Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo (AKA Monchi)

[Smithy]

I still think the fact that he's been here three years, has turned us from relegation candidates to regular European contenders, including a Champions League campaign, and has done all that on a transfer net-spend of effectively zero, is frankly incredible.

If any of the clubs famed for their ability to unearth gems and use the transfer market well had done that, the press would be raving about it.  If Brighton had done it, they'd be writing a Moneyball-style movie about it.

Imagine if he'd actually been allowed to spend the money our owners would have liked to spend...

[eamonn]

The caveat is that our wage bill has been/is high and four months of Rashford and Asensio helped drag us up the table.

[paul_e]

True but they weren't signed to fill gaps in the squad but rather because Bailey's form had fallen off a cliff and Buendia couldn't get fit so we decided to add a couple of extra players with the money we got in from Duran.