Eberechi Eze

[Finney Is Back]

I remember many moons ago back when I bought my first house. On the day I moved in the owner was still there finishing moving out. He said to me ‘you know you could’ve got this house for £5k less than you paid?

I replied ‘perhaps…. but equally I would e paid £5k more for it so I guess we’re both happy’

 

[Glenda's Legs]

Any chance we can avoid reliving the whole Grealish saga?
I mean it’s not as if we don’t have current sagas to occupy our time.

 

[Finney Is Back]

You are missing the point [deliberately maybe]. They HAD excepted our bid the new owners tried to change the terms and Levy told them to stick it.

You are also missing the point (deliberately maybe). The price we eventually agreed (only after we got scared that they had new investment coming in and may no longer need to sell) was the same price that Villa wanted all along from weeks and weeks before.

Because Daniel always has to ‘win the negotiation’ he fudged around low balling for weeks on end. We ended up not getting player because we lowballed for weeks, even though we were actually fully prepared to pay the (very reasonable) £20m for him. In fact we were willing to pay £30m for him in the end when Danny boy realised too late how badly he had ballsed it up. Only Daniel Levy won’t pay £20m for something that he’ll eventually offer £30m for many weeks later

 

[Grays_1890]

Any chance we can avoid reliving the whole Grealish saga?
I mean it’s not as if we don’t have current sagas to occupy our time.

Hahah the annual Grealishgate..........I expect Poch relived again soon

 

[Finney Is Back]

Any chance we can avoid reliving the whole Grealish saga?
I mean it’s not as if we don’t have current sagas to occupy our time.

I actually think the Eze saga is rather different from the Grealish saga. That was a 10 out of 10 fudge up. Eze’s not even a 5 out of 10 IMO.

 

[braineclipse]

I find the idea that swiftly agreeing a deal is the key to avoid getting "hijacked" difficult to believe. Agents will be looking for the best possible deals for their players and probably keep other interested clubs in the loop when a deal gets close. Not saying it couldn't be a factor sometimes, but for a deal like this I doubt it would have changed much.

 

[parklane1]

Any chance we can avoid reliving the whole Grealish saga?
I mean it’s not as if we don’t have current sagas to occupy our time.

Fair point, just want to put the the facts out there, i was working for the FA at the time and it happened the way i said.

 

[braineclipse]

You are also missing the point (deliberately maybe). The price we eventually agreed (only after we got scared that they had new investment coming in and may no longer need to sell) was the same price that Villa wanted all along from weeks and weeks before.

Because Daniel always has to ‘win the negotiation’ he fudged around low calling for weeks on end. We ended up not getting player because we lowballed for weeks, even though we were actually fully prepared to pay the ( wry reasonable) £20m for him. In fact we were willing to pay £30m for in in the end when Danny boy realised too late how badly he had ballsed it up.

That would depend on what the other side of that equation is.

How much money are we saving over the years on Levy being a tough negotiator? We can't know...

 

[Finney Is Back]

Fair point, just want to put the the facts out there, i was working for the FA at the time and it happened the way i said.

And the way I said as well (our facts are actually not different to each others just our perspectives on what we thought was a decent way to do the transfer)

 

[Finney Is Back]

That would depend on what the other side of that equation is.

How much money are we saving over the years on Levy being a tough negotiator? We can't know...

LOADS…. As we often don’t actually get the player in the end!

Though I guess it is difficult to factor in the money we end up wasting on fourth choice panic buys instead?

 

[Finney Is Back]

I find the idea that swiftly agreeing a deal is the key to avoid getting "hijacked" difficult to believe. Agents will be looking for the best possible deals for their players and probably keep other interested clubs in the loop when a deal gets close. Not saying it couldn't be a factor sometimes, but for a deal like this I doubt it would have changed much.

Sometimes that is the case. I’m not convinced we would’ve got Eze for example (though maybe Arsenal would not have matched our bid if Haivertz didn’t get injured?)

Players do have to weigh up the prospect of definite jam today versus possible jam tomorrow though. Xavi Simons for example could wait for a possible trebling of his wages at Chelsea that might not come about or agree a move to another club and earn 2.5 times his wages guaranteed. Good players will often wait a while for the biggest clubs but not forever. The agent can also get impatient waiting for his pay day.

 

[markysimmo]

I find the idea that swiftly agreeing a deal is the key to avoid getting "hijacked" difficult to believe. Agents will be looking for the best possible deals for their players and probably keep other interested clubs in the loop when a deal gets close. Not saying it couldn't be a factor sometimes, but for a deal like this I doubt it would have changed much.

Taking 2 weeks to agree a fee/addons hasn't helped with Eze

 

[Grays_1890]

Fair point, just want to put the the facts out there, i was working for the FA at the time and it happened the way i said.

