Pep's spending is insane (£941m and counting at City)

[Fluctuation0161]

This would be a zinger of a post in the parallel universe where we’re 3rd.

Not if you consider the full picture. Mourinho not being backed the required amount in transfer windows - which had the knock on effect of Mourinho throwing his toys out the pram and going into full self destruct mode.

 

[Ban]

I don't get that reasoning. You can say Mourinho wasn't backed only if we were 2nd right now and playing good football?
Was he backed generally? Yes. Was he backed this summer? No.
Could he do more with a group of this players this year? Definitely yes.

 

[Mockney]

Not if you consider the full picture. Mourinho not being backed the required amount in transfer windows - which had the knock on effect of Mourinho throwing his toys out the pram and going into full self destruct mode.

“He hit me and threw me down the stairs, but I deserved it for not having dinner on the table!”

Lets not forgot that “not being backed” also includes not being able to casually sell two of our biggest talents, biggest outlays, and best performers this season purely because he’d fallen out with them and failed to manage them properly.

No manager in the world gets what they want every summer. Not even Fergie! D’you think Pochettino wanted to buy absolutely no one this summer? Only Jose fecking Mourinho gets to use it as an excuse for his abysmal self sabotaging behaviour. Sure, our manager is deliberately trying to tank our season and force our best players out before he does, all to make some really petty points, but we made him do it!! It’s all our fault really. If only we were better to him!

I genuinely feel like I’m in Insano Land having arguments like this. Never has a manager been so adept at fecking up a job, deliberately, then convincing the very people he’s fecking over that he’s not ultimately responsible for it.

 

[Judas]

Not if you consider the full picture. Mourinho not being backed the required amount in transfer windows - which had the knock on effect of Mourinho throwing his toys out the pram and going into full self destruct mode.

That only makes sense if he's been given peanuts to spend, he's spent a ridiculous amount and he complains about all of his signings. It was only this summer he seemingly wasn't backed all the way, giving people like you and him an excuse for the shower of shite we see every week.

 

[SilentWitness]

I'd understand mocking his spending if his signings had failed and they weren't winning trophies but you're not able to use that stick to beat him with. I'd say only Danilo and possibly Mendy haven't shown enough for their price-tag but Mendy has been hit by a lot of injuries so i'd be cautious to name that a failure.

All of the players he's signed have worked their way to becoming key players in the squad and even the ones who weren't regulars last season like Bernardo Silva have shown that when they do come into the side they've played very well.

It's the same with Klopp, he's spent a lot but he's made the correct signings with that.

You could have made some of the signings that they both had and you've spent a fair chunk yourselves too but because you're not getting the results it's used to tarnish the coaches that do it well. Transfers are as much a part of a coach/managers ability to construct a team as the actual tactics are and getting players who will fit your philosophy. Yes, it helps to be at a club that can spend that much but if anything, Pep is showing that he is able to utilise and maximise the resources he has available.

 

[cyberman]

I'd understand mocking his spending if his signings had failed and they weren't winning trophies but you're not able to use that stick to beat him with. I'd say only Danilo and possibly Mendy haven't shown enough for their price-tag but Mendy has been hit by a lot of injuries so i'd be cautious to name that a failure.

All of the players he's signed have worked their way to becoming key players in the squad and even the ones who weren't regulars last season like Bernardo Silva have shown that when they do come into the side they've played very well.

It's the same with Klopp, he's spent a lot but he's made the correct signings with that.

You could have made some of the signings that they both had and you've spent a fair chunk yourselves too but because you're not getting the results it's used to tarnish the coaches that do it well. Transfers are as much a part of a coach/managers ability to construct a team as the actual tactics are and getting players who will fit your philosophy. Yes, it helps to be at a club that can spend that much but if anything, Pep is showing that he is able to utilise and maximise the resources he has available.

You can one hundred percent mock obscene spending, they don't have to fail for it to be ridiculous.

 

[Varun]

Not if you consider the full picture. Mourinho not being backed the required amount in transfer windows - which had the knock on effect of Mourinho throwing his toys out the pram and going into full self destruct mode.

