Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit

[Niall_Quinn]

Do you know what, I actually think it was the other way round? Now we know the truth of the matter from Liverpool's owner, it sounds like Suarez was the nailed-on deal - he was the one with the fixed release clause (that we met), where there was no other competition for his signature, and Higuain was the one that was starting to drag on and on with Madrid's constant price hikes, and the interest from Napoli? It sounds odd to say now, given that we know how it ended up going for us, but, at the time, I think the club made the best decision they could in abandoning Higuain for Suarez?

Agree with that because nobody had the benefit of hindsight while the pursuit of Suarez was ongoing. As it turns out we almost pulled off what would probably have been a title winning transfer and if the terms of contracts had been honoured Suarez would have been banging in the goals for us all season. It was a bold and, based on the facts that have emerged, legitimate display of ambition to drive the club on. When you are playing within the rules you can't legislate against individuals like Henry simply ignoring those rules. Otherwise no transfers could ever be done because contracts would be entirely meaningless. Our attempt failed because Henry is disreputable, not because we fucked up in some way. If we'd been dealing with a professional and honourable individual then the deal would have been done and everyone would be singing praises and Higuain would be a distant memory. But the bid failed through no fault of our own so now people beat Wenger over the head with Higuain. It's all about attacking Wenger. That is the main aim.

[I am invisible]

Agree with that because nobody had the benefit of hindsight while the pursuit of Suarez was ongoing. As it turns out we almost pulled off what would probably have been a title winning transfer and if the terms of contracts had been honoured Suarez would have been banging in the goals for us all season. It was a bold and, based on the facts that have emerged, legitimate display of ambition to drive the club on. When you are playing within the rules you can't legislate against individuals like Henry simply ignoring those rules. Otherwise no transfers could ever be done because contracts would be entirely meaningless. Our attempt failed because Henry is disreputable, not because we fucked up in some way. If we'd been dealing with a professional and honourable individual then the deal would have been done and everyone would be singing praises and Higuain would be a distant memory. But the bid failed through no fault of our own so now people beat Wenger over the head with Higuain. It's all about attacking Wenger. That is the main aim.

Yeah, I'm sure the club / manager need to shoulder their share of the blame for lots of deals falling through / failing to happen, but I really don't think this was one of them? We switched targets to a better, PL-ready player, who was available for a guaranteed price, and where there was no other competition, and we got fucked over - unfortunate for us, as it turns out, but that doesn't mean it was the wrong decision to make at the time. I can't really fault them for doing what they did on this one.

On the subject of bold moves, I think it's also worth remembering that we put in two sizeable bids (£20-25m) for Lars Bender at the start of last summer too - chuck in the moves for Suarez and Ozil, and that's £100m+ we were committed to spending last summer?! Even if you still have doubts about our ability to get deals completed, that's got to be encouraging from an ambition POV?

[AFC Leveller]

Yeah, I'm sure the club / manager need to shoulder their share of the blame for lots of deals falling through / failing to happen, but I really don't think this was one of them? We switched targets to a better, PL-ready player, who was available for a guaranteed price, and where there was no other competition, and we got fucked over - unfortunate for us, as it turns out, but that doesn't mean it was the wrong decision to make at the time. I can't really fault them for doing what they did on this one.

On the subject of bold moves, I think it's also worth remembering that we put in two sizeable bids (£20-25m) for Lars Bender at the start of last summer too - chuck in the moves for Suarez and Ozil, and that's £100m+ we were committed to spending last summer?! Even if you still have doubts about our ability to get deals completed, that's got to be encouraging from an ambition POV?

Agreed mate.

[AFC Leveller]

Agree with that because nobody had the benefit of hindsight while the pursuit of Suarez was ongoing. As it turns out we almost pulled off what would probably have been a title winning transfer and if the terms of contracts had been honoured Suarez would have been banging in the goals for us all season. It was a bold and, based on the facts that have emerged, legitimate display of ambition to drive the club on. When you are playing within the rules you can't legislate against individuals like Henry simply ignoring those rules. Otherwise no transfers could ever be done because contracts would be entirely meaningless. Our attempt failed because Henry is disreputable, not because we fucked up in some way. If we'd been dealing with a professional and honourable individual then the deal would have been done and everyone would be singing praises and Higuain would be a distant memory. But the bid failed through no fault of our own so now people beat Wenger over the head with Higuain. It's all about attacking Wenger. That is the main aim.

