for 'stealing' other clubs targets then one of the consequences is going to be that the premium you have to pay for making the 'steal' rises incrementally. However, whilst MITO is right that Costa was never going to come to us, his rationale for that decision is probably wrong. In pure money terms, he would have gone to the highest bidder - if that was Liverpool then so be it. However, he was playing for Atletico and wanted a move to a 'glamour' club (any apart from Real and Barca) - that ruled Liverpool out.
don't we know reward players for hard work they have done once they have joined, not before? that alone will put a lot off, those who have something to prove it's great, but just means when we get linked to players that could play for anyone and demand silly wages, you just know its bollocks and we are not in for them.
I don't think so I think the player has a price and a release and he was always going to decide his fate. IF LFC added 5 mil to the price, or like i said doubled it lfc would have been laughed at. For me..... chelsea line up their targets and cos they are chelsea 90% of those targets are not of interest to real or barca so aside form say city putting 300k on the table there is no decision. Only target i can really think of is willian that chelsea stole and they stole him out from under tottenham after they mugged us off. Willian is a lucky lucky boy they came in for him. Cheslea bought salah and i believe they always had him lined up as i say rumours in early December for him.
Well.... its like this when we hack up 25mil of spewtum all over lallana i just don't know where that top quality comes from. I think we in general fail to find that. I mean if LFc had added up the money for badontelly and lallana (41mil) thats one top top player from somewhere. someone like cavani would have suited english football down to the ground IMO. I've no issue with a can signing or an origi added to that...
Kono isn't good enough though and either is Markovic to be honest. Sadly we missed out on Sanchez when we lost Suarez, who would have been perfect and we didn't really seem to commit to buying Shaqiri and went for another average English player in Lallana.
That's exactly what I mean, I'd rather have Cavani up front now than both Lallana and Balotelli, we could be using Suso instead of Lallana, and there are other younger players I'd rather have in place of some of the average signings we've made.
When went in for Costa we had SAS up top so maybe he didn't fancy the competition for places? I think we left the plank alone because of the an shambles involving the club owner etc
he would have done if we had offered him enough wages. all footballers are ****s, you pay them enough they are off.
no.... suarez was subject of bid.... had the whole biting thing hanging over him. Costa was clearly a replacement. we bought the great aspas so i'm sure costa was thinking WTF are this lot at. If you were a "top player" what would you do if a club turned in and said "oh yeah we are sure to keep hold of suarez please ignore him saying he wants to go... and anyway look at the top top player you'll play with Iago Aspas... LIKE FFS!!!! this year we did the exact same... yeah ah well suarez is gone sure... but we got big wickie wambert LFC are a joke that way. yeah its all about london lads
Agreed but the point is we should be trying to get players like this. Agreed, give him a go and as we're seeing now having a top player in the team raises the game of others around him. Agreed, if we stop wasting money on average players we can spend money on getting these top players in, yes they will cost but that's modern footy for you. Right now I'd rather have Suso and Ibe in the team Kelly as cover as center back Wisdom cover at right back Rossiter coming into the midfield and I would be happy if we had not bought the load of players we did and had spent big on just 1 or 2. Nothing against some of the players we had bought I just don't think it was the right thing to do in spending the budget that way. If playing fantasy footy a bit we had bought just Hummels and Aguero in the Summer and used what we have elsewhere I'd be a lot happier.
give you the first one maybe, but the 2nd one, no chance lol. i know you probably meant that caliber of player, but aguero was never an option, who else out there we should have made an effort to get? sanchez we all assume is the location thing, so never going to happen sadly, but he is prob closest i can come up with that would have been a great signing. agree on all the youth or younger players as well, we have improved nothing really to what we had, and at what expense?
1) Well, there were rumours that we asked about Cavani and were rejected pretty promptly. I agree with quality over quantity, but there is a point where a transfer is too unrealisitic and just too expensive to be worth it for us. 2) If the Derby fans have mixed feelings on Ibe's performances in the Championship, why do we think he'd be a success for us right now? I take the point that having better players around him might improve his performances, but who's going to provide that inspiration at the moment?
