Lukaku went for considerably more than £22m even if we're being paid in installments seems weird for him to not mention it right at the top. Also, I hadn't seen it reported anywhere else that we paid up front for James, on the BBC article it just says the initial fee was around £15m.
It's rubbish. Lukaku was sold for a huge fee. And if we're receiving that money in installments we can make payments in instalments.
Our defensive metrics aren't really better than they were in 2017/18. We already conceded more this season than we did in the entirety of 2017/18.
Noooooooooo....we already have
I think it's the fear-mongering the Athletic promised to avoid, considering all the hype they gave themselves they've been no better than the rags and Laurie Whitwell is one of the worst offenders. We'll see soon enough how much we're capable of spending.
Yeah it will be easy to find a club willing to pay that fee and match his £400k per week wages.
I've already answered that. The club felt they didn't need to spend another 60m on a centre back when we already had 5 at the club (bailly,lindelof,jones,smalling,rojo)
DDG stood on his head in 17/18. Our defense was garbage at actually restricting shot volume and quality. The underlying metrics indicated that the goals allowed was likely to increase drastically the following season unless DDG continued to perform miracles, which is precisely why Mourinho wanted to invest in a CB, Maguire being one of his preferred options.
I sadly agree. They started well but then went back to the usual hype or doom and gloom sensationalism of the usual media. I don't think i'l be resubing next year. Their defense of Man City in both writing and podcasts has been particularly disgusting.
should come to 90m as we need to pay rest of Lingard's contract to get rid of him 
Yes, De Gea's performances account for some of the difference. But if De Gea performed the same in both seasons, our defensive record would probably be similar. I don't see that Maguire brought a lot of improvement.
Apart from RW I don't think we're actually desperate for any position, which is a stark contrast to last summer and other summers before it, that's what allowed clubs to fleece us so easily. Obviously that might change if Pogba leaves although I'm not entirely convinced he will anway.
Those figures have been taken directly from the club's published accounts and so they aren't really up for dispute.
Well, since we had alot of cash lying around , paying up front isnt always the worst option. The instalments in the future would have a sizable effect on our future possibilities as well.
You’re being rather kind there
Agree. In my experience amortisation of debt will just help hinder your ongoing annual spend.
More like £85m.
Ok then
Well yeah, this coincides with us only being a couple of top players away from having our best side in almost a decade. Still, we know from past experience that we can make hard work of 1 big signing so, make that 2 and throw in the need to bring in decent fees (which we rarely do anyway) and it doesn't bode well does it? Hopefully we can get a deal done early doors and ease the urgency.
In all seriousness, we'd probably have to pay a club to take Lingard off our hands (i.e. subsidise his wages. I think we may have done this when we sold Rooney to Everton).
We were solid defensively under Ole when he first came in, before falling apart towards the end of the season. There's also the fundamental fact that Ole wants to play with defenders who are comfortable and able to build from the back, even under duress. Smalling was never a fit, at least as a starting XI player, for Ole's vision for the squad. Even then, he moved Smalling on because we couldn't unload Rojo and Jones, and also because Smalling asked to leave for more game time to give himself a chance to work his way back into the England team before the Euros.
That's like a fecal pick and mix.
Well, it doesn't take a genius to work out that the board did not want to spend money in Jose's final Summer.
we already replaced pogba with Bruno. The team won’t function well with both in the team except against cannon fodder opposition.
Unless we give him away for tuppence otherwise who will pay his wage bill?
Exactly. He isn't.
