Stato
Well-known member
- Dec 21, 2011
- 7,382
I know I keep banging this drum..... But are you honestly telling me that you would sacrifice signing the next Gareth Bale because after a couple of seasons of absolute joy and brilliant performances for us we would have to give him back.
On that basis we should never have signed Wayne bridge.
I'm not having it.
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The fact is that it doesn't fit the club's business plan. Barber and Ashworth have both said that we will always struggle to compete financially for the top players and have to find a different way of working. Signing any player for this club is an investment and has a degree of risk attached. The risk of paying the higher wages involved in a new contract for Ben White has obviously been worthwhile because of the return the club has made on transfer fees. Investment in a player whose value is fixed by a deal with the selling club is obviously a greater risk and, while it would not necessarily put an end to a deal, it would make it far more likely that the club may be able to find better investments elsewhere.
If you think about it, Chelsea have wrapped Southampton into a deal that is actually worse than a loan. Should Livramento have a career ending injury or should he fail to live up to his promise, unlike in a loan deal it would be Southampton's risk, not Chelsea's. However, if his value increases greatly the benefit goes to Chelsea, not to Southampton. It reminds me of the private/public partnership deals where governments didn't want to invest capital and so made deals with private investors that involve being saddled with all of the future risk, but ceding rewards in return for money up front.
I would suspect that the club has just decided that, whatever the potential short term gain on the pitch, its not a model that is likely to help the club in the longer term. The proliferation of deals like this will just strengthen the already advantaged in the division to the detriment of the smaller clubs. I would guess that Tony Bloom does not feel that his club is in the financial situation that would give him little choice than to let Chelsea do him over. Southampton's owners are either less confident about their financial security, or feel that they are more in need of the possible short term playing gain that he might provide.