Berahino in January for £25m?

[Gazzasrightboot]

What is the point in selling with 30 minutes of the window left?.... There is no time to spend the money.

This point about there only being 30 mins left for them to do a deal for other positions is completely garbage. It is quite clear to everyone that we had been in negotiations for Berahino for a while. Any sane person would expect a bid for Berahino close to the deadline, especially when there have been bids before and especially by their own admission negotiations and "chit-chat" had been happening. They had ample time to start to find players for other positions that they would like to fill (and they probably did hence the disappointment in Pulis and the soundbites from Harry that Berahino would be sold), not least because they could have got Fazio as their defender.

They obviously think fans are naive to believe their side of the story. The scenario was simple. We had been in negotiations with them for Berahino for a while. From what they have said, they couldn't quite make up their mind if he was for sale or not but they did want to play out their side of the story out in the media. We never once made a comment about the sale. If anyone has grounds to be upset with the manner of the proceedings then it is us. Which other club plays out a transfer like this?

Anyway, it seems that the anti-Levy camp are using this as a rod to beat him with. I think that argument is flimsy. WBA are playing people for fools. Of course they knew a bid would come in for Berahino, of course they had time to find replacements for any part of their squad because anyone could expect to see that an offer would come in for Berahino. If anyone has been naive in this situation it was WBA. It's playing to the gallery, playing to the media diatribe about Levy being this monstrous businessman negotiator who doesn't give a brick about football and is only looking after the pennies. But again I ask, what possible business motive has Levy got to not get a player that he wanted?! He wants to make this football club successful. He wants as high a finishing position as possible. Why do you think he has this personality failure that makes him want to put all this aside just so that he can enjoy screwing another party? It makes no rational business sense and I think it is naive.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

I disagree; I don't think it is difficult. It looks clear to me that it got personal, and I think Peace will have made it his mission now to see that Berahino goes elsewhere when he does go. Similarly with Saints re Wanyama and Rodriguez. I'd probably have done the same, dealing with him. Levy. Always has to try one more squeeze. People just don't like the man.

That's fine and I respect your opinion. If Peace has made it so personal that he is prepared to let Berahino go elsewhere, good luck to him. It's not exactly like there were loads of suitors for Berahino. Per their own press officer or whoever that joker was, there was one other enquiry only. They made the whole scenario public and still didn't get anything and have only succeeded in tinkling off their player.

So, if Peace is going to try and flog him to anyone but us, good luck. It could succeed. It could not. Berahino could not play at all, play like brick and there may be no interest in him. Alternatively, he could play, wham in 20 goals and they could sell at a higher price. As I said, for me, there are too many variables.

You say Levy always has to try one more squeeze. So explain to me why we have managed to secure other players? If he likes a squeeze, surely this would happen with every transfer. I mean, if he likes it so much. If he likes to have ridiculous payment structures meaning a club gets £2.50 for the next 100 years, how have we managed to secure other large signings. Either those payment structures are acceptable or they are not. If Levy can only work with long payment structures, then why were Fulham so surprised that we were paying a lot of the Dembele transfer up front?

 

[Finney Is Back]

No one has ever said that.

In this instance for example (specifically Berahino). Whatever offers he ended up making at 10am and then 4pm (or whatever it was) on 1st September.... Why not make those same offers on (for example) the 2nd and 9th of August? If we had done that and WBA had turned down those bids and not come back to us in the 3 or 4 remaining weeks of the window and that was that, then I would say that was fair enough. We could then either hold on to our money and try again in Jan or next Summer or look at an alternative target for this season, or perhaps even gone out and got in a 1 year stop-gap who could lead the line in our Cup games and give Kane a rest.

Maybe it's just me but I think that if there had been £23 million on the table early in August, then Pullis would've put a hell of a lot of pressure on his chairman to take it so that he could put some of that money to use in the in those last 3 or 4 weeks of the season.

I will also balance this out and say that other than the Berahino mistake I was pleased with the rest of the business that Levy did over the Summer. I think we have brought in players of the right age, talent and experience for good fees.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

In this instance for example (specifically Berahino). Whatever offers he ended up making at 10am and then 4pm (or whatever it was) on 1st September.... Why not make those same offers on (for example) the 2nd and 9th of August? If we had done that and WBA had turned down those bids and not come back to us in the 3 or 4 remaining weeks of the window and that was that, then I would say that was fair enough. We could then either hold on to our money and try again in Jan or next Summer or look at an alternative target for this season, or perhaps even gone out and got in a 1 year stop-gap who could lead the line in our Cup games and give Kane a rest.

Maybe it's just me but I think that if there had been £23 million on the table early in August, then Pullis would've put a hell of a lot of pressure on his chairman to take it so that he could put some of that money to use in the in those last 3 or 4 weeks of the season.

