Without any new centre halfs?
I doubt anyone outside of the club would think that we are in dire need of CBs. On paper we've got plenty of them including a few international ones. It's really the fans who feel that we need upgrades there. So far we've sold none of our current ones so I don't think it weakens our hand at all. We've got a new manager now anyway so we can easily play it off that he can work with the ones we have. I get the sense that we're confident on this one, maybe too confident and that's why we seem to be trying our luck with changing structure or whatever.
I'm sure Prince Charming will come to the rescue and defeat the evil ogre Levy
Then it really will be pantomime season
Oh no it isn't
I think Laporte's age, price and injury issues probably put him at the bottom of that list for me but it's a close call.
Fwiw to me structure of a deal could also be about the amount and timing of each payment instalment (eg how much up front, how many instalments), rather than total fee. I'm sure there are other variables too.
It's still changing the fee though. Even if you pay the same end amount it makes a difference when each payment is made. If you pay 15m instead of 20m in one go it's still a change to the fee. The selling team has to account for that other 5m coming later down the line. Typically in a different financial quarter. Didn't we push back the Porro deal so it went into the next fiscal quarter for example? I imagine if you agree to how it will be paid then it must piss you off when the buyer comes back and changes it.
For me I think Tapsoba’s calmness and range of passing make him a better partner for ultra-aggressive Romero.
Iirc, that was at Sporting's request though, rather to our benefit.
I distinguished between the timing and amount of instalments and the total fee.
Agree, and a lot of people in here are certain they will instantly improve our starting 11. i am not so sure and think they both will start the season on the bench. I know we all want to pick on Dier, but it is just 1 year ago almost everyone in here raved about him beeing one of the best in the league and he also got the England spot back, but then he started making a lot of mistakes, and the Conte sustem did not help him at all. Guarantee both a 22 year old VDV and Tapsoba will do a lot of mistakes as well.
Would be the stupidest thing we could do and make any transition into team harder. Not like with attackers when you can ease them in through sub appearances. Make the change now at start of era, don’t think Ange is the guy to stick just because tradition. ( ofc this is all dependent on just how late they arrive)
