[Albion] Our “big spend”

jcdenton08 · Dec 17, 2024

This post is copied from an older thread, in response to someone saying they expected us to be dominating games after our £200m “massive” spend.

I thought I’d repost it here because I just keep seeing this come back again and again.

The spend was to bring the squad back up to the current level as well as invest in the future. That was a maintenance spend, not a Chelsea style £1.2bn attempt to buy the league spend.

We had to replace Caicedo, Mac Allister, Mwepu, Undav, Groß and others going back to Trossard who hadn’t really been truly replaced (RDZ’s big peeve) as well as the next development signings.

If we look at the signings we’ve made,

Cozier-Duberry (19) - free, loaned, prospect
Yalcouyé (18) - €7m, loaned, prospect
Osman (19) - €19.5m, loaned, prospect
O’Riley (23) - €29.5m, just returned from injury
Kadioglu (24) - €30m, injured
Gruda (20) - €31.5m
Wieffer (24) - €32m
Minteh (19) - €35m
Georginio (22) - €45.7m

Average age of the players we signed is 20.89 years old. Three signings worth €26.5m went out on loan immediately.

It is extremely clear to me that the (relatively, for a club our size) big spend was about investing in the next batch of young players to develop and improve with time and first team experience with us.

We weren’t buying a European campaign or title challenge (lol), we were signing what was absolutely necessary to a) try and maintain our position in the top half of the league and try for Europe and b) give these young players a platform to shine and hopefully be the next big money sale out of the door in order for the club to be self-sufficient financially.

I think it was an excellent window of superb business, but one which many people won’t recognise until like - as in the past with Mac Allister, Bissouma, Caicedo, Baleba and the rest - the players come good due to first team exposure and hard work on the training ground.

I am very sorry that people got confused about exactly what our £200m was getting us. Chelsea spent over £200m on two central midfielders and finished mid table last season.

dazzer6666 · Dec 17, 2024

Gruda, Wieffer and Minteh have also had injuries. Fab hasn't had much benefit of the spending so far.

brighton_tom · Dec 17, 2024

Exactly right!

wardy wonder land · Dec 17, 2024

but, in context it was spent to get us back into europe / piss off RDZ

it was also the largest spend it the whole of europe by any club in that window

it was more that just "maintence spend"

Stuart Munday · Dec 17, 2024

You can only trust Tony Bloom but maybe bringing in a more experienced manager with so many young players might have been a better option or as a number two, time will tell.

Washie · Dec 17, 2024

wardy wonder land said:
but, in context it was spent to get us back into europe / piss off RDZ

it was also the largest spend it the whole of europe by any club in that window

it was more that just "maintence spend"

No, it wasn't, it was to try and get us to MAYBE challenge for Europe, which we are still doing. But we lost a lot of players, plus we signed a lot for the future too.

jcdenton08 · Dec 17, 2024

wardy wonder land said:
but, in context it was spent to get us back into europe / piss off RDZ

it was also the largest spend it the whole of europe by any club in that window

it was more that just "maintence spend"

But it wasn’t. Barber rightly said before a ball had been kicked, we were spending just what was needed to reinforce a stretched squad. If you remember the second half of last season our players looked absolutely knackered, we didn’t recruit in January despite numerous injuries and with the European schedule, and by March we looked f***ed to a man.

We then lost our best player Groß, Undav didn’t return and our squad was even thinner.

Another part of the reason for our spend was we had the money available and needed to spend it before the FFP window cut off date, hence the flurry of signings and signings such as Minteh, we’d never have been able to make if Newcastle didn’t have an urgent need to sell. We were only able to spend for the future thanks to our big sales prior.

I’m sure Europe was and remains the hope, but there wasn’t this “massive spend” out of nowhere with that expectation with a new manager and a very young squad. (And the fact that three of our signings were immediately loaned out)

Littlemo · Dec 17, 2024

I don’t think we helped ourselves tbh in saying things like “It’s an excellent window of superb business” and banging on about how talented and amazing they all are. It creates pressure and expectation because we all think we have this amazing squad, when really we have a collection of unknown players with potential.

