Lets get Ready to Rumble!

It seems that the media and many respected ITKs are claiming that a deal is done to finally take our Croatian rebel to Spain, and of course it is not before time.

I have to confess to being a little confused at both the media's assessment of the price Real are to pay and also the criticism of Daniel Levy for either going back on a (suggested) word of not selling for anything less than £40m and even selling himself and the club short by 'giving the player away for peanuts'. Perhaps we will have to ultimately sell for less than Chelsea offered last summer, but I was always led to believe that the suggested £40m quoted then was highly inflated and also subject to any number of add ons to make up the potential figure. For example, Chelsea would have to win the Champions league as if that was likely…

Levy may sometimes be guilty of holding onto a player for too long to the detriment of a managers needs, in mine and many others opinion, but the reality and by reputation, our Chairman isn't famed for his generosity or lack of ability to squeeze every last penny from any deal. Sometimes that works against us on the playing front, but on the balance sheet, you feel he gets it right far more often that he gets it wrong. Time will tell whether this is one of the minority of poor deals, or the figures are way off the mark, but those same papers that a couple of weeks ago claimed we had declined a £28m initial deal are now talking about our agreeing one for 23m. Am I missing something?

Personally I believe the deal will recoup around double what we paid for him four years ago, and that is probably the realistic figure at around £32m. When we initially discussed his leaving at the end of the season, I suggested that his par value was about the same as Eden Hazard and I believe that will be the case here. Our No14 is a very good player, but for me not a great one and if that fee is what we will receive, then I feel we have god good, if not great value for the player.

Whatever monies have been gained from Madrid's bulging coffers, will now surely open the flood-gates for our own spending. Will we now see the confirmation of Moutinho, Adebayor and several other players touted to join the AVB revolution? There is of course a sensibility that any deal looks better if the replacement is cheaper and of course at least on a par with the departed player. Would selling the Croatian playmaker for £25m look acceptable if we bought in the Portuguese playmaker in for £15m and got Adebayor as well? I have always tried to look at the overall picture when it comes to buying and selling and the real issue is what profit or loss you have when ALL deals are done. It isn't all about one individual sale.

You assume that any incoming player will be too late to face Newcastle, but with two weeks before the deadline day, you feel we have to get things moving or suffer as a consequence, at least in the short term. Will we see any announcement of our No14 leaving today or tomorrow? I somehow feel that we wont hear a thing until we have signed his replacement and probably another striker as well. That is not only good and sensible business, but also the best way to keep the fans happy and the clubs reputation in a positive light, which is vitally important for any club that wants to be considered as one of the big players...

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