I should preface this post by saying I'm a United fan but I'm not trying to wind up anyone on here.
I think we'll get Fellaini in the end and probably for around £25m if we bid that high. I've been a bit put out by the way United have conducted business over the last few months. First we said that there was no budget for players and we'd go as high as we needed to. Then we bid insulting amounts for Fabregas and then Fellaini and Baines. We're penny pinching when we really shouldn't be.
It's obvious that Moyes and our board thought they could get Fellaini for less than his release clause which is why we didn't bid for him until after it expired. We dropped a bollock with that £28m joint bid. I've seen fellow United fans argue that it's only an opening bid so it's alright to lowball the offer. But £28m is so below their value that it really can't be seen as anything other than a piss take. I think an chance of getting Fellaini for below his buyout clause evaporated with that bid and the subsequent comments from Moyes.
As a United fan it's just so out of character for the club. Over the last few years we tried to get deals done in private but now we're broadcasting ourselves to the world and it's just embarrassing for all parties involved.
Like I said though. I think we'll get Fellaini if we bid high enough. I'm slighty concerned that we won't though. We've been all talk but no action this summer. Makes you wonder how much money we actually have to spend. Don't think you'll sell Baines to us. Our valuations are too far apart.
Thanks mate, a well thought out post, I’ll try to come back on the bits you’re looking for clarification on.
Firstly, United can offer what they like. that’s their right. However, given we have already rejected 12 for Baines, you can only assume they are offering about what we paid for Fellaini, and making the same offer again for Baines. A club is likely to say that’s in poor taste. Again, United might not care too much of that, why should they, it a business after all? But it might hinder future sales, as you just bring out a stubborn reaction from the club. Everton fans in particular, feel a bit disappointed by Moyes in all this, for all the good he did the club, this feels a kick in the teeth.
What it feels like to me, is a bid deliberately intended to provoke the players into forcing a move, at a price well below the value. I am not saying it’s wrong, but it is a dirty. When you consider the fuss Moyes made about city bidding 16 million for Lescott, then 20, it all appears rather laughable.
I don’t get why United wouldn’t have just bid below the asking price in July, for Fellaini? Why wait until the season has started? If Moyes doesn’t rate Fellaini at 24-26 million that’s fair enough, but he must know that’s Evertons valuation of him, as Moyes himself put that valuation in the contract! If you only value him at 16, why bid at all?
It seems to me, like this is kind of classic Moyes, pinching the pennies, but losing sight of the pound. If/when United are going for the championship/Champions league, nobody will care whether he paid 28, 35, 40, 45 million for players, but whether he wins trophies. At a club like Everton, financial management is important. At Manchester United, you are talking about the richest club in the world. Like you wouldn’t catch Alan Sugar haggling over the price of a pair of tyres meaning he misses an appointment with a multi-million pound investor, would you?
In my view, rather than trying to play a longwinded game of chess, Moyes should find the players he wants, and put a bid in that will get them. Had he bid 40 million for the pair, he’d have probably got them, but now, especially so late into the window, with the bad feeling, Everton may well reject out of spite.
United seem to have this bizarre obsession with Everton going bust. I remember it around the Rooney time, that without that money Everton would have gone bust. While money is tight, (and we have some long term financial difficulties) we are not on the brink of receivership. If we were, how could we have signed 4 players this summer? The new TV money has brought us some breathing space.
I think in a market place where Suarez begging for a transfer to anyone is worth more than 40 million, Bale is worth 90, Cabaye is worth 22 etc, to bid for the best left back in the PL, and a CM who scored 11 league goals, and destroyed United last year at 28 is laughable really. I think 40 million is a pretty fair price.
I am surprised United are going for Baines though. Obviously, 15 million plus for a 28 year old left back seems a lot. The problem is, for Everton, he is our most creative outlet. You have to view him that way, he’s our most dangerous attacking player. Now I have little doubt United would use him more as a fullback, as you play with wingers. But if you want a solid defensive LB, there are better options, at better value than Baines. However, United can’t expect Everton to let their key men go cheaper, because they are not deemed essential to how United would operate. I think they need to find players at a cheaper price if that’s what they are looking for.
