I actually agree with JJ on this.
Yes, I don't want CW to overpay on anyone and in an ideal world he will only pay the amount that he thinks the player is worth (or less ideally). However, there will be times / targets when we may have to go above the 'player valuation' to get the player in question IF we think that that player will enhance us on the pitch.
Obviously I don't know the finer details of any transfer negotiations between Utd and the target players parent club, but if media and rumours are to be believed then we arent a million miles apart in valuations. If we have to pay an extra £200k for example to get a deal done for a player CW clearly would like, then for me we should pay it. People need to realise that we are now trying to compete in the championship again and we are back with clubs who wouldnt think twice about paying the fees which we are looking at here. I think we are doing the right thing in trying to pick up the better players from the bottom two leagues as this is where the bargains can be had and where we can do business. However if we can't do the business or we won't do the business for the sake of a couple of hundred grand then we are gambling on our championship status.
Sometimes you have to pay a little bit more than you would like to get the thing that you really want. Example, I once went to buy a house, it was more than I would have liked to pay and it was a stretch financially at that time. I negotiated, the price came down a bit but it was still higher than I wanted to pay. Then i thought, this house is ideal for what I want for me and my family and will serve me well for several years. I paid the difference, cut back on other things as necessary and having had the use of this house/asset for nearly 5 years now, the house has probably doubled in value and will probably serve me well till I drop or I retire to the sun. In short, it was more than I wanted to pay but it has been a bargain in the long term and has served my purposes. Maybe a Leonard is the footballing equivalent.
A few hundred grand should not prevent us from doing a deal if that player is deemed to be a potentially important player for us in the next couple if seasons. And all this talk about re-sale value does my nut in. Re-sale (whilst important) is not the be all and end all for all players. If we brought in Holmes now at 30 he will probably have little resale value if any in 2 or 3 years time. Agreed. However we will have had use of that player in the meantime. The fee we pay now is paying for the use of that asset for the immediate future. That player might just help us win a few games to help us stay in the championship. So in that sense that fee paid will be more recuperated when we get our championship prize money / more sponsorship money / extra money from sky etc. Do people never buy nice cars as they also depreciate on value over time then?
If we really want those players and we think they will be very important players for us...then stop scrimping and get the deals done. Don't be cheap Utd do what is necessary or move on to other targets but remember they will be CW's second choices.
