Guehi ‘screwed’ by Palace and why Liverpool spending £400m is different to Chelsea and Man City

Crystal Palace have ‘screwed’ Marc Guehi and robbed him of the incredible chance to join Liverpool, whose spending is different to Chelsea and Man City’s.

The first post-window Mailbox was focused on Alexander Isak but this has something of everything.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

 

Nice guys finish 12th

The last minute collapse of Guehi’s move to Liverpool shows why players “acting professional” is for the birds. Their careers are so short, and he’s lost a crack at the title because a manager who won’t be there this time next year had a paddy.

You might not like what Isak did, but it gets results. And ultimately, this is a results business.

PS. I hope Liverpool go back for him in January.
Nick Glover, Scouser in Brum

 

All the Newcastle fans crying to the mailbox over honour and dignity should look at what’s happened to Guehi and realise why Isak (and Wissa) did what they did.

He was a total pro and the club have completely screwed his career for their benefit. If Leoni shows he’s ready now and Konate signs a new contract then guess what; he’s just missed his chance to move to us. Hopefully he still gets a move to a big club regardless in the summer because this episode has shown the sort of person he is and personally I think most managers would love someone with that character in the dressing room.

He’s done right by his club, have they given one ounce of a sh*t of what might be best for him or have they acted purely in their own self interest?

If Guehi breaks his leg on the last day of the season and is out for a year will palace give him a new contract? Next time you wonder why players act purely in their own self interest maybe it’s worth remembering that it’s because they’ve gone through youth, academy and senior level and always seen the clubs do exactly the same.

Football is a short career and these guys have seen from watching the club operate that they need to be selfish and take care of their own interests always.
Minty, LFC

 

A story in three Liverpool transfers

Inevitably as fans we see each transfer saga through the eyes of our own club’s interest (or at least what we perceive that club’s interest to be) and respond to players and other clubs accordingly, and this post about three Liverpool transfers this summer will do that but they each reveal different facets of the relative positions of fans, clubs and players in today’s game.

First, Trent Alexander Arnold, a player who came through the academy at Liverpool and won the lot, decided that he wanted a new challenge at the biggest club in the world and made plans for some time to make that ‘dream’ come true by running down his contract. The club shielded him from the consequences of this for as long as possible by enabling him to avoid media duties and by not speculating on his future.

When it became reasonably clear that he wasn’t going to sign a new deal, some/many Liverpool fans (though by no means all) expressed their anger at Trent online and, more importantly, in the stadium. They were roundly condemned for doing so, by loud voices in the media, by ex-players, fans of other clubs and even by Jurgen Klopp. Trent had served his time, given everything for his club, and fans should respect that. Most Liverpool players (though possibly not Virgil) felt the same. That he was leaving for nothing when he was a potentially £60-80m asset was by-the-by and fans should be grateful for what they got.

Second, Isak joins Newcastle for a big fee and makes good on his obvious but thus far unrealised potential to become one of the deadliest strikers in the league/world and helps the club to its first bit of silverware for at least 50 years. Having been promised a new contract, for which negotiations were suddenly halted by his club, he decides that he wants to take the next step in his career and move to a club that is challenging for the biggest prizes in the game. He communicates this to his manager at the end of the season who is sympathetic but the hierarchy at Newcastle, such as it is with the disruption they’d had at management level, refused to contemplate the move/stick their head in the sand.

By going on strike to force his employers’ hands, Isak becomes the villain of Newcastle fans, and derogatory chants about him are sung by said fans with no negative commentary. Isak is condemned by fans of Newcastle and other rival clubs, the media and many ex-players. Liverpool too are attacked for negotiating with Newcastle. Eventually the player gets his move for a British record transfer fee halfway between Liverpool’s first bid and Newcastle’s initial valuation.

Third, Mark Guehi, captain of Palace, begins to runs down his contract and makes it clear to his employers that he will not sign a new deal. Their owner makes it clear that, while they’d love to keep him, they would prefer a sale to losing him for free. Their ambitious manager, meanwhile, argues that losing Guehi would be a disaster. Guehi acts, everyone agrees, honourably in continuing to play for Palace and respectfully asking to leave. Move is arranged but, due to a combination of Palace failing to move fast enough to sign a replacement when they knew they needed one, and Glasner digging his heels in, the transfer falls through and Guehi is left stranded (at least temporarily).

