Help me to understand the great logic behind this deal then, know-it-all. Give me the list of the players being sold for that kind of money at age of 32 in history of football.
Sometimes 5 millions are too much for a player and sometimes 50m is too little.
Indeed, players in their 30s are rarely sold for huge sums, which doesn't mean that they aren't worth as much. Also, 20m today is quite different to 20m euro 5 or 10 years ago.
We bought Barzagli and Pirlo for peanuts when they were in their 30s. These turned out great transfers. Weren't they gonna be brilliant additions to our team if we paid 20m euro for each? They were still going to be worth every penny and much more.
Just the same, Mascherano, who also plays in defense where 32 is like 28 for a midfielder, could prove to be worth much more than 20m eur to us one day.
On the other hand, had we paid 20m euro for Pirlo (and he was worth much more than that to us), we might not have had money to buy Vidal. This could be the problem with the 20m euro fee for Mascherano. We might not buy Pjanic or someone else if we pay 20m euro for Mascherano, and that's the only problem. Paying 20m euro won't be the problem per se if that won't drastically influence other operations in the market.