- Jan 28, 2011
- 2,995
- 760
First caveat - we're past the anti-Levy rage, and have to move on. For what it's worth, I've normally always been very pro-Levy. Second caveat - this is not a knee-jerk thread, before that one gets trotted out.
Right.
This is probably very closely linked to the thread of BC's that has been bumped, but I thought given the length of that thread and the most recent transfer activity (or rather, lack of), it might be worth re-examining. This latest window has brought me back to the question of who exactly is in charge of identifying targets, assessing the viability of the transfer as regards financials, and whether the manager, be it Arry before, or Andre now, has any real say in who we go after.
A lot of this work would previously have been in the hands of a DoF - ideally with a directed, focused scouting team underneath him, and, even more ideally, with a brief from the manager on what sort of players they are after for to come straight into the first team. This is obviously where the Comolli situation failed, with many of his signings now key players, but at the time unready for the rigours of the Premier League and a team chasing European qualification. Perhaps this was Levy preferring he unearth young players with high potential sell-on value - I don't know enough about this, that's just my guess.
Since Comolli was ditched, for better or worse, it has become increasingly worrying to us fans that the whole network has now been potentially replaced by our Chairman acting alone. I don't know anything about our scouting setup, if it even exists, and what sort of people we have that are actively pursuing potential purchases. AVB himself has an eye for a player, even if it seems to be just the one - Moutinho is very clearly his golden boy, and given the success they achieved together, it is perfectly reasonable in my opinion for AVB to go to Levy and say "I want you to buy me Joao Moutinho".
It's a fair assumption to say that Leandro Damiao has been on our radar for a very, very long time. I wonder if perhaps he was even identified under Comolli? (again, just a question/guess). However, the financial viability of this transfer has, in my view, always been near impossible for a club of our financial stature. The player seems to have no interest in forcing an exit, and not so long ago had his pick of clubs more prestigious than ours interested in getting his signature. Internacional seem to have a price in mind of around £20m, still significantly higher than our transfer record, let's not forget, which presumably is only going to get bigger as the player develops and improves. Now, I might be being a bit facile here, apologies if I am, but after the first, say, two transfer windows when this situation became apparent, the financial viability of this transfer should have been noted and an alternative target found. OK, so we got Adebayor. A far more reasonable option, and while expensive in terms of wages, a deal was brokered and we got our man (eventually!). The question, then, is why after two years of interest in a player we were never going to get, we revisited this transfer in the last 24 hours of the window?
We might say, well, top strikers are hard to come by these days, especially for a club that doesn't have money to blow. However, in the last two years, the Premier League has seen the likes of Benteke, Michu, Ba, Papiss Cisse, Jelavic, Le Fondre, Fletcher, Jelavic, Giroud, etc., all bought for more modest (some very much so) fees than the £20m quoted for Leandro, all now performing and scoring goals regularly for their clubs. Whether or not you particularly rate all these players highly is not so much the issue - the point is, the teams concerned identified their man, made the move and got the player they wanted. The obvious issue here is our complete failure over the last two years to identify sensible striking targets (Adebayor aside), and the role Daniel Levy has in this appears to be more obvious than ever.
Phew, essay over. Thoughts? Do we need a DoF again? Is our manager/coach given enough say in identification of transfer targets? And what exactly is our scouting network like?
Right.
This is probably very closely linked to the thread of BC's that has been bumped, but I thought given the length of that thread and the most recent transfer activity (or rather, lack of), it might be worth re-examining. This latest window has brought me back to the question of who exactly is in charge of identifying targets, assessing the viability of the transfer as regards financials, and whether the manager, be it Arry before, or Andre now, has any real say in who we go after.
A lot of this work would previously have been in the hands of a DoF - ideally with a directed, focused scouting team underneath him, and, even more ideally, with a brief from the manager on what sort of players they are after for to come straight into the first team. This is obviously where the Comolli situation failed, with many of his signings now key players, but at the time unready for the rigours of the Premier League and a team chasing European qualification. Perhaps this was Levy preferring he unearth young players with high potential sell-on value - I don't know enough about this, that's just my guess.
Since Comolli was ditched, for better or worse, it has become increasingly worrying to us fans that the whole network has now been potentially replaced by our Chairman acting alone. I don't know anything about our scouting setup, if it even exists, and what sort of people we have that are actively pursuing potential purchases. AVB himself has an eye for a player, even if it seems to be just the one - Moutinho is very clearly his golden boy, and given the success they achieved together, it is perfectly reasonable in my opinion for AVB to go to Levy and say "I want you to buy me Joao Moutinho".
It's a fair assumption to say that Leandro Damiao has been on our radar for a very, very long time. I wonder if perhaps he was even identified under Comolli? (again, just a question/guess). However, the financial viability of this transfer has, in my view, always been near impossible for a club of our financial stature. The player seems to have no interest in forcing an exit, and not so long ago had his pick of clubs more prestigious than ours interested in getting his signature. Internacional seem to have a price in mind of around £20m, still significantly higher than our transfer record, let's not forget, which presumably is only going to get bigger as the player develops and improves. Now, I might be being a bit facile here, apologies if I am, but after the first, say, two transfer windows when this situation became apparent, the financial viability of this transfer should have been noted and an alternative target found. OK, so we got Adebayor. A far more reasonable option, and while expensive in terms of wages, a deal was brokered and we got our man (eventually!). The question, then, is why after two years of interest in a player we were never going to get, we revisited this transfer in the last 24 hours of the window?
We might say, well, top strikers are hard to come by these days, especially for a club that doesn't have money to blow. However, in the last two years, the Premier League has seen the likes of Benteke, Michu, Ba, Papiss Cisse, Jelavic, Le Fondre, Fletcher, Jelavic, Giroud, etc., all bought for more modest (some very much so) fees than the £20m quoted for Leandro, all now performing and scoring goals regularly for their clubs. Whether or not you particularly rate all these players highly is not so much the issue - the point is, the teams concerned identified their man, made the move and got the player they wanted. The obvious issue here is our complete failure over the last two years to identify sensible striking targets (Adebayor aside), and the role Daniel Levy has in this appears to be more obvious than ever.
Phew, essay over. Thoughts? Do we need a DoF again? Is our manager/coach given enough say in identification of transfer targets? And what exactly is our scouting network like?