Summer 2010 Transfer Thread: B*llsh*t, Rumours & Wishes

[Concrete John]

This transfer will be a dead cert i'm afriad, i'm now more worried as to who MON will buy with the proceeds.

we'll probably buy Heskey off ourselves for £20m

And then argue on here as to whether he was a good signing or not as he played shit but we made a profit on him!

[brumrah]

What about going for Joe Cole?
He's out of contract soon and so we could prob get him on a free.
Chuck some decent wages at him as well...

Plus Stevie G thinks he's as good as Messi in training :))

[pauliewalnuts]

Oh Fletch, you are a sad sack lately.

I agree, he's let the misrablists grind him down.  

Talk of sorrow at Milner leaving for an extortionate fee is nothing to be sorry about.  We've lost better than him over the years in Yorke, Platt and even Barry when you compare the length of his stay with us.

We'd be losing a very good player but not someone who is not replaceable and for the fee we should be well able to build a stronger overall squad.

But you make building a team very difficult when you sell your best players.

If we sold Milner this summer, we'd have sold our best midfielder to Manchester City (a direct competitor) two years running.

[Chris Smith]

Speaking of Bentley, has anyone seen the rumours of the swap deal between him and Ashley Young?

After seeing the quality of Ashley Young's crossing this (last?) season, I'd be tempted.

Is there an emoticon for the world is slowly losing its marbles?

[Concrete John]

But you make building a team very difficult when you sell your best players.

This is unfortuantely true!

Would we be a better team if we sold Milner for £20m + Stephen Ireland and then spent the money on a top striker?  Quite possibly, but not as much as if we just bought Ireland and a top striker and kept Milner.

It may be a case of one step back and two forward, which means we would improve slower than we'd want!

[Greg N'Ash]

downside to that is every manager in the country will use that figure when we look for his replacement. i'm sure 'Arry will be quoting 15m for Bentley

Not if he wants to sell him. There's the difference.

depends who's more desperate. if we get to August with only Petrov and NRC fit in CM he may have to bite the bullet.

But Bentley isnt a CM is he?

whatever CM you want to choose the same applies. when ferguson sold ronaldo he didn't replace him because he knew he'd have got screwed by any manager worth his salt. difference is he had quality to cope to an extent. we've got.........

[hilts_coolerking]

But you make building a team very difficult when you sell your best players.

This is unfortuantely true!

Would we be a better team if we sold Milner for £20m + Stephen Ireland and then spent the money on a top striker?  Quite possibly, but not as much as if we just bought Ireland and a top striker and kept Milner.

It may be a case of one step back and two forward, which means we would improve slower than we'd want!

It's not just about improving slowly though.  In this particular instance, we would be selling arguably our best player to one of our closest rivals.  

Losing Milner is one thing but losing him to a direct competitor is something else altogether.  

I agree there are ways we can make the deal work for us but not only do we have to ensure Milner is replaced but we also have to make sure we come out of the deal with a greater advantage than City do, otherwise all we've done is ensure they've improved at our expense.

[Mazrim]

downside to that is every manager in the country will use that figure when we look for his replacement. i'm sure 'Arry will be quoting 15m for Bentley

Not if he wants to sell him. There's the difference.

depends who's more desperate. if we get to August with only Petrov and NRC fit in CM he may have to bite the bullet.

But Bentley isnt a CM is he?

whatever CM you want to choose the same applies. when ferguson sold ronaldo he didn't replace him because he knew he'd have got screwed by any manager worth his salt. difference is he had quality to cope to an extent. we've got.........

He did replace him, he bought Valencia. Not as good but then who is?

If you're saying we shouldn't sell Milner and then go trying to get a bargain, I agree. Because we wont in all likelihood. That said, I dont think we should Milner at all.

[Concrete John]

I agree there are ways we can make the deal work for us but not only do we have to ensure Milner is replaced but we also have to make sure we come out of the deal with a greater advantage than City do, otherwise all we've done is ensure they've improved at our expense.