I will also balance this out and say that other than the Berahino mistake I was pleased with the rest of the business that Levy did over the Summer. I think we have brought in players of the right age, talent and experience for good fees.

Yes, but that is on the assumption that there have not been any discussions in the interim. The statement from WBA that has been posted here today says that there were discussions. It is precisely these sort of things that are discussed there. The issue of why not make the higher bid sooner is just not right. No negotiations start that way. The WBA statement says it itself, they did not have a price. It's not a shop. So they were feeling each other out and it took a long time. Peace was trying to sell the club so when there's no immediacy things can often drag. We know that there is a lot of discussion that goes on before the first bid is put in.

I think it is fairly safe to say that Pulis did put a lot of pressure on his chairman to take the offer that was on the table and get it resolved. His actions have pretty much shown this.

I don't think a lot has been done wrong on our side with this. We did everything behind the scenes, in plenty of time for them to find and spend the money. We just did not bid as much as they thought he was worth. They tried every trick in the book to get a really high price and generate an auction, and it just wasn't as much as they were hoping and we were the only one at the table.

I think Levy has made mistakes, but I really don't think this is one of them.

 

[jabbathehut]

I think he was naïve to think he could buy a top English player without going over the odds.

 

[indianspur]

West Brom valued Berahino at 25 mill and didnt want to budge. Spurs didnt want to pay 25 mill. Simples

I just hope the black box can spit out a few new names by January because im not sure we will be back in for this kid.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Yes, but that is on the assumption that there have not been any discussions in the interim. The statement from WBA that has been posted here today says that there were discussions. It is precisely these sort of things that are discussed there. The issue of why not make the higher bid sooner is just not right. No negotiations start that way. The WBA statement says it itself, they did not have a price. It's not a shop. So they were feeling each other out and it took a long time. Peace was trying to sell the club so when there's no immediacy things can often drag. We know that there is a lot of discussion that goes on before the first bid is put in.

I think it is fairly safe to say that Pulis did put a lot of pressure on his chairman to take the offer that was on the table and get it resolved. His actions have pretty much shown this.

I don't think a lot has been done wrong on our side with this. We did everything behind the scenes, in plenty of time for them to find and spend the money. We just did not bid as much as they thought he was worth. They tried every trick in the book to get a really high price and generate an auction, and it just wasn't as much as they were hoping and we were the only one at the table.

I think Levy has made mistakes, but I really don't think this is one of them.

This is where we disagree. We didn't give them plenty of time to find and spend the money. Our only bid that was close to being for an acceptable amount came with only a few hours of the transfer window left. I have been led to believe that our bid was £14 million up front and another 9 to 11 million in instalments (which I would say was a very good price for us and a reasonable price for WBA). I think if that bid had been on the table (and left there without being revised) with a few weeks of the window left then a deal would've been very likely to have been completed. WBA had very little to gain from accepting that deal at 4pm on the 1st September and they couldn't go out and speculatively buy players earlier in the window in the hope that Levy would up his £12 million over 5 years (or whatever the initial lowball bid was)

 

[indianspur]

This point about there only being 30 mins left for them to do a deal for other positions is completely garbage. It is quite clear to everyone that we had been in negotiations for Berahino for a while. Any sane person would expect a bid for Berahino close to the deadline, especially when there have been bids before and especially by their own admission negotiations and "chit-chat" had been happening. They had ample time to start to find players for other positions that they would like to fill (and they probably did hence the disappointment in Pulis and the soundbites from Harry that Berahino would be sold), not least because they could have got Fazio as their defender.

They obviously think fans are naive to believe their side of the story. The scenario was simple. We had been in negotiations with them for Berahino for a while. From what they have said, they couldn't quite make up their mind if he was for sale or not but they did want to play out their side of the story out in the media. We never once made a comment about the sale. If anyone has grounds to be upset with the manner of the proceedings then it is us. Which other club plays out a transfer like this?

Anyway, it seems that the anti-Levy camp are using this as a rod to beat him with. I think that argument is flimsy. WBA are playing people for fools. Of course they knew a bid would come in for Berahino, of course they had time to find replacements for any part of their squad because anyone could expect to see that an offer would come in for Berahino. If anyone has been naive in this situation it was WBA. It's playing to the gallery, playing to the media diatribe about Levy being this monstrous businessman negotiator who doesn't give a **** about football and is only looking after the pennies. But again I ask, what possible business motive has Levy got to not get a player that he wanted?! He wants to make this football club successful. He wants as high a finishing position as possible. Why do you think he has this personality failure that makes him want to put all this aside just so that he can enjoy screwing another party? It makes no rational business sense and I think it is naive.

and the pro Levy camp are out in full force judging by this post at least

 

[Finney Is Back]

West Brom valued Berahino at 25 mill and didnt want to budge. Spurs didnt want to pay 25 mill. Simples

I just hope the black box can spit out a few new names by January because im not sure we will be back in for this kid.

