Raheem Sterling - Done - See main forum

[der bomber28]

I'm probably gonna get shot down, for being a "flapper". However I can't help but think, this transfer window is going to be another complete letdown. Now I know all things take time, and I by no means claim to know the ins and outs of it all. It is also silly to think, we'd hit all our A targets. Delph I think will turn out to be a decent signing, just with what our chairman said, and players alike, about bringing in some world class talent. I hope we don't get left behind again, it isn't a football manager game, this I know, we can't get everyone we're interested in. I was just hopeful that with the shackles of FFP off, we'd be going all out to get our targets, and get them done early. Yes we shouldn't be bent over a barrel, but we also need to be ruthless, and if one transfer isn't working out. Move on to other targets. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't help thinking this window, may turn out to be another anti climax. I live in hope though, as we have great people steering the ship these days. And hope the old adage "no news is good news" apply's here. Anyhoo that's my two penneth done. ;)

 

[Big Yaya Wilko 12]

Wouldn't be a case of that on our part, we just don't wanna be held for ransome, and rightly so. At £40m I would say he is severely overpriced never mind £50m.

Yes it would. What really matters in football isn't the accounts, it's the performance on the pitch. I don't care about price. We've learnt, to our detriment at times, that to get the best you have to pay for the best.

And Raheem Sterling is exactly what we're missing and we need him desperately. He ticks every box. And yet we're apparently willing to miss out for the sake of looking the tough nut.

But who's thinking about price when we're lifting trophies? Certainly not me. And to lift trophies we have to pay the price!

 

[pluto]

Wouldn't be a case of that on our part, we just don't wanna be held for ransome, and rightly so. At £40m I would say he is severely overpriced never mind £50m.

I would go lower and say 35 is too much. leave them hanging. Does not score enough goals though with us he would do better. No more offers that's it for me. If he wants to come put a transfer request in.

 

[ninjamonkey]

The dippers are not in a strong position here at all despite what their fans, ex players and media would have us all believe. There's absolutely no way they are genuinely willing to turn down a lucrative offer of over £40 million for Sterling and let him sit in the reserves for 2 years. They are just trying to squeeze us and save face in the media but if we stand firm they'll have no choice but to concede and accept our offer.

Worst case scenario for us, he stays there and we either get somebody else in or we wait a year and bring him in on the cheap, that's not a disaster, we've not finished outside the top 2 for 4 years, it's not going to have any lasting harm not signing him this window.

Whereas Liverpool are now in damage limitation mode. They've already made themselves into a laughing stock with their handling of this. Their fans might think they are to applauded for refusing to deal under their inflated asking price but they're not looking at the lasting side effects this stance gives off. No player with any real ambition is going to sign for them looking at this situation. If you're young or as yet unproven in a top league, why would you choose to go to Liverpool where they'll hold you to ransom if you show signs of being more ambitious than a trip to Estonia every other Thursday night and winning a "character of the week" sticker from Brendan? Why would you choose to go to a club that will play everything out publicly and try to ruin you through the media to the point where your phone number is leaked and you're getting constantly abused and threatened by your own fans? Go to Liverpool and have all that happen, or go to a Spurs or Southampton where you'll have the same chance to progress as a player and be allowed to move to a better club once you've surpassed their level?

This is not like the Suarez situation, the bridges are well and truly burnt, there's no going back for Sterling or Liverpool. They can't stick him in the reserves for a month and hope this will blow over and they can get back to having him carry the team. Liverpool have to sell him this window. Imagine the media circus if he stays at Liverpool and Rodgers continues to do a poor impression of being a football manager next season and they drop even further into mid-table obscurity all whilst Sterling is being forced to train with the reserves in a very hostile and uncomfortable working environment. After every single dropped point they'll be bombarded with questions about Sterling, The constant questions and pressure on the whole club, not to mention the stick they'll get for not playing one of Englands best players going into a European championship would cause them to implode.

They have only one way out of this situation where they could still try and give this scenario a positive spin and that's for us to come in and offer the whole £50 million. They are absolutely desperate for us to do that, they need us to do that, and i think/hope we know this and that's why we're not just offering the whole amount and getting it over with but instead are offering these £40 million + add on bids. It's not just about the money, we're a business and just like in any other business it's about not caving in to excessive demands, it's about being business savvy and showing your strength when necessary. They think they're playing hardball and have us over a barrel when in reality it's completely the other way around, we could walk away tomorrow and this whole saga will have little to no impact on our season but it could and would pollute and destroy Liverpools season before it's even started.

