Stems from poor business in previous transfer windows. Baulking at the prices the very top clubs need to pay for the best players these days, and possibly some complacency or even arrogance.
It’s always better and easier to strengthen from a position of strength, yet when we win titles we only seem to bring in one or two squad fillers instead of going balls out for someone who would reinvigorate the team and make current players work harder to stay in the starting XI.
If we bottle it when rivals bid more we’ll always end up with sloppy seconds.
Still pisses me off from years ago when we shit the bed over van Dijk’s cost. Look at him now, he’d still be our first choice CB. Same with Rice, just fucking pay what it took to get him away from London.
We are not ruthless enough, so when we have an injury crises and players’ form drops and they age, it leaves us short. You have to continually improve, not rest on past glories.