Right, with Harrison I was just responding to those calling him much too expensive to loan. By the same people who would then call the player at 8m over 3 years cheap. If you can find the same player for cheaper by all means, but if all of our squad cost the same as him our player cost would nosedive and we'd be the most profitable club in the league.
I dunno, £90k a week is a problem. Our wages to turnover is what's killing us long term, we can't keep being above 90%. There's no profit if our outgoings keep outstripping our incomings. It's mad that our squad gets worse most years but we barely make a dent in our wage bill. We're so badly run. Given our bank balance and average league position over the past few years we really shouldn't have anyone on a wage near £90k a week. I take your point on fees but we've also got to scale back on wages.
90K a week is a lot of money but even allowing for a loan fee then not having to pay a transfer fee makes this a very good deal.
I expect most worthwhile Premiership players are on 50k or 60k per week. So it is maybe 30k per week extra or about 1.5m per annum.
This would be a good deal for us. We already know he had a solid season , not spectacular but certainly worthwhile and he is already settled at the club which is an added advantage.
I understand the arguments, and I suppose a lot depends on what happens with our ownership over the coming months. But £90k a year is £4.7m for a year, and then a year from now we'll have to do something for that position one way or another. To use a previous posters comparison, an £8m fee for a younger player on £50k a week on a three year contract is a total outlay of £15.8 million or £5.3m a year. Yes, it's slightly more expensive but then you have a settled player and a settled position for a longer period of time. You might argue that the younger player might fail to live up to expectations, and of course that's true, but Harrison could do his cruciate on the first game of the season too. No plan is completely absent of risk. Eventually we have to start planning more than 12 months into the future.
If we put the money discussion to the side.
Looking at the 11 we are surely going to be focused on CM, RW and right back incomings this window.
Im no fan of Harrison but I think we improve next season for 3 reasons:
A: Signing a permanent right back.
B: Young players developing
C: The majority of the 11 having a years experience of playing together.
So, in theory if we keep Harrison and just replace Onana (if sold) and sign a new RB, we'll have 9/11 of the same starting lineup.
Obviously id like us to sign a young player as a long term view and
Branthwaite will have benefited from
Mykolenko &
Tarkowski either side of him.
A right back should benefit from the same keeper, same 3 defenders starting and Harrison who would provide protection.
It may prove to be sensible for the money & also for the consistency.
