So every player we've sold we practically gave away and no doubt we paid double for those that we signed because the whole football world knows what mugs we are?
Right...
This subject is bound to contain some subjectivity and is only ever really going to be about our own interpretations and perceptions of players, their values, what was “good business” etc. but I’ll give it a go.
In my time of watching United I have witnessed
Sale of Deane to Leeds- Both PL clubs at the time- this sale effectively sealed our relegation from the PL.
Sale of Deane and Fjortoft on the same day. Don’t think we got more than a million for either. Absolutely criminal and cost us any chance of promotion.
Beattie flu- selling an on fire striker for less than we paid for him,
Throwing Kyle Walker, one of the best players we will ever produce into a BOGOF deal with Naughton- Again, absolutely criminal.
Slew- Well, that one worked out OK on the basis he didn’t develop into a good player.
Lowton- If the £3million figure mentioned had any truth in it, that was a more acceptable sale but still, the loss of a very good young player.
But since the prince came on board and we “no longer have to sell our young stars” we’ve had
Maguire- Absolute lynchpin. OK, so he wanted to go. But he was contracted for another year and if he went at that, we would still have been entitled to compensation. He might well have been the difference for promotion. An integral player, the sale of whom we never recovered from all season trying to patch up with Alcock, McGahey, McCarthy, McEveley etc. All for around £2million when we “didn’t have to sell”. As I said earlier in the thread, Scunny turned down £4million for Van Veen who will never be worth as much as Maguire and he’s not as important to them as Maguire was for us.
Murphy- The one quality player Adkins got to inherit. A massive squad of misfits with poor fitness and bad attitudes but we had one player who was a match-winner. Who was exciting to watch. He’d just signed a new 3 year deal 6 months earlier. Sold for around £1.7 million to a good championship side. The pigs paid Middlesborough £5million for Adam Reach to play the same position at a similar level. Is Reach significantly better (around 3 times better) than Murphy? Is Van Veen worth more than double what Murphy is?
Adams- OK, so he wasn’t a key first team player (still, 2nd top scorer the previous season and 19 years old mind). Lookman sold to Everton for around £11million. Adams sold to Birmingham for around £1.8 million. Again, no two players are exactly the same but had Lookman done anything to suggest he was worth more than 6 times as much as Adams, a teenager who had scored double figures the previous season and was being capped at England U20 level? Again, bearing in mind “we don’t have to sell our young stars”.
DCL- One of the more exciting young prospects albeit he’d struggled to make an impact at first team level so far. Still, a forward who was over 6 foot with a great leap, decent touch and a yard of pace and being called up to England youth squads. Sold for £1.5 millionish. Time will tell how this one turns out I guess but it’s not like we got mega-bucks for him,
Ramsdale- England youth ‘keeper dubbed “the best since Hodgkinson” by some of our resident academy watchers sold for around a million. Again, time will tell but I would say it’s another of those young stars that we don’t have to sell being sold and again, not for mega-bucks.
As I say, a lot of it is subjective when talking about a players’ worth. What I will say is this though. We got about £4million or so combined for Walker and Maguire. How much do you think that pair alone is now worth on the market?
As an old gent on blades mad always said, “it’s all abart opinions” but I struggle to see how anyone can be of the opinion that we’ve been anything other than a soft touch on player sales over the years. When have we dug our heels in and kept a player? When have we got a huge fee for a player? And how can anyone believe that constantly and publicly stating “there is nothing we can do”, “we are powerless to stop it” etc. does anything other than encourage higher placed clubs to come and try their luck with cheeky offers?