Long posts hypothesising how we negotiate.
We could really do with a decent rumour around here!
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But all this is based on the assumption that weāre the only ones putting stories out there.
Take your example with the CBs. Theyāre all going to want to alert as many interested parties as possible, publicly or privately. So all of that you set out relies on us being able to spin stuff but everyone else not.
Whoās to say the Tsimikas rumours werenāt just Oltmpiakos doing their version of playing the game but they were always happy to sell at the price we paid they were just hoping to drum up some more interest or a higher fee.
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Burnley going in for a tall, aerially dominant defender? Do you need a set piece specialist to go with that, master Dyche?
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I donāt think it was really that much of an act.
It must have been as we committed to a deal for Jota the same amount as Werner. If we were really stuck we could have used a credit facility to purchase Werner and then paid that facility off in increments similar to how we paid for Jota. But even if we didnāt have that option we still agreed best part of Ā£80m for Jota and Thiago combined in future payments. Ā£5/10m more of that could have gone to Bayern for Thiago than did. They donāt care we might not have been able to afford our next target.
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Of course most parties do it. Thatās why the rumour mill is such an unreliable mess all the time.
We seem to be getting better at it though.
Ironically clubs seem to realise these days that they need to keep things quiet if they want to deal with us. There were no rumours about Tsimikas, whatās known came out afterwards.
Also important distinction, its not spin. We really would have signed Lewis if the price was right or the Tsimikas price didnāt change. We let out about one possible target as it may well help negotiations on the other possible targets. We donāt just spin to make it look like we are interested in somebody we arenāt.
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Prices being touted;
Wilson - Ā£12mil
Williams - Ā£10mil
Phillips - Ā£12mil
Shaqiri - Ā£12mil
Thatās quite the kitty for players who arenāt part of the 1st team plans. Bar Shaqiri a testament to the youth set up we now get good prices for a good portion of the lads coming through.
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Iāll believe it when I see it. Shaq for 12m is a bargain though.
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Grujic has also been touted as attracting interest for Ā£10m+, and presumbly Taki may go for Ā£12-15m too?
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Add Origi and we got Sancho. 
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We agreed a higher total price with Wolves in order to pay almost nothing up front and stretch the payments out further. If we had the cash available, I donāt think we would have agreed to that.
And, itās pretty unlikely Leipzig were agreable to such a structure (and is perhaps a reason it didnt go ahead). At the timing of the Werner move, the club were probably not feeling in a position to sign anyone - the Jota deal didnāt happen until September when some of the financial clouds would have started to lift, but not all of them.
I also donāt think selling Hoever, or Brewster was in our original plans, but only became a thing when we were not moving on other players. And it appeared that the club were trying to get a deal done with Barca for Gini.
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I think youāve misunderstood. If we had really really wanted Werner and it had to be him, we could have utilised a credit facility to pay Leipzig in full up front and then we pay off the credit with a payment structure how we paid for Jota. Not ideal as youāll probably end up paying a couple of million in interest. But either way we still spent that much money.
No. Because as I said, the club did not view themselves as being in a position to sign anyone when Werner was available. By the time the club thought they were, he had already moved to Chelsea.
Equally, given the frugality of spending by the club that window, including by not bringing in another CB, and it moving two of its youngest and most promising players on the club to help finance spending, it didnāt feel to good about spending from that credit facility in September either.
You donāt know we were waiting till later in the window as a plan, there was actually more chances of further lockdowns at the end of the window, mid summer everything seemed on the right path to getting things under control.
Last year we spent more than we have in several others. All bar two in last few years.
Jota is better than Werner. Thatās alll you need to know.
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Yes, though thatās a pretty low bar to clear
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Except in the Greek press where our interest in him was reported but obviously the local guys with their coordinated output on Lewis drowned that out.
In my opinion, most of the stuff the club feed into the usual journos is for the benefit of the fans rather than to benefit negotiations. No club is arsed by what Pearce says in The Athletic.
But tell the fanbase we arenāt signing Thiago and then if we donāt, thereās no backlash because they can say that it was never a consideration. Then when we do sign him everyone is pleasantly āsurprisedā.
But back to the right back issue. If Neco and Phillips go then I imagine theyāll go into the market and the line thatāll be fed out will be āthey had no intention to buy anyone but with Phillips moving on they were keen not to be left short at centre back again and spreading Joe too thin so they felt it necessaryā.
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Can live with all of those deals
Maybe get 12-15 for Origi and maybe 20 for Keita gives us a handy warchest. Few others will move too loanees and fringe youth players.
EDIT - just saw abive Grujic and Taki which prob nets us 20 mil combined.
Probably used 35 of what we hope to generate in sales on Konate though.
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It was reported by numerous reliable people prior to Werner moving that any deal for him to come here would have to come later in the window. Explains why we didnāt/couldnāt push through Werner when Chelsea came in despite all the groundwork but then we did go and do Jota at the end of the window for a not dissimilar fee.
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I had always assumed the issue with Werner was that RB wanted the cash upfront, and could also offer Werner a bigger financial package. A lot of Chelseaās flexing their muscles last summer looked a lot like them taking advantage of a very cautious market, and being able to make the most of being cash rich at the time.
Mind you, allās well that ends well. Iād rather have Jota. Werner might still come good, but for now heās the second striker whoās fucked us off for a Chelsea pay day, gone on to be shit for them but also won the European cup.
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