Christ. It’s not raggish, it’s confidence in the club I support being a major attraction to top level footballers. I don’t see it as us having a divine right to have any player we want - far from it - but I do undoubtedly see us as being more attractive than most other clubs. Especially in England.
I’ll say it again, if a player chooses not to come here because he doesn’t believe in his own ability or is worried about it being ‘hard work’ to play under the best coach of his generation then I’d rather we miss out.
But personally I think he doesn’t see it as that and will put a lot of stock into personal glory. As would the majority of players.
The same reason Harry Kane gets shit for staying at Spurs. You can appreciate his loyalty (or stupidity to sign a contract when he did) but at the end of the day he’ll have regrets when he looks back.
Walker had 0 trophies when he signed for us, now he’s swimming in them. He jumped ship and Kane didn’t, it’s an easy contrast to make but it’s a pretty stark one too.
English players will have seen Walker, Grealish, Phillips, Foden and Stones win the treble then met up with them a few days later at the England camp and thought ‘I’ll have a bit of that if I can’. They’d be silly not to.