It's Quiet 32 - enter at own risk

[FantasyIreland]

glad for him...and good for us...wages off the books (for a player who is never going to play) and we should get some sort of fee for him even if it is less than we paid

About 40m less.

 

[waspish]

About 40m less.

2m seems a decent fee

 

[Tricky_Trev]

There will be a lot of disappointed people if they think we have any intention of paying even three quarters of what Benfica are demanding for Felix.

£70m tops is our view and, even then, we see better value elsewhere if Leroy forces a move.

I did say Maguire was an option a few weeks back but we would rather pay the De Ligt price than meet Leicester's valuation.

Bayern are also touting Kingsley Coman, as they know Pep has plenty of time for him, but we are only thinking of Leroy getting his head straight and staying.

For a team that’s solely responsible for distorting the market, resulting in unprecedented inflation of prices, we aren’t half cheapskates!

The Felix chase was over as soon as Khaldoon mentioned that we don’t have the record fee for any position. I get the sense he wants to keep it that way.

 

[Danamy]

For a team that’s solely responsible for distorting the market, resulting in unprecedented inflation of prices, we aren’t half cheapskates!

The Felix chase was over as soon as Khaldoon mentioned that we don’t have the record fee for any position. I get the sense he wants to keep it that way.

Or he highlighted it knowing we were going to be breaking into the top 10 this summer?

 

[KCblue]

To be a fly on the wall in the boardroom for Txiki and Pep to discuss targets. I'm very interested to know if there's another CB we're looking at. We've really only been linked with de Ligt and Maguire, and if those two move this summer they'll cost more than any CB out there.

Wonder if we would target someone like Jonathan Tah for €40m or so.

 

[Lemon7277]

Knowing how nuts pep is he's probably just going throw ferna in at 3rd choice CB and told the powers that be just get a defensive midfielder in

 

[Tricky_Trev]

Or he highlighted it knowing we were going to be breaking into the top 10 this summer?

I just don’t see him making a point of not holding the English record transfer fee for goalkeeper, defender, midfielder or forward only to then break it immediately. The interview with him told me it matters greatly to him that he acts sensibly in the market. And as money has become a bigger and bigger stick to beat us with, he seems determined to prove them wrong. If we needed to replace Sané this summer (hopefully not), I just can’t see us buying a forward for more than the fee the rags paid for Lukaku, and Felix would undoubtedly cost more than that.

 

[DMA's]

Knowing how nuts pep is he's probably just going throw ferna in at 3rd choice CB and told the powers that be just get a defensive midfielder in

Baring in mind how many times pep mentioned how we struggle defending set pieces and corners due to our lack of height I would be shocked if he went with that strategy next season. He even suggested the reason why Kompany or otamendi where preferred in certain games was because of their strength in aerial duels. No chance we don’t sign a cb if otamendi leaves

 

[mosssideblue]

Kaldoon said that our policy would be to buy young promising players and implied we would not be paying record fees.
That means we may be planning to buy good but below the radar players not the overhyped names being mentioned

Like JFE :)

 

[cjn]

The market hasn’t changed at all.

PSG, Barcelona, Liverpool and United have all been panic buying this last couple of years.

That’s exactly how it’s changed. All that money from the panic buys filters down into the market, pushes the prices of marginal players up because valuations are all based on comparables, and absent some sort of wider disruption that’s just what it is now. Madrid is about to spend 100m+ on Hazard with a year left on his contract, Bayern just smashed their transfer record on Lucas Hernandez, and even Juve spent 100m on what’s his name last summer. Just because we don’t like it doesn’t mean we can pretend the market hasn’t changed.

And yes, our transfer policy definitely has been working, but our policy has always been identifying players that fit the system, have the right personality, then spending at the high end of the market in both fees and wages to go get them. I’m not advocating that we go out and set a new world record just because, but it isn’t a coincidence that Mendy and Walker were the most expensive fullbacks when they were transferred, or that people criticized how much we spent on KDB or Sterling. We identified who we wanted, then paid up to get them.

The was I see it, Txiki and Khaldoon have clearly come to the conclusion that this blip in the market is just that, and that prices will come back down to earth soon. If they’re right they can sit back and say I told you so, but if they’re wrong, and prices stay inflated, we’re going to end up in a situation where we constantly miss out on top targets, and eventually the quality of the side deteriorates. Try signing a top striker to replace Aguero next year for 50m and see where that gets us. It’s a gamble that I don’t really see the point of, but I hope they’re right and I’m not.