Why do we find it so hard to sell fringe players?

[Stacks]

Guehi had only played in the Championship but he had been fairly impressive in the Championship. Manchester United would never, in the same circumstances, put a player on the market. Would always be a position of ‘he is not going on loan and will be involved with us next season’. Guehi wasn’t in a position that dissimilar to Axel after a season in the Championship, only our own position was very different to Chelsea’s. Since refusing to sell to Villa for £20m+, we have seen little to no value from our decision to keep Axel with us.

Pasalic who they sold to Atalanta has been there for a few years on loan and done well so that move makes sense. I think they probably get a little more credit than they deserve for generating money in the market. I give them credit for the youth players, but people seem to be conveniently forgetting that they paid for the others in the first place. They haven’t just banked £18m profit, these players cost them money. Batshuayi cost £35m. He’s been a bad investment for them regardless of if they get £22m for him. Pasalic cost them money. Bakayoko cost money. So if you look at it from another perspective, they have wasted a lot of money in the market too.

kinda true but somehow they received £900mill from the 280 odd sales and managed to offset their spend to a large degree since 2013. They must be pretty good at getting rid but not as great like Athletico

#	club	Expenditure	Arrivals	Income	Departures	Balance
1	Manchester City	£1.34bn	207	£418.51m	202	£-919.25m
2	FC Barcelona	£1.24bn	127	£790.16m	122	£-453.53m
3	Chelsea FC	£1.24bn	288	£896.76m	284	£-339.71m
4	Manchester United	£1.20bn	133	£335.39m	134	£-868.96m
5	Juventus FC	£1.14bn	436	£844.25m	429	£-293.47m
6	Paris Saint-Germain	£1.02bn	142	£395.19m	128	£-625.86m
7	Atlético de Madrid	£936.58m	178	£821.34m	168	£-115.24m
8	Real Madrid	£878.09m	118	£776.66m	111	£-101.43m
9	Arsenal FC	£839.85m	140	£288.81m	143	£-551.04m
10	AS Monaco	£816.71m	262	£856.26m	257	£39.54m
11	Liverpool FC	£814.55m	160	£564.14m	158	£-250.41m
12	Inter Milan	£811.97m	463	£611.91m	458	£-200.06m

 

[Stacks]

Martial's Agent: "Look Ed, Tony has had an excellent season - he's scored 20 odd goals and a decent number of assists. There is interest from Spurs and from abroad so we really think he has to be looking around the one hundred thousand pounds per w...

Woodward (interrupting): "I'm not going to be strong armed here. We like the lad, hell Joel has his poster up on the wall by his bunk beds - but you need to be realistic in terms of what his real value is after one good season. We're prepared to offer 5 years at two hundred thousand pounds per week and not a penny more."

Agent: "er.... ok then. We can certainly work with that. What's the situation with his loyalty bonus?"

Woodward: "Jesus Christ you lads drive a hard bargain. Look, we'll stretch to £250k and a £10m loyalty bonus if you'll shake hands on it now"

Agent: "Done."

sounds about right

 

[TheRedHearted]

By definition fringe players are hard to sell.

So normal thing to do is let their contract run out and they go on a free.
But we renew them thinking we can sell them, then never sell them cause the wages are too high. And that renewal contract can go to the next stars of European football.


Just doesn’t make any sense. I understand there is a rumori that the larger wage bill is better for expenses and the books in terms of showing a loss but clearly the wages should constantly be spent on new players who could break into the first team. If they don’t work out, sell while potential somewhat high or loan out to deduct wages till their contract runs out. Then take a punt on a new younger cheaper talent.

Right?
Shouldn’t it be simple

 

[UpWithRivers]

I think another factor is the United boys club. The players are family and no matter what happens we look after them. Especially if the have been there for years. Players like Jones, Lingard, Mata, Matic who have been there for years wont be forced out no matter what. If they want to stay, they can stay and they will be given improved contracts.

If they want out like Pogba they will be molly coddled and asked if they can stay one more year and we will turn a blind eye to minor strops. The kind of actions Levy took with Kane will never happen. And if a manager goes against a player like Mourinho did with Pogba they will be the ones that loose. There are players that force there way out like Lukaku and Sanchez. But that was their choice. If they wanted to stay they could have.

I guess this is good and bad way to run things. Better for club harmony in the dressing room etc but when it comes to selling its a tough going because from a lot of players perspective why leave for less wages at a shitter club? And worse facilities if you are injured. Plus it seems everyone will get some game time. No one ever is dropped to the reserves. If you bide your time the next manager might even like you. Plus wait a few years and a new contract is almost guaranteed.

 

[ThierryHenry14]

Martial is on £250k a week. I reckon he'd be tougher to shift than you think.

Lukaku is on £325k and Kane is on £250k on the other hand. It is very difficult to sell Martial given his output and salary he is on. No one in EPL can afford him. Not even City and Chelsea with his output.

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/chelsea-fc/payroll/
https://www.spotrac.com/epl/manchester-united-fc/payroll/
https://www.spotrac.com/epl/tottenham-hotspur-fc/payroll/

 

[eire-red]

I get feel of a very Investment Banker type of situation going on when it comes to the ludicrous wages we pay our players, which would make sense with Woodward at the helm.

This kind of attitude that we're the greatest club, hence we should pay the best to attract top talent has been a theme since Gill and Fergie left. It was never that way before. We bought the best young talent and they earned their wages, now we pay top dollar to deter our best players from leaving (who still aren't good enough).

I feel like this has changed in the past year or two, but it will take a while to correct some poor management at executive level unfortunately.

 

[croadyman]

I think another factor is the United boys club. The players are family and no matter what happens we look after them. Especially if the have been there for years. Players like Jones, Lingard, Mata, Matic who have been there for years wont be forced out no matter what. If they want to stay, they can stay and they will be given improved contracts.

If they want out like Pogba they will be molly coddled and asked if they can stay one more year and we will turn a blind eye to minor strops. The kind of actions Levy took with Kane will never happen. And if a manager goes against a player like Mourinho did with Pogba they will be the ones that loose. There are players that force there way out like Lukaku and Sanchez. But that was their choice. If they wanted to stay they could have.

I guess this is good and bad way to run things. Better for club harmony in the dressing room etc but when it comes to selling its a tough going because from a lot of players perspective why leave for less wages at a shitter club? And worse facilities if you are injured. Plus it seems everyone will get some game time. No one ever is dropped to the reserves. If you bide your time the next manager might even like you. Plus wait a few years and a new contract is almost guaranteed.

You have summed up how badly we deal with contracts absolutely perfectly