"Yes i know ... we have a simple policy at spurs ... low ball the fudge for bids going out, and high ball the fudge out of the universe for bids coming in.
They will say that im mean ... them words dont hurt me as i glance at the balance sheet"
I don't see what is wrong with that policy to be honest. Especially if it means we get the best deal. I cannot see this happening because Mourinho, as a general rule, doesn't sell good players to his rivals. But, I see no problem with lowballing on this one. What has Martial actually achieved in his time at Man United? He joined in 2015 on a 4 year contract, so has 2 years left and if things continue, he will not be signing an extension any time soon.
Now, assuming that this is all true, I don't see how this is in any way placating any of our fans. It certainly isn't on this forum!! Levy didn't lowball the fudge out of Sissoko, did he? Or Lamela? Or Eriksen, or Son. So why would he do it here? As others have said, why would you go in high on a first offer or even close to what you are prepared to pay whilst at the same time going for a younger player from Ajax for £35m. There's a lack of consistency there to assume that this is just to placate the fans and media that Spurs are "showing ambition", don't you think?
I think it was the secretfootballer who gave a real indication as to how player transfers work, and if I can find it I will share the link. But essentially it went something like club approaches player's representatives first to establish if the player would even consider joining the club. From that, the player representatives give an indication as to what sort of fee would be amenable to the selling club and negotiations begin. Now, I don't know anything about negotiations on footballers, but I do know that in negotiations you do not start with a price that is at the highest you are willing to pay.
I also don't believe in Aguero being anything but a genuine attempt to get the player in. It's almost as if the club cannot win in this situation. Don't try to go for big players, not showing enough ambition. Go for big players but get refused, it's because you are not showing enough ambition in the number of zeros at the end of the cheque. Buy an unknown, that someone would need to google, and you're not showing enough ambition (Alli, Dier, Trippier, Walker, Rose, NJie, Nkoudou). As it turned out we did go for Morata, but he didn't want to come because he didn't have the ambition to fight for a place.
Lowballing the fudge for bids going out has resulted in the following players being bought for quite good amounts: Wanyama, Eriksen, VdV. There is value out there in the market, so why not try and get it! You are surely not going to get it by being all flash and showing how large your wallet is.