Suggestions (24 Viewers)
- Thread starter Layce Erayce
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I think the reason everyone was so angry about the Xabi/Poulsen situation, was that Cobolli had claimed that we would be buying a similar caliber player to Amauri for the midfield position. I remember this specifically, but I can't hunt down a quote at the moment.
So we spent 22.5M euros on Amauri, which made everyone feel like we were going to be able to afford the 16-18M+ (approx) for Xabi. Then we totally lowballed Liverpool (with a pathetic offer of like 13M or something, I do believe), which made us look a bit ridiculous. Everyone with half a brain knew that Xabi had been injured, and would return to form with continuity. An offer in that range was silly... and it was a little embarrassing to see the ineptitude of our board so blatantly on display.
At least this was my interpretation of the situation. Because we only spent 9.5M on Poulsen, it's clear we just didn't have the available funds to be in those long protracted negotiations in the first place.
I still think that we should have tried to find the money somewhere to make that transfer happen (I'm sure we tried to move people, but maybe a loan?). Paying a reasonable price for quality often saves money in the long run, and if Sissoko was worth 13M, our board should have recognized the type of offer it would have taken to make that Xabi deal happen.
This is just my opinion based on uncertain variables, and I could be wrong. I do really admire Alonso though, and he would have been a fantastic asset for this club going forward.
Edit: Here's an incredibly oversimplified and general example (which I heard for the first time a few days ago, and was repeated today): The difference between 2 and 3 place is worth 5M Euros in prize money. For some reason, I feel that had Xabi been a part of this team (and barring any unfortunate injuries), we would probably have 2nd place on lock down by now.
So we spent 22.5M euros on Amauri, which made everyone feel like we were going to be able to afford the 16-18M+ (approx) for Xabi. Then we totally lowballed Liverpool (with a pathetic offer of like 13M or something, I do believe), which made us look a bit ridiculous. Everyone with half a brain knew that Xabi had been injured, and would return to form with continuity. An offer in that range was silly... and it was a little embarrassing to see the ineptitude of our board so blatantly on display.
At least this was my interpretation of the situation. Because we only spent 9.5M on Poulsen, it's clear we just didn't have the available funds to be in those long protracted negotiations in the first place.
I still think that we should have tried to find the money somewhere to make that transfer happen (I'm sure we tried to move people, but maybe a loan?). Paying a reasonable price for quality often saves money in the long run, and if Sissoko was worth 13M, our board should have recognized the type of offer it would have taken to make that Xabi deal happen.
This is just my opinion based on uncertain variables, and I could be wrong. I do really admire Alonso though, and he would have been a fantastic asset for this club going forward.
Edit: Here's an incredibly oversimplified and general example (which I heard for the first time a few days ago, and was repeated today): The difference between 2 and 3 place is worth 5M Euros in prize money. For some reason, I feel that had Xabi been a part of this team (and barring any unfortunate injuries), we would probably have 2nd place on lock down by now.
tbh Liverpool were never gonna sell Xabi until they gt Barry,s o we were NEVER really going to get Alonso no matter what our offer was, unless we went ridiculously over the asking price,which would ahve had everybody criticizing the BOD for overpaying,blowing our budget on one player...etc...ad nausea
That may be true Boz, but it's a little unclear. Like Mark, I think it was a case of Pool needing to secure funds before transferring the player, and clearly we weren't even in the ballpark. Again, I think 18M MAY have been enough, I think Alonso's form this season has proven that he's worth that, and I think that because the BOD claimed we were getting a player in the caliber (which I took to mean price range) of Amauri, coming away with Poulsen was a bit of a joke.
These are just opinions obviously, based on estimations, and I could be wrong.
These are just opinions obviously, based on estimations, and I could be wrong.
Pool getting Barry was supposed to be the key for this transfer, they didn't get so we didn't get Xabi.
Still, we'd have a hard time to afford it.
Other teams would have know that they desperately would have needed to move one of the players, and Pool would have been operating/negotiating from a position of weakness.
Yeah Dusan, I think that this was an example of our board mis-judging the perceived 'desperation' of Liverpool to make a move. They thought they could make it happen, then thinking they had the cat in the bag they shot of their mouths about a big time transfer coming in (they figured Xabi would come) and the end result turned out to be Poulsen (who is not a terrible player by any means, but not of the caliber that I would like to see at our club), which most fans found to be a disappointing move.
Hopefully our inexperienced board has learned from this mistake (and others), because we really need to have a successful mercato...
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