AjaxAndy wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2026 8:27 am
I think people are missing my point here.
We obviously found something in his medical that meant spending £40m on him wasn't a good idea. That can happen and I don't believe for one moment we should just ignore medicals and buy anyway. They're there for a reason.
I also think us asking about Zirkzee and Abraham when the deal was being renegotiated and possibly falling through wasn't any issue either, it's what you do if you think a deal is maybe not going to complete.
I think the argument around letting Beto leave before Balogun was through the door is a perfectly fine one though, and this came about because of how we were scrambling at the last minute and didn't legislate for such things, which is proper amateur hour and unforgivable.
But I don't blame the club one bit for not just throwing £40m at a player with a failed medical.
That’s if you believe everything that comes from the club like you do.
Did something flag up in his medical? Yeah, probably.
Was it substantial enough to try to renegotiate the deal at the last hour? Or did they see an opportunity to try to save a few million as they always do, completely misjudging the situation?
The lad was in the training ground. He’s been sitting there watching us reduce his worth to us, put out to the world that he isn’t fit, and then scramble around looking to sign other strikers.
If we hadn’t just signed Jack Grealish coming off the back of a six month lay off, and Norgaard who was injured when we signed him, I’d be a little bit willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
They’re obviously willing to let certain things slide when it comes to a players fitness, and they were still willing to sign Balogun on decent money so whatever has flagged obviously wasn’t that bad.
They saw an opportunity to save a few million and completely fucked it up.