- Aug 30, 2010
- 19,302
- 57,720
Our ability to do this effectively seems to have vanished. We used to be so good at it.
Was never that good IMO. Didn't we have a shot at Timo Werner at one point but ended up with Vincent Janssen. Ousmane Dembele was linked at one point but not sure there was anything in that. James Maddison slipped the net. I'm sure there are plenty of others, Dele Alli being the obvious exception. It seems to me that we want young players to prove themselves but then still expect to pick them up at 'unproven' prices which is never going to work. N'Dombele, to me, looked an absolute nailed on upgrade for us but we've missed that train now. The players who've come in and hit the ground running have generally been more expensive (Moura (discounted at 25m), Sanchez, Aurier is getting there), so 40m for N'Dombele was about right and looks like it would have been a very sound investment. Of course, this doesn't take into account the financial situation regarding the spiralling stadium costs though.