It’s not a PSR sale in the Elliot Anderson / Douglas Luiz stylee - “shit, if we don’t sell this bloke by 30 Jun then we’re in points deduction land”. But it is a PSR sale in that owners aren’t allowed to just stuff more of their own money in (unless they’re Chelsea) & the club must balance the books (within the bonkers definition of “balance” that constitutes PL rules). Had we sold no-one major, the “shit, if we don’t sell…” scenario would have been pretty likely next Summer.
I entirely agree with Tricky’s thing about knowing value - but as fans we never will; we have no idea whatsoever about contract clauses, the reality of negotiations, what our books actually look like, or the player’s (agent’s) wishes.
In the end this is a simple equation, albeit from our position of almost zero knowledge of the true numbers:
- Most of us would agree that last season’s top 14-ish players were a match for most, but thereafter the drop-off was too steep to sustain.
- Therefore the aim this Summer was probably to keep as much of the band together as was possible, buuurt…
- Adding quality in depth, esp for Yurp but also to mitigate vs the fatigued final few games.
- You’re not going to fund point 3 with an O’Brien here and a Turner there; we somehow achieved that 12 months ago, but the chances of doing it again were always slim-to-none.
- So when someone with deeper pockets than you approaches you for a player, you extract maximum value (realistic value - not the fan “not a penny less than £100m” bollocks). I was afraid it was going to be MGW when Citeh were sniffing around, but it’s proved to be Elanga instead.
I’m sorry to see him go, but I’d rather it were him than MGW or Murillo. Others will disagree, no doubt