That's probably quite hard for us, as all we can do is get as much money as possible, but it's not as if we can exhaust their transfer budget!  Taking players is one way, but then they have enough cash to go out and replace them.  The best we can hope for is a deal where by what we get (players and cash) improves us more than Milner improves them.  And even then it's a vague victory at best as they'll just go and buy more players to make up the difference!

[Greg N'Ash]

downside to that is every manager in the country will use that figure when we look for his replacement. i'm sure 'Arry will be quoting 15m for Bentley

Not if he wants to sell him. There's the difference.

depends who's more desperate. if we get to August with only Petrov and NRC fit in CM he may have to bite the bullet.

But Bentley isnt a CM is he?

whatever CM you want to choose the same applies. when ferguson sold ronaldo he didn't replace him because he knew he'd have got screwed by any manager worth his salt. difference is he had quality to cope to an extent. we've got.........

He did replace him, he bought Valencia. Not as good but then who is?

If you're saying we shouldn't sell Milner and then go trying to get a bargain, I agree. Because we wont in all likelihood. That said, I dont think we should Milner at all.

no arguement there maz

[Brend'Watkins]

Oh Fletch, you are a sad sack lately.

I agree, he's let the misrablists grind him down.  

Talk of sorrow at Milner leaving for an extortionate fee is nothing to be sorry about.  We've lost better than him over the years in Yorke, Platt and even Barry when you compare the length of his stay with us.

We'd be losing a very good player but not someone who is not replaceable and for the fee we should be well able to build a stronger overall squad.

But you make building a team very difficult when you sell your best players.

If we sold Milner this summer, we'd have sold our best midfielder to Manchester City (a direct competitor) two years running.

I agree, selling your best players isn't ideal but if we get double what he's really worth it isn't that much of an issue.

[Greg N'Ash]

Oh Fletch, you are a sad sack lately.

I agree, he's let the misrablists grind him down.  

Talk of sorrow at Milner leaving for an extortionate fee is nothing to be sorry about.  We've lost better than him over the years in Yorke, Platt and even Barry when you compare the length of his stay with us.

We'd be losing a very good player but not someone who is not replaceable and for the fee we should be well able to build a stronger overall squad.

But you make building a team very difficult when you sell your best players.

If we sold Milner this summer, we'd have sold our best midfielder to Manchester City (a direct competitor) two years running.

I agree, selling your best players isn't ideal but if we get double what he's really worth it isn't that much of an issue.

go on then i''ll bite. who do you want us to buy to replace him and what will he cost ? i'm guessing the fee you've figured into the equation will be vastly less than what they'll expect us to pay.

[SoccerHQ]

Must be honest I'd accept 20m + Ireland + Onouha.

Onouha would nicely complete the defence, Ireland would add much need creativity to the middle and we'd still have 20m to play with plus whatever else we make from other sales so probably in total 35m to sign a top quality striker and another central midfielder.

Life will go on.

[Dave]

Must be honest I'd accept 20m + Ireland + Onouha.

Onouha would nicely complete the defence, Ireland would add much need creativity to the middle and we'd still have 20m to play with plus whatever else we make from other sales so probably in total 35m to sign a top quality striker and another central midfielder.

Life will go on.

Yeah, I'd be able to cope with the above deal.

Genuine question - how often do player + cash swap deals really happen? They are always suggested but I can only think of Etoo/Ibrahimovic in recent times. I think they are more of a fan thing than a real life thing.

[Concrete John]

Genuine question - how often do player + cash swap deals really happen? They are always suggested but I can only think of Etoo/Ibrahimovic in recent times. I think they are more of a fan thing than a real life thing.

Very true.  The report is an offer of £20m straight cash.  Liverpool tried it with Barry and were rightly told to stick it up their shellsuits.

I'd prefer a swap as I think they have a few players that we should/could go for, but then if I got what I wanted Milner wouldn't be going anywhere!!