General Premier League Thread 2022-23 - mod note in OP 12/03/23

Aren't they allowed talk to the players representatives but not the players themselves. You often see reported that terms have been agreed between buying club and player before a bids accepted.

Roberto de Zerbi, what a job he's doing with Brighton. Deserves a lot more praise imo

Mitoma has been quality recently. If he keeps up this form, Brighton will be cashing in another 50-100m soon

Not yet, I don't think.

Brighton have been brilliant the last few seasons in terms of recruitment. They mostly have plans in place to pre-emptively have replacements within the squad to use when they sell players. Their owner is a big gambler and has a model which he was able to replicate for recruitment. But Brighton also have a few big advantages over the bigger clubs when it comes to recruitment, even with a lower spending capacity.

Time, expectation & risk.

Brighton have the capacity to buy a couple of unknown wingers in a summer window with low expectations. They will be given time to adjust to the league, settle in the new country & culture etc. Brighton can build a development plan for them, which might last 12/18/24 months before they are fully first team ready. Like in the case of Mitoma who is only now starting for the club regularly after joining in 2021. He only started 2 games for Brighton before the WC. They were patient with him, gave him a good loan deal with a development pathway, and then gradually brought him into their own first team this season, before he exploded in January. Conveniently at the same time that Trossard was acting up and forcing his way out of the club. If Mitoma had a ban loan last season or had not settled in England in 2022, they could probably have sold him to some other club in Europe for around a €1m loss or maybe even break even. Not the biggest mistake in the world. It happens, and they move on. it's possible that maybe the other winger they bought in that summer of 2021 had a much better loan and would be pulling up trees in the PL now. So overall the transfer strategy paid off as they have a great winger on their hands. Nobody would really be talking about Mitoma as the transfer was under the radar, very low fee and nobody would have noticed if he was passed on again. Brighton actually signed another winger this season again, and again there is low expectation and he has been given his loan move to develop and time to grow. He might grow, he might not. But he will play lots of games to give him the best opportunity to grow and they will see how it works out in a years time and re-assess.

Compare that to the 'bigger' clubs who sign a player, and usually for a much larger fee. There is an expectation that the player hits the ground running and settles quickly. And because they are more experienced in the top leagues, the fee is higher. They know their way around the game and different attributes needed for different scenarios. That's what you're paying for. There's an anecdote that Liverpool were happy to let VVD go from Celtic to Southampton for £12.5m as they wanted to see how he would fare out in stepping up in class before taking the plunge. There was a scout note that he switched off at times at Celtic as he was too comfortable playing there - ie the best in the league and so got bored and went for a big run forward to make the game less boring. He ironed this out at Southampton and so Liverpool were happy to pay the larger £50m fee that summer (obvs that transfer didn't go through that summer and fee increased). They signed the better version of VVD, not the version that they had to develop first. On the other hand, 'New £70m signing' has not scored in his first 3 games is the type of stuff that comes up very quickly. He has to be a world beater, instantly. He can't go on loan to develop over 18 or 24 months. He can't spend a few months making sub appearances and cup appearances. He needs to justify the outlay. He needs to contribute to winning games and trophies instantly. Players at the bigger clubs get written off as a waste of money very quickly.

The PL is very cut throat now, you have to be winning. There is no time or allowances given. Managers get sacked after a poor month. Transfers have to be made with this in mind. You need to win a trophy, avoid relegation, get top 4 or get sacked. In the era of multiple sportswashing clubs and other clubs spending over €600m in one season, everything needs to be instant. Liverpool signed 3 players in the summer - 2 are teenagers that they are trying to develop into better players. In addition to 2 other teenage midfielders playing regularly. They are 9th in the table. The league is leaving them behind as Arsenal, Man Utd etc spend €180m to €240m on established players. Why established? The need for instant success and break into the top 4. They're not signing players from down the divisions and trying to nurture them. They might have 1 project player, but that's the height of it. It's not 5,6,7 players at the same time. There's too much risk. An over-exuberant inexperienced full back can make a mistake at the end of a game, concede and drop points. Zinchenko or Casemiro don't do that.

Release clause was 100m Euro, they supposedly paid 120 to pay in installments 🙄.

More shenanigans if you ask me, but what do I know.......

In other news Dyche takes over at Everton great opportunity for him, they are sh1te but still only 3 points away from 14th,so not beyond hope by any means.

There's nothing grand about, complete corruption. Are they the only club with this dodgy scheming?

They paid 70 million euro to Shaktar for Mudryk for example. Shaktar got the 70 million in their bank account yet Chelsea are able to claim that they are paying the 70 million in installments over 8 years. Utter corruption and I'm told the FFP authorities are trying to close the loophole to prevent this corruption in future transfers.

Screaming corruption is abit dramatic. Amortisation is how assets are accounted for in the books of any business.

They are taking a risk. If the signings work out then they are golden. If not they are stuck paying big wages to a dud for nearly a decade.

Can you explain how Shaktar received 70 million euros up front for Mudryk but Chelsea in their financial presentation will say they only paid around 8 million euro IIRC for Mudryk for the current financial yearly returns can be described as anything other than corrupt? It's not being "dramatic" to describe something for what it is.

They have cynically exploited a loophole that the authorities are now trying to close.

You don't seem to be reading my post correctly or understanding the post. If Shakhtar got 70 million euros up front and Chelsea are claiming that they only paid 9 million for the player this year then there's obviously something up, you do understand that?

Yes. They are saying they paid 9 million but they actually paid the 70 million up front and then there's add ons after it. They are lying in order to get around the FFP guidelines.

No. I think this is where you are still confused. I repeat; In amortisation the seller gets paid in instalments, they'd be getting roughly 9 million a year over the next 8 years. However it appears Shakhtar got 70 million up front for Mudryk.