Erm, in what universe has a manager got everyone he wants? Even fecking Pep, whose spending this thread is supposed to mock, couldn't get Sanchez. Someone would have told him to burn City down in protest.

 

[matt23]

“He hit me and threw me down the stairs, but I deserved it for not having dinner on the table!”

Lets not forgot that “not being backed” also includes not being able to casually sell two of our biggest talents, biggest outlays, and best performers this season purely because he’d fallen out with them and failed to manage them properly.

No manager in the world gets what they want every summer. Not even Fergie! D’you think Pochettino wanted to buy absolutely no one this summer? Only Jose fecking Mourinho gets to use it as an excuse for his abysmal self sabotaging behaviour. Sure, our manager is deliberately trying to tank our season and force our best players out before he does, all to make some really petty points, but we made him do it!! It’s all or fault really. If only we were better to him!

I genuinely feel like I’m in Insano Land having arguments like this. Never has a manager been so adept at fecking up a job, deliberately, then convincing the very people he’s fecking over that he’s not ultimately responsible for it.

Nail on head.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

“He hit me and threw me down the stairs, but I deserved it for not having dinner on the table!”

Lets not forgot that “not being backed” also includes not being able to casually sell two of our biggest talents, biggest outlays, and best performers this season purely because he’d fallen out with them and failed to manage them properly.

No manager in the world gets what they want every summer. Not even Fergie! D’you think Pochettino wanted to buy absolutely no one this summer? Only Jose fecking Mourinho gets to use it as an excuse for his abysmal self sabotaging behaviour. Sure, our manager is deliberately trying to tank our season and force our best players out before he does, all to make some really petty points, but we made him do it!! It’s all our fault really. If only we were better to him!

I genuinely feel like I’m in Insano Land having arguments like this. Never has a manager been so adept at fecking up a job, deliberately, then convincing the very people he’s fecking over that he’s not ultimately responsible for it.

I think you're getting carried away.

Mourinho needs to go. But the board extended his contract then didn't give him the tools he needed. That is idiocy. Everyone knows what they get with Mourinho.

Don't forget that also means the board still haven't managed to sell Darmian and the rest of the talk about our 2 best players is unsubstantiated paper talk.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

Erm, in what universe has a manager got everyone he wants? Even fecking Pep, whose spending this thread is supposed to mock, couldn't get Sanchez. Someone would have told him to burn City down in protest.

So he got Mahrez instead.

Pep inherited a much higher quality, premiership winning, much more expensive squad. He then spent more money than Mourinho too- so your comparison is null and void.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

That only makes sense if he's been given peanuts to spend, he's spent a ridiculous amount and he complains about all of his signings. It was only this summer he seemingly wasn't backed all the way, giving people like you and him an excuse for the shower of shite we see every week.

If you think me saying that Mourinho is in "full self destruct mode" gives Mourinho an excuse then you are deluded or don't have a good grasp of the language I used.

 

[Varun]

So he got Mahrez instead.

Pep inherited a much higher quality, premiership winning, much more expensive squad. He then spent more money than Mourinho too- so your comparison is null and void.

2/10 deflection.

 

[shamans]

“He hit me and threw me down the stairs, but I deserved it for not having dinner on the table!”

Lets not forgot that “not being backed” also includes not being able to casually sell two of our biggest talents, biggest outlays, and best performers this season purely because he’d fallen out with them and failed to manage them properly.

No manager in the world gets what they want every summer. Not even Fergie! D’you think Pochettino wanted to buy absolutely no one this summer? Only Jose fecking Mourinho gets to use it as an excuse for his abysmal self sabotaging behaviour. Sure, our manager is deliberately trying to tank our season and force our best players out before he does, all to make some really petty points, but we made him do it!! It’s all our fault really. If only we were better to him!

I genuinely feel like I’m in Insano Land having arguments like this. Never has a manager been so adept at fecking up a job, deliberately, then convincing the very people he’s fecking over that he’s not ultimately responsible for it.

