The resigning of VVD and Salah coupled with the statement signing of Wirtz would suggest that we're looking to maximize our current position (if only we could've done the same under Klopp) so spending 100M on someone super raw feels like it perhaps wouldn't strike the right balance between short term and medium/long term. But then neither does spending a large sum on Gyokeres or even more on Isak.
I'd like to believe there is some moneyball signing that 6 months into next season will have us all saying "damn, shoulda signed that guy" but yeah it's looking pretty thin on the ground.
Maybe the best move is to wait.
For @tombrown’s benefit - I think Richard Hughes is quite good… and here’s why…
I wonder and this is pure speculation, but I’d imagine a large part of signing players is to do with contacts - which agents you know, which family members or teammates you know, etc, etc.
I read somewhere the other day, probably on here, that the main reason we weren’t able to sign Caicedo was because, although we’d shown interest earlier in his career we’d not maintained a relationship, whereas Chelsea had put in the effort so that when the time was right he wanted them.
In the past it’s been known we put a fair bit of effort into Bellendingham before pulling a Man City and going with “too expensive”; we’d tracked Gravvy for years, missed out when he initially went to Bayern, but we obviously kept in touch; not surprised we’re being linked with Tchouameni again; we did the ground work on Virgil; even hiring Slot looks like we did a lot of work to get him on board with everything (like, we’re not spending a fuck load initially).
We’ve clearly put the work into Wirtz, but these are the sort of transfers that we’ve not quite gotten over the line previously.
I’m sure being Champions helps, as does the CL league stage performance, but are we potentially underselling whether Hughes is actually very fucking good at what he does.
Now, I know certain people hate him - but everything I think we’ve heard about the guy speaks of someone really fucking good at what we need.
He’s not interested it being in the limelight - I don’t recall an interview or anything from him.
He’s clearly respected in the industry, speaks multiple languages, if the Slot stories are true, knows the value of doing your homework and being prepared
Negotiation is mostly about being prepared, having knowledge and understanding what value actual and how to get it - it’s not like in the movies where you have big chest thumping monologues in adversarial negotiations - it’s mostly dull, fully prepped, understand what each side needs to get and finding a way to get there.
But that’s only part of it - the main part feels like it’s more about understanding individuals and their needs - and, I go back to it - maintaining contacts, not burning bridges, building relationships and trust - which is basically what underpins any successful business.
The other side of it is discipline - you can be nice, you don’t need to be nasty or vindictive, but you do need to be able to say no and walk away from things if they don’t meet your goals and not cave into to pressure - Inthink we saw that with Virgil & Salah.
I think we’re also building a reputation that we’ll respect player’s wishes without throwing our dummies out of the pram in the way some fans would love us to - like if a player wants to run his contract down but is still delivering, we’ll accept that for what it is rather than go all Fatal Attraction Glen Close.
Not going to keep everyone happy, but likely to at least show players we’re not cunts - compare that with City’s somewhat functional and feels like vindictive nature - people getting fucked out the door on loan for seemingly no reason or more importantly not getting cake or ducatti’s on their birthday (the cunts). Even the de Bruyne exit felt a bit shit.
I just think he’s a really important but understated addition to the team and looks like we might be setting ourselves up for success rather than glorious failure.
Feels like the tables have turned on City - and they’re now scrambling to sign good, but not necessarily top tier players - not sure Guardiola has the patience to deal with players below his usual high standard.
Ah well… brain dump done.
