Summer Transfer Window Thread 2015

[Lineker]

Bournemouth could be in for De Guzman.

[Hobo]

Rumour going around regarding Liverpool is that Balotelli might be heading back to AC Milan.

Looks like a 1 year loan with no option to buy.

[Lineker]

West Brom have rejected a transfer request from Saido Berahino.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Rumour going around regarding Liverpool is that Balotelli might be heading back to AC Milan.

That's almost as funny as Liverpool buying him in the first place with no plan or idea on how to actually use him.

[DavidMarrio]

Rumour going around regarding Liverpool is that Balotelli might be heading back to AC Milan.

That's almost as funny as Liverpool buying him in the first place with no plan or idea on how to actually use him.

Least we got a player we were after to be able to not use properly.. . 

[Baddar]

Benzema has called the people who said he's leaving Madrid "clowns" and insists he's staying put.

[The Lusophone]

Rumour going around regarding Liverpool is that Balotelli might be heading back to AC Milan.

That's almost as funny as Liverpool buying him in the first place with no plan or idea on how to actually use him.

Least we got a player we were after to be able to not use properly.. . 

And look at where that got you...

[DavidMarrio]

Rumour going around regarding Liverpool is that Balotelli might be heading back to AC Milan.

That's almost as funny as Liverpool buying him in the first place with no plan or idea on how to actually use him.

Least we got a player we were after to be able to not use properly.. . 

And look at where that got you...

3 points against Tottenham at Anfield?

[The Lusophone]

6th in the table and a single goal from your 'calculated gamble'.

[The Lusophone]

Manchester United: Not willing to spend £21 million on Pedro, apparently are willing to spend £240 million on Neymar.

Gotta love the papers.

[Baddar]

Ha, I said the same this morning.

Apparently Neymar would become the face of the brand though, so the deal would pay for itself.

I fully expect us to complete a deal for a Huddersfield winger, or someone of equal importance by next week. CERTAINLY not Neymar.

[stokeriño]

Apparently Neymar would become the face of the brand though, so the deal would pay for itself.

This sort of thing was silly enough when we were supposedly going to spend £200 million on Messi (apparently with half of that being paid by Adidas themselves FOR SOME REASON). No need to throw another £40m on the pile, guys.

A bit like when people claim that increased shirt sales will in any way offset a major transfer fee. Err, no.

[Rich]

Apparently Neymar would become the face of the brand though, so the deal would pay for itself.

This sort of thing was silly enough when we were supposedly going to spend £200 million on Messi (apparently with half of that being paid by Adidas themselves FOR SOME REASON). No need to throw another £40m on the pile, guys.

A bit like when people claim that increased shirt sales will in any way offset a major transfer fee. Err, no.

When the shirts are retailing at €100 a pop, an increase in shirt sales will make a difference though. :/

[stokeriño]

Almost all of the shirt money goes to Adidas/etc. though. Why do you think the club gets paid millions upon millions of pounds to secure the shirt deal once every decade?

And that's without even addressing the false assumption that often gets thrown about, i.e. that if X number of shirts with a player's name on are sold, it's a measurable increase because surely none of those fans won't have bought a shirt with a different player's name on anyway...

 

[Rich]

Hadn't thought of that<_<

 

Increased shirt sales would lead to more money in the future though as it would get better deals for the club in their next manufacturer negotiations surely?

[stokeriño]

Maybe, although they'd probably have to wait 5 to 10 years for the next renegotiation.

Another thing is that it's often massively overestimated just how many shirts get sold (official ones anyway). The likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United average 1.5 million shirts every year (Barca about 1.2 million, Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool around 900,000, etc.). Even the Milan clubs only sell about 400,000 each, and it's downhill from there.

So even if you could prove that a single player boosted shirt sales (which you can't), he would have to do so by a substantial percentage to make a financial impact big enough to be noteworthy against his marquee transfer fee. It seems wishful thinking to imagine that, say, 20% or 50% MORE people worldwide, who were never otherwise going to buy any shirt from the club in question, would suddenly do so because of the arrival of Neymar or Superstar XYZ.

 

[Whisper]

You could argue that with sponsorship as well though. I can't honestly see how sponsoring United nets Chevrolet enough return to warrant spending that amount on it. 

It obviously does though to some degree, or they wouldn't do it.

Large transfer fees have never really bothered me too much, because I always assume that much smarter people than I have worked out why X player is worth X amount to a club. Maybe I give football clubs too much credit.

Not that the Neymar transfer would ever happen, but one day a club will pay £200m+ for a player and everyone will be suitably outraged for all of 10 minutes.

I guess the tl;dr version of that is I agree with Stok, but these things must be worked out at high level within the club (s), surely?

[TCO]

Making Neymar the face of the brand is an odd decision after signing such a huge deal with Adidas. Neymar is very much a Nike guy. 

WIth Bale it'd make some sense at least but Neymar could never be an integral part of marketing their shirts if he did sign.

[Baddar]

Neymar isn't signing. And even if he did, despite being a fantastic signing, and the biggest move of the summer, people would use the "silly Man Utd, paying all that money" thing. The thing is, Neymar would cost silly money for anyone to sign him. Unless you're Bayern who like tapping up players with about a year remaining on their contract so they can sign them for fuck all.

[TCO]

I don't really think paying  around the £100mil+ mark would even be overpaying for Neymar. He's only 23 and already in the top level of players in the world, breaking the record wouldn't be such a big deal. Given inflation and the ever increasing income available it'll be broken if/when a number of young players move, the likes of Hazard, Pogba etc.