£40 million for Wes Sneijder?

[anver]

Following Real's example is not really the best way to go. And I don't think we can take on a risk like that. It makes poor business sense. As for 40 million on Sneijder, I've often spoken about my admiration for the year he had last year but given his age I wouldn't take that risk.

When you want to splurge you want to splurge like Real did on Ronaldo (not in extent but the players age). The guy was 24, the best player in the world (or one of), the most marketable footballer around and 5 of his best years to give to the club. And in case of things not working out, his resale value would still have been astronomical by other players standards.

If you want to spend big, look at how Mourinho spent at Chelsea. Not necessarily the biggest names, but the very best 'about to hit their prime' footballers around.

Spot on.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Spot on.

An example is the signing of Michael Essien. Even today he wouldn't command a 40 million fee. It would probably be the same, 25 million odd. Largely because he wasn't one of the stars of the game. And players of his style do not become stars until they play in one of the biggest leagues. So if we do spend big, those are the kind of signings we should be looking at. Essien at 25 million in a fine signing.

 

[Scoreboard Red]

An example is the signing of Michael Essien. Even today he wouldn't command a 40 million fee. It would probably be the same, 25 million odd. Largely because he wasn't one of the stars of the game. And players of his style do not become stars until they play in one of the biggest leagues. So if we do spend big, those are the kind of signings we should be looking at. Essien at 25 million in a fine signing.

Show me an Essien out there for £25mil, who is there?

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Show me an Essien out there for £25mil, who is there?

I'm not a scout, I wouldn't know. But Ozil was signed for a relatively small fee. Spurs brought Modric in for a not so big fee. Inter bought Sneijder for 15 million. You're saying 'show me an Essien' thinking of how good Essien is right now and the star he's become. Before that he was a talented midfielder at Lyon/

 

[Sonny1972]

Sneijder got anaemia. Thats why he doesn't play like he did last season.

 

[lysglimt]

There is something about that logic that is a bit bizarre - "use all your money to prove that you have money"

 

[Raoul]

It ain't the best, and whilst it's hardly an 'exclusive' article that the Sun might have written, the fan's comments were the interesting section of the story for me; why do we, the fans, seem justified in unjustifying transfer fees which have, let's be honest, no impact to us whatsoever? Some might say that 'but it inflates our ticket prices' or makes them buy another replica shirt for their kids etc, but really, it's nowt to do with us so let's leave it to the experts because I'm pretty sure there is no-one on here who has ever dealt with the transfer of a multi-million pound footballer except on Playstation...

I agree with this and have always found it bizarre how fans play virtual manager with perceived player transfer fees.

 

[Kelvin]

Sneijder got anaemia. Thats why he doesn't play like he did last season.

Rafa is so good at destroying a player confidence.