I'm writing this with three hours or so left to go until the transfer deadline passes so I've no idea how our pursuit of Ukranian Yevhen Konoplyanka will end, I want to talk about all the circus around the possible signing rather than the player himself.
Not so long ago we didn't have things like Twitter with it's up-to-the-minute news, clubs just held negotiations and either announced they had signed a player or they didn't. Now we have people who until a couple of days ago hadn't heard of the player suddenly throwing in their opinions about what we are doing right and wrong in the mainly private talks we are having with the players club (Dnipro, for those who aren't up to speed with their Ukranian football).
Some of the stuff I'm reading is sensible, most of it isn't. People are saying we should just stump up the money the selling club want and bring the player to Anfield. If you asked me for my opinion on the player's value I'd have to tell you I have no idea, I'm not aware of ever seeing him play. And I like to think I'm fairly knowledgeable about football. If our scouting, management and finance departments have come up with their own conclusion about what the player is worth based on months of scouting, an in depth knowledge of the transfer market and years of negotiating experience I'd probably go with what they say rather than a figure I plucked out of the air.
The credible sources I have read seem to be saying the major stumbling block is not the total value of the deal, it's the way we want to spread the payments, with a certain amount up front and the rest depending on appearances and whether or not we make the Champions League. I seem to be in a very small minority who think this makes perfect sense. Anybody remember what happened to Leeds United?
We don't know if we will qualify for next season's Champions League, we're in a good position and bringing in an experienced player who has already had an impact in the Premier League could be just what we need to help push us over that magic line into 4th place. But that's not what we're on about signing. Coming from Ukranian football into the English game you would expect Konoplyanka to need time to adjust, he would be a signing with more of an eye on the long term future than the remaining fixtures of this campaign. If we finish in the top four there will be financial rewards AND we will be more attractive to potential new signings, in short maybe in the summer we could do better.
Where we finish this time around will have a big impact on how much money we have to spend. If we finish 5th we may find ourselves looking at £8million players, if we finish 4th we could be looking at £16million players. Offering around £8million up front with the rest dependent on success is sensible, and I'd rather the club I support was run sensibly than not.
Then on to the players we already have. Raheem Sterling, Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson are all talented young players who have improved as the season has gone on. They are exactly what you want at your club, players who are playing well now but are also ones for the future. Would any of them losing their place in the starting XI to somebody who may take time to settle really benefit us? Nope.
Long story short, if the deal is right for the club buy the player now, if it doesn't suit us then let the players who have performed admirably this season carry on. Take stock in the summer when we know where we are from both a sporting and a financial perspective and get our summer business done early. Simple really.
You make some reasonable points but overlook some rather large issues. The fact is we have tried to buy several players recently and failed for one reason or another. This has led to a race against the clock on deadline day with or without twitter and the over - reactions. This does not seem to me a sensible way to run amy business let alone a football club. Also, the sport is one of speculate to accumulate whether we like it or not. Your belief that we should tread carefully sounds wise until you reaslise the very same tactic allows your opposition to sneak in and seal a deal... the very same opposition that coild keep us out of the lucrative Champions League. Also, lets not forget the other consequence of failing to qualify for the biggest competition... the certain loss of Luis Suarez. How proud would you be of the owners if we really looked after the pennies but lost our one and only true world class player? Yes, social media has created the almost permanent crys of overreaction but please do not let this distract you from seeing the shortsightedness of some of these decisions... losing Suarez would be such a bigger issue than overpaying a million or two.
ReplyDelete