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Bale's agent on struggles with Daniel Levy

Donki

Has a "Massive Member" Member
May 14, 2007
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Fair comment, but I think there are instances when his haggling and business style have cost us and has set precidents where other Chairmen avoid dealing with him. What he has done in terms of infrastructure and development though is incredible.

I think you can say that about any chairman though. In business I don’t think anyone wants to be taken for a fool. We signed players like Son, Eriksen, Sanchez, Lucas with no fuss at all.

Us as fans demand we keep our best players then complain when it seems Levy was incredibly hard to deal with. The guy simply can’t win as far as I can see. I am not saying he hasn’t made mistakes, he has but being a ball buster certainly isn’t one of them.
 

double0

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
14,423
12,258
Levy has been absolutely fantastic for our club he's been a Lion trying to get the best deal for our club and the big boss above him. Anyone saying Levy's been a thorn in our path should remember where this club was before ENIC Levy stepped in. Hats off to Levy, I hope he continues to lead this great club forward.
 
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Lenn0n

Well-Known Member
Jan 9, 2011
244
342
The key figures in transfer negotiations are the footballer Agents and the Club Chairman (as well as managers/directors of football etc.)

The ideal football agent would be motivated by the well being of their client - representing them in terms of negotiation, providing contract experience, and a knowledge of what has happened in other players negotiations. Experience of the transfer market etc.

The ideal chairman will be focussed on the club's infrastructure and the longterm. They will seek to bring in good people to manage the medium and short term. They will set clear (high standards) for the club, players employees. Develop a good relationship with the local community and the community (where the fans come from).They won't make expedient decisions - setting bad precedents for the future. Even in the heat of battle on transfer deadline day.

Unfortunately some agents are self serving, manipulative and dishonest. Possibly the same is true of some football chairman.

Levy is not going to take back handers, is not going to pay over the odds, and certainly doesn't like last minute changes as the agent/chairman applies brinkmanship tactics as the transfer deadline approaches.

Im not surprised that some of the transfer negotiations Levy has been involved in have gone pear-shaped. Good thing I expect.
 
Aug 10, 2008
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I really look forward to @[email protected] sharing some erudite view before he next “diagrees” with anybody.
"Diagrees"?! (sic). Ah, such delicious irony! I really look forward to @littlewilly spelling "disagrees" correctly before exhorting anyone to post in a more scholarly, considered and learned way!
But seriously, and without being flippant, mate, my views on Levy/ENIC are well documented. I've proffered them often; and your apologist friends are forever criticising me for "banging the same drum" in multiple threads, so I'll just say this: (nothing "erudite", of course, just an attempt to articulate a point of view) I think that this summer will (again) be an indication as to whether Levy truly intends to invest significantly in the squad or if the completed NDP is his "end-game"; with ENIC purely looking to maximise profit by continuing with their sell-to-buy "net-spend" model despite increased match-day revenue right up to the point when they "cash in their chips" and sell the Club. I know which of these scenarios is, for me, most likely (as evidenced by the previous 2 windows). Assuming that Levy does finally buy a footballer or two, I expect nothing more than cheap, opportunist punts arriving at the end of the window, and principal targets missed or unattainable as a result of (*insert time-honoured excuses here). Clearly, you might see things differently; and I hope you're right. Do you think that Levy will back our manager in the summer? Are you confident that he will secure those 2 or 3 quality additions needed to strengthen the weakest areas of the squad? Are you absolutely certain we won't see the dismantling of this team, with Eriksen and Toby sold, only to be "replaced" by cheaper, inferior options? You see, I don't share your confidence. But feel free to "diagree", mate! As is your right.
 

Neon_Knight_

Well-Known Member
Jul 20, 2011
3,975
6,608
It wouldn't seem to have helped us when it really mattered (Modric, Bale) and maybe hindered us when we needed to shift players (N'Koudou, Janssen). That's my guess anyway.
I think it's easy to remember the bad and overlook the good.

We kept Modric for an extra season after he started pushing hard for a transfer.
It was Levy who negotiated the record transfer fee for Bale and Levy who signed him for dirt cheap (£5m + £5m add-ons, but the add-ons were wiped when we gave Southampton a reserve keeper who was probably worth less than £1m).
Bale and Modric both left to win trophies with the most successful club in the world, not because Levy wouldn't cough up higher wages.

The majority of our current squad was signed for well below market value and Levy has actually done a very good job of keeping the squad in recent years. People like to bang on about Levy cashing in on our key players and/or refusing to pay high enough wages to keep them, yet in the 11 transfer windows since Bale left we have signed 22 players who we wanted and only been forced into one sale of a key player (Walker). All of the other sales have been because the manager was happy to let them go.
 

Neon_Knight_

Well-Known Member
Jul 20, 2011
3,975
6,608
It wouldn't seem to have helped us when it really mattered (Modric, Bale) and maybe hindered us when we needed to shift players (N'Koudou, Janssen). That's my guess anyway.
In the same amount of time, I think it's fair to say that most clubs have sold more than one key player. Of particular interest to me is is how other Europaen clubs of a similar status to us within their own domestic leagues have fared (e.g. Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Monaco etc.).

Liverpool - Coutinho, Sterling & Suarez

Chelsea - Matic, Costa, Oscar, Luiz, De Bruyne (De Bruyne may not have been a key palyer, but they didn't want him to leave...he forced the move).

Arsenal - Sanchez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sagna, Vermaelen

Everton - Lukaku, Barkley, Stones

Leicester - Mahrez, Drinkwater, Kante

Barcelona - Neymar (probably would have liked to keep Sanchez, Pedro, Bravo & Thiago, but couldn't keep them happy).

Real Madrid - Ronaldo (probably would have liked to keep Morata, Ozil, Di Maria & Kaka but either couldn't keep them happy or needed the money).

Bayern Munich - Douglas Costa, Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Mandzukic

Borussia Dortmund - Pulisic, Dembele, Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, Hummels, Gundogan, Lewandowski, Gotze

Juventus - Pogba, Morata, Bonucci, Vidal, Tevez, Coman

Atletico Madrid - Hernandez, Torres, Miranda, Martinez, Turan, Jiminiez, Mandzukic, Alderweireld, Costa, Luis, Falcao, Demicheles, Baston

PSG - Arguably sold numerous players who they wanted to keep, but needed to recoup funds from (e.g. Luiz, Digne, Sakho, Gameiro, Cabaye, Matuidi, Moura, Aurier, Augustin etc.)

Lyon - Diaz, Geubbels, Diakhaby, Tolisso, Lacazette, Umtiti, N'Jie, Lovren

Monaco - Mbappe, Lemar, Fabinho, Keita, Mendy, Bernado Silva, Bakayoko, Carrillo, Kongolo, Moutinho, Diakhaby, Ghezzal, Martial, Kondogbia, Kurzawa, Carrasco, Abdennour, James Rodrigues, Falcao


Puts things into perspective...
 
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