We've been successful in recent years, but I'd be reluctant to say its because of our transfer policy. Feels more despite our transfer policy
Of course its because of our transfer policy. We have the players we have, for what they cost, precisely because of it. And we wouldnt have had that success without them/it.
What bothers me more is the idea that the policy is
"Lets leave everything deliberately late in the window, and simply gamble on getting a result".
Given everything we know about how Levy has run the club, built it up - made it a very successful business - does that sound remotely like him? Really?
I imagine the policy is simply "We need to get the absolute best we can within our budget". Which, at times, will lead to the aforementioned gamble.
Who has said we need to sign £70m plus players to improve the squad?
Im guessing thats me, though its been taken somewhat out of context
I think it's a bit ridiculous to say we can't improve the squad unless we sign £70m plus players, as people have said only 15 players in the entire history of football have gone for more than that. We haven't won a trophy for what 11 years, of course the squad can be improved.
I'm not saying it's easy to improve as we have a lot of talent players with good characters but players like Fred, Jorginho, Fabinho, Lemar, Nainggolan, Lenglet, Ruiz, Maddison, Amadou,Diallo, Kondogbia, Delaney etc have all moved this summer and would have got into our squad.
I'm sure that there's other players around who are obtainable, obviously no one can say for certain but there's Lookman, Bailey etc who were mentioned in the Zaha thread as alternatives to him for example who would likely be cheaper.
Of course we can improve the squad on a budget. No-one has said we cant.
The nearest I have said to that is we cannot build a transfer policy around unearthing gems any more. They are too few and far between to be a regular and viable policy.
The team is of a level where we need to buy more established or certain quality (Ie, Moura and Sanchez).
Moura was a steal, if we were buying him now he would likely cost double. A brilliant piece of business and Id never advise against these sort of moves.
But then look at Sanchez - right now he looks like money well spent, but last summer he was huge money for what he was.
And thats kind of what I mean. The team is that good, it takes spending on more "sure things" to actually improve/compliment it.
The £70m figure was in relation to Zaha - the point being we need to be spending at those kind of levels to get players to make the immediate contribution we need.
Yes, I know, there havent been many gone for more than that - but be honest - do you expect that to continue?
£40m is the new £20, £50m the new £30m. While to you or I £70m is horrific money, in todays money its like £45m from a couple of years ago.
At no point did I say anything like a player under that cost cant improve us, or anything like it. Only that we are in a position where by itll take spending significantly to really add to the team now (for the most part).
As an exercise, think about the market today, and think about what our players would bring. It might help with perspective on what I mean.
Yeah, gets a bit grating when people say "we can't improve our squad easily" or "name someone who will improve the squad" etc. It's not our job to name players, that's what our scouts are paid for. Some people act like there are only 7 players in the world who can improve us, but we can only afford two of them. I'm not saying it's easy to find the next Modric or Bale but there are always players out there waiting to be discovered.
Some signings will fail that's just life but to simply do nothing as we have done (so far) is farcical as Billyiddo said.
We cant improve our squad that easily. We are in a very tough position. The level of player we need is also hunted by clubs vastly richer than us. Even cheaper players will go elsewhere for huge wages. Thats the reality.
No one has said there arent players to be found, only that its far from as simple as "Well I dont know of any, but they MUST be out there so why arent we getting them!?"
