Raheem Sterling - Done - See main forum

[Bobbymanc]

Use the £40 million to buy Di Maria from the rags instead of buying Dinosaur Arms!

 

[oakiecokie]

Use the £40 million to buy Di Maria from the rags instead of buying Dinosaur Arms!

Do you honestly believe that even the Rags would take a fucking big £16M loss on a player who has been their less than 12 months ?

 

[Lancet Fluke]

It's really bugging me hearing loads of blues going "he isn't worth X, we should walk away" etc. You have no concept of the money or the difference between £35 and £40m. You're looking at it like a number on Top Trumps, or a stick to potentially be neaten with by rival fans and the media.

If he is the right player for the team, and I think he is, then the money shouldn't worry you as a fan. There's a gamble with every transfer but we need to sit back and trust Soriano, Khaldoon etc to do the sums and the negotiation. The figures in the press are unlikely to be accurate anyway, bearing in mind that one of the carrots City offer selling clubs is cash up front.

I don't think we should walk away completely but beyond probably 40m up front, I'd like to think we would leave them to mull it over for a fair while. I don't see any need for us to keep going back with increased bids every few days/week when there doesn't appear to be anyone else prepared to go up to 40m. They have as much reason to want to get this deal done as we do, we will only have to pay 50m if we are over eager IMO. Having said all that, I do accept that this window is about us getting our primary targets and not having to resort to 3rd or 4th choice shit bags again even if it means paying over the odds.

 

[cibaman]

I`ll ask you the same question ... can you find me a link that shows City have made this direct quote ref "final bid".

He probably can't. But it doesn't seem to be disputed that City have made two bids in a short period of time. Surely we would only do that if the second bid was "take it or leave it"? It just doesn't seem plausible that the second bid was worded in such a way as to encourage Liverpool to believe that a significantly increased third bid would be likely. They might expect to be able to negotiate the fine details, the payment schedules, the add ons etc. But surely we would have described it as a final bid?

 

[oakiecokie]

He probably can't. But it doesn't seem to be disputed that City have made two bids in a short period of time. Surely we would only do that if the second bid was "take it or leave it"? It just doesn't seem plausible that the second bid was worded in such a way as to encourage Liverpool to believe that a significantly increased third bid would be likely. They might expect to be able to negotiate the fine details, the payment schedules, the add ons etc. But surely we would have described it as a final bid?

No I honestly don`t believe it for one moment that we made those comments and IMO we will be back with another offer of some sorts.

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

I'm not saying we don't need world class additions to the first team squad, I'm saying that £50M for Sterling, just because he is English, is far better spent on a couple or three 25 man squad players....who are ALSO young England internationals with bright futures.

Sterling is like Barclay....bang average on the "top European" front, but talked about like the Messiah purely because they are promoted English media darlings. If Sterling was a £20M talent, no doubt he'd be worth a punt. But, at £50M? Stupid money for a petulant kid with a manipulative, mouthy agent. Yeah, let's break the bank for that!!

Oh, and we won the league and a cup with those players that took us backwards, didn't we?!

Sorry, have to disagree. The model you are advocating is exactly the one used by Liverpool and look which direction they are going in.
Sterling can be a game changer and has many years ahead of him. We need top class additions, not journeymen hard workers who can run a bit.

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

The problem is, if we did leave it till next year or the year after when he would cost half the amount or walk on a free respectively,there would be a he'll of a lot more clubs with serious interest in him.

We'd have to be sure in that situation that he wouldn't choose a chelsea/arsenal/real/bayern etc over us if we did choose that path. Probably best to just up our bid by £5 or £10 mill now if we want him, if that increase would have little to no implications on other targets of course.

A lot of this comes down to how hi you rate him. I personally don’t think he would be the same player in our team, he would certainly add some pace to our counter attack but we don’t do a lot of counter attack as we spend so much time playing against parked bus type defences. He would have to adjust to that.
As for other teams coming in for him, we are clearly at the front of the queue and will match or better any other offer in terms of fee or wages. I can only see us missing out if one of the European big guns come in for him which I consider unlikely.
Paying crazy money just adds to the hype and pressure on him and the club and you have to balance it against how good he is / how much he improves us.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Someone was giving a run down of how much our owners earn a minute the other day. I can only imagine FFP is still a consideration with there also being other players we want. Otherwise another £10m is a pittance in the scheme of things. The danger will be if we do move onto, say Pogba, and that ends unsuccessfully.

 

[BobKowalski]

I don't think we should walk away completely but beyond probably 40m up front, I'd like to think we would leave them to mull it over for a fair while. I don't see any need for us to keep going back with increased bids every few days/week when there doesn't appear to be anyone else prepared to go up to 40m. They have as much reason to want to get this deal done as we do, we will only have to pay 50m if we are over eager IMO. Having said all that, I do accept that this window is about us getting our primary targets and not having to resort to 3rd or 4th choice shit bags again even if it means paying over the odds.

Nah. Just stick the bid in and get it done. If its £50m its £50m. Letting them mull it over for a few days is just delaying the moment we stick in the bid that seals the deal. Lets just get in the players we want and build a title winning squad that can do it in the CL as well. Not arsed about winning the 'value for money' debate. Ask 'pool fans what they would prefer. Top class players on the pitch or their board congratulating themselves over screwing a few extra million out of City.

 

[Rolee]

A lot of this comes down to how hi you rate him. I personally don’t think he would be the same player in our team, he would certainly add some pace to our counter attack but we don’t do a lot of counter attack as we spend so much time playing against parked bus type defences. He would have to adjust to that.

The parked bus is the very reason we need someone like Sterling, someone who can beat a man from a standing start, someone who will take his defender on instead of going sideways, someone who can dribble. His pace on the counter is just an added bonus.