Issue is Mourinho is an absolute master at using press conferences and media to manipulate fans and perception about him. He has masterfully turned this on the board and ed Woodward

 

[shamans]

I think you're getting carried away.

Mourinho needs to go. But the board extended his contract then didn't give him the tools he needed. That is idiocy. Everyone knows what they get with Mourinho.

Don't forget that also means the board still haven't managed to sell Darmian and the rest of the talk about our 2 best players is unsubstantiated paper talk.

Like he said no manager get what they want. Also pep has built trust by buying top talent. Most of Mourinhos big signings have simply not worked out. How could you expect the board to trust someone who wasted our money on mikhitaryan Sanchez lukaku and midfielders he doesnt even play like pogba fred or defenders like baily

 

[breakout67]

2/10 deflection.

Wouldn't a discussion of Mourinho's spending be the deflection in this case? Since it's widely considered that Mourinho is underperforming considerably this season?

@Fluctuation0161 even acknowledged that he is self destructing.

 

[Halds]

Pep inherited a much higher quality, premiership winning, much more expensive squad.

He didn't inherit a premiership winning squad more than Mourinho did. And only in hindsight did he inherit a squad of much higher quality. I remember a large majority in here predicted that United would win the PL in 2016/17.

The truth is, that the squads they inherited were comparable, and so is the money they've spent since. The difference is, that players have evolved under Guardiola, and regressed under Mourinho.

 

[Varun]

Wouldn't a discussion of Mourinho's spending be the deflection in this case? Since it's widely considered that Mourinho is underperforming considerably this season?

@Fluctuation0161 even acknowledged that he is self destructing.

See his first post that I replied to for context. He self destructed because he wasn't given what he wanted is downright bizarre because no manager gets every player he wants. It's no excuse to be shit.

 

[breakout67]

See his first post that I replied to for context. He self destructed because he wasn't given what he wanted is downright bizarre because no manager gets every player he wants. It's no excuse to be shit.

I did see his first post. He wasn't providing an excuse. He was simply saying why Mourinho threw a strop. He wasn't saying that Mourinho is justified in having us in a distant 6th place because of it.

Mourinho did this both times at Chelsea and once for us. It has nothing to do with excusing him, its simply a fact that Mourinho goes mental when he feels he is being given the run around and undermined. Avram Grant, Emenalo and now Woodward have all done this and he doesn't take kindly to it. On the other hand Marco Branca was so in tune with Mourinho that he was part of the coaching staff for a while and he didn't throw a strop. If you want to see how bad the relationship was between Mourinho and Emenalo, look at some interviews when he was sacked. Emenalo didn't even address him by name, just called him 'the individual'.

 

[RooneyLegend]

They became important first team players because his poor signings are shipped out quickly instead of him being told to use them.

We've had the likes of Pogba, Fred, Lukaku and Sanchez on the bench. Those are our big signing, show me a City equivalent.

 

[marktan]

He didn't inherit a premiership winning squad more than Mourinho did. And only in hindsight did he inherit a squad of much higher quality. I remember a large majority in here predicted that United would win the PL in 2016/17.

The truth is, that the squads they inherited were comparable, and so is the money they've spent since. The difference is, that players have evolved under Guardiola, and regressed under Mourinho.

That's not remotely true, and only makes sense if go by the notion 'they both spent a lot' without looking at actual figures or looking at recent title wins and the players they had for those wins.

I've done the calculations based off of transfermarket multiple times but Pep's spent something like £150m-£200m more than Mourinho since they both took over as managers.

City's last PL win pre-pep was 2 years before he took over - in 13/14. Since then we've only finished in the top 4 once - LVG's first season, until last season, whereas City have finished top 4 every season since. It is true that Pep is making better use of his squad, and imo in general he's a better manager with a better philosophy, but he is benefiting massively from the fact City already had players like KDB, Aguero, Silva and Sterling already in his squad - meaning he could focus instead on plugging the gaps in his defence with the bulk of his spending - Walker, Ederson, Mendy, Stones, Laporte at £50m each, whereas our defensive spending has been Bailly, Lindelof and Dalot at £30m, £30m, and £20m each - that's £250m vs £80m.

