Bdill93
Undisputed King of FOMO
Orikoru
Tour Winner
Is it done? I'm still waiting for it to fall through and we sign Lingard for free instead. Just standard Tottenham things.
That's a great signing, particularly at that price. Interesting if they can get it over the line.
Bdill93
Undisputed King of FOMO
We've had a "Here We Go" - I cant see personal terms being much of an issue?
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Deleted member 15344
Guest
Over £100mil for Rice , that’s madness , he is a decent player but £100mil plus - just mental
Orikoru
Tour Winner
If you're West Ham, and you know City have paid £100mil for Grealish, why would you not ask for £100mil for Rice? Amounts mean nothing now, they're influenced by the selling club's position, who's buying, and then inflated if they're English because of the stupid homegrown rules.
Orikoru
Tour Winner
Don't know. Obviously he's quality and 40 mil is very little nowadays. And he doesn't have to adjust to the league. It's very unlike us... I'm surprised there isn't more competition for him?
GB72
Money List Winner
£100mil is last years £70mil, just the going rate for players now. Not reasonable, not justifiable, just the ridiculous way it is and it will only keep going up because only a few teams can win the money game. Reaching the stage where you need a transfer budget of £250 mil a season to improve and probably £100mil to stand still.
Beezerk
Money List Winner
Imagine how much Grealish is worth now though? I dread to think how much VVD, Salah etc would go for if they were in their prime right now
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Deleted member 15344
Guest
It’s madness that players of decent quality are going for that sort of price and that some clubs are willing to pay over the odds on players - it just inflates the market more. All these clubs are signing players on tick with loans or credit lines after making year on year losses.
Why are the home grown rules stupid ?
Swango1980
Well-known member
Honestly, there are people out there that are that thick when it comes to numbers.
A coach at our club game us a nice little exercise to evaluate short game, where you give yourself 10 different short game shots around the green. Once you play them, pace out the distance of each resulting shot from the hole, and then get an average by dividing by 10. Then give yourself 10 putts from that distance, around the hole, and see how many you make.
One of the guys we were with just couldn't do it. He simply didn't know how to divide by 10 in his head, even after explaining it to him very clearly. I remember asking him with surprise "Seriously, how can you not do that!?", and he came up with some excuse related to having a kidney transplant as a youngster and missing out a lot in school.
Orikoru
Tour Winner
Because all it's done is double the price of English players, and plenty of them get wasted sitting on benches to fill up the quota when they could be first team elsewhere.
Is there not a point, not sure, where the price becomes so big that actually only 1 or 2 clubs can afford them and if one of those clubs pulls out then the price drops? Mbappe for example. It seems like only Real are in that race so why offer £150m? Perhaps the very top are in this category, the top end, not superstars, are where you can make illogical money. Makes sense in my head anywayImagine how much Grealish is worth now though? I dread to think how much VVD, Salah etc would go for if they were in their prime right now
Bdill93
Undisputed King of FOMO
Imagine how much Grealish is worth now though? I dread to think how much VVD, Salah etc would go for if they were in their prime right now
Id say less.. He sold for 100m because of his value for Villa to replace. He's now 2 years older too.
Whilst he's a very good player, his production isn't actually that good at City. Really surprised me to see a stat the other day which showed he's not yet matched his last season at Villa stats despite all the players around him at City being miles better.
Swango1980
Well-known member
It isn't that surprising. At Villa, pretty much everything went through him. If City had the same attitude, then his stats would be much better. But they don't, they can pretty much rely on every player on the pitch to play the final pass or score the goal.
If Grealish went to Man Utd, Spurs or Chelsea, his stats would probably have been much better than at Villa, as I suspect a lot more would go through him than at City. That wouldn't make him a better player than he is at City, just more involved in attacking moves. And if Rashford had gone to Man City, he'd probably struggle to score as many as he did at Utd this season, although that wouldn't make him a worse player at City.
GB72
Money List Winner
Thing is, you now are getting the European Super League by financial default. Prices go up, only a small number of clubs can afford the top players, they qualify for the Champions League, the gap between them and the next tier in Europe widens, you get the financial elite in the final places every year. Football is won with a cheque book now and it suits some to price everybody else out of the market.
Then you have that next tier of players that would sell for £20-£40 million pounds, they are now going to get the big offers from Saudi to strengthen their league. Sadly, as this progresses, if you do not have an owner willing to splash the cash, you are going to be looking at a future of mid table mediocrity and am sorry but, even now, the promise of history, tradition and hounours is not going to trump the million pound a week Saudi offers for long.
Then you have that next tier of players that would sell for £20-£40 million pounds, they are now going to get the big offers from Saudi to strengthen their league. Sadly, as this progresses, if you do not have an owner willing to splash the cash, you are going to be looking at a future of mid table mediocrity and am sorry but, even now, the promise of history, tradition and hounours is not going to trump the million pound a week Saudi offers for long.
Bdill93
Undisputed King of FOMO
But they bag like 2x as many goals as we did. I understand he's in a rotation too and see's less ball time, but even still, I thought he'd significantly push on.
The Grealish I saw this season was the one I saw in his last at Villa. Got his confidence back after a very average first year.
I imagine if they don't make many forward signings that his stats should improve next season too - but one thing he hasn't ever been is a 10+ goal scorer.
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Deleted member 15344
Guest
So what is the alternative? Allow clubs to play a nationality?
How about the clubs look to develop their own players
Swango1980
Well-known member
City may score twice as many goals, but they probably have about 10-15 players who can unlock defences, and either get that assist or score the goal. So, that still significantly dilutes his involvement in goals, compared to maybe what he could do at Villa where he was the main man.
It is true that he doesn't score as many as Mahrez and Foden, who play similar positions. Although, they are naturally more direct players, and thus you'd probably expect that. Clearly Pep sees other qualities in Grealish that he sees more important to the way the team play than purely getting an assist or a goal. Meanwhile, Foden struggled to get in the side ahead of him back end of season. I guess his ability to hold the ball up, and keep the flow of possession going is often overlooked by some, who judge players on the headline figures of goals and assists.