The fact is that all transfers and all players have some risks about them. For as many Mac Allister, Caicedo’s and Bissoma’s you develop, you get Connolly’s, Dahoud’s etc Even more established players don’t necessarily adapt to the league etc or take time, like Weiffer for example.

We won’t know it’s been an excellent window until these players come through and actually start playing like the MAC Allister, Caicedo etc

These new guys may all come good or most likely, some do ok and others don’t and get sold on. We should wait to actually see how they do before calling them all the next big thing though.

jcdenton08 · Dec 17, 2024

Littlemo said:
I don’t think we helped ourselves tbh in saying things like “It’s an excellent window of superb business” and banging on about how talented and amazing they all are. It creates pressure and expectation because we all think we have this amazing squad, when really we have a collection of unknown players with potential.

The fact is that all transfers and all players have some risks about them. For as many Mac Allister, Caicedo’s and Bissoma’s you develop, you get Connolly’s, Dahoud’s etc Even more established players don’t necessarily adapt to the league etc or take time, like Weiffer for example.

We won’t know it’s been an excellent window until these players come through and actually start playing like the MAC Allister, Caicedo etc

These new guys may all come good or most likely, some do ok and others don’t and get sold on. We should wait to actually see how they do before calling them all the next big thing though.

“I think it was an excellent window of superb business, but one which many people won’t recognise until like - as in the past with Mac Allister, Bissouma, Caicedo, Baleba and the rest - the players come good due to first team exposure and hard work on the training ground.”

Is what I said. Your following points are simply agreeing with me.

Paulie Gualtieri · Dec 17, 2024

I look at it as more of a £200m investment before the FFP goal posts were moved.

Most were young prospects, a few £25m stabilisers to make the core squad stronger but that’s it.

We’ve spent £200m now on the basis we won’t be doing this again for a few seasons at least as confirmed by Tone himself.

This is the second phase of buying talent for profit, all be it this time we have bought early in their cycle, rather than discover them

These are a well run club

Littlemo · Dec 17, 2024

jcdenton08 said:
“I think it was an excellent window of superb business, but one which many people won’t recognise until like - as in the past with Mac Allister, Bissouma, Caicedo, Baleba and the rest - the players come good due to first team exposure and hard work on the training ground.”

Is what I said. Your following points are simply agreeing with me.

Yes sorry I meant to agree with you in general!

I just thought that one bit was wrong. It won’t be an excellent window really, until these guys actually develop into the players we hope they will be.

Thats what I get for posting before my coffee.

LamieRobertson · Dec 17, 2024

wardy wonder land said:
but, in context it was spent to get us back into europe / piss off RDZ

it was also the largest spend it the whole of europe by any club in that window

it was more that just "maintence spend"

…you can bet that many clubs would have spent more if they weren’t held back by ‘restrictions’……Chelsea (again),,,Villa….Newcastle are a few examples

A1X · Dec 17, 2024

Lot of sick notes in there

Didn’t we hire some “injury guru” who was going to stop our players spend so much time in the James Milner-memorial treatment room? Cracking job he’s clearly doing.

Commander · Dec 17, 2024

jcdenton08 said:
This post is copied from an older thread, in response to someone saying they expected us to be dominating games after our £200m “massive” spend.

I thought I’d repost it here because I just keep seeing this come back again and again.

The spend was to bring the squad back up to the current level as well as invest in the future. That was a maintenance spend, not a Chelsea style £1.2bn attempt to buy the league spend.

We had to replace Caicedo, Mac Allister, Mwepu, Undav, Groß and others going back to Trossard who hadn’t really been truly replaced (RDZ’s big peeve) as well as the next development signings.

