Do you care about transfer fees?

[BaguetteBoy]

Better spend it than in owners pockets

 

[daveskimufc]

I care only in the sense that we are always made out to look like mugs.
Bought a top English centre back?? Yeah but it's Harry Maguire and it's £80m, mugs.
Got arsenal's best player on a free?? Yeah but he's earning £600k per week, mugs.
Football GOAT for "only £10m, yeah but his legs have gone, you're paying £600k a week. Mugs.

Arsenal apparently just bought Kai havertz for £65m. But if we did that the media would add on wages over (5) years and signing on fees and agents fees so MANCHESTER UNITED would pay £90m

When was the last time we had a positive signing, media wise?

Casemiro? Age, price
Eriksen? heart condition, no legs
Sancho? City reject
Martinez? 5'4, price
Varane? Why are Madrid willing to get rid?

 

[maniak]

This annual thread, always convinces me that fan ownership is the worst thing that might ever happen to this club. Fans are clueless.

Well, I don't care because I have no control over it. I obviously care about the budgets I manage in my personal life.

 

[Skills]

Well, I don't care because I have no control over it. I obviously care about the budgets I manage in my personal life.

You do, if you're constantly egging your club into making horrifically damaging decisions. That's how Harry Maguire happened.

 

[USREDEVIL]

Well, I don't care because I have no control over it. I obviously care about the budgets I manage in my personal life.

And how are those going?

 

[Skills]

In a broad sense we should. Because we have a limited budget so overspend on one position comes with opportunity cost elsewhere.

We don't want to be in the "we need to get a striker on loan because we can't buy, so how about Weghorst?" situation too often.

When it comes to the minutiae though not so much. As in the "I'd spend 45m on Mount but 50m is a rip off" type thinking. Because while in general overspend is bad, it's impossible to quantify what those sort of differences mean sonit's just people throwing out random numbers and vibes.

I mean those differences are arbitary. The ones that are clear are for example Maguire and Antony each for £80m. Neither of them were worth anywhere near that ball park.

 

[maniak]

You do, if you're constantly egging your club into making horrifically damaging decisions. That's how Harry Maguire happened.

I'm an Arsenal fan, I've spent half my life watching fans complaining the club didn't spend enough. I think you're overestimating the influence fans have on those decisions.

 

[finneh]

It would be very strange not to care. I'd care if a business I'd bought shares in decided to make a decision that devalued my investment and (in my view) the emotional investment in a football club is far more impassioned.

Ultimately supporting a team is at a minimum no different; you're invested and bad decisions affect you negatively and good ones affect you positively (not financially, but emotionally).

Every club (like every business) has finite resources and every pound spent in one area is a pound not spent in another. The better part of a billion quid United have spent over the last decade on players (plus the same again to facilitate our owners) should have yielded incredible moments; Premier League and Champions League wins that would be stories told to children and grandchildren. Perpetual bad decisions have deprived us of those great moments.

The only way one couldn't care about transfer fees is if one ultimately wouldn't care about success or failure.

 

[maniak]

And how are those going?

Personal life is the key.

 

[tentan]

No. I hope United can spend 400 mill in one transfer window one day.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Yes, because whether you like it or not, £80m Anthony comes with completely different expectations to £40m Anthony

 

[Ekeke]

Yes. Obviously. The more you spend on one player the less you have to spend on other areas. Its extremely simple and so are the people who say they dont care.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Sure, but I'm a fan, not an accountant. I trust the people in charge know what they're doing, if it turns out they don't, I have no control over it either way.

By that logic, we also shouldn't have opinions on signings, tactics, and team selections, as most of us aren't football coaches or scouts and have no control over club decisions.

 

[SinNombre]

Of course it's inspired by the Rice news, but I've always felt like this. It's not my money, the club's not going bankrupt, so why should I care?

Lots of clubs go bankrupt with this mentality.

Some like Chelsea get saved by dirty Russian money but that is not guaranteed.

 

[maniak]

Lots of clubs go bankrupt with this mentality.

Some like Chelsea get saved by dirty Russian money but that is not guaranteed.

I'm not saying the club shouldn't care, I'm saying I don't care. Either way, I'm not upset if we pay an extra 10M just as I don't get excited because we got Martinelli for peanuts.

 

[SinNombre]

I'm not saying the club shouldn't care, I'm saying I don't care. Either way, I'm not upset if we pay an extra 10M just as I don't get excited because we got Martinelli for peanuts.

