- We don't know but a few reports have said Inter are close to getting involved. If what you say is true shouldn't we be worried we're literally the only team in the world interested?
- Then why haven't we paid up
- Reports from Italians saying he has a reputation for being very hard to work with
- Financial structure isn't a "small snag"
- If it wasn't, we'd pay how they want us to and be done with it.
Really stupid and I SHOULD know , but when does the transfer window shut ?
- I'm sure others are interested, but are they interested enough to pay more than us? Signs point to no.
- when you're spending £15m-odd you don't just 'pay up', you work out a payment schedule.
- lots of people say the same about Cortese.
- according to reports, money is on the table, the only disagreement is in the schedule. Sounds minor to me.
- very naive, every transfer involves negotiation.
i personally think the deal is dead and no longer going to follow this rumour.
i personally think the deal is dead and no longer going to follow this rumour.
- Perhaps not. But then, saying he wants to leave isn't a 100% guarantee. Who do Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez currently play for? That's right, the teams they publicly slagged off and demanded to leave.
- Yes, obviously. But we've not agreed on one.
- That doesn't help the argument the deal will go through.
- It's a major difference in schedules though. They want far, far more up front than we want to offer. It seems like we want to pay the majority after the new TV fees/survival is assured etc.
- Yes, it does, and often negotiation fails.
By no means do the reasons mean the deal will definitely fail, as by no means do sainthudson's reasons mean it will go through. I'm just saying, there are definitely very strong arguments for both sides.
- I don't recall either player 'slagging off' their club. But City and United are rich and among world's top clubs, Bologna aren't.
- not yet.
- no, but it doesn't matter how difficult he is to deal with. He needs to sell Ramirez and we are his best (if not only) option.
- some kind of compromise will be reached. We will pay more than we want to but less than they want, and both parties will grudgingly accept.
- and it often succeeds, what's your point?
I don't care about sainthudson's reasons (nor do I agree with many of them), I just know that the evidence points to this going through. Nothing is ever certain but right now, thinking dispassionately and rationally, it's hard to see how this will fail.
Remember that newspapers, here and abroad, don't tend to report what is rational, they report what sells papers. Making this into a drama suits them.
Those 5 points are going nowhere so we should cut it out - It just seems that you're trying to make it seem like it's impossible this deal won't go through?
"Nothing is ever certain" I said, but I believe this is pretty close.
Cortese has a reputation for being stubborn and acting capriciously, but he's also proven that he is a shrewd businessman. No-one with half a brain would go to the considerable trouble of convincing a player like Ramirez that his future lies at Southampton, offering him better terms than anyone else, travelling back and forward to Italy and inviting Bologna officials over just to fall out over the timing of payments.
Equally, the Bologna chairman has a similar reputation but he's not an idiot either and must realise this is his best option. Their people are not going to travel to England for a maybe. They are also desperate to sell him so they can get a replacement before the transfer window shuts. However it is clearly in their interest to talk about other teams being interested. It's a negotiating ploy. Newspapers will happily grasp this and run with it because it makes for a good story, but the only team that has made a concrete offer and agreed terms with the player is Southampton. 95% of the work has already been done, both clubs and the player want this to happen.
On the other hand, as much as the papers talk about Liverpool, there has been no contact reported between them and Bologna or Ramirez. Spurs have flatly denied interest and are reported as having other targets. Inter either can't afford him or don't think he's worth the money it would take to get him. This makes sense, he wouldn't be a key player for them in the same way he would be for us, so all things being equal we would naturally be willing to offer more money.
So picking the bones from that, I just don't see how it can go wrong.
From Corriere di Bologna's reporter Daniele Labanti:
"#bolognafc chairman guaraldi: 'its all over with #southampton for gaston #ramirez? these stories are never all over'"