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Franco Baldini
- Thread starter Mumorn
- Start date
Well, in simplest terms, it would represent a £25m loss on the fees we paid for them. Not good, obviously, but not disastrous either.
Wages, bonuses etc are different. They are paid in return for services rendered. Of course, you could argue that the services rendered haven't been rendered very well - but that's another matter!
Robspur12
Nick Barmby
I didn't know anything about the "magnificent" 7 before they signed other than Soldado. I assumed as I did with every signing that these players had been carefully scouted, by people who knew considerably more than the average fan on a forum, to fit the football system AVB wanted to implement.
I get scouting is not an exact science and you are taking a risk bringing in players with no premier League experience, so who's bright idea was it to bring in 7? You bring in a brazillian who has never played out side his country's league, a young argentinian prospect who had 1? good season and someone from the Romanian league. The likes of City and Chelsea brought in proven premier players when they had their splurges. Granted we didn't have their money but why not bring fewer but more proven players who would have represent ed less of a gamble. AVB knew he wanted to play a high line , for which a relatively immobile huddlestone was not suited. So why bring in an even more immobile and positionally poor player like Capoue. It was clear after watching him against Arsenal that he would struggle as a DM. For me it would seem the recruitment process which baldini and AVB were a central part of lacked due diligence. And sadly a club like ours cannot afford such losses.
I get scouting is not an exact science and you are taking a risk bringing in players with no premier League experience, so who's bright idea was it to bring in 7? You bring in a brazillian who has never played out side his country's league, a young argentinian prospect who had 1? good season and someone from the Romanian league. The likes of City and Chelsea brought in proven premier players when they had their splurges. Granted we didn't have their money but why not bring fewer but more proven players who would have represent ed less of a gamble. AVB knew he wanted to play a high line , for which a relatively immobile huddlestone was not suited. So why bring in an even more immobile and positionally poor player like Capoue. It was clear after watching him against Arsenal that he would struggle as a DM. For me it would seem the recruitment process which baldini and AVB were a central part of lacked due diligence. And sadly a club like ours cannot afford such losses.
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Paulinho had played in the Polish league and failed before. Lamela was seen as the biggest young Argie talent at the time and Roma had signed him for £15 - £20m already don't forget.
Other clubs have also signed defenders from eastern Europe - Vidic, Skrtel, Ivanovic. Maybe not from the Romanian league but certainly from countries with players that don't have a high success rate in England.
Capoue and Sissoko were both really highly rated at Toulouse, in fact we were linked with Capoue as far back as 2010 (ish) I believe so have probably tracked him for years.
Other clubs have also signed defenders from eastern Europe - Vidic, Skrtel, Ivanovic. Maybe not from the Romanian league but certainly from countries with players that don't have a high success rate in England.
Capoue and Sissoko were both really highly rated at Toulouse, in fact we were linked with Capoue as far back as 2010 (ish) I believe so have probably tracked him for years.
Bullet
Andy Thompson
I've just seen the ITK thread in the Transfer Forum - an interesting snippet claiming Baldini was the spacegoat and Levy the architect with agent J Barnett for the magnificent seven. I assume the truth lies somewhere in between.
I really wanted a tough Eastern European CB like vidic or skrtl so I hoped Chiriches was similar, but he is the opposite type of CB. Surely that should have been obvious to a scout after one game. Despite being a big player for his country at a young age, he is a shambolic defender.
I really wanted a tough Eastern European CB like vidic or skrtl so I hoped Chiriches was similar, but he is the opposite type of CB. Surely that should have been obvious to a scout after one game. Despite being a big player for his country at a young age, he is a shambolic defender.
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
Transfers take a lot longer than the 2 months Baldini was given (remember he was only recruited himself at the beginning of the window). I'd imagine a lot/most of them were in process when he arrived - most signings we track for years beforehand
I think another driver was to make sure we just quickly collected assets, as being left with cash in the back is a big problem (i.e. it's taxable)
The fact that Baldini is rebuilding our scouting infrustructure really pleases me. We spent too long relying on Levy and Redknapp's agent contacts, rather than doing objective research and analysis.
I think Chiriches might become another KPB - i.e. he'll turn up looking very impressive for a big Italian club in a year or two time.
Jurgen the German
Erik Thorstvedt
What did you make or Robspur's comments regarding signing not one but seven players with no Premier League experience, all at the same time?
Baleforce
Arthur Rowe
agree with the first bit, there is no way Levy spent that money on Soldado and Lamela because a guy in the job a fortnight said so, those deals were in motion long before we hired Baldini
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
Perhaps Levy just thought he was free of Redknapp pestering him about that and could go and get some better value players like he used to with Comolli (Berbatov, Modric etc.)?
Personally I don't think EPL experience per se is important, rather it is buying players from leagues with comparable pace and physicality. I'd now steer well clear of midfielders from France for example - after seeing Zokora, Capoue and Stambouli all fail to translate their ability to dominate that league. Whereas Germany is a market I think we should exploit much more, which hopefully Wimmer and our apparent interest in Kramer is indicating.
Jurgen the German
Erik Thorstvedt
Buying one or two players with PL experience is not an issue that's not what I am saying, but buying seven at the same time and expecting to integrate them at the same time is complete madness. Even a 3/4 split would have not been the worst thing in the world.
On the other hand what about Hazard, Cabeye, Cabella etc who have all done well here.
Finney Is Back
Luka Modric
I would've thought that Lamela was Baldini's choice.... It seemed that we only turned to him after we lost Willian (who was AVB's choice) to Chelsea. Soldado was AVB's choice.
Finney Is Back
Luka Modric
While I partly agree with being careful what league you sign a player from I think it is more important to simply look at the attributes of the player in question. In addition to the usual attributes of skill, vision, creativity and passing ability. The key attributes here are bravery, physicality, a real will to win and pace - I think without three of those four attributes a player is very likely to fail here. Zokora actually had most of those attributes and because of that he actually played on numerous occasions for us, the problem with him was that while he had the 'English attributes' I listed above he didn't have the skill, vision, creativity and passing ability.
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
Lamela was signed before Willian fell through.
We've actually played 2 seasons now with only 1 LWF in the squad - I suspect Willian was supposed to line up ahead of Chadli
parklane1
Tony Galvin
I do agree with this and said so at the time, mind you signing 7 players in one window is not the brightest thing to do no matter where they come from.
I
indianspur
Guest
he wasnt
Finney Is Back
Luka Modric
We signed Lamela only one or two days before the transfer window closed. I think the Willian deal fell through more than 1 week before that.
DublinSpur
Scott Parker
Willian confirmed as a Chelsea player - August 28th 2013
Lamela confirmed as a Spurs player - August 30th 2013
Lamela confirmed as a Spurs player - August 30th 2013
Baleforce
Arthur Rowe
I sure he had an opinion on him and was asked, but it wasn't a case of Baldini saying,
"Hey Dan, there is this kid at Roma you've never heard of who is as good as Messi, yours for only 30m"
it would have been Levy seeking just another opinion on a player we had already analysed as a prospect from months of scouting, had Baldini not arrived or had it been someone else we would still have signed Lamela
knowing levy and looking at the final fee, I expect our opening 6m bid happened the summer before