Your club has been overspending for a few seasons.

It is not an extra 10m or you got Martinelli cheap.

The reality is that Arsenal have qualified for one CL in 7 years and are one of the top-5 spenders in Europe over multiple years now.

 

[maniak]

By that logic, we also shouldn't have opinions on signings, tactics, and team selections, as most of us aren't football coaches or scouts and have no control over club decisions.

Not the same, those things can be debated and people have different perspectives and we see every weekend what's working and what's not working. The price of a player is just that one thing that happened one day and it will only be used years later to call a manager an idiot or a genius.

 

[maniak]

Your club has been overspending for a few seasons.

It is not an extra 10m or you got Martinelli cheap.

The reality is that Arsenal have qualified for one CL in 7 years and are one of the top-5 spenders in Europe over multiple years now.

Are we in danger of going under?

 

[SinNombre]

Are we in danger of going under?

How many consecutive seasons of financial losses can you digest?

This will be a 4th season in a row after this spending.

 

[Carolina Red]

Do you care about this at all? If a player costs 30M or 40M? 70M or 100M?

These numbers are so abstract, FFP is a joke and money seems to appear out of the blue all the time for top clubs.

Why do some fans get so worked up about transfer fees?

Q1: Nope.

Q2: I have asked myself the same question many times.

 

[maniak]

How many consecutive seasons of financial losses can you digest?

This will be a 4th season in a row after this spending.

I assume Arsenal has professionals looking into this and managing our finances.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Of course. Because there is FFP and we are working on a budget, and there is also risk of developing a reputation which may affect our future transfer dealings.

If we overspend too much on average players “that we needed” (which has been the case for us) , we don’t get to buy the other good ones when they are available later, and when we developed such a reputation of always overpaying, teams would always feel that they could easily squeeze another 10-30m from our pocket whenever they deal with us.

 

[Nicolarra90]

Yes it bothers me because the main reason United are in such a mess is because they have overspent on mediocrity for years, both on transfers and salaries. This is the reason why we still have a huge amount of debt and not competitive enough in the league.

That's two problems. And overspending isn't the bigger one.

 

[CM]

Yes. If you make a habit of overspending on players, it impedes your ability to do more business. I've seen so many people on here dismissing stupid transfer fees on the basis that it's not their money over the years, but it's not a sustainable way to build a squad and creates headaches if/when those players are sold in the future.

Stupid price tags often don't help the players either - how many of the players bought for over £100m have been slam dunk signings? Even in relation to the players we've bought for big money - Pogba, Lukaku, Maguire, Sancho, Antony - none of them have set the world alight. It brings an extra layer of pressure to an already difficult situation when players are stepping up to the level of a club like United.

 

[Donaldo]

Do you care about this at all? If a player costs 30M or 40M? 70M or 100M?

These numbers are so abstract, FFP is a joke and money seems to appear out of the blue all the time for top clubs.

Why do some fans get so worked up about transfer fees?

Yessss. I've waited for one of us to make a thread like this for years.

 

[SinNombre]

I assume Arsenal has professionals looking into this and managing our finances.

And other clubs that have had issues had amateurs working for them.

 

[Bondi77]

It is pretty obvious if a player cost a lot of money then the fans expect him to be good and if he isn't then the normal fan is and rightly so pissed off.
I maybe old fashioned but I like the concept of getting value for money in everything.
I am not fussed how much other clubs pay for their players and I think it is a good thing that the not so big clubs are financially sound enough to not have to sell but charge ridiculous prices for their players if they choose to do so.

 

[RedBanker]

We have paid 80 mils for Maguire. 85 for Antony. 65 mils for Martial. 100 for Pogba. 75 for Sancho? So clearly our club doesn't care about transfer fees.

 

[whitbyviking]

There is such an obscene amount of money being used for transfers that I no longer care. When you think of all the issues in the local areas surrounding the various clubs that could be resolved with 1/10th of the money spent by clubs on transfers it really highlights how gross the game has become. It just seems deeply immoral if I am honest.

City for example; 115 charges for corruption, spent however many billions under and over the table over the last decade to achieve a treble winning team and now going to spend over £200m again it seems to improve the squad further? Despite the fact they have obviously been cheating and in any other walk of life would be facing censure for breaking rules. But, nope. Football for the super rich exists in an alternative universe now, it is so surreal that these transfers are like monopoly money.

