ChicagoBlue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 10 Jan 2009
- Messages
- 18,405
Juve a "second tier team"? Wow, you've got high standards!In the 70s 80s, we bought division 1 cast offs, the top teams then reinvested in young top talent. And stayed at the top. McMahon was signed for 1million as an example. We stayed as a yoyo team. I know as I managed to accrue 80 grounds at one time.
I believe and it is my opinion that an Elvis signing is similar. He played brilliantly for barca , top tier side. They got rid for a number of reasons, some political. Juve a second tier side signed him and he has played very well for two years. Now we as a third tier side may want him. My belief is that we should be looking beyond this. A young top class right back with an even younger deputy. If we want to become a top tier side 10 years after the takeover we should not be signing 34 year olds just as other top tier sides do not sign them.
IMHO, at £5M, he would be the cheapest possible high quality RFB and an excellent mentor to whomever else we put there. Maybe, that could be Maffeo, if Alves can do the business in the big games, or maybe it will be Stones in a back three, or maybe even Fernadinho in a pinch? What I do know is that trying to buy 4 intl, high quality FBs (3 if you count Kolarov, who is still here!) is a tall order in this new PL TV deal era. Every club in the world wants their share of the PL TV revenues, and selling 1 top player to an English team can put them in the black for the year. Sometimes, we forget we are living the high life at the moment (Top 5 global revenue stream, with one of highest TV and other commercial revenues) and there are clubs (big name clubs!) operating in the red every year, unless they Part company with a few players and pocket some of those TV £££££!!
Personally, I would prefer Fabinho, a right midfielder who has also played there, as he is more Lahm-esque than anyone else I can think of. Alves is an aging distant second, as he showed in the CL Final. However, as a winning presence, someone who has worked with Pep before, and as an experienced mentor, it is hard to find someone better for the money.
Give me both Alves and Fabinho and the defensive right side of the field is nailed down shut!