Iliman Ndiaye (Interest from City, home reno progress unclear)

[The Doc]

Which top players have they got rid of this summer?

Are we allowed to stretch that sample size beyond the last 3 months?

[brap2]

We have to adopt a selling model in order to compete even slightly. Our revenues are tiny compared to the big boys so we need to supplement with player trading.

Sadly the big clubs sell well too. Chelsea have done over £1bn since blueco took over. Just insurmountable.

An odd juxtaposition were in though where we are saying - this manager only likes peak and post peak prem experienced players! And also - let’s sell Ndiaye and replace with Grealish!

Myself included here like.

Anyway. If he goes he goes, 80m is good business. Grealish in is questionable but I will take it given George’s progress. No replacement suicidal.

[Lazarou II]

Which top players have they got rid of this summer?

Acceptance is the path to happiness.

[MayorFarnham]

Yes and look at what happens when they sell their best players...
Look at Aston Villa and Newcastle this season.

Its not a long-term sustainable model

Villa and Newcastle would prefer to hold on to their best players but market forces, player ambition and PSR mean they can't. It isn't a choice for even some clubs with relative recent success.

[Raptor]

Do Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs etc sell their best players to buy more?

Everyone is a feeder club to some extent, if Real or Barca come in all those clubs sell.
But their spending power blows us out the water, they can afford to make significant player trading losses and continue on, we don't yet have that flexibility.
The Premier League has almost become a closed shop and it's only those 6 that can compete, villa and Newcastle have been decimated by the rules that have been put in place to stop them improving, we're in that pot, so you need to be creative. Keeping our best players and spending billions is the way, but it's also not allowed as they don't want teams breaking that monopoly, so you need to think outside the box

[Bumble]

Every player has a price and if they want to pay a silly price you sell and rebuild.

Really not that controversial. Every club does it.

[CorkyOnTour]

Villa and Newcastle would prefer to hold on to their best players but market forces, player ambition and PSR mean they can't. It isn't a choice for even some clubs with relative recent success.

That is tight UEFA financial constrictions.

Clubs not in Europe are splashing the cash at a rate of knots...isnt this the model we should be following?

[CorkyOnTour]

This acceptance of selling one of best players instead of building around him to take the club forwards is quite staggering.

We sold Lukaku and Barkley in the same window, didnt replace them and the wheels came off.

Clubs build around their best players.

If you want to be like Brighton, that is entirely up to you...
But we are not Brighton...we are not Bournemouth...

[The Doc]

This acceptance of selling one of best players instead of building around him to take the club forwards is quite staggering.

We sold Lukaku and Barkley in the same window, didnt replace them and the wheels came off.

Clubs build around their best players.

If you want to be like Brighton, that is entirely up to you...
But we are not Brighton...we are not Bournemouth...

Hope this helps identifying the problem.

[NickNack]

Seeing as we’ve not been able to sort a RB for 12 months, there’s no way on earth we’re sourcing replacements for players we weren’t planning on selling with less than a week of the transfer window left.

[4evablu]

Transfers are not as simple nowadays as they used to be..in days gone by you see a player…you offer money…it’s accepted/rejected you buy or move on…
Nowadays the complexity of transfers isn’t about the cash but applying the financial constraint rules being imposed on many clubs like ourselves…..the “big 6” managed to build through takeovers and investment prior to these financial restraints which now allow them to spend fortunes each window….
I can see both sides of the argument here….i personally don’t like us to sell our best players as I don’t see the progression we need to be successful with this model…..
On the other hand holding onto your best players for too long..especially if you’re not successful is a dangerous ploy…in this day and age….as we are witness to….
The likes of the Brighton model constantly being quoted is a good example of the latter….However has it brought them real sustainable success? For a club spent a lot of seasons in the lower leagues is their current status a benchmark of success they wished for ?
The question herein lies then is…..can a club in the “middle say 8 clubs of the premiership” be truly successful ie: break the strangle hold of the top 6 league places….win cups regularly…even make finals regularly….and maintain being in Europe every season ?
With either of these strategies…..? Only time will tell…..

[Trowel]

I'm up for selling Ndiaye, but the thing that concerns me most is replacing his defensive effort. We'd need someone with a profile like Pedro Neto, but Chelsea want silly money there.

[blueToffee]

Yes and look at what happens when they sell their best players...
Look at Aston Villa and Newcastle this season.

Its not a long-term sustainable model

...and that's the point of the current financial rules.

PSR/SCR whatever it's called, it's meant to ringfence the money and the best players with a handful of clubs. Do you think Villa and Newcastle wanted to be strip mined of their best talents?

The intention is to make it extremely hard for 14 clubs in the PL to create a squad capable of sustained success. Occasionally a different team might get a cup win or CL qualification but even they get kneecapped before long. It's not fair and it's designed to be that way.

[CorkyOnTour]

Newcastle and Villa have both suffered due to UEFA financial rules as well.

Why do you think Spurs and Chelsea are splashing the cash?

[StirlingBlue]

Newcastle and Villa have both suffered due to UEFA financial rules as well.

Why do you think Spurs and Chelsea are splashing the cash?

They're splashing the cash because their commercial revenue is astronomical compared to the rest of the league