Quote Originally Posted by SMatthews View Post
Not sure they bought established players. No one knew a thing about Firmino, everyone laughed at how much they paid for Benteke, Lallana and Mane (the latter proved a great buy in the end). Even Wijnaldum cost about Ł25m. The prices they paid then were high, but the market has gone even crazier since then. Mane would prob cost Ł50m+ from Southampton (maybe more given how much they sold Dijk for) and Firmino would go for more than Ł36m now if he came from Hoffenheim. Buying established players on their mid-20s would cost a lot of money.
So is paying 35-40 million for a 29 year old, they have no resale value whatsoever so it's just money down the drain in reality, better to pay a bit more for a younger player you can sell off if you need to a few years down the line than some 29-30 year old who will not only be worth nothing but will also need replacing in a few years (so in fact he'll probably cost more than buying the equivalent 25 year old).

It's pretty shortsighted to buy players of that age if your budget is relatively restricted IMO.