Centurions
Well-Known Member
Ake was £41m because he's association trained and can play LB, Laporte's international status was well known (and he's had to switch allegiance to play) and Mendy was brilliant in that Monaco team. None of those impacts on Cucurella's fee.Considering we paid £41 Million for a back up CB in Ake, £60 Million for a defender with no International experience in Laporte and £52 Million for Mendy who had one good season in Ligue 1, £50 Million for Cucurella is not unreasonable.
When I criticised the scouting system I was corrected by a good post on how City's model is not to unearth unknown gems but to buy ready made players ready for the 1st team, well then why are we surprised Brighton value Cucurella at £50million, Shouldn't we be prepared to pay a premium when Brighton have taken the risk on an unproven player protected their invested with a long-term contract and the player has had a very successful debut season.
He is tailored made for Peps style of play, there isn't a left back in world football (that's available) better than him. Bottom line is the negotiation of this transfer has been a shambles and a PR exercise.
Is doubling your money not a premium nowadays? The rest of your middle paragraph makes no sense.
"Bottom line is the negotiation of this transfer has been a shambles and a PR exercise." is just bollocks.