Sandro Tonali

[ricky2tricky4city]

If we take the fees out of it for a minute...we are aiming for players that are ready and an improvement. That's a good thing. Period.

If the ownership game plan has changed and they are serious about financing the club then that is in line with what many asked for. If they put serious money in then, it is their money, so why worry about the potential downside.

DL ran under a different remit from them. A sustainable model. So there's no good comparing. DL would have spent the big bucks if he had it.

What we have to hope is this is at least a 5 year investment plan...where we go big (when needed) and don't flinch, making sure money is there when needed. If they get flakey after a couple of seasons, it will get messy

Bringing the level of fees back in...the only downside with big fees, is if we have limitations on how much we can spend because of PL or UEFA sustainability rules.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I don’t think anyone doesn’t rate him (except a few weirdos and tacticos)
But the fee is disproportionate for me for where he is in global pecking order
This is world best level money, and I’m not sure he walks into the worlds best teams

If we were signing him from Italy we would be looking at what Zubamendi went for as a marker

But, also, I’m glad the club is seeming to want to show that ambition

Players are notoriously difficult to value. I think if we were bringing in a player of similar skill and promise from overseas in the current market we’d be paying £65-£70m. Is him being proven in the PL worth £20m on top?…. I’d say it probably is.

 

[Bishop]

I don’t think anyone doesn’t rate him (except a few weirdos and tacticos)
But the fee is disproportionate for me for where he is in global pecking order
This is world best level money, and I’m not sure he walks into the worlds best teams

If we were signing him from Italy we would be looking at what Zubamendi went for as a marker

But, also, I’m glad the club is seeming to want to show that ambition

Relative value in football transfer is always a sliding scale. £100m really doesn't get you best in the world quality and hasn't done for a while. Rice, Enzo, Caicedo, Felix, Coutinho, Grealish and Anderson are examples of paying those kind of fees for good but not great players. None of them were certified best in the world at the time of their transfers, some may well have gone on to prove that level but none were that before.

As has been said by others £100m now is £50m of a few years ago, which itself was the £30m of a few years before that.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Players are notoriously difficult to value. I think if we were bringing in a player of similar skill and promise from overseas in the current market we’d be paying £65-£70m. Is him being proven in the PL worth £20m on top?…. I’d say it probably is.

That’s what we’re paying for, if it happens
It’s why I mentioned Zubamendi as a reference
£65m in Spain is the equivalent of £100m here
But… it’s elite player money
Rice, enzo and Cauicido mentioned by @Bishop are top top players imo
Grealish was too
Anderson is the best CM in the best league in the world
Then there are players who staging justify the fee once moved
Rice has made Arsenal better so have the Chelsea players

 

[Bishop]

That’s what we’re paying for, if it happens
It’s why I mentioned Zubamendi as a reference
£65m in Spain is the equivalent of £100m here
But… it’s elite player money
Rice, enzo and Cauicido mentioned by @Bishop are top top players imo
Grealish was too

All potential players at the time of their signings, none imo were certified best in the world.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

All potential players at the time of their signings, none imo were certified best in the world.

I seem to remember you Albion Zubamendi IIRC?
And he is a quality player
Not sure if we ever have players that move within the prem get deemed to be best in the world but I’m sure that if any of them were available now the very best would love to get them
I mean who is the CM in the world? VItinha imo and he plays for psg, but flopped here
Im not sure that there is a top top one in Spain or Germany, but I’m not racking my brain much

 

[BigChiv9]

Age gap is the difference there.

Good point

 

[Welshspur60]

We have wasted a brick ton of money signing mid tier players. We spent collectively £67M on Tel & Odobert. We would have been way better of spending that on one player.

I like Tel by the way. But we need ready made players now.

Not to mention the 125 million we wasted on Richy and Solanke. 2 absolute donkeys.

 

[metalgear]

We have wasted a brick ton of money signing mid tier players. We spent collectively £67M on Tel & Odobert. We would have been way better of spending that on one player.

I like Tel by the way. But we need ready made players now.

it was all during levy's time where he decided he could navel gaze and decide how much more to spend on players, based on the books.
he refused to see how much the competition were improving and how much quality they have in their first team squad. and we've paid the price for it.

 

[Mr Gogolak]

it was all during levy's time where he decided he could navel gaze and decide how much more to spend on players, based on the books.
he refused to see how much the competition were improving and how much quality they have in their first team squad. and we've paid the price for it.

We seem to attract that kind of characters though - people who think they can force their will onto the market. I think I remember Alan Sugar decided to fight the rise of transfer fees by selling Sheringham to Man United for a fairly reasonable price (3.5 maybe?), only to pay almost double that for Les Ferdinand.

 

[lurker of old]

I wonder what is really going on with this transfer? Did we go "all in" to do the deal? How determined are we?
Sooner or later we have to get one of these huge money transfers over the line surely?

 

[BigChiv9]

I wonder what is really going on with this transfer? Did we go "all in" to do the deal? How determined are we?
Sooner or later we have to get one of these huge money transfers over the line surely?

We can be as determined as you like but if Saudi Sportswashing Machine won't agree a fee and Tonali doesn't agree to sign for us there is nothing more to be done except wait or walk away. I think that both are waiting for other clubs to make offers. Let's face it, City at least can out bid us and Tonali is likely to choose City or Arsenal over us.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

We can be as determined as you like but if Saudi Sportswashing Machine won't agree a fee and Tonali doesn't agree to sign for us there is nothing more to be done except wait or walk away. I think that both are waiting for other clubs to make offers. Let's face it, City at least can out bid us and Tonali is likely to choose City or Arsenal over us.

Indeed, I am getting major Eze vibes about this one.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Unless they are selling Rodri i doubt they are dropping over £200m on 2 CM’s.

I think you might want to consider that statement