The biggest single benefit that Pep had is that due to the price inflation in the mid 2010s, if he wanted to sign Aguero, Silva, Sterling or KDB, he'd have been looking at £70m-£80m each. Our attack in comparison when Pep/Mou took over was Rooney, Mata, Lingard, Rashford and Martial - aside from Martial I'd struggle to price any of those over £30m at the time. Mourinho started off well with Pogba, Mikhi, Zlatan etc, but he's not really a long-term manager so the wheels have started to come off already, but Pep and Mou in terms of spending and squads aren't equal at all. Though I do accept Mou should be doing a lot better, and frankly imo should be sacked.

 

[AshRK]

I don't get that reasoning. You can say Mourinho wasn't backed only if we were 2nd right now and playing good football?
Was he backed generally? Yes. Was he backed this summer? No.
Could he do more with a group of this players this year? Definitely yes.

This is a very good point which people don't want to understand. Jose was backed last season in the market and we finished 2nd. This summer he was not backed and which is why I felt the board were playing with fire. If you do not trust your manager giving money to invest then just replace him. For sure jose must do better than having us in 6th or 7th but the fact remains we needed to strengthen our defense, not for the sake of Jose but to improve our club.

 

[SilentWitness]

You can one hundred percent mock obscene spending, they don't have to fail for it to be ridiculous.

For what reason? It's bizarre to me.

 

[Josep Dowling]

I think you're getting carried away.

Mourinho needs to go. But the board extended his contract then didn't give him the tools he needed. That is idiocy. Everyone knows what they get with Mourinho.

Don't forget that also means the board still haven't managed to sell Darmian and the rest of the talk about our 2 best players is unsubstantiated paper talk.

Eh, surely benching our best player 3 games in a row, even when results are bad is proof enough they have had a falling out.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

2/10 deflection.

You mean, you don't like the answer so you'll call deflection. Weak.

As much as Mourinho has made many mistakes. Peps spending level when considering the quality of the squad he inherited is still insane.

I guess your only agenda is Mourinho out, and I can agree with that, but you've still got to consider the bigger picture.

 

[Varun]

You mean, you don't like the answer so you'll call deflection. Weak.

As much as Mourinho has made many mistakes. Peps spending level when considering the quality of the squad he inherited is still insane.

I guess your only agenda is Mourinho out, and I can agree with that, but you've still got to consider the bigger picture.

I'm past the stage of caring about the Mourinho in/out discussion. The only reason I quoted you and responded was your attempt at justifying his shittiness by saying he didn't get everyone he wanted. None of his signings bar Ibra can be considered a success and you're baffled and blame the board for not backing him again last summer. It's simply incredible to me.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

Like he said no manager get what they want. Also pep has built trust by buying top talent. Most of Mourinhos big signings have simply not worked out. How could you expect the board to trust someone who wasted our money on mikhitaryan Sanchez lukaku and midfielders he doesnt even play like pogba fred or defenders like baily

Last Summer transfer window Fred was only just signed (so couldn't have played) and Pogba was playing regularly the season prior. Sanchez had only been signed in January and was swapped for Miki.

Your excuse doesn't hold water. Pep signed Nolito and Bravo. The board sold them on and spent more money. That's not building trust. That's a bottomless pit of money. Combined with our board not realising the scale of the rebuild required.

Tired of having to explain the complexities of this to posters with tunnel vision (not only you by the way).

 

[Halds]

That's not remotely true, and only makes sense if go by the notion 'they both spent a lot' without looking at actual figures or looking at recent title wins and the players they had for those wins.

I've done the calculations based off of transfermarket multiple times but Pep's spent something like £150m-£200m more than Mourinho since they both took over as managers.

