- Feb 8, 2007
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Interesting - please expand.
My view is that Rebrov was a good player in a very specific system - an incredibly drilled and disciplined Dinamo Kiev team, which at that time was effectively the Ukrainian national team. Kiev's pass-and-move style of football, with two small not very strong guys up front - Shevchenko & Rebrov - worked in Europe, but would have been less effective in an aggressive, physical league like the EPL.
And that's exactly why he was a bad signing for us. He was still a good player. And I did say that if Villa did come to us, he may be a good player, but still a bad signing because of the money spent. A bad signing isn't simply a question of a player not playing well for the club he signs for. What if Villa came, played really well with Keane, but had major problems with Berbatov? What then? Sell Berbatov? Sell Villa on?
And even if we only ended up spending a small amount. Let's take your figure of £6 million. For a million more we could activate Poulsen's release clause, a player for a position we need to strengthen. Or even worse, let's say we end up only spending £6 million for Villa, but then we go for another player we really need and he's £2 million pounds outside the budget. We either don't get him or go above budget to sign him, possibly affecting our summer transfer budget.
All these permutations have to be taken into consideration before we approach a player. Right now, the defence and midfield should come first. Our strikers do not need improvement. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.