The only reason that i can see this being done and for an amount of less than £85m is that with the FFP truly coming in next year, how much will any team be able to pay for him and stay within the rules?
If as expected fees for players will drop in line with FFP then Ronaldo's transfer will likely stay the WR for a long time to come, and you know the ego on him will probably say that he won't sign a new deal until it's confirmed that GB signed for less than him.
It's simple really and I'm sure Levy is considering this.
Agree everything on the Bale deal but don't give it the final go ahead and delay without telling RM why... keep them stalling so they don't know 100% we will sell. Then commission it on the final hour or so of the window, preventing any deal for RM players to Arsenal being set up
That was my thoughts. If we told them we were 'holding' Bale as a sort of gurantee they would just fuck us and work deals behind the scenes. Levy needs to keep moving the goalposts which I'm sure he's loving.That's looking most likely.
But we really need to make them believe this won't happen otherwise they could be working behind the scenes on the Arse deals cautious and when we confirm they confirm, or they'll maybe even take a punt on us doing the above and keep any outgoings quiet until we give the go ahead on Bale.
Whatever happens, it needs to be after the Goons game, as they would go to town if they thought they funded Bale's farewell...
Apparently we get till Saturday to complete the transfer or Bale is going to talk to the press
http://www.marca.com/2013/08/28/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1377683001.html
I bet Levy is quaking in his boots at the thought of this.
I said in an earlier post that we'd done some great business, but the GB stuff is tarnishing it.
I was more talking about Willian, someone else brought up Villa & Benteke.
ITK has not made me feel one way or another, its just the poor management of the GB deal that has made me feel this way. We've lost control of the player and the transfer now it seems.
The best thing about all this (apart from it being more bullshit) is that if Bale did go to press it would probably cost him a lot of money in lost sponsorship as it will tar his character and lead to us hardening our stance meaning that he will stay.
Not that easy though is it.... We won't get Benzema, Di Maria, Ozil etc because they want CL football this season.
The problem we have is that Bale WANTS to go to Madrid, but no Madrid players WANT to come to us. Therefore it's becoming a cash only deal that Madrid can't currently afford.
If we are to believe the media (the same ones who claim Lamela is in London, despite him training in Rome today), then Bale is pissed off about the whole thing. Levy is going to end up with 2 choices:
a) Sell him for less than the desired fee
b) Keep him and have him potentially sulk and disrupt the squad
I have little doubt in my mind that by midnight Monday, Madrid will have driven down the price and we will have sold.
"History is bunk" Henry FordIf history is anything to go by, we will end up as the losers in all of this....
"History is bunk" Henry Ford
"To Dare is to Do" THFC