Summer transfer joy and happiness

[Özim]

There's certain irony in this, we built the stadium to make us compete with the giants of the football world, now it's built and largely paid off, we don't have the money to compete or even spend big.

Sad really because even clubs like Liverpool/Juve and to some extent West Ham are willing to spend big.

[mkkreuk]

I guess that's because ticket income is increasingly a smaller fraction of a club's revenue. TV money and outside investment drives most of it these days. Also its not like we haven't spent quite a lot on Aubameyang and Lacazette. I think if Unai has a good season or 2 and we can stabilise as a top 2-3 team, we'll be spending more but we'll always be in the shadows of the Manchester clubs

[Özim]

I guess that's because ticket income is increasingly a smaller fraction of a club's revenue. TV money and outside investment drives most of it these days. Also its not like we haven't spent quite a lot on Aubameyang and Lacazette. I think if Unai has a good season or 2 and we can stabilise as a top 2-3 team, we'll be spending more but we'll always be in the shadows of the Manchester clubs

Most of the money from Lacazette and Aubameyang came from player sales, yes they cost a lot but we sold a fair few, we were something like 40 million up from the summer and also reduced the wage bill significantly, people seem to overlook this.

[I am invisible]

Remains to be seen if we can ever get these top notch players from young, we've not managed it all all in years, new setup now but there's a lot of clubs vying for the top young players who probably have as good if not better scouting systems than us.

Sure - the point is that, regardless of how good our new setup is, this still has to be attempted. Looking at the standard of the clubs that are winning the CL on a regular basis then, really, we're gonna need most of our players to be up to the same (or similar) standards to the Oblaks of this world. But there's no way we can go out and pay £70m or more per player for established names, so that leaves good scouting and/or development? Ideally we need our scouts to be getting in there before these players move to the likes of Benfica. And the more of these moves we get right, then the more right we earn to go out and spank £100m or more on 1/2/ maybe 3 players if and when we need to.

[I am invisible]

Most of the money from Lacazette and Aubameyang came from player sales, yes they cost a lot but we sold a fair few, we were something like 40 million up from the summer and also reduced the wage bill significantly, people seem to overlook this.

So did Liverpool's recent purchases though.

You pretty much have to balance your books now under the new rules, so everyone's in the same boat (unless you're Man City, of course, and can just invent a bunch of new sponsorship deals to increase your turnover because you're basically owned by a country).

[selassie]

Slightly off topic, but still related. What is the latest on Ramsey's new contract? It seems we have offered him an increased wage but have not heard anything back yet.

Him and his agent seem to be playing some kind of game. We need to set him a deadline, he needs to either sign now or we should get rid ASAP.

[Marc Overmars]

From his point of view, he’s the longest serving player, scored goals to win us trophies and often one of the first names on the team sheet. I think he’s looking for a massive contract, one that would put him up there with Auba, Laca and Ozil as our top earners. He probably heard Emery rates him and reportedly wants to build a team around him, so he’s using that to his advantage.

[Power n Glory]

There's certain irony in this, we built the stadium to make us compete with the giants of the football world, now it's built and largely paid off, we don't have the money to compete or even spend big.

Sad really because even clubs like Liverpool/Juve and to some extent West Ham are willing to spend big.

I object to spending £70m on a goalkeeper on principle. I believe we have the money for it, I just think we'd be inflating the market and flexing our muscle in the wrong area. It's a position where you can always find talent if you're prepared to scout around. Heck, if we had developed Sir Ches probably, we'd have had a top keeper with us already.

Blink's Mbappe comparison isn't quite the same. A striker with that sort of pace, size, technique, skill and intelligence doesn't come along often. Hence why the huge price tag is justified and why he reminds people of Ronaldo and Henry. It's like finding a unicorn.

Also, you don't need the very best keeper to stand a chance of winning titles. We went undefeated with Lehman in goal! He could be error prone at times but it didn't stop us from winning the league and he wasn't the best out there. Also, Hugo Lloris hasn't won a damn thing for Tottenham despite being a top class keeper. Why is that?

If we're going to be break any records, I'd rather we'd spend it on a CM or an attacking player.

[selassie]

From his point of view, he’s the longest serving player, scored goals to win us trophies and often one of the first names on the team sheet. I think he’s looking for a massive contract, one that would put him up there with Auba, Laca and Ozil as our top earners. He probably heard Emery rates him and reportedly wants to build a team around him, so he’s using that to his advantage.

Aye, he has us by the balls if he really wants to stay. I also get the feeling that whilst he is rated, a lot of clubs he would want to leave us for would rather get him on a freebie.

[Power n Glory]

Unai has told the Board not sell him from what I heard. Will he interesting to see how he is used and whether he can live up to the expectations set by Unai.