It's the holding on bit I don't get. You're absolutely right that getting money for players is a lot more desirable than letting them go on frees. But, you can only sell them when they want to go, you can't force them out. Have we had any scenarios like Ziyech or any amount of players who want out that we've denied the move?You're right that the bond really helped us achieve great things ... but at the same time, we have to be better at knowing when to let go. Footballing ability has now gone down because players are getting older. And morale is already down because we're simply not good enough on the pitch and not winning games.
You can argue that Can, Gini, Bobby, Lallana all left on frees when all could have fetched some good money. You can also argue that held onto Origi and Mane for too long as well.Nat Phillips, Ox and Keita also spring to mind.
The key is not to get rid when the players are completely useless. It's getting rid of them at the right time before their decline sets in. It's tough because at the time, you think the players can keep performing and you dont expect the decline to happen ...
We've renewed contracts on key players like Virgil and Alisson and some of the youngsters looking to retain and rebuild. I think the problem has been renewing Milner and Henderson when some/most felt that was the wrong thing to do. Other than those two, who else have we hung onto that could have been moved on? When you say Ox and Keita, you have to be specific and point to the moment they should have gone ie an offer from another club, otherwise just saying we hung onto them doesn't add up.
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