I'm glad we aren't signing Cleverley. He's not a terrible player, but what got us in to this mess was paying very average British players massive wages. Look at Gil, he's probably on £20k ish, Vlaar £25-30k, Benteke was on beans when he came. There's so much value for money in Europe that even negating a transfer fee for Cleverley all in you're talking something approaching £20m over 5 years for him. He'll do Ok for Everton, they're a better side than we are and he won't be so exposed but we've been down the road of paying over the odds and we can't be doing it again any time soon.
We need to spend at least £20m this summer but wisely. With Bent going, Weimann, Cleverley and others you are probably talking of knocking £10m quid a year off the wage bill, I know it's been said every summer for years but this really is a crucial one. There's an opportunity to get the wage bill more reflective of the team we've got. If Tim spends even half wisely we will do better next year and will be on the up.
