If Vlahovic is adament about his salary demands and a signing on fee then we are wasting our time.He's not a bad player,but to offer him twice what our best earner is on could cause friction and I don't think we would go there.
Unrelated but Spurs have two youngsters on the books who could fetch £50m or perhaps higher on the market.
Seems Vuskovic might be sold...but what about Bergvall?
Myself I'd rather keep Vuskovic who looks an obvious future PL level defender rather than Bergvall who's elegant but I have no idea what league or tactics will suit him best.
Ideally you'd keep both but was just wondering who most fans would sacrifice in a 'gun to the head' scenario?
This is one of the few times I'll have to disagree with you, H. I don't see it as a gamble since it would be easy to find a buyer if he flops. And it's a 'free' transfer. Contrast that with Solanke who will be damn near impossible to get rid of.
The thing about Vlahovic is that I don't think we have any chance of getting him. Sure, give it a go, but maybe we should look at a more realistic target instead of wasting our time chasing a player who is supposedly entering his prime years while being linked with Bayern and Chelsea.
I see we are also linked with Santiago Gimenez. Now that would be a catastrophic signing. Worst striker I've seen since Janssen.
I agree on Solanke, he's two years older than Vlahovic at 28 and presuming we pay out the full 65m on him, Vlahović looks like an absolute snip, even on a big contract. We probably have to keep Solanke as a rotation option, although his injuries are becoming a concern.
Solanke reminds me of Darren Bent when we bought him, had a 20 goal season for smaller club and lacked the quality at a big club. Although he's still way better than Bent was.
Vlahović is a proven scorer in Italy and seeing as there's no transfer fee involved, the risks would only be around a large salary and signing on fee and he's still only 26 (feels like he's been around for ages). So depending on how his deal is structured, once he signs a contract at any club, you've probably made your money back. His market value probably hits at least 45m instantly, so if it doesn't work out you'll still have a 27-28 year old with some value left in him.
Bent was truly shocking, but I don't think Solanke is far off to be honest. Vlahovic has a name, it's a bit like when Chelsea signed Joao Felix, if it doesn't work out you can always get your money back, or in this case make some money. But I don't think he's coming.
Solanke is an acceptable back up striker true, especially in a year without Europe. I agree he has zip real market value (£25m at a push?), we'll take such a loss on him.
That's one we're stuck with...but elsewhere there's tonnes that we can get rid of and there'll be buyers:
Romero (£50m), Vicario (£15m), Sarr (£20m), Richarlison (£15m...there will be takers, the forward market is awful!), Dragusin (£15m), Solomon (£10m), Vuskovic (£50m - this is sad but I see it happening...), Veliz (£5m), Devine (£5m). Bissouma and Muani are off for nothing of course.
So that's £185m coming in at a conservative estimate.
Souza, Tel, Bergvall....any of those could be sold or sent on loan too.
Looks like we'll get four big(ish) signings equalling most of that £185m (Savinho, Van Hecke, a forward, a midfielder). We'll then scrape around for the other signings (a keeper certainly, haggling over Palhinha).
I think we can get a bit more for Dragusin, say 20-25m. Devine is better than most Championship players, if we got 20m for Skipp we should get at least 15m for Devine. Sarr needs to be sold, 20m would be good money and if we get 30m for Tel that will finance one 50m player. There's still some hope going around.
And I would easily sell Solanke for 25m if I could make that decison, but I doubt ENIC would take that loss. If it's between Richy and Solanke I'd keep Richy and let him run out his contract.
At that wage level, is he really worth it?
Obviously the priority will be strengthening league position and at least challenging for European slots again.
His league tallies for the last 4 seasons aren't hugely spectacular :
25/26 = 7 in 19 apps
24/25 = 10 in 29 apps
23/24 = 16 in 33 apps
22/23 = 10 in 27 apps
21/22 = 7 in 15 apps
There's no doubt he's good, but I'm not convinced he'd be a good return on that wage investment.
94 goals in 221 Serie A games. 9 goals in 20 CL games.
Not bad at all and worth the risk if you ask me.
If Vlahovic is adament about his salary demands and a signing on fee then we are wasting our time.He's not a bad player,but to offer him twice what our best earner is on could cause friction and I don't think we would go there.
Unrelated but Spurs have two youngsters on the books who could fetch £50m or perhaps higher on the market.
Seems Vuskovic might be sold...but what about Bergvall?
Myself I'd rather keep Vuskovic who looks an obvious future PL level defender rather than Bergvall who's elegant but I have no idea what league or tactics will suit him best.
Ideally you'd keep both but was just wondering who most fans would sacrifice in a 'gun to the head' scenario?
Vlahovic would be a good signing, but he won’t be coming to us.
This is one of the few times I'll have to disagree with you, H. I don't see it as a gamble since it would be easy to find a buyer if he flops. And it's a 'free' transfer. Contrast that with Solanke who will be damn near impossible to get rid of.
The thing about Vlahovic is that I don't think we have any chance of getting him. Sure, give it a go, but maybe we should look at a more realistic target instead of wasting our time chasing a player who is supposedly entering his prime years while being linked with Bayern and Chelsea.
I see we are also linked with Santiago Gimenez. Now that would be a catastrophic signing. Worst striker I've seen since Janssen.
I agree on Solanke, he's two years older than Vlahovic at 28 and presuming we pay out the full 65m on him, Vlahović looks like an absolute snip, even on a big contract. We probably have to keep Solanke as a rotation option, although his injuries are becoming a concern.
Solanke reminds me of Darren Bent when we bought him, had a 20 goal season for smaller club and lacked the quality at a big club. Although he's still way better than Bent was.
Vlahović is a proven scorer in Italy and seeing as there's no transfer fee involved, the risks would only be around a large salary and signing on fee and he's still only 26 (feels like he's been around for ages). So depending on how his deal is structured, once he signs a contract at any club, you've probably made your money back. His market value probably hits at least 45m instantly, so if it doesn't work out you'll still have a 27-28 year old with some value left in him.
Bent was truly shocking, but I don't think Solanke is far off to be honest. Vlahovic has a name, it's a bit like when Chelsea signed Joao Felix, if it doesn't work out you can always get your money back, or in this case make some money. But I don't think he's coming.
Solanke is an acceptable back up striker true, especially in a year without Europe. I agree he has zip real market value (£25m at a push?), we'll take such a loss on him.
That's one we're stuck with...but elsewhere there's tonnes that we can get rid of and there'll be buyers:
Romero (£50m), Vicario (£15m), Sarr (£20m), Richarlison (£15m...there will be takers, the forward market is awful!), Dragusin (£15m), Solomon (£10m), Vuskovic (£50m - this is sad but I see it happening...), Veliz (£5m), Devine (£5m). Bissouma and Muani are off for nothing of course.
So that's £185m coming in at a conservative estimate.
Souza, Tel, Bergvall....any of those could be sold or sent on loan too.
Looks like we'll get four big(ish) signings equalling most of that £185m (Savinho, Van Hecke, a forward, a midfielder). We'll then scrape around for the other signings (a keeper certainly, haggling over Palhinha).
I think we can get a bit more for Dragusin, say 20-25m. Devine is better than most Championship players, if we got 20m for Skipp we should get at least 15m for Devine. Sarr needs to be sold, 20m would be good money and if we get 30m for Tel that will finance one 50m player. There's still some hope going around.
And I would easily sell Solanke for 25m if I could make that decison, but I doubt ENIC would take that loss. If it's between Richy and Solanke I'd keep Richy and let him run out his contract.