SAF on a striker: "But we do need experience." - Berbatov?

Eto'odinho

Mario Gomez, screw experience.

MadDogg

I actually agree with him there to some extent. There's certainly less money in Italian football these days. Probably in Spanish as well. Whereas the Premier League clubs are getting more and more.

Lizard King

Italian football's corrupt as fuck so nobody cares about that.

Lizard King

On a seperate note, I really don't feel like going to work in 5 minutes.

I've got a hangover that could slay a dragon.

cekscrayons

Everyone knows there is less money in the Italian league. Devilish has simply taken a tiny part of a bigger whole, and made a broad conclusion that "there is no money left in football".

Which like I said earlier, is rediculous.

Trippin_Stoned

I'm sure Fergie will get the right player for the right price. The right price being what the he and the board consider to be right. Not some number crunching folk on the internet who value players at the drop of a hat.

Sarni

We could have paid 24 million for Essien but we didn't want to. He wouldn't have gone cheaper even if Chelsea hadn't been interested. The year after Lyon sold Diarra to Real Madrid for a fee only slightly smaller than that, and Diarra is arguably a worse player.

There's nothing that suggests that we wouldn't be able to pay 24 million for a player we wanted. It happened with Rooney, we paid almost the same for both Hargreaves and Carrick, while Anderson and Nani were only slightly cheaper.

Paying 12 million for a youngster is nothing wrong. We paid the same for Ronaldo and when you ask me, he was just as proven as Obi Mikel when he joined Chelsea. Or even less proven, as Obi Mikel had a great U17 championship and a spectacular African Nations Cup under his belt. Moreover, he was the player Mourinho really wanted. I'd say 12 million was a fair price for him.

Then, another player we both wanted was Arjen Robben, who went for 10 million pounds. Whichever way you put it, we paid almost the same for Alan Smith a couple of months later. They hardly outbid us there, it was a screw-up on our side.

Then we got Ballack, who was offered better wages and was generally more keen on moving to Chelsea than United. Still, we could have paid him what Chelsea pay him easily. It's not like we don't have players on 100+ grand a week.

So, it's basically us who resign rather than Chelsea who make it impossible for us to sign all these players.

devilish

If there is no competition then why not? I mean the player wants to leave, he has two years left in the contract and Spurs are already resigned in losing him. Why should we spend 20m on him?

devilish

which confirms what ive said before.

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

In reverse why should they sell him below that value, when he is by far their best player? & he is at the peak of his powers?

GlastonSpur

He has 4 years left on his contract not 2.

I'll also correct one of your earlier cosy notions, namely that it's a buyers market. Actually it isn't:

* 4 years on contract (no pressure to sell now)

* Spurs not short of money (no pressure to sell now)

* Spurs would prefer to keep the player (no desire to sell now)

* Likely to be other interested clubs - Chelsea, Barca etc (competition amongst buyers in the market). And the strength of the Euro against the pound makes it easier for European clubs to enter the fray.

* Huge extra amount of TV money again coming into the coffers of all Prem club (creates continued hyper-inflationary pressures on transfer fees, with more money chasing the same number of potentially available players)

devilish

No club would want to keep an unhappy player

devilish

4 yrs contract may change things a bit. Stating that unless Chelsea are interested then i wonder why the fee should be so high. Regarding the buyer's market well there arent just Berbatov and the EPL clubs around. I mean there are many other clubs outside the EPL with decent strikers who would sell their mother for that sum. Let us not forget thata) many european clubs are finding it hard to make ends meetb) if rumours are to be believed, many strikers will be changing hands this year.

Bilbo

Re: Owen, I've been on about us getting this guy for a couple of years now (to much cafe derision). A couple of things that are noteworthy.

He had reconstruction done on his knee last year which apparently left it as strong as it has ever been. His injury problems could well be behind him.

United requested a physio report from his agent last summer with a view to attempting a cut-price bid. It either didn't happen, or we did bid but Newcastle rejected it - I don't know. However, Ferguson is clearly a fan of his.



Factor in price, age, nationality, experience & class, and I've long thought that Owen is the best possible option out there for us. He would score 30 goals a season playing in this team and is world-class at finding space off of the shoulders of centre-backs - something we have been lacking in our squad without Saha.

sincher

But it's Michael Owen!

GlastonSpur

What this really comes down to is an assessment of Berbatov's abilities. Obviously if you don't rate him that highly, then for you the expected fee will or should be low.

But most observers rate Berbatov as much more than just a 'decent striker', so even if many such strikers will be changing hands this summer Berbatov is in a different class.

FreakyJim

First of all - it's Michael Owen
Second of all - another midget upfront
and Third - another OWEN in squad (how gay is that)

Bilbo

I love Michael Owen. Always though he was top drawer. At 27 he may just have his peak years ahead of him.

Bilbo

His height doesn't bother me at all. If we bring in a 6ft 5 player, we aren't going to suddenly change the way we play to accomodate that one player. Instead we complement what we already have, and Owen will do that perfectly IMO.

I'd love us to sign him.

Elliott

Owen is a very good player. But if we're going for a no.9 who relies on great movement and skill I'd just as soon give young Fraizer a proper go. I'd advice you all to have a good look at him in the play off match on Wednesday. He's starting to look physically ready to me.

Bilbo

Looking good for Hull City, and looking good in the Champions League, are very different scenario's. Scoring goals in the Championship would be a bare minumum requirement for any young loanee striker.

Campbell has everything to prove. All Owen has to prove is his fitness, which he is in the process of doing hopefully.

Godfather

Stop talking about that Michael Owen will you?
We are not going to sign him, and I don'T want him here. He is injury prone, small and not the youngest no more.

I'd rather keep Saha as a 3rd choice than him.

Elliott

I don't disagree with that. But he's getting better all the time and is now one of the very, very best players in the championship. I'd love for him to be given a chance, but it's risky business. Time will tell.

Edit; Fraizer has done better in the champioship this season than Bendtner did the season before. So you never know.

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

But that's just the thing. He isn't unhappy. He would like to move yes, But Berbatov is not the type to force a move. So how can you think he could go cheaply? Especially when someone like Glaston says the man has 4 years left on his contract.

BaldwinLegend

I'm surprised the Owen rumours haven't been discussed more here.

I wouldn't be shocked to see it happening - I still think Owen wants to leave at the end of the season and wants CL football. And, isn't there quotes from SAF that he likes Owen a lot?

If he's truly over his injuries then why not? I think the guy is hungry to resurrect a once great career, and this summer is his last chance. You've seen Keegan try to publicly force his board to sign Owen up to a new contract, but the fact that they haven't tells me he wants to leave.

He's tried abroad, that didn't work. I can only see him wanting to move to United or Arsenal - I think for 7 million he'd be a very good addition to the squad. We all know he'd bang in 20 goals for us, help Rooney a lot etc Think of his goals in addition to Rooney's and Ronaldo's - I wouldn't mind seeing him arrive this summer to be honest.

BaldwinLegend

Interesting post.

Elliott

He'll always be a sick note.

devilish