do you really think that any chairman of a club our size and with the financial clout that Tony has, can really say "no sale regardless of amount" when the amount of money being offered for (and to) our top players is the ridiculous sums it now is. Do you really think that any player will turn down the chance of top six, champions league, and several hundred tousand pounds a WEEK.
WE have to be realistic on who and what Brighton is- and that goes for the manager, players, and fans. We are at best a mid table prem club, with the occasional foray into Europe with a bottom third wealthy owner. In that scenario when we unearth a truly world class talent we are kidding ourselves if an offer of approaching £100 000 000 and triple or quadruple the players wages comes in if we think we can realistically reject it.
The best we can hope is that when the big boys come calling, we empty their wallets and replace them with equal quality and start the process again. Players moving on to world class clubs will encourage others to come here, and see us as a preferred option for furthering their careers.
Simply refusing to sell players will cause the stream to dry up pretty quick. The likes of Bissouma, Cucurella, Caceido, will simply go elsewhere
The only alternatives is to end up in a slow decline, yoyo-ing for a few seasons and then falling back in to league one-two or selling out to the big money and doingt a city or newcastle.
I would rather we stay on the course we are on, enjoy the ride and see how far it takes us
Graham Potter would certainly know the score- TB has said many times no player is unsalable IF the right offer comes in- and the approximately £200 000 000 in sales in 18 months and a 9th place finish would certainly seem to support thee idea that the current approach is the correct one
Potter knows this, the players know this, and we, as fans know this. I
Yes. But it's not as linear as you are suggesting. We CAN tell a player that they are going to stay put (no matter what their agent says or how much the petro clubs aggitate) if it doesn't suit us. That might be because the suitors aren't offering enough but it also might be because we've already released say two key players in the window and don't want to unsettle the squad any more than we have. That's not holing a player back or going to send all future recruits running for the comfort of other clubs. We have always said we'll not stand in the way of a player IF IT SUITS US - and we haven't. But sometimes 'not standing in the way' will mean the player has to be a little bit patient.