Deadline Day: Summer 2025

[Gooner Zig]

125 million last day after all he’ll broke loose. It could never been us risking until last day to see if we sign a striker

Agree, I think we made the right decision.

 

[A_G]

 

[Rasmi]

I think what people meant is could we have signed him after Gyokeres?

Afterall Liverpool spent 90m on Ekitike and still signed Isak for 130m because they can afford to after some brilliant sales

Well yeah we couldn’t afford him because we haven’t sold anyone. I’m just glad Isak got his move. Would hate for him to be stuck at that club

 

[dave_rwr]

If only we sold better, could have signed 100m plus players like Isak

This is, unfortunately, going to be something we hear all season.

We can talk about Liverpool's spending or any other club's spending all we like - we'll always be pointed back to this.

Learning how to be a selling team is going to be something that we need to figure out moving forward in the PSR era and I hope Berta is learning from the past regime's mistakes on what's getting in the way of moving players on (e.g., big contracts for just okay players)

 

[grange]

@Flying Okapis Now this guy is successful

 

[Mickey Rooney]

A big part of selling well is being more ruthless. Moving on well before a player becomes obsolete and loses his appeal, especially if he is earning high wages. We’ve repeatedly missed the boat on this (Martinelli and Zinchenko notably, in the current squad). We did well last summer, moving on from ESR, Nketiah and others but generally speaking we are far too patient and not ruthless enough.

 

[Sanchez11]

Time to crack open the January thread.

 

[Gooner Zig]

A big part of selling well is being more ruthless. Moving on well before a player becomes obsolete and loses his appeal, especially if he is earning high wages. We’ve repeatedly missed the boat on this (Martinelli and Zinchenko notably, in the current squad). We did well last summer, moving on from ESR, Nketiah and others but generally speaking we are far too patient and not ruthless enough.

Agree with this but one thing that needs to be pointed out is that our level has increased dramatically in a very short period of time. The players we are trying to sell were still around when our level was just a top 4 chasing side (e.g., Nelson, Zinchenko). Now that we are an established title challenging + UCL chasing side, teams will want to have a piece of our players that can't quite establish a spot in the first XI with the knowledge that they are still very good.

Additionally, it will help us immensely to win a major trophy. Winning stuff makes every player more valuable. It's a crime that players like Gabriel, Saliba, Saka for example haven't won a big trophy yet - when they do their stature within the game will explode to even higher levels.

 

[Sammy1887]

Time to crack open the January thread.

Focus should also be on the Manager Wish-List Thread.

 

[Sanchez11]

Focus should also be on the Manager Wish-List Thread.

Yes there is that.

 

[Mickey Rooney]

Agree with this but one thing that needs to be pointed out is that our level has increased dramatically in a very short period of time. The players we are trying to sell were still around when our level was just a top 4 chasing side (e.g., Nelson, Zinchenko). Now that we are an established title challenging + UCL chasing side, teams will want to have a piece of our players that can't quite establish a spot in the first XI with the knowledge that they are still very good.

Additionally, it will help us immensely to win a major trophy. Winning stuff makes every player more valuable. It's a crime that players like Gabriel, Saliba, Saka for example haven't won a big trophy yet - when they do their stature within the game will explode to even higher levels.

I don’t know, we’ve been title contenders for 3 years now. We’ve been ruthless upgrading goalkeepers, CB cover and fulbacks. I guess LW is the glearing issue. Club knows about it too. We were interested in Nico Williams last summer and kicked some tires on Rodrygo this summer (Orny also mentioned interest in Gordon multiple times). Martinelli, Trossard, Zinchenko, Jesus (excused because unmovable due to injuries), all feel like players we should have moved on from last year. Havertz is likely another one where the club will hesitate to move on from for too long.

We are close, but still short of top quality in attack. Wishlist stuff is if we can move on from Martinelli/Trossard and bring in a top LW and from Havertz/Jesus and bring in an Alvares next summer.

 

[North5]

Double double agent

 

[Blankety Blank]

They could make him stay but they would lose £130M... the money wouldn't be an issue but given EPL is audited / FFP etc is affected...

Nah they could have made him stay.

Said look we have just won our 1st trophy in forever. We have ECL & you are on a long contract
We need you to lead the line & at least give us 1 more season.

We will give you written confirmation that you can leave next summer for £100m to any club you like.
I highly doubt he would have refused to play all season with important international games coming.
But if he did so be it. Make a stand at least til Jan.

 

[Rex Caudillo]

Go on Raz lad

 

[Mudi]

A big part of selling well is being more ruthless. Moving on well before a player becomes obsolete and loses his appeal, especially if he is earning high wages. We’ve repeatedly missed the boat on this (Martinelli and Zinchenko notably, in the current squad). We did well last summer, moving on from ESR, Nketiah and others but generally speaking we are far too patient and not ruthless enough.

You can only blame the management not selling one of Martinelli or Trossard, but other than that, we had very little sellable assets. Zinchenko on a £150k/w who did not play a whole season is worth nothing. Man utd got stuck with Sancho and Chelsea with Sterling. Chelsea doesn't even know where Mudryk is ...

Now our squad is in the final stage of transformation. Players like Jesus, Martinelli, Trossard, ... who were crucial for us to push a step higher but still lacking the quality to really help us win something will be moved on.

But again why are we sooo much focused on our spending? If it is fine for Kroenke, why do we care?

Years with Wenger, I used the excuse of net spend for our poor performance. Yet nobody is looking back and say, yeah Arsenal finished 4th but had a net spend of -30m ... however people remember Chelsea and Man Utd winning titles (and later Man City) because that is what counts.

 

[Mickey Rooney]

You can only blame the management not selling one of Martinelli or Trossard, but other than that, we had very little sellable assets. Zinchenko on a £150k/w who did not play a whole season is worth nothing. Man utd got stuck with Sancho and Chelsea with Sterling. Chelsea doesn't even know where Mudryk is ...

Now our squad is in the final stage of transformation. Players like Jesus, Martinelli, Trossard, ... who were crucial for us to push a step higher but still lacking the quality to really help us win something will be moved on.

But again why are we sooo much focused on our spending? If it is fine for Kroenke, why do we care?

Years with Wenger, I used the excuse of net spend for our poor performance. Yet nobody is looking back and say, yeah Arsenal finished 4th but had a net spend of -30m ... however people remember Chelsea and Man Utd winning titles (and later Man City) because that is what counts.

We care about efficient use of funds because our resources are not unlimited and there are psr/ffp considerations as well that could limit our freedom of action. I don’t care about Kronke’s pockets, I care about the team using available ressources to their maximal potential.

 

[Mickey Rooney]

We also had a VERY small squad that probably impaired our ability to sell some players sooner (such as Zinchenko last year, prior to MLS’s emergence). I guess that’s a mitigant.

 

[Steps]

Wasn't able to hop on the forums yesterday, but wow, Berta, what a man.

 

[A_G]

 

[Leo_ense_]

View attachment 38805

We’ve been linked to 70% of that list at one point in time