City's last PL win pre-pep was 2 years before he took over - in 13/14. Since then we've only finished in the top 4 once - LVG's first season, until last season, whereas City have finished top 4 every season since. It is true that Pep is making better use of his squad, and imo in general he's a better manager with a better philosophy, but he is benefiting massively from the fact City already had players like KDB, Aguero, Silva and Sterling already in his squad - meaning he could focus instead on plugging the gaps in his defence with the bulk of his spending - Walker, Ederson, Mendy, Stones, Laporte at £50m each, whereas our defensive spending has been Bailly, Lindelof and Dalot at £30m, £30m, and £20m each - that's £250m vs £80m.

The biggest single benefit that Pep had is that due to the price inflation in the mid 2010s, if he wanted to sign Aguero, Silva, Sterling or KDB, he'd have been looking at £70m-£80m each. Our attack in comparison when Pep/Mou took over was Rooney, Mata, Lingard, Rashford and Martial - aside from Martial I'd struggle to price any of those over £30m at the time. Mourinho started off well with Pogba, Mikhi, Zlatan etc, but he's not really a long-term manager so the wheels have started to come off already, but Pep and Mou in terms of spending and squads aren't equal at all. Though I do accept Mou should be doing a lot better, and frankly imo should be sacked.

City won pl two years, and United three years prior to Guardiola and Mourinho. And the season before Guardiola and Mourinho took over, City and United came 4th and 5th on level points.

I actually checked transfermarkt. Guardiola has spent gross £120m more than Mourinho. But you got Sanchez (and Ibra) on free though. You pay the same amount in wages. I'd say thats comparable, although I acknowledge, that Guardiola has spent more. You could argue, that City has been just as hit by the inflated prices, than you have, hence the money they paid for their defenders.

As for the quality they inherited. Nearly all the players you mention has made great progress under City. Sterling was a laughing stock, and neither de Bruyne or Silva were as good, as they became later. You had/have some great young players. None of them have really progressed compared to their City counterparts. Thats the main difference in their inherited quality imo.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

I'm past the stage of caring about the Mourinho in/out discussion. The only reason I quoted you and responded was your attempt at justifying his shittiness by saying he didn't get everyone he wanted. None of his signings bar Ibra can be considered a success and you're baffled and blame the board for not backing him again last summer. It's simply incredible to me.

An explanation is not a justification. That's what you cannot seem to grasp.

If they chose not to back him then they should have sacked him. Because our squad needs development no matter who the manager.

 

[Varun]

An explanation is not a justification. That's what you cannot seem to grasp.

If they chose not to back him then they should have sacked him. Because our squad needs development no matter who the manager.

Not giving the manager every single player he wants doesn't mean you don't back him or believe in him. If that was grounds for sacking, every manager at every club would be sacked. It's a stupid line of thought. Should Spurs sack Poch because they didn't give him players this summer? Does it mean they don't believe in him? What about City with Sanchez? You sidestepped the case saying they got Mahrez next window but what about that very window? Did it mean they didn't believe in Pep and thus should have sacked him?

The squad needs development, but from the right manager who has a plan. The current one is clueless and should not be given any money to spend on 29yr old average fecks.

 

[Adisa]

For all their money, they've missed out on a number of players.

 

[marktan]

City won pl two years, and United three years prior to Guardiola and Mourinho. And the season before Guardiola and Mourinho took over, City and United came 4th and 5th on level points.

I actually checked transfermarkt. Guardiola has spent gross £120m more than Mourinho. But you got Sanchez (and Ibra) on free though. You pay the same amount in wages. I'd say thats comparable, although I acknowledge, that Guardiola has spent more. You could argue, that City has been just as hit by the inflated prices, than you have, hence the money they paid for their defenders.

As for the quality they inherited. Nearly all the players you mention has made great progress under City. Sterling was a laughing stock, and neither de Bruyne or Silva were as good, as they became later. You had/have some great young players. None of them have really progressed compared to their City counterparts. Thats the main difference in their inherited quality imo.

