Rewind to 2013 and the Ozil saga. That Real Madrid needed to sell was evident then as it is now due to FFP. Arsenal dragged it out to the last day and potentially got Ozil a bit cheaper than they might have.
In this backdrop, do you think we blinked early? Nobody else was able to bid for Di Maria at the quoted prices and perhaps dragging it down to the last day would have helped us secure this signing closer to the 50mn mark.
May be our current predicament and the last year deadline day shenanigans contributed to us pressing the panic button. I believe that a shrewd negotiator, Levy comes to mind would have handled it much better. Which says to me that Utd should evaluate Woodward's position and maybe send him back to the commercial director role.
P.S. this isn't a gripe about overpaying. This is a systemic issue which we as a club need to address. I don't care how much the club spends on the transfers to be honest, money saved isn't benefiting the fans and is probably making glazers hold on to this prized asset much longer.
Di Maria - We blinked!!
posted on 25/8/14
Mate. I floated this idea a while ago and a lot of people were against it.
Its probably cheaper to adopt that route. Moreover, the club has to have a philosophy in terms of how it plays and look for managers who subscribe to it rather than changing it around everytime.
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The only way I would want a director of football is if the manager still had full control over transfers, and the DoF just did the negotiations and what not. But it does seem like the better route.
Leave Woodward to the commercial side of things, no denying he's great at that.
posted on 25/8/14
Or perhaps dragging it down to the last day could lead to someone else snatching him from under our noses. Say, I don't kniw... PSG, who have been very heavily linked with him and aren't exactly known for financial stringency.
Also, there is no logic to the "wait for deadline day" theory. Why? Because there is a premier league season going on befire deadline day and we happen to have already given Chelsea a 5 point start
posted on 25/8/14
Really?! People have been bìtchin and moaning about Ed taking his sweet time over transfers and dìckin around over transfer fees! "Just pay the money!" people have been yelling!!
So he does, and gets it done relatively quickly. And people are bìtchin and moanin about how we have payed too much and now how we should have waited longer and negotiated a smaller fee!!
I guarantee if Di Maria was available and Ed dilly dallied over the price with Madrid and we lost him to PSG or City or Chelsea he would be lynched on here and elsewhere!!
Dammed if he does, dammed if he doesn't!
posted on 25/8/14
merrysupersteve
The argument that I am making is we were the last ones standing. Do you really think if PSG wanted to buy him out, they wouldn't have done it earlier?
posted on 25/8/14
PSG haven't been able to offload any players and have a HUUUGE wage bill - and spent £50m on David Luiz. They have woken up to their FFP responsibilities and weren't capable of buying Di Maria.
posted on 25/8/14
They can't at this time. But they have been whoring half their team in an effort to ensure they can buy him.
But the fact that there is a season taking place right now is far more important. And it's a season that has started in such a disastrous manner that waiting til deadline day isn't even an option
posted on 25/8/14
It seems the oil clubs couldn't afford him this time
PSG and City have already spent what Uefa allowed them to and so couldn't afford him
posted on 25/8/14
comment by It's time!! - Winter is comi... (U6852)
posted 9 minutes ago
It seems the oil clubs couldn't afford him this time
PSG and City have already spent what Uefa allowed them to and so couldn't afford him
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Precisely. While I don't mind us splurging on Di Maria, closer to deadline day the deal would have been sweeter. Di Maria would have at best missed one more PL game if the signing was near deadline day.
It also sends out a message that we are desperate and may have a bearing on the transfer values of the other targets we are pursuing.
posted on 25/8/14
We are desperate and what's happening on the pitch sends out a very clear message. We shouldn't be waiting til deadline day and we shouldn't have been waiting til today. We should have got our business done by the end of July and had him integrated into the team in good time for the start of the season
posted on 25/8/14
Madrid wanted to keep him