No one wants to listen to facts over Grealish, I was speaking with Michael Standing about the deal weekly and Grealish and his old man had a change of heart before the investment, people were putting pressure on him to stay for a long time and a massive element of that played its part.

Its like the Dybala transfer, people with the whole "just pay the money" missing the point him and his agent had flown round Europe for weeks touting their player to all and we were the third visit here in the UK, if people don't see the red flags and issues his agent raised, then its not really worth having the conversations I suppose

Anyway, we move on from it, football moves forward..........

 

[Daisuk]

I find the idea that swiftly agreeing a deal is the key to avoid getting "hijacked" difficult to believe. Agents will be looking for the best possible deals for their players and probably keep other interested clubs in the loop when a deal gets close. Not saying it couldn't be a factor sometimes, but for a deal like this I doubt it would have changed much.

Exactly. Clubs too. Palace knew Arse was in for him even before the summer. Eze being an Arse fan definitely knew too. And, knowing how badly we wanted him, neither Palace nor Eze would lose much from dragging it out in the hope of Arse coming back to get him.

There are so many unknowns in this transfer and transfers in general it's hard to tell as a fan what is really going on. Easy to just blame it all on Levy though. Now, having a negotiator known for being insanely hard to deal with, sure doesn't make things easier for us, but I dont think this one in particular is necessarily on Levy. We may find that having a negotiator known for being a dingdong to make deals with not being very sustainable for long though.

 

[Baleforce]

Any chance we can avoid reliving the whole Grealish saga?
I mean it’s not as if we don’t have current sagas to occupy our time.

Or at least acknowledge he’s been a complete waste of money for City and we dodged a bullet.

 

[Finney Is Back]

No one wants to listen to facts over Grealish, I was speaking with Michael Standing about the deal weekly and Grealish and his old man had a change of heart before the investment, people were putting pressure on him to stay for a long time and a massive element of that played its part.

Its like the Dybala transfer, people with the whole "just pay the money" missing the point him and his agent had flown round Europe for weeks touting their player to all and we were the third visit here in the UK, if people don't see the red flags and issues his agent raised, then its not really worth having the conversations I suppose

Dybala was very different. He was really expensive and also a difficult deal to do in terms of wages and things like image rights. Grealish easily fitted into our wage structure and £20m was a more than reasonable fee to pay for him.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

No one wants to listen to facts over Grealish, I was speaking with Michael Standing about the deal weekly and Grealish and his old man had a change of heart before the investment, people were putting pressure on him to stay for a long time and a massive element of that played its part.

Its like the Dybala transfer, people with the whole "just pay the money" missing the point him and his agent had flown round Europe for weeks touting their player to all and we were the third visit here in the UK, if people don't see the red flags and issues his agent raised, then its not really worth having the conversations I suppose

Anyway, we move on from it, football moves forward..........

No one is saying there wasn’t eventually a deal agreed with Villa. The point is around needing to win the negotiation and not paying what you’re prepared to pay anyway, earlier on, to get it sorted. And therefore reducing the likelihood that circumstances can change around you, outside of your control.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

Sometimes that is the case. I’m not convinced we would’ve got Eze for example (though maybe Arsenal would not have matched our bid if Haivertz didn’t get injured?)

Players do have to weigh up the prospect of definite jam today versus possible jam tomorrow though. Xavi Simons for example could wait for a possible trebling of his wages at Chelsea that might not come about or agree a move to another club and earn 2.5 times his wages guaranteed. Good players will often wait a while for the biggest clubs but not forever. The agent can also get impatient waiting for his pay day.

I agree on your jam tomorrow point, and also I think players appreciate when a club has always been in for them. And have a clear plan on how they’re gonna be used. So I think being decisive is a way that plays into that. It’s clearly something that Ange was good at. And it may have been something that helped us with Kudus.

 

[Grays_1890]

No one is saying there wasn’t eventually a deal agreed with Villa. The point is around needing to win the negotiation and not paying what you’re prepared to pay anyway, earlier on, to get it sorted. And therefore reducing the likelihood that circumstances can change around you, outside of your control.

Him and his old man were as much stalling the deal as anyone, that was the point, he wanted to play in a game as a good bye and was under pressure in the background before the new people came in. There was lots going on a alot of noise around him playing with his emotions, loyalty and head.........it does happen you know despite everyone making out transfers are purely transactional for everyone.

Anyway I said it when it happened have said it again today and TBH can't be bothered going over old ground like some love to. So will leave it there.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Can we swipe Bilal El Khannouss under Palace's nose? Almost worth it just out of spite Was linked with the goons too.

I think our reservation around him would be his size, and how he would do in such a physical league. Gil fresh in our minds. El K - special K - is far more than Gil. More robust, clearly more skill and ability to ping the ball and find people. I guess we have other targets before him.