Originally Posted by
Balinkay
But seriously - nice to see we can at least afford decent prospects which will at some point, if nothing else, make us money.
Buying prospects is definitely something I want to see us do a lot more of, especially given our heavy emphasis on Sports Science and Data Analytics, coupled with the negotiation skills of Michael Edwards.
We'll not make a loss terribly often, the profits that can be made can be very rewarding and if a player is good enough to play for us after X amount of time at the Academy/loan spells it saves us a lot of cash on purchasing a squad player, with said saving being able to be utilised somewhere more important - such as wages that keep a top player here a bit longer, or acquiring more prospects on the cheap.
Sterling is an extreme example of this - bought for somewhere between £0.5m and £2m (can't remember!) and we go on to tell for £50m. If you're in a good places as a club (we're in a better spot now than when we sold Sterling, undoubtedly!) where you can actually identify and acquire other players, it's a very self-sustainable way of ensuring the future.
Harry Wilson was an Academy target, yes? And Grujic signed for £3m or so at one stage? If we sold both for £15m-£20m we make £30m-£40m for players we don't need and potentially buy a World-class midfielder with a few years left in his tank yet, or re-invest elsewhere. Can't say no to that - don't think you can rely on it indefinitely of course, but it's certainly a good branch of the Intelligent Recruitment tree to utilise where possible.
Your hobbies are rollerblading and you're also a bit of a rat-hound? Steel Wool
Sid knows he's crazy and he likes it. Balinkay
Bookmarks