I take your guys' word for it that £18m for Bastos is too much. But here are some of the thoughts swirling around my head.
1. If they were willing to keep him they'd only take an exorbitant price right?
2. He'd have to give up UCL play for at least a year, and so would his agent.
3. We look rinky dink with all Italians in this era of borderless ball. Ok we got Beck but he's German. Our current Brazilian is chiefly known for sabotaging Brazil.
4. Guy is a high skillset vet who's not old who can play multiple roles
5. We're not getting any of these better names floating about
6. Look at what we agreed to pay (on option of course) for guys like Aquilani and Matri
7. Serie A is losing a UCL spot and Roma are maybe set to spend. And Roma are not the only guys ahead of us. I don't want to look for good deals right now, I'd rather overpay to get as close to a guaranteed UCL spot as possible. Once we're there we can get better deals
8. We've made so many bad deals recently the guys across the table have to gouge us somewhat or they look bad.
Of all the names I've heard, that I think would actually come here (so cross the Benzemas and Kuns off that list), he's the one guy I unequivocally think would help right away. Someone like Kranjcar I have reasonable confidence would be great long term, but I think he'd pull a Krasic in his first season with us and leave us where we were this season.
I'd still take Bastos and Adebayor for £26 over Matri/Quags for same. And let's not forget we already forked over a lot just for the loans on those guys.
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