Griezmann would cost almost 60m. No big club will be signing Fekir after his ACL and if he comes back to play at the same level and improve you'll be looking for much higher than £25m for him too.
Good. Rather sign a world class level player, the third highest scorer in La Liga behind Ronaldo and Messi last season, than a player who wouldn't even feature in the Premier League Top 25 for half the amount. If the club wants to spend the TV money, then sign the best talents, or players in the world to justify the expenditure. As for Fekir, I'm sorry, wasn't aware that you can predict the future and categorically state that Nabil Fekir won't be signed by a big club before he reaches his previous level.
Manchester United for one signed Ruud van Nistelrooy after he busted his cruciate ligament at PSV Eindhoven, and he wasn't close to his previous level after rehabilitation. United took a calculated gamble and it paid off handsomely. Also, while Fekir might cost slightly more than £25 million, let's not split hairs over semantics, it's better to target one of the biggest talents in European football, even if he costs slightly more than Mane.
Isco was signed before the Premier league clubs had the new TV money and he's never winning a Ballon D'or. Clubs who invested massively in the past 4/5 years picked up world class players for a 1/3rd of what they'd cost today. Look at the current City team, they signed Silva/Yaya/Aguero/Kompany for around 90m, they'd be lucky to get those 3 for less than 150 in today's market. Look at what they paid for Mangala/Sterling/Otamendi/De Bruyne, that's almost 200m.
Too big a deal in being made out of the Premier League money. Clubs don't have to pay over the odds if they don't want to. It's not like Isco's transfer fee to Real would've doubled just because the Premier League clubs were flush with cash. And again with the grand sweeping declarations, and misappropriation of what I said. They key word was Ballon D'Or level talent, not necessarily eventual winner. Isco is at the forefront of his generation of players, which is what that implied. Frank Ribery, Arjen Robben, Andres Iniesta were/ are Ballon D'Or level players. Did they win it? Not necessarily. But they are in the upper echelon of the sport.
And I'd rather not look to emulate the City model to be honest. Borussia Dortmund achieved more than City through the period, reached the Champion's League final, and their total squad cost £0 million net since Jurgen Klopp took over. Atletico Madrid won the Liga ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid, reached the Champions League final or a budget than was fractional compared to City. That's the kind of smart business we should be looking to replicate, not City's bloated one that leaves their squad top heavy in terms of age, apart from achieving nada in Europe.
Just because you don't care about TV money doesn't mean you can ignore the influence it has on the transfer market. The majority of premier league teams are in a position were they simply don't have to sell their best players and that's being reflected in the prices we're seeing. When Moyes was manager of Everton Kenwright said he would do his best to get him £5m during the summer and had to sell Pienaar for 3m, now they have a £30m striker and can turn down £37m for Stones. Robben/Ribery/Gotze all bought before the influence of TV money, let's see how much Bayern have to pay when replacing them, I bet it won't be 25m.
You don't have to pay over the odds if you don't want to, it's rather simple. No one is compelling Manchester United to pay double the player's actual value. No one forced Liverpool to unwisely cough up £25 million for Adam Lallana, that in a window where Atletico bought Antoine Griezmann for £24 million, and Dortmund bought Henrikh Mkhitaryan for £24 million. No one forced them to buy Dejan Lovren for £20 million, when Mehdi Benatia moved to Bayern for the same amount of money, and Jose Gimenez, one of the best defensive prospects around signed for Atletico for 1/20th the fee one season earlier. In the same window they signed Mario Balotelli for £16 million, while Juventus signed Alvaro Morata for £14 million. Smart clubs that pay great attention to detail, and invest in their scouting system, and don't get manipulated into paying over the odds will still extract good value, irrespective of the TV deal.
Grzegorz Krychowiak for £4 million, Jan Oblak for £12 million, the market in flush with incredible value. If mid-table Premier League clubs aren't willing to let their players go on a reasonable fee, and want us to pay through the nose, let them be, focus on the La Liga, Seria A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1. There's plenty of affordable talent in those leagues. The intelligent clubs will always find a way to obtain talent on the cheap, and inflate their value. And the TV deal won't stop that.
For every good deal you can name a number of failures. Dortmund bought Immobile for almost 20m and he's been such a failure they've sent him out on loan after 1 season. Recruitment is one of the toughest jobs in football otherwise everyone would just be picking up £5m gems. As for Shaw I think it's unanimous we paid a high price for him especially when you take into account his reported wages. With Hazard the only reason he went for 30m was because he had a buyout clause and again it was before the massive influx of TV money. If Hazard was available without a clause this summer you'd be looking at De Bruyne/Di Maria or higher transfer fee's.
Not sure how you could watch that performance today and not think that Mane would improve our starting X1. He'd walk in ahead of Mata/Rooney.
We should aim to emulate the cases of success, not the failure. There will be some mis-steps along the way, not doubt. But that is why signing an above average mid table player for £25 million would make little sense in principle. Also, the fee for Shaw while a bit over the odds, wasn't unjustifiable given the tantalizing potential he offers (could go on to be one of the best left backs in Europe). Again, the influx will be synchronous with how well planned the transfers are. Some will pay over the odds again and again, and continue to waste the money. Others will be more judicious and target the best players around, along with and brightest talents, which is what we should ideally be doing. One undoubtedly world class player each summer, supplemented with a couple of top notch talents for the long term.
Our aim shouldn't be limited to improving over an under performing Rooney. Right now, there are probably dozens of players who would be an upgrade over him, but what's the long term aim? Benteke was an upgrade over what Liverpool had in the micro perspective, but what's the end game? Slight improvement at the cost of later flushing those players out? Nope. It should be to have top notch players that can help challenge for the Champions League, big game difference makers, or players who offer the potential to do so, that's what the club should be aiming for.
