Sorry lads but I really think some of you are living in fantasy land. Last summer we had the big transfer talk and we were going to sign the likes of witsel, mata ET al. Those players didn't materialise. We kept Barkley and rom and signed second rate players apart from gana who have done little to improve the first team.
January we brought in schneids which was a fantastic acquisition for the club. How do you think we are going to sign players of better quality than what we already have in barkley and lukaku? The evidence is in front of you that we struggled to sign that next level of player in the summer. Gana was from a relegated villa. Schneiderlin was out of favour at man u with competition for his signature from the likes of west brom. We pick up players where the competition for their signature is from clubs below us without too much difficulty but what we are talking about when replacing players like Barkley and rom is we will be in competition with teams above us for players. Sigurdsson for example has been touted as a barkley replacement. Arsenal are linked with him. We have very little success rate, in fact none I can think of where we sign players when in competition for them with teams above us. Perez in summer. We finished 7th and are in the Europa league. Some of you need to get real.
Personally I think he's just as important to our future as lukaku so I'd offer him parity with him, maybe it's over paying him now but it may also give him that confidence to kick on. Sure it's a gamble but I'd rather we take a gamble with a player who's established at the club and showing signs of development every year than spend a boat load on someone who could come in and be a total flop. It also sends out a positive message that we mean business going into this summer.
After the shambles of last year, no class player in their right mind would look at us. I think we're a (very) slightly better proposition now with league position, Europe, finance and potential new stadium progress. Someone in the Christian eriksen mould I'm thinking of that we should be attempting to recruit. If a player like that is a wanted man it means he's rated by more than one team and I would expect competition for his signature. I think it's a bit defeatist to list all those players and say we won't get them as other clubs 'might' want them. They all don't have to be super sexy Euro players. As you say Gana was a steal from a relegated villa, SchneiderLin was not getting on Man Us bench at times, but they both moved us forward massively. And we bought a Coleman from Sligo, stones from Barnsley etc. Players are out there like what we need to move is on, and they maybe unknown right now.
Hypothetically - say we have offered him parity with lukaku and hes still not signed. How far do you go? We don't know the situation so that may or may not be the case.
I think me and you have different views on the situation, and that's fine and healthy. There's a beast of a player inside that frame of his, and I've said multiple times I'd love him to be as boss as I think he could be, but he ain't good enough for a CL club. That the next step we need to be looking towards and I'm now convinced he won't take us there - so why offer him stupid money to stagnate where we are (Would love him to prove me wrong though if he stayed on the terms offered).
Rambled a bit there. Sorry lid.
