I agree that selling is more likely than an FSG handout. My point really was that we cannot expect to command £100m+ for Salah or Mane in today’s market.
Should get £100m+ for Mane, especially if his form picks up before the end of the season. He's playing now as he did for most of his second season for us, though he did end that on a high with our run to the 2018 CL final. I'd much rather we kept hold of Mane and Salah for one more season though. It's Bobby who has come to the end of the line and needs replacing, and we won't get more than £30m for him given his age and form. I suspect we've got some Balotellis and Lamberts lined up this summer, tbh, no matter who we sell.
Who’s paying £100m+ for Mane? He’s 29 next month, has had a poor season by the standards he’s set and the market is ****ed. You’re dreaming mate.
Not complaining if nobody will, as I want to keep him. But he's had a poor 3 months, for sure - not all season - and I did say IF his form picks up, as it did in his last bad season for us around this time in 2017/18.
It wouldn’t matter if his form did pick up, there’s no one out there who’s paying £100m + for a 29 year old in the current market mate. He’s got 2 years left on his contract come the summer, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens with him.
The long standing lesson for every club in the world is theres always another player. Mane cost us 34mil or so. If we get it back great. If not ok we got 2 big trophies. Hes not worth 100mil and never was. Neither was hazard though
If players prices have reduced meaning (for example) we won't get £100m for Mane, then surely the players we target should also theoretically be cheaper too? Its not about what you bought them for and making a profit. It's about developing the team. If we can sell someone and then bring in a replacement to improve that team, the price doesn't really matter too much. Obviously we still look to sell high and buy low but that's just good business sense. PS...if we can't bring in an improvement, we stick with what we've got unless they force our hand (unlikely imo)
It sort of does matter though. As the 2 key signings that you made that won you the league and the CL i.e. Alisson & Van Dijk were directly funded with the cash you got for Coutinho. The Yanks have been running you as a self funding enterprise so with the current financial disaster that is COVID, where’s the money coming from for the players you obvs need come the summer?
Theres a few extra things though. Form Age Overall ability. It's hard to say who comes in and what the price will be but jota was 45mil so who knows. Theres no point thinking of the big names either, it's impossible to say who klopp will want
Nowhere, as we spent the future last summer by taking jota and thiago on the never never. We have to pay for them. You are right, we spent the coutinho money in various ways and imo keita was part of that too.
The never never deals for Thiago and Jota were about cash flow. The cost to the annual P&L is what matters in terms of sustainability, which is their wages (plus agents fees in the first year) and the total price paid divided by the contract length.
Yes but the bill is still due on a set date and has to be paid. Wolves were very happy to get ki hoever for 10mil but we have to pay 12mil next summer as part of that deal and we have to then pay bayern 5mil each summer for 4 years so that is 17mil before we start any deals this summer. Then add in our little elliot fee of a very low 2mil or so. So we need to see grujic at the advertised desired fee of 20mil just to balance the books on the current squad. It is as you say about cash flow we couldn't afford the cash then but thought we could afford that 17mil each year to have these guys. Now we need to factor in that Corona ended crowds again and we wont see any at all in the season and are looking at a 50mil loss minimum over this season and will find out last seasons losses some time soon. And on top potentially a massive loss of cl football as well? Imo if we win the cl and get back into the competition that way or scrape 4th we might buy. Otherwise we are looking at selling off players we can and a much constrained squad next year.
The hit on your accounts for both of those players would have been the same in the financial year whether you paid cash up front or not. Mane owes you nothing come the summer, so if you sold him for say £40m that’d be pure profit, so you could sign 4x £40m players on 4 year deals this summer and the net effect on the amortisation in the financial year would be zero. However, that would also require you to spread the payments, unless the Sherman’s put in a Directors loan to cover the cash outlay.
As I said, if the market is down and players are cheaper it applies to both sales and purchases. Sell for less = buy for less. If the players aren't available to buy, we don't sell. Bit like buying and selling houses; values go up and down but if you're already on the ladder it doesn't make a great deal of difference. I think your argument is more about current form than the state of the market though. That's down to opinion
We certainly won't get much in the 2022 summer window, for sure. I'd still rather keep him than sell him though, as he has had this dip before and come back to be the best forward in the Prem. I truly believe he will again.
Tobes, even after the pandemic we have one of the lowest wages to income ratios in the top half of the league, I believe. Think Leicester has the highest? Another team in blue just after them? But I wouldn't argue with your point that there's no money for key signings unless we sell or FSG put their hands in the pockets, hence my comment re Balotelli and Lambert. There is scope for debt though, especially as FFP is rolling over for two years. Would help if they wrote the ****ing debt off for the stand though - considering they were supposed to build a whole ground with the money they saved getting the club at half its book price in a distressed fire-sale. Well, that's what RBS said anyway, and the line used in the High Court to dismiss H&G's lawsuit.
I think it also matters who the selling club is. Mbappe, for instance, won't be dropping in price as PSG have no need to sell. He may go down due to the length left of his contract, but that's all. Same for any City player you wanted (if they'd go). Conversely, that's why Barca will have a firesale.