Good points as usual.

40m WAS his buy out clause and we had eveyr right to get him but that Yank cunt fucked us over.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Yeah, I'm sure the club / manager need to shoulder their share of the blame for lots of deals falling through / failing to happen, but I really don't think this was one of them? We switched targets to a better, PL-ready player, who was available for a guaranteed price, and where there was no other competition, and we got fucked over - unfortunate for us, as it turns out, but that doesn't mean it was the wrong decision to make at the time. I can't really fault them for doing what they did on this one.

On the subject of bold moves, I think it's also worth remembering that we put in two sizeable bids (£20-25m) for Lars Bender at the start of last summer too - chuck in the moves for Suarez and Ozil, and that's £100m+ we were committed to spending last summer?! Even if you still have doubts about our ability to get deals completed, that's got to be encouraging from an ambition POV?

I agree with everything except for the last bit.

I don't think for one minute that we were going to outlay £100m last summer. It was gonna be bender and higuain for around the £40m mark combined. Then when Suarez came up it was £40m for him, pool fucked us over so it was £42m for Ozil.

So the outlay was around the £40m mark.

[Niall_Quinn]

Rather have Ozil now and a top striker in the summer. Ozil with a few additions to the team is going to be magnificent.

They better spend plenty of cash in the summer or I'm going to get them.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Rather have Ozil now and a top striker in the summer. Ozil with a few additions to the team is going to be magnificent.

They better spend plenty of cash in the summer or I'm going to get them.

You've been threatening to have a go at this self-immolation thing for quite some time now. Time you turned words into action, I'd say.

[I am invisible]

I agree with everything except for the last bit.

I don't think for one minute that we were going to outlay £100m last summer. It was gonna be bender and higuain for around the £40m mark combined. Then when Suarez came up it was £40m for him, pool fucked us over so it was £42m for Ozil.

So the outlay was around the £40m mark.

Yeah, I can see where you're coming from, and I agree that Ozil was probably a last minute bit of opportunism and something that we hadn't really planned on doing until we heard he might be available, but I don't think we would have necessarily dropped our interest in him if we'd managed to land Suarez? As unlikely as it sounds to say that we were willing to spend £100m in one summer, I think this idea that Wenger would chuck £42m away on an emergency panic-buy, just to shut the fans up, sounds even less likely? He's a stubborn old goat when it comes to stuff like that, and has always been perfectly prepared to work with what he has and take the criticism, if he can't get the exact players he wants, and I just can't see him suddenly changing his ways and bowing to outside pressure like that? This is all just a guess, of course, but IMO I think last summer was one of those super-rare, almost mythical occasions where two or three players became available at the same time who Wenger genuinely felt matched their valuations, and were worth the money? He's always said he was willing to spend big if the right players came along - maybe this was just the first evidence we've ever seen of it?

At the very least we know that we were prepared to go as high as 25m for Lars Bender and were in for at least one of those guys for 40m+ (and the I think the bidding had gone as high as 50m for Suarez by the time those talks collapsed?), even if you don't think we were in for both, so that's still a spend of between 65-75m that we were committed to last summer? That's pretty much unheard of for us, and what's encouraging for this summer, is that signing Ozil hasn't changed our need for a world-class striker and a long-term defensive / holding midfielder - perhaps bringing Flamini in has bought us some time in CM, but I wouldn't be surprised if we were in for both types of player again this summer, if the right players come along?

[selassie]

Morata looked very, very ordinary last night. Nothing impressive there at all.

Yeah I don't see what the fuss is all about with Morata. I have watched him a few times and really don't rate him that high.

Neither do Real judging by the lack of game time they give him, saying that...they still want a crazy amount of money for him, I have read in various places they wont sell him for less than 20mill.

I personally don't want him, not even as a back up.

[I am invisible]

To be fair to Morata, I suppose you never know how these young/fringe players might improve if they're given a guaranteed spot in a starting XI, and a chance to build some form an consistency? I still feel it's too much of a gamble for us though, given our current needs - we need a world-class striker to come in and start doing the business straight away, not another project who might come good at some point.

And, if we're talking back-up / understudy to someone else, then that pretty much puts him in the same boat that he's in now at Madrid - getting a game here and a game there, with no real chance to build any form. Not the sort of thing you invest £20m in.