Honestly, anyone talking about the fee really needs to stop talking.
Have you seen the market at the moment? Particularly for an attacker.
We also need proven quality in that position, which at a minimum Antony provides. It's the reason why City got Grealish for 100m, the reason why Liverpool went all out to get Nunez, its the reason for Atletico spending that amount on Joao Felix. We can't be shy about playing in the market like we have been over the last 10 years, hoping youngsters will fill in squad gaps. Buying Pogba, but not wanting to spend much elsewhere/looking for a deal. The reason City and Liverpool have been as good as they have been has been . We can't afford to take risks like that anymore trying to get bargains.
Blind, Herrera, Rojo, Darmian, Lindelof, Bailly, Fred, Smalling, Jones, Amad, Chicarito, VDB and Martial.
Add academy youngsters: Mctominay, Lingard, Greenwood, Januzaj, Cleverley, Welbeck, Williams and Evans.
These are players that we bought who were slightly obscure or came directly from our academy so provided limited cost. Most of them had never proven themselves prior to coming into our team, had never represented their national team and hardly anyone knew about them prior to them being linked with us.
The recognized players we signed were:
Ibrahimovic, Mhikitaryan, Alexis Sanchez, Di Maria, Pogba, Lukaku, Bruno, Sancho, Mata, Fellaini, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, Memphis, Ronaldo, Varane, Kagawa, Falcao, Cavani, Matic and Van Persie.
The recognized players were clearly better in their performances for us. We paid the price to get them and for the most part, these have been the players that have been our best performers since 2010.
The recognized players who did not provide positive contributions were clearly past it even before they were signed. Alexis, Schweinsteiger and Falcao were clearly not at an elite level when we bought them. Matic and Cavani faded a season after we had gotten them. For the most part though, with our recruitment, it has been better to get a known player than an obscure one. It has also been safer to get younger ones than older ones despite the additional cost of signing a player entering or already in their prime.
City have been the dominant team in the league. To become that in the same period, they signed Silva, Toure, Aguero, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Sterling, Mahrez, Cancelo, Walker, Ruben Dias, Gundogan, Sane and Grealish. They bought Mangala, Fernando, Stones, Mendy, Nasri and Adebayor...who didn't work, but for the most part, even those players listed could be considered good contributors. In that time, the young players integrated into their squad have been Gabriel Jesus, Zinchenko and Foden. All of whom needed to prove that they were good enough contributors to get anywhere near their first team. Madrid and Bayern have also taken a similar route over the years. Sign guarantees. Kroos, Modric, Ramos, Marcelo, Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo and Isco were all bought for their reputations. Neuer, Lucas Hernandes, Goretzka, Sane, Coman and Lewandowski were bought for their reputations as well.
The point is, in order to win and have a good squad, for the most part you need to spend money. Very rarely do you find those transfer gems, and its even rarer to get one in your academy.