What is the moral here? Well, it can be argued that each of the really interested parties (player, club and fans) on each occasion, on each side, acted rationally within the current system.

Liverpool and Newcastle fans were, for different reasons, right to be unhappy that their player wished to leave the club they loved, the players were right to want the moves they wanted and acted in the way they best felt would achieve their desired end given their relationship with their employer and the clubs acted in their best interests all along. How the media reacts to each situation is a story in itself and resonant of their own biases, need for clicks etc.

Perhaps most significant, however, is that it reveals what a strange system we have in this game for moving players from one club to another. The system is there to protect clubs, of course, and in many ways that a good thing (especially for fans!) as without transfer fees for developing players the game wouldn’t survive in its current format. It does seem very odd, however, that in a world where employees’ rights are protected, the very human desire to achieve your ambitions can be thwarted by your current employers in such a manner and which nearly always leaves you as the perceived bad guy subject to abuse which is condoned or condemned by the media and punditry depending on their particular whims.

I wonder for how long it will persist, especially for the really big clubs where transfer fees are a diminishing part of their revenue and a huge part of their expenditure.
Andrew (LFC), Cambridge  

 

Why Liverpool spending £400m is fine

The part fans of clubs like Chelsea and City have (seemingly) forgotten in the discourse around spending is how that money came about.

Chelsea initially backed by Abramovich who was able to put money into the club without any restrictions. It is well known that the source of his fortune was iffy at best. They’ve then circumnavigated loop hole after loop hole to sign players on 8 year contracts etc.

Man City, f**k, doesn’t even need to be written. Also. 115.

Liverpool hasn’t used oil or state money to this point of summer expenditure. We’ve not fudged marketing deals. We’ve not offered stupid contracts to get round the rules.

We built. We built slow and carefully. We focused on living within our means and not strayed from that philosophy.

Instead of investing heavily in the the squad (every season since FSG took over) we’ve taken moments to push funds into increasing Anfield and moving away from Melwood to Kirkby. These sit outside of PSR considerations and the benefits are huge Anfield was still 45,000 approx seats in 2013, then 54,000 in 2016 and finally It’s now 62,000. This helps massively with revenue.

Kirkby was a huge reason Wirtz chose Liverpool over Bayern, he was impressed with how modern the facilities were.

We’ve landed the Adidas contract which is a huge jump from the Nike deal.

We’ve kept our powder dry and have now in two seasons spent £459m but raised £344m in sales – £115m net. (No doubt these numbers don’t 100% line up with facts but it’s what the internet has told me.)

Selling players is an art form, and to echo F365, being a selling club isn’t an insult. Improve the team while letting players pursue a career elsewhere, sounds like a sensible model. All without stockpiling players like Chelsea have.

This is a sign of an organisation all being on the same page, with a clear vision – spend what you earn, spend if the player is too good to be missed, don’t spend if it’s unavoidable to get your plan A.

Factor in how well we did in the Champions League (a tonne of cash there) and winning the actual league (loads of cash there too).

Even now, I think we are what, 6th, in net spend transfers in the league for the last 5 years? Maybe 7th?

All the while, sticking to the PSR framework and staying compliant. Hard to argue we’ve done something wrong based on all of that.

Weirdly, City, United and Chelsea fans aren’t pointing fingers at Arsenal who are very good at spending money and dreadful at selling, so their net spend is bonkers. Arsenal under Wenger raged against the spending power of Chelsea and United and knew they couldn’t compete.

Do I love that we’ve spent £230m (and add ons) for 2 players? Yes and no.

Yes because of the quality we’ve added to a league winning team.

No because of the whining from fans from other clubs faux outrage at this.

Finally, Klopp said what Klopp said when he was Liverpool manager – his approach to management and spending are his choices. Klopp is no longer in charge, and Slot has a right to approach things however he wants without being told what Klopp said/did.

