Alessandro Bastoni

[he is you know!]

13 million less than Ndombele. I say pay the money and leave a nice tip....

£9m more, but let's leave it there.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Ndombele was £64M???

I thought it was up to 63m

Either way everyone on here was saying “just pay the FUCKING money Levy”

 

[Mooger Fooger]

This is where we will start to see if things really are going to change. Are we going to get our business done quickly and efficiently to ensure that our manager gets the target that he wants and is in place for pre-season?

Or are we going to scrimp over a few million, miss out and then chase other targets all summer then sign someone who isn't quite as good and comes in too late to get a full pre-season?

Interesting to watch what happens over the next few weeks.

 

[cookiemonster]

I thought it was up to 63m

Either way everyone on here was saying “just pay the FUCKING money Levy”

Not me

 

[Guernman]

Ndombele was £64M???

my bad, apparently it was up to £63 million

 

[GMI]

What are we waiting for? ?

That's the same amount that Arsenal spent on Ben White...

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Inter forum makes for interesting reading.

The general consensus is "he's a really key player and we shouldn't sell...but our owners are fucking idiots so of course we will sell".

A few of them seem convinced he's untouchable and/or shouldn't be sold for less than like 80-100m, whereas some of them are completely resigned to the fact he's going and are expecting around 60m because of the owners.

- If the club sells him for anything less than 80M, I`ll take a break until new ownership takes over.

- Of course it's going to be less than 80m, not even fucking close to that.

- No matter what out finance situation is, 60mil€ of Bastoni would be simply unacceptable and a valid reason for the ultras to go apeshit against Suning.

- Skriniar, Barella, Bastoni are the red lines for me. I'd accept Lautaro over them, De Vrij + Dumfries, etc.

- Skriniar-Bastoni-Barella-Brozovic-Lautaro. This 5 are our core. Can't sell any of them.

-not in Suning eyes. Suning company see them as money machine. What can we do about that?

etc.

This is because its an incredibly dumb move from them, the fans are right. Essentially what is going on at Inter...

Inter are completely strapped, as I mentioned before in the scouting thread and as has been reported by jurno's, they supposedly need to end the summer window 60 mil in the green. All year they were planning to sell Lautaro, especially as he had a really difficult start to the season. I can't remember the exact numbers but im fairly sure he went a good 6/7 games without a goal and he was very clearly struggling to settle alongside Dzeko even when he did score. The general consensus was, sell Lautaro and De Vrij and replace them with Scamacca and Bremer, they have been talking to both players since December about a move as even then they knew they would have to come out in the green this summer. So what changed... Lautaro ended the season in incredible style, he was unplayable at times and scoring for fun, he really did go up a level. So the Inter board have come to the conclusion that selling him would be taken incredibly badly by the fans especially after selling Lukaku last summer and a hard act to replace. Barella has always been the number one untouchable, he's probably the best Italian player at the moment and I honestly believe if a club offered 100 mil they would still turn it down, not only is he that good he is that important to them. So, who's left? Its not a far jump to come to the conclusion that considering they had been chatting to Bremer to come and replace De Vrij that instead he could take up Bastoni's roll, after all they are both front foot defenders and they would still come up 20/30 mil in the green. Also the very versatile Demarco has filled in reasonably successfully for Bastoni on occasion so why not?

This to me is were the logic falls apart. Bastoni is SO much more then just a defender, he is practically a playmaker and integral, much like Barella and Brozavic, to their attacking play. He may not get the numbers like Barella, but he is still such a major part of what makes them tick. Bremer, as good as he is, is not on the same level going forward. If you watched a handful of Inter games without seeing the pre game line up and knowing nothing about him, you would be forgiven for thinking he was a left sided CM and a good one at that. Not only that, his contract is small especially in comparison to some of the other players and their contract situation is a BIG problem for Inter atm. They can't even tie up Dybala until they get rid of Vidal and Alexis and even then its not a certain. If it was me, i would 100% get rid of Lautaro before getting rid of Bastoni. Thats not because i don't think Lautaro is good, on the contrary I would love him here if it was an option, but considering his age, potential, contract and most importantly importance to the tactics it makes keeping Bastoni a no brainer especially as Scamacca would be a very solid attacking addition and another who wouldn't command a large fee or wages.

So yes, Inter fans who aren't blinded by exciting forwards and actually understand the nuances of their tactics are very rightly irate about the prospect of selling Bastoni.

 

[spids]

my bad, apparently it was up to £63 million

Still ... I wish you'd not told me. Holy cow.

 

[Basil Brush]

I kind of agree we should just pay whatever Inter want for him, if Conte wants him desperately.

We just need to make sure he agrees terms with us first.

That Willian episode still scares me with Chelsea sniffing around.

 

[Johnny J]

Is it me or does that sound entirely reasonable?

 

[Basil Brush]

Is it me or does that sound entirely reasonable?

It is relatively cheap imo

 

[josedominguezspurslegend]

That was season before I think when they scored against us in like the 96th minute.

although he did get turned inside by Trossard when Brighton did us a couple of months ago. Not a direct error but was definitely poor defending

Pretty sure he gave away a pen v pogba during lockdown, does that not count? Maybe it means from open play only ?‍

 

[THOWIG]

Is it me or does that sound entirely reasonable?

Definitely. He’ll fetch over 100 mil in a few seasons.

 

[MikeLondon]

Is it me or does that sound entirely reasonable?

At that price, I think we should buy two.

 

[Raitei]

Would Inter require a huge upfront payment for him to help them balance their books? I can imagine that being a point of negotiation if so, even if the overall price isn't so contested.

 

[barry]

Would Inter require a huge upfront payment for him to help them balance their books? I can imagine that being a point of negotiation if so, even if the overall price isn't so contested.

they can still put the money on this year's accounts as it's a guaranteed income, or so I believe.

 

[Mr Pink]

Well I'd imagine this is where other Clubs could potentially swoop in if we don't get a bid in ourselves quite timely.

 

[OpenHeartZoo]

Would Inter require a huge upfront payment for him to help them balance their books? I can imagine that being a point of negotiation if so, even if the overall price isn't so contested.

This is where having a lump sum of cash actually available this summer could come in handy. We might be able to pay a much bigger percentage up front on a couple of key targets to get them over the line.

I’m trying not to get hopes up on Bastoni though. It seems too good to be true.

 

[mil1lion]

This is where having Fabio doing the deal will hopefully help as he's the type that will just pay if a player is this good

 

[The Scarecrow]

Didn't we even pay £42m for Sanchez five years ago? I think we'll pay up, so all that remains is Inter moving the goalposts or City hijacking the deal.