Agreed, also because I think Rice is such an average player which makes the reported fee so bonkers and is basically the same issue we have had with signings like Maguire, AWB etc. where you are paying extra because they are English. Not saying he's a bad player but he's nowhere near the elite level.
When Ole came in, I remember there were a few quotes about a change in transfer direction and strategy and the focus on younger players with good attitudes (Cavani, Ronaldo, Varane, Maguire, Bruno beg to differ) but that is what we need to do. We keep trying to shortcut our way to trophies by throwing money at a problem but what we need to do is accept we aren't going to win anything this season, next season we'll likely still be outsiders but the focus should be on getting 18-24 years old in who graft, don't have fitness problems and we believe we can turn into top level players. Then when we have that sorted we can think about 2-3 huge signings which take us to winning PL's and CLs.
Think of signings like Tielemans at Monaco, Wijnadum at Newcastle, Robertson at Hull, Mane at Southampton etc.
Agreed, I mean we went from buying young to short term fills, to begging a 34 yr old to stay to signing a 36 yr old who was not in the plans.
Just shows how well we are run I guess.
Tielemans was £40m, we did have the chance to sign him but at that time we were looking at £50m Longstaff.
AWB played one season and we took the easy option rather than scouting a RB, same as CB.
We never scout someone when the price is too high, look at Sancho, price was high, we spend £40m on 2 RW's who are nowhere to be seen.
We spent deadline day trying to convince Dembele... I mean the shambles we are in is a joke.
Then come this season, yep get Sancho, get Varane and ignore the midfield and sign someone who will impact the whole team and change the way we want to play.
Whatever anyone says about Ole, good or bad, he wanted to play a certain pressing style, well then Ronaldo is not that. He wanted to put Greenwood up top, which is what happened at the start of the season, well Ronaldo Fecked that up.
We keep signing players then try fit them in, rather than identifying a weakness, signing a player to fit that role.
Look at City, Liverpool, they know where their weaknesses are, they target those. They can't get it so doesn't mean they pay whatever it takes, they go for a different option.