We won the title 3 years prior to Guardiola, but with a vastly different squad. Van Gaal sold half our 12/13 squad and replaced them with inferior players. Players like Rafael, Nani, Evans, Welbeck, RVP were all superior to the likes of Darmian, Bastian, Schniederlin and Depay that Van Gaal signed. City in comparison kept most of their 13/14 squad in tact, so it is a big difference in terms of the squads they inherited. If you compare the starting 11's that Mourinho and Pep could field before any signings they made, it's night and day.

Aguero and Silva were already on a high level previous to Pep. I'd argue similar for KDB and Sterling, both showed a lot at Liverpool and Wolfsburg, but they have been more productive since Pep came in, I think partially due to the way Pep plays and a stronger defensive behind them. Of course Pep deserves credit for that. I'm not particularly surprised that few of our attackers have progressed - Rashford and Martial are probably our two best attackers and both are young and imo not as technical the way a Sterling, Sancho or Mane are. I think they're at the level they'll be at, Rashford might be able to progress more as he's young but him and Martial have huge flaws to their game. Lingard and Mata I wouldn't really expect progress from given how limited they are.

I do admit though, Pep's signings of backup attacking players have been better than our attackers that were meant to go into the first team. Sane / B.Silva / Mahrez all would be an upgrade to our first team attack, but Jose seems content with playing not very much up front for us. So I'd say it's a mix of both Pep having better attacking players to begin with, and making better attacking signings, combined with the way he plays.

 

[Josep Dowling]

He didn't inherit a premiership winning squad more than Mourinho did. And only in hindsight did he inherit a squad of much higher quality. I remember a large majority in here predicted that United would win the PL in 2016/17.

The truth is, that the squads they inherited were comparable, and so is the money they've spent since. The difference is, that players have evolved under Guardiola, and regressed under Mourinho.

Yes he did inherit a better squad, the team had a bad few months once it was announced Pep was taking over from Pelligrini.

He inherited Aguero, KDB, Silva, Sterling and Fernandinho. If fit all 5 of these players start for City as their best players.

He was also lucky to the degree that he needed to strengthen in areas that are ‘cheaper’ in the market to buy. United needed a striker 2 years ago. The only options on the market was Lukaku and Morata. Both cost a fortune, as strikers do, and both have been terrible signings.

The likes of KDB and Aguero would cost well over £100m. He was able to buy defenders and still managed to spend over £50m on each individual player

He’s a good manager but every job he has had he’s always had the best resources in the league. His first season at City proved if he doesn’t have all the players in place he’s not the God so many like the perceive him to be.

 

[b20times]

For about the 100th time already said, Pep would have utd flying if he was in charge. Jose has the handbrake on against bigger teams.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

I think you're getting carried away.

Mourinho needs to go. But the board extended his contract then didn't give him the tools he needed. That is idiocy. Everyone knows what they get with Mourinho.

Don't forget that also means the board still haven't managed to sell Darmian and the rest of the talk about our 2 best players is unsubstantiated paper talk.

Well said. This is basically the crux of it.

The narrative of the board OR Mourinho is very binary and ends up favouring either Woodward or Mourinho - the truth is, they both MUST GO from their current positions.

Mourinho has failed and so has the Glazer regime over for 5 years now.

Anyone who truly wants the best for Man Utd needs to understand that both must go.

 

[shamans]

Last Summer transfer window Fred was only just signed (so couldn't have played) and Pogba was playing regularly the season prior. Sanchez had only been signed in January and was swapped for Miki.

Your excuse doesn't hold water. Pep signed Nolito and Bravo. The board sold them on and spent more money. That's not building trust. That's a bottomless pit of money. Combined with our board not realising the scale of the rebuild required.

Tired of having to explain the complexities of this to posters with tunnel vision (not only you by the way).

Or could it be all of us are onto something and you just have a skewed view as you've been manipulated by Mourinhos press conferences? Nah we're all wrong..

 

[fellaini's barber]

Last Summer transfer window Fred was only just signed (so couldn't have played) and Pogba was playing regularly the season prior. Sanchez had only been signed in January and was swapped for Miki.