Hold firm city, We've played this perfectly to the point where they now need this much more than we do which puts us in a position of strength. We've got them exactly where we want them and increasing the offer now is only going to let them off lightly.

 

[marco]

city should have pulled the plug on this after the 2nd bid was rejected and made it official to the media, Liverpool then left with a player counting down the Webster clock would have gone into panic mode to compete the deal

 

[1.618034]

It will happen/has happened (in a Schrödinger's Cat sense)

The deal will be announced early next week and he'll join us in Melbourne.

They'll say they got the £50M, we'll say it's £40ish+add ons.

Raheem may well say he's forfeited some of his fee so he can get the hell outta Dodge, whilst showing it's "not about the money".

We move on to Turin...

 

[aguero93:20]

I'm probably gonna get shot down, for being a "flapper". However I can't help but think, this transfer window is going to be another complete letdown. Now I know all things take time, and I by no means claim to know the ins and outs of it all. It is also silly to think, we'd hit all our A targets. Delph I think will turn out to be a decent signing, just with what our chairman said, and players alike, about bringing in some world class talent. I hope we don't get left behind again, it isn't a football manager game, this I know, we can't get everyone we're interested in. I was just hopeful that with the shackles of FFP off, we'd be going all out to get our targets, and get them done early. Yes we shouldn't be bent over a barrel, but we also need to be ruthless, and if one transfer isn't working out. Move on to other targets. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't help thinking this window, may turn out to be another anti climax. I live in hope though, as we have great people steering the ship these days. And hope the old adage "no news is good news" apply's here. Anyhoo that's my two penneth done. ;)

Flapper.

 

[FanchesterCity]

Yes it would. What really matters in football isn't the accounts, it's the performance on the pitch. I don't care about price. We've learnt, to our detriment at times, that to get the best you have to pay for the best.

And Raheem Sterling is exactly what we're missing and we need him desperately. He ticks every box. And yet we're apparently willing to miss out for the sake of looking the tough nut.

But who's thinking about price when we're lifting trophies? Certainly not me. And to lift trophies we have to pay the price!

If we want to be a sugar daddy club forever, then sure, let's just keep tossing our owners money at the issue, and all other fans will be RIGHT - we're a sugar daddy club.
We have said all along, that our investment is NOT some sugar daddy spending spree but a genuine injection to turn us into a credible BUSINESS.
If we are true to our word, then the cost does matter. We are still fortunate enough to now have revenues that allow us to spend handsomely and compete with the best, but they are not so high that simply don't care what we spend. We have to operate professionally from top to bottom and that includes what we spend.

That's not saying we can't go out and spend 100m on someone. It just means that we won't spend a penny more than we believe something is worth. No proper business will ever do that.

It's true that if you want the best, you have to pay for the best. It's not true that if you want the best you should pay more than what the best is worth.

It should also not be forgotten that FFP is still alive and kicking (for the moment) and we have to comply with it, regardless of what we think of it.

 

[moomba]

Yes it would. What really matters in football isn't the accounts, it's the performance on the pitch. I don't care about price. We've learnt, to our detriment at times, that to get the best you have to pay for the best.

And Raheem Sterling is exactly what we're missing and we need him desperately. He ticks every box. And yet we're apparently willing to miss out for the sake of looking the tough nut.

But who's thinking about price when we're lifting trophies? Certainly not me. And to lift trophies we have to pay the price!

We don't have to care about the price, and if we pay Liverpool I won't be too bothered (although it would be nice to see them blink first). But the people in charge have to keep an eye on the budget. £5m saved on one player, can be £5m put towards a better offer on another. It can help us with things like FFP and other investments. And it's just not one player, if we have a reputation of jumping in and paying the full asking price without a battle clubs will take advantage of it on every transfer we go for going forward.

 

[Tom_mcfc]

If we want to be a sugar daddy club forever, then sure, let's just keep tossing our owners money at the issue, and all other fans will be RIGHT - we're a sugar daddy club.
We have said all along, that our investment is NOT some sugar daddy spending spree but a genuine injection to turn us into a credible BUSINESS.
If we are true to our word, then the cost does matter. We are still fortunate enough to now have revenues that allow us to spend handsomely and compete with the best, but they are no so high that simply don't care what we spend. We have to operate professionally from top to bottom and that includes what we spend.

That's not saying we can't go out and spend 100m on someone. It just means that we won't spend a penny more than we believe something is worth. No proper business will ever do that.

It's true that if you want the best, you have to pay for the best. It's not true that if you want the best you should pay more than what the best is worth.

Even if our current bid was accepted that's still over what he is worth though? So why does 5 more matter when you're already paying probably 15 mill than someone's worth? Already overpaying as it is.