Papa Shango
Player Valuation: £70m
I didnt say it was, i said i had suspicions it was.
They are largely based on that transfer being a big outlay at the time - when we got a few bob people were happy for Oumar to be a mascot of sorts - but under the last regime it was significant money - in many ways Oumar was lucky he came here when he did - because if he was this bad and we were skint there would be hell to pay.
My suspicions are largely based on the fact we were linked with players in Russia under Martinez, Yarmelenko, we signed McGeady, i suspect we were enmeshed in the market there, contacts with agents etc and maybe were doing a back scratching deal with an agent, maybe for another run at Yarmelenko in the summer, Martinez didn't survive that long though as we know.
Its also the fact we never scouted him and just saw a dvd and paid what was a significant amount then on that basis, also the quality of the lad himself and the fee and contract he was given, it all just doesn't add up to me. I have no proof nor am i making an accusation and dont know the truth of it, but ive always thought it was a suspicious deal.
It was just a bad signing! It was a decent amount of money, not huge or anything but there are countless instances of clubs paying decent money for a player who didn't work out.
He was in a good run of form in a mid standard league. Honestly its no more dodgy a signing than Cenk Tosun but nobody really questions why we paid that much for him. Klaassen is another one, 2 players who played in average leagues and did well and we spent big on.
It can just be a rubbish signing, there doesn't have to be any hidden stuff going on.