The worst part of transfers though is 100% the agents fees, which are without any shadow of a doubt the biggest disgrace in football. The wages I can just about live with, when you compare them to what people in other sports, and even bankers, CEOs, actors etc earn. The agent fees though are a disgrace and the agents themselves have lead to some of the most dubious and disgraceful actions carried out in terms of player contracts and movements.

 

[maniak]

And other clubs that have had issues had amateurs working for them.

And the fans caring would've avoided all that, if only they had known.

 

[fergiewherearethou]

We have paid 80 mils for Maguire. 85 for Antony. 65 mils for Martial. 100 for Pogba. 75 for Sancho? So clearly our club doesn't care about transfer fees.

So why should the fans care? I personally only care for the results, trophies and the way we play.
We've basically embraced the worst scenario, pay big, win little.

 

[Steve Bruce]

If we have a budget of 100m and need 3+ players the price is a concern. However if we have a great squad and don't really need anything but a smashing player came up, I don't care what we spend.

To be honest, as fans we have absolutely no influence on these matters so we really shouldn't care either way...... doesn't work out like that but that's football

 

[evil_geko]

Maybe a little when if affects our budget in that transfer window etc, but I certainly don't align my expectations of a player performance based on the amount of money he was paid like many fans do, that is beyond silly to me. Antony being the latest victim. There are many factors and circumstances that go into that.

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

Of course. But I hate the fact our club seems to quibble over £5m when we’re already overpaying by £20m for almost everyone. It’s so wildly disproportionate.

I care more about the ineptitude of our team that sees us pay £80m for Antony and Sancho. Then pay them salaries befitting £80m players. All the while being replaceable by players costing other clubs £50-60m.

Our player recruitment, retention and sale team seems to hamstring us at every point. Buy high, pay big salaries, extend contracts and never sell.

I’m not pretending it’s not hard, but we really need a five year approach to instilling the kind of ethos that other big clubs have. I don’t think a single top club in any European League has ever seen business done by the club and thought “How did they manage this piece of business”.

I can wholeheartedly see why fans of Arsenal, Chelsea, City et al can afford to not worry over a few transfer fees. For the Rice and Havertz ‘overpayments’ you have Trossard and Zinchenko ‘Underpayments’. There’s balance. No other club goes full tilt for every single signing, and subsequently get bent over during every sale.

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

We have paid 80 mils for Maguire. 85 for Antony. 65 mils for Martial. 100 for Pogba. 75 for Sancho? So clearly our club doesn't care about transfer fees.

You’ve almost doubled the Martial fee there mate.

 

[Gehrman]

Of course even with inflated fees they do matter. Fecking up like at Man Utd where we have spend a fortune on Pogba, Maguire, Sanchez, Sancho etc means we have less funds to tailor the squad to our needs.

 

[Glorio]

Not the same, those things can be debated and people have different perspectives and we see every weekend what's working and what's not working. The price of a player is just that one thing that happened one day and it will only be used years later to call a manager an idiot or a genius.

Of course it's the same. Each tactic, team sheet, sub decision, even ref decision, etc is an entity at a point in time that we have no direct control over. We can however debate the wisdom in them, just as much as we can debate the wisdom in shelling out 105 mill on one player.

Particularly considering a bad investment decision can affect a club's progress for multiple seasons

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

Of course it's the same. Each tactic, team sheet, sub decision, even ref decision, etc is an entity at a point in time that we have no direct control over. We can however debate the wisdom in them, just as much as we can debate the wisdom in shelling out 105 mill on one player.

Particularly considering a bad investment decision can affect a club's progress for multiple seasons

Adding a ready made player that should fit your second place squad at a slight premium is entirely justifiable.

Rice was a good purchase and you can shrug off £105m spend if you’re in a position of strength.

Spanking £80m on players you don’t need, whej you’re way off the pace, when no other team would pay more than £50-60 is gross negligence.

 

[mctrials23]

Of course I do because we don't have limitless money. Transfer fees do relate to salary, they relate to FFP and they relate to selling players if they don't work out.

Its not my money, I don't care in that sense but if we didn't overpay for players we would have a better squad right now and we would have less problems within the squad. Its all related. A successful squad is usually a happy squad.

Same for wages really.

 

[ariveded]

Good thread. I now completely ignore the numbers of transfer fees or wages.

The numbers are crazy high. It is their money, not mine.

There is no more "we" when talking about clubs or their players.