Except it seems as though we did value him at about that amount.... It was just that we valued him at that amount with only around 2 hours of the transfer window remaining.

 

[indianspur]

We are going around in circles then, its nothing like the situation with WBA but if you are convinced it is we will have to agree to disagree.

And Peace is the bad guy in this not Levy but there will always be some who will jump on the Levy ( is to blame) mantra bandwagon, thankfully it is a small one.

haha thats a good one

 

[StephenH]

West Brom valued Berahino at 25 mill and didnt want to budge. Spurs didnt want to pay 25 mill. Simples

I just hope the black box can spit out a few new names by January because im not sure we will be back in for this kid.

I must admit I tried to think of alternatives to Berahino the other day. And even breaking the £30m barrier I can't say I was spoilt for choice. But I'm no european football aficionado, but I'm sure there are some good value signings out there.

 

[indianspur]

Except it seems as though we did value him at about that amount.... It was just that we valued him at that amount with only around 2 hours of the transfer window remaining.

did Spurs offer 25 mill though?

Even if they did its waste of time by then though isnt it. Levy fecked up, his plan didnt work

 

[milo]

I think he was naïve to think he could buy a top English player without going over the odds.

I think that we did offer over the odds

 

[indianspur]

Levy does a hell of a lot thats good for the club, he really does, but he is prone to making mistakes too. He is human.

In this case Poch wanted a striker and by the end of the window he didnt get one. The whole Berahino affair was a mess and embarrassing for West Brom and Spurs. No one came out the winner.

 

[indianspur]

This is where we disagree. We didn't give them plenty of time to find and spend the money. Our only bid that was close to being for an acceptable amount came with only a few hours of the transfer window left. I have been led to believe that our bid was £14 million up front and another 9 to 11 million in instalments (which I would say was a very good price for us and a reasonable price for WBA). I think if that bid had been on the table (and left there without being revised) with a few weeks of the window left then a deal would've been very likely to have been completed. WBA had very little to gain from accepting that deal at 4pm on the 1st September and they couldn't go out and speculatively buy players earlier in the window in the hope that Levy would up his £12 million over 5 years (or whatever the initial lowball bid was)

correct...but some just dont want to hear this

 

[StephenH]

did Spurs offer 25 mill though?

Even if they did its waste of time by then though isnt it. Levy fecked up, his plan didnt work

They already had replaced Berahino with Rickie Lambert and Salomon Rondon and they still have Victor Anichebe and Adil Nabi as backups.
Not logical !

 

[indianspur]

They already had replaced Berahino with Rickie Lambert and Salomon Rondon and they still have Victor Anichebe and Adil Nabi as backups.

they wanted to use the Berahino money to strengthen other parts of the team, bit like how we spent the Bale money

 

[indianspur]

They already had replaced Berahino with Rickie Lambert and Salomon Rondon and they still have Victor Anichebe and Adil Nabi as backups.

anyway Pulis sees Berahino as a wide forward primarily, so Lambert and Rondon will battle it out for the lone striker role. Makes sense.

 

[Raziel]

Levy does a hell of a lot thats good for the club, he really does, but he is prone to making mistakes too. He is human.

In this case Poch wanted a striker and by the end of the window he didnt get one. The whole Berahino affair was a mess and embarrassing for West Brom and Spurs. No one came out the winner.

No question Levy makes mistakes, we have direct view for 11 years of that.

The problem with saying we failed and it was embarrassing for WBA & Spurs comes down to

- WBA & WBA alone chose to make their side of the story public, which in turn gave their player encouragement to be public with his frustrations

Re Levy failing to deliver, there is a very interesting reporter interview on the Hotspur America podcast, synopsis

- Berahino was not Spurs #1 target (as identified by Poch/Mitchell/etc.), it was Ings, which is why we bid high and early (funny how that is counter the Levy late/low ball theory) to have chance to speak to Ings before anyone else. Turns out he was set on Pool and it didn't work out.
- Berahino was an alternative option, but no one in the club felt we couldn't do without him
- Based on him being alternative choice, club comfortable without him, the end of window plays out much more sensibly, a player we can use, ticks a lot of boxes, we bid multiple times, make a best effort but when it becomes clear the selling club is either not going to sell or is simply trying to fudge us, we walk away.

 

[StephenH]

they wanted to use the Berahino money to strengthen other parts of the team, bit like how we spent the Bale money

Well that didn't work then did it. They now have 5 strikers......