Grateful the window is closed, back to focusing on actual football and not the soap opera that circles it constantly.
Barry (Perth)

 

Around the spend

Once the Isak deal is confirmed, Liverpool will break the record for the highest amount of money spent in a transfer window at almost half a billion euros. Even if you want to use net spend (which Liverpool fans famously don’t like using), it’s still going to be around to 300 million. That Coutinho money is still going strong after all these years.

I have absolutely no problems with clubs spending money for success, aka buying the league. It’s just funny to see Liverpool fans try to spin this another way after seeing them lambast other clubs for doing the same. Seeing excuses like “we’re just replacing players that left”, so is literally every other club that did the saw thing in the past that you lambasted.

This transfer window has proved that people that complain about the big spending in football don’t really hate it like they claim. They just hate that it’s not their club that’s doing the spending.

I enjoyed the window and all its drama but I’m glad it’s finally over so we cab focus on the football again. This has the potential to be a very interesting season and I can’t wait to see how it goes.

Good luck to everyone and their clubs. Except Man U obviously. We need them to remain the banter club that we deserve.
Abdulazeez, Bristol.

 

Is it shut yet?

Some deadline day/window musings.  Have the league pampered to a SkyTV request to create a very false very engineered drama.  The window countdown to 7 o’clock and WINDOW SHUT!  moments are a joke.  It used to be 11 o’clock but the 4 or 5 hours of going to “outside XYZ’s stadium” with nothing happening and hordes of children behind the presenters back obviously required a change.

People were clearly turning off and so the 7 o’clock moment has been created.  Unless of course it hasn’t and teams still have hours to complete deals, a “deal sheet” is now a thing, something I’d never heard of until now.

As for the window itself, the Isak saga ended in exactly the way most of us knew it would, why this couldn’t have been done weeks ago is baffling. The same goes for Guehi, LFC playing hardball backfired on this one, by the same token Palace insisting on the deal only taking place if sufficient replacements were found but waiting until the last day to find them seems daft.

Sticking with Palace and they’re not the only ones  but their signing of Canvot was heralded with “he’s been on our radar for some time”, he’s 19, he has 14 games under his belt,  some radar that!

Isak and Wissa have been lambasted for their actions but have got their wish, good guy Marc Guehi hasn’t?

Time for a net spend comment, the media love to highlight “the most money ever spent “, but is it? Liverpool give Newcastle 125 mil but they give this to Leipzig (?) and Brentford, the media report 250 mil being spent! Newcastle haven’t spent a penny.

It’s all a pantomime but the best was saved for last. Wissa’s deal was apparently done with 30 seconds to spare.  He was later presented and stated how it was a privilege to be a no.9 for Newcastle and follow their historic no.9’s…..especially after CALLUM WILSON and Alan Shearer!
Howard (Joe Gomez for poty) Jones

 

A crystal ball can only go so far…

A happy new season to everyone. I’m back biting my nails already since the start of what should be an improved season for Arsenal. However, the (hyperbolic?) narrative – excluding Stewie’s rants – that surround a defeat at Anfield will still echo unless we win the next six games 5-0 (which include Man City and two Champions League ties). As soon as the final whistle blew, the Sky commentator was shouting ‘IS THIS A SEASON DEFINING RESULT!!?’.

As a self congratulatory aside, way back on June 20th I sent the following text to my season ticket holding mate, as I felt for the last ten years we’ve been two really good signings behind schedule in each window and needed to make up some ground:

My ideal transfer summer: OUT: Neto, Sterling, Zinny, Tierney, Partey, Jorginho, Vieira, Lokonga, Tavares, Jesus (altho no-one will take him crocked). IN: Kepa, Hato, Zubimendi, plus another midfielder, Williams/Rodrygo (doubtful so maybe Madueke), Sesko/Gyokeres (Watkins not one for the future), Rogers, plus another forward. Should be a lower total wage bill but size of squad not increased, which is a worry. Will be interesting to see how much of this actually occurs.

I was being greedy and dreaming a bit, yes, but I wish I’d put money on some of those coming in. Based on what has happened since, my mate now thinks I have a direct line to Andrea Berta. Early on I did get the feeling that in this window we would splash out more than normal. It wasn’t just a case of spend, it was the need to offload the injury prone, and balance to have direct high quality cover on the bench when, rather than if (not difficult to predict that one), we incurred more injuries.

