southstandandy
WEST STAND ANDY
- Jul 9, 2003
- 6,048
Plus they could have bought him 2 years ago for £4.5m. BUT they didn't.Here's a really smart post from 'osboy' on the shed end -
"Not really about Caicedo but the price of talent isn’t linear. What I mean is that you can pay a big premium maybe 30-40-50% for a player that is only 5-10%. “better” you want to win you have to have the best players or at least the best team. And even if you win by only 1 point in 85 over the season it’s worth a lot more in every way than coming second."
He's absolutely right - Chelsea have high expectations but to achieve this they must strive for the very best players in all positions - second best won't make it happen. Last seasons 'scattergun' approach proved this. Problem is, it can be ridiculously expensive
Had Chelsea not been so apparently dismissive and even brusque over Brighton’s desire to include Levi in the transfer package I think a total package to the value of perhaps £70 million could possibly have been agreed with a cash balance of about 50%.
Brighton was prepared to release Caicedo as promised and when Chelsea started negotiating an amiable arrangement suitable to all parties seemed relatively feasible. The abruptness must have changed the atmosphere and hardened Brighton's stance. From then on Brighton would not loose both players from their squad without maxing out on the fee.
Brighton didn't want to sell under these circumstances - but - as they say everything has a price. In this case a Rice comparable £100 million - a perhaps £65 million cash flow difference for Chelsea?