Your excuse doesn't hold water. Pep signed Nolito and Bravo. The board sold them on and spent more money. That's not building trust. That's a bottomless pit of money. Combined with our board not realising the scale of the rebuild required.

Tired of having to explain the complexities of this to posters with tunnel vision (not only you by the way).

Bravo is their second keeper. He and Nolito cost 30m. Jose has already replaced the $30m Mikhi with a more expensive dud. All Peps other 11 signings are successes, none of Jose's 11 signings can be labeled a success apart from Ibra. Tunnel vision indeed

 

[JDoe]

I think most players Pep signed have either met their expectations or in some cases exceeded them. A reasonable way to look at this is by taking their then transfer cost, adjusting the inflation and looking and their current value. For instance:
- KdB was bought for 75m Euros, which would have been something like 120m currently. He is probably worth 150-180m now, so he is exceeding expectations.
- Sané was 50m back then which is like 80m now, he's worth somewhere between 120-150m now I guess.
- Players that were bought by Pep that haven't risen or dropped too much in value, therefore meeting expectations, are Laporte, Mendy, Ederson, Mahrez, Walker, Bernardo Silva, Jesus, Gündogan. Stones was bought for a little bit overpriced at 55m which should be somewhere like 85m currently, which he probably isn't worth it, but he hasn't lost too much value.
- The duds were mainly Nolito and Bravo, which still makes his transfer record quite reasonable or above average overall.

Now compared to Mou, I don't think that there have been any players that were exceeding expectations. I think Ibra and Matic have been decent transfers that met their expectations (short time fixes), the rest have pretty much all regressed and lost on value. Pogba is the only player that would sell for more than he was bought for, but considering 100m Euros back then is like 150-180m approximately, I don't think that he was a true success either.

 

[Sassy Colin]

I think most players Pep signed have either met their expectations or in some cases exceeded them. A reasonable way to look at this is by taking their then transfer cost, adjusting the inflation and looking and their current value. For instance:
- KdB was bought for 75m Euros, which would have been something like 120m currently. He is probably worth 150-180m now, so he is exceeding expectations.
- Sané was 50m back then which is like 80m now, he's worth somewhere between 120-150m now I guess.
- Players that were bought by Pep that haven't risen or dropped too much in value, therefore meeting expectations, are Laporte, Mendy, Ederson, Mahrez, Walker, Bernardo Silva, Jesus, Gündogan. Stones was bought for a little bit overpriced at 55m which should be somewhere like 85m currently, which he probably isn't worth it, but he hasn't lost too much value.
- The duds were mainly Nolito and Bravo, which still makes his transfer record quite reasonable or above average overall.

Now compared to Mou, I don't think that there have been any players that were exceeding expectations. I think Ibra and Matic have been decent transfers that met their expectations (short time fixes), the rest have pretty much all regressed and lost on value. Pogba is the only player that would sell for more than he was bought for, but considering 100m Euros back then is like 150-180m approximately, I don't think that he was a true success either.

How the hell do you work out your exchange rates?

 

[JDoe]

How the hell do you work out your exchange rates?

Pulled them out of my arse tbh. I just though that Pogba would've gone for prices not too far off Mbappé, and compared KdB/Sané to that of some big transfers like Dembélé out of the BL that were on the same level.

But seriously, there is a something called Transfer Index, whose prices aren't to far off my estimations (converted to Euros)
https://www.totallymoney.com/content/transfer-index/data/

Kdb: 136m Euros
Sané: 69m Euros
Pogba: 136m Euros

 

[roonster09]

Pulled them out of my arse tbh. I just though that Pogba would've gone for prices not too far off Mbappé, and compared KdB/Sané to that of some big transfers like Dembélé out of the BL that were on the same level.

But seriously, there is a something called Transfer Index, whose prices aren't to far off my estimations (converted to Euros)
https://www.totallymoney.com/content/transfer-index/data/

Kdb: 136m Euros
Sané: 69m Euros
Pogba: 136m Euros

So VVD cost 69 million in 2018 Jan but now he is worth 61 million?