The bet is that with 60million in our pocket, we will adequately replace Lukaku.
Sure the player we bring in may not be world class like Romelu will undoubtedly be, however without CL football it would be foolish to think we can keep anyone who wants to play on the biggest stage. We may survive a summer like we did last but there is an inevitably I'm sure you'd agree.
Is Bony for instance likely to get 15 goals with Barkley behind him and Geri/Yarmolenko flanking him? I'd say absolutely yes. Is he as good as RL? No. Am I that arsed? Nah, because I repeat, it's foolish to think that on a transfer budget RM has worked under, CL is anything more than fantasy stuff.
That budget changes dramatically this summer, but it won't be until 2017/18 that we can potentially entice CL footballers.
More teams can AFFORD a 20+ striker than HAVE a 20+ striker.
That's a VERY important thing for all of you who want to sell Rom need to remember.
If the budget does change (I will believe it when I see it) then I dispute your contention we have to wait until 17/18. Other clubs have got CL players before they qualified for the CL. Hell look at Teixeira and the rest of them that went to China. Oscar allegedly almost went to China for 75m and I'm supposed to sell Lukaku because we have no hope of attracting CL players without the CL? Doesn't add up.
Often "I want to play in the Champions League" means "I want more money."
Your logic for selling Lukaku relies on us having world class players supplying him. Why don't we just sell those players too though? Isn't everything you've said true for them too?
We tried for DECADES before Rom to buy a striker. We had more money than most teams in the world. We failed. We failed until we stepped up to the plate and paid huge money and it was touch and go to get him here even then.
That anyone wants to go back to that period I cannot comprehend.
15 goals sounds like it's close to 20+ but it's not. It's a long way away. Here is why:
More players can score 15 goals a season than 20. A lot more. When you have a 20+ guy you start off with a fairly huge advantage over your opponents. They have to find midfield goals just to get even with you.
Given your stated scenario of world class players supplying a striker I'd suggest a 10 goal striker for a normal team might get 15 with Del/Yarm.
So now all we need to find is some bang average striker who can usually muster 10 if he plays in every game. Surround him with enough talent and he gets 15 now!
Lots of teams can get the 10-15 guy.
Hell Niasse can probably get 15 if he played all year with those players. Let's just sell Rom and not replace him at all. Pure profit baby!
Oh and that 5th place, would also attract more players to the club compared to the fa cup. Especially when the 5th place makes us look , you know, good? Where a bottom half finish again makes us look crap.
I agree that it's the perception. It's the wrong perception though: over the last 20 years there is no real difference in the number of non-rich teams that have finished in the top 4 or those that have won the FA Cup. League cup is a different story but the money clubs usually try in the FA and it shows. That's the funny part of this whole "league v Cup" thing that always comes up: truth is if you're a team that wins things then you'll finish 4+ and win some Cups; if you don't then you won't finish 4+ or win any Cups. There is no OR ... it's an AND thing bar a couple of outliers.
So while it's true winning the Cup wouldn't mean as much to players as finishing fourth ... it's actually a slightly more reliable (or at worst no less reliable) indicator of future success than finishing fourth.
If RM is on the right track and these players can pull it together the first hint we might get at that is the FA Cup and it's perception more than facts which would lead people to undersell the achievement.
... and I know he won with Wigan and look what happened! Why that one instance proves everything! Problem is we are Everton and in this universe of rare events we actually have two horses: RM win with his ex and our fourth place in the 00's. Neither was a preview of future success.
