Sylvain
Player Valuation: £1m
Obviously we've recouped quite a substantial amount of money from the Fellaini and Jelavic transfers and fans are asking where has the money gone.
I'm sure their is some left in the pot, after 'operating costs' or whatever nonsense is covered, but I think some people are underestimating the loan fees of Lukaku and Traore.
This article here says that Stoke baulked at the £1.66m loan fee for a player who'll be play just over 5 months of football (less because he's unfit).
For Lukaku, I haven't found a definite source but speculation online suggests it's at least £3m going up to as high £5m. Apparently, Chelsea wanted £3m for Ba in the summer on loan, so I'd imagine Lukaku's fee was well in excess of that.
I fear that the we're putting short-term punt at the Champions League, ahead of long-term sustainability in the top 6/7.
We know from recent years how quickly, what we believe to be a healthy transfer budget accrued from sales and tv money, can disappear. I don't think the issue of an aging squad has gone away either, with the signings of Kone and Alcaraz only exacerbating it.
We know that investing in permanent players like Arteta, Lescott, Fellaini and Mirrales when we do have the money, can be rewarding on the pitch over several seasons and pay dividends in the long term, helping us to refresh and improve the squad.
I wonder in the future, when we're selling Coleman or Barkley, if we'll rue not making more young signings akin to James McCarthy who'll have improved so much, and given us some actual depth, we won't begrudge the loss of good player and the chance to improve the squad. Like with Rodwell last summer and Fellaini this year.
I'm sure their is some left in the pot, after 'operating costs' or whatever nonsense is covered, but I think some people are underestimating the loan fees of Lukaku and Traore.
This article here says that Stoke baulked at the £1.66m loan fee for a player who'll be play just over 5 months of football (less because he's unfit).
For Lukaku, I haven't found a definite source but speculation online suggests it's at least £3m going up to as high £5m. Apparently, Chelsea wanted £3m for Ba in the summer on loan, so I'd imagine Lukaku's fee was well in excess of that.
I fear that the we're putting short-term punt at the Champions League, ahead of long-term sustainability in the top 6/7.
We know from recent years how quickly, what we believe to be a healthy transfer budget accrued from sales and tv money, can disappear. I don't think the issue of an aging squad has gone away either, with the signings of Kone and Alcaraz only exacerbating it.
We know that investing in permanent players like Arteta, Lescott, Fellaini and Mirrales when we do have the money, can be rewarding on the pitch over several seasons and pay dividends in the long term, helping us to refresh and improve the squad.
I wonder in the future, when we're selling Coleman or Barkley, if we'll rue not making more young signings akin to James McCarthy who'll have improved so much, and given us some actual depth, we won't begrudge the loss of good player and the chance to improve the squad. Like with Rodwell last summer and Fellaini this year.