If we look at the signings we’ve made,

Cozier-Duberry (19) - free, loaned, prospect
Yalcouyé (18) - €7m, loaned, prospect
Osman (19) - €19.5m, loaned, prospect
O’Riley (23) - €29.5m, just returned from injury
Kadioglu (24) - €30m, injured
Gruda (20) - €31.5m
Wieffer (24) - €32m
Minteh (19) - €35m
Georginio (22) - €45.7m

Average age of the players we signed is 20.89 years old. Three signings worth €26.5m went out on loan immediately.

It is extremely clear to me that the (relatively, for a club our size) big spend was about investing in the next batch of young players to develop and improve with time and first team experience with us.

We weren’t buying a European campaign or title challenge (lol), we were signing what was absolutely necessary to a) try and maintain our position in the top half of the league and try for Europe and b) give these young players a platform to shine and hopefully be the next big money sale out of the door in order for the club to be self-sufficient financially.

I think it was an excellent window of superb business, but one which many people won’t recognise until like - as in the past with Mac Allister, Bissouma, Caicedo, Baleba and the rest - the players come good due to first team exposure and hard work on the training ground.

I am very sorry that people got confused about exactly what our £200m was getting us. Chelsea spent over £200m on two central midfielders and finished mid table last season.

But I want success NOW!

Think of how it works in your own life. From the minute you leave school you are on an unbroken, linear upwards progression of success, with no bumps in the road, no backward steps, and absolutely no deviation whatsoever on that never-ending upwards trajectory.

Why should football be any different? It’s not like the managers or players are human beings or anything. We’ve paid the money, therefore it should immediately work. And if it doesn’t then we should find scapegoats and sack them, rather than allowing them to learn and develop by making mistakes.

Terry Butcher Tribute Act · Dec 17, 2024

I don't think the majority of disappointed fans i spoke to on Sunday demand instant success. Just a team with a bit of fight, creativity and a game plan, rather than one ready to capitulate at any second

Commander · Dec 17, 2024

Terry Butcher Tribute Act said:
I don't think the majority of disappointed fans i spoke to on Sunday demand instant success. Just a team with a bit of fight, creativity and a game plan, rather than one ready to capitulate at any second

The sort of team that has only lost twice all season when they’ve conceded the first goal? That sort of team?

Not Andy Naylor · Dec 17, 2024

The glaring omission in that list is a young, fast central defender. Replacing players who have gone is one thing, but while I'm sure that our much-trumpeted succession planning has included looking ahead at the need to replace Dunky at some point, they haven't been able to get the right player yet. As for in-house options, Simmonds is far too young and I haven't seen enough in Kavanagh to make me think he could be it.

timbha · Dec 17, 2024

A1X said:
Lot of sick notes in there

Didn’t we hire some “injury guru” who was going to stop our players spend so much time in the James Milner-memorial treatment room? Cracking job he’s clearly doing.

Maybe he is. He’s unlikely to suddenly “cure” Milner and March, mend O’Riley’s broken ankle or turn Webbo into a super fit athelete……. In a few months

BadFish · Dec 17, 2024

The way I see it is that we have to do our bit as fans. We can't offer huge wages or massive oven ready signings, it's just not practical.

What we can offer though is time and patience, we are not entitled fans demanding instant success. We can build a team and build experience.

We have to hold our nerve through the rough patches though.

The last started ambition I remember is becoming a top ten club with the occasional foray in Europe. We got a bit excited with our start to the season so we need to recalibrate a little and look back at the plan. At the start of the season most would have been happy to acknowledge a rebuilding period and accept a mid table finish.

dazzer6666 · Dec 17, 2024

wardy wonder land said:
but, in context it was spent to get us back into europe / piss off RDZ

it was also the largest spend it the whole of europe by any club in that window

it was more that just "maintence spend"

LOL - that's some expensive way to be spiteful :laugh:

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[Albion] Our “big spend”

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