Who is fearing Kane is one season wonder? The pundits or some of our worst type of fans? Kane is quality and if he played to the standard he has set in the first 5 games all year then we will have a real threat in our hands who will score a good amount too. Will he score 30 again - maybe not but not many players do!
Similarly Berahino is a player who is sharp, skilful, quick and can score goals - he will do well to fade considering the pedigree he currently has.
The idea of negligence remains. If you build a house without a door and you aren't burgled for the first year you can't turn around and say 'well I told you we didn't need to waste money on a door' because eventually you will be burgled! Stupid analogy I know but say Kane fires 40 goals this year it still can't hide the fact that to only have him as a recognised striker in the squad is extremely poor.
Berhaino would have been a good option and even someone like Vardy wouldn't be the worst ever buy for 12m, just so we have some more options as and when its needed. Even based on last year we needed Soldado and Ade to start and come on in various games and despite how bad they were sometimes having a recognised body is better than no one at all.
I agree let's not get back onto the argument about Levy's spending but my point is to illustrate that small clubs with v little backing can now afford to outlay that much due to the massive TV deals and those that are in the pipeline. Making money on transfers each year since 09 doesn't quite add up when if you look at Ar5ena1, their period of thrift came after the stadium has been built and they actually had taken out a loan! I predict that the real period of hardship will be 2018-2028 rather than now. Also with the new TV deal, the importance of the extra 25 ,000 seats could well be minimised. For me a 25m purchase of Berahino would have done little to affect our ability to pay back loans, esp when he is an asset that will probably not decrease in value and we have other assets we could sell in addition to this. My gut feeling is that the stadium is a tool to simply sell the club for as much profit as possible, rather than any vision of making us competitive.
I do think your analogy is stupid
. I guess if having "anyone" up front is better than any other course, then surely Son or N'Jie is a good option? I know it is a gamble, but it is not negligence. If our attacking quartet score the same amount of goals as last year or more, or we remain competitive in the league the gamble will have paid off. Negligence is strong and I think it will take time to determine if it the gamble has paid off or not. But my guess is that I will not be able to persuade you
The only thing I would add is Soldado and Ade offered nothing of note when they played for us last year. Hardly any goals, hardly any assists and hardly any key passes. Son or N'Jie can hardly do much worse.
Others have commented on whether we would be able to get Vardy for £12m, but I doubt Leicester would sell as they don't need to, and who would they get to replace.
As for the last point, the making money on transfers does add up. We have spent to date £100m+ on the stadium and new training complex without incurring significant debt. Overall we are slight net profit on transfers, so it's the profit from the other operations that has funded this spending. I don't know enough about Arsenal's stadium build to comment but I think you are wrong about the importance of the extra 25k seats, the extra corporate hospitality and also the income from other events at our stadium including the NFL. It will make a huge difference. The contention that the £25m purchase of Berahino would have done little to affect our ability to pay back loans, it will have done to the tune of £25m. However, I think the club were prepared to pay nearly that so obviously Levy and the club were comfortable with spending a similar amount. The point I was making was in response to why can't we run similar transfer deficits to some other clubs i.e. we're spending the money on the stadium. A brief look at the accounts show that.
Finally, on your final point on the stadium being a tool to simply sell the club for as much profit as possible, rather than any vision of making us competitive. Well I have two points. First, well of course as it will mean that the club can generate more money and therefore will be more valuable i.e. greater returns. Second, there's nothing wrong with that if Spurs as a club is more valuable. I'd sooner spend the money on a stadium then a bunch of transfers that may or may not work out like we did with Bale's transfer fee.
Happy to discuss this on PM if you want as I think others are probably a bit bored of this. I do respect your opinion on this but do also disagree.