I must admit I’d never heard of Mosquera but early signs are good in lieu of Hato.I was very happy when we did get Eze over the line, and I reckon Hincapie will be better than Kiwior, although I can’t knock what the latter did when called upon.

The three matches so far have unfortunately proved, regardless of how early in the season it is, that although Arteta now has a bigger gun and more ammunition he still needs to improve his aim. Apologies for the cannon related metaphor, please note though, much like his current coaching, I have avoided incorporating the word ‘shoot’.

I therefore have to disagree with the general theme of the ’16 Conclusions’ article, which even this early in the season has gone easy on Arsenal after the game. And I’m far from being a knee-jerk reactionary. This gallactico-lite Arsenal should now have the wherewithal and confidence to not only continue to keep it tight at the back but build and/or transition quicker to provide the improved attacking midfielders and forwards more chances, whether poor old Martinelli plays or not. If they don’t, it makes it harder for everyone to get that ball in the box, and ideally in the net. Set pieces should be a bonus, not relied upon. Nwaneri looked so much better than Odegaard against Leeds, more penetrative, more dangerous. Then dropped for Merino because we chose damage limitation as our strategy.

It’s been said already but too many times on Sunday it looked like we were happy with not letting a goal in rather than trying to score one. Stop slowing the bloody play down! Stop looking to pass backwards before you think about going forwards. We now have the means to punish teams, be they league champions or relegation fodder, to put us out of sight in a match and then relax and go back to the horseshoe of death. I’ve never been a believer of sitting on a lead of a single goal, let alone holding on when level, too much can go wrong – VAR anyone? – to wipe that out however well you are playing.

Grow some – Puma this season – balls Mikel, before Signore Berta and the Kroenkes give up on providing you the talent to take things further. The squad now looks mighty fine. The football being played doesn’t. Yet.
TyA, Essex (I will leave nothing in these brackets until we’re ten games in)

 

If Arsenal had Haaland…

Dear F365

Izzy and Rob A argued that Arsenal’s task at Anfield was made harder by having four first teamers out. I don’t dispute that. It was a close game decided by a worldy which, for all Szoboszlai’s skill, is only going in one in ten at best. Arsenal could easily have won if the chips had fallen differently.

But saying that Arsenal would’ve had a better chance if they’d had everyone fit is not much different to saying they’d have had a better chance if they had Haaland up front and Vinicius Junior on the wing.

Arsenal’s poor injury record is so long standing and consistent that it can no longer be assigned to bad luck. It must be one or all of poor player recruitment, poor load management in training or games, and/or an inadequate medical department. So yes, probably if they had a more effective approach to injury prevention, they’d be more successful, but I don’t see that as granting them any moral victory points.
Tom, LFC

 

When one fired, and one fired blanks

Provided Isak’s transfer goes through, Liverpool’s twin record-signings this window remind me of a piece of business we had ages ago when we’d signed a pony-tailed battering ram alongside a South American from Ajax with a penchant for nibbling the opposition.  Both those attackers were meant to fire us to glory but despite the record outlays at the time, only one panned out opposite perception and expectation, and glory never arrived.

History has a funny way of repeating itself and it’s possible the same could happen with our business just done.  From here, I see a proven Swede that could hit the ground running (once fitness is back in order) and a playmaker from the Bundesliga who flatters to deceive and can already be classed as a project player in need of much instruction, much work in the weight room, just about much of everything maybe.

I’m reminded how snap and mistakenly harsh I was on Gravenberch when he’d first joined, so perhaps Wirtz will quickly begin a transformation into the seminal player we believe him to be after the international break.  Serve me the crow, I do hope so.
Eric, Los Angeles  CA  (Also hoping the Guehi deal doesn’t collapse as being reported as I go to send this…)

READ MORE: Liverpool record transfer window ‘unthinkable’ and Manchester United have already shown it can fail

 

The best transfer window wasn’t a window

No Doubt there will be a lot of debate about the bestest transfer window ever for any club.

I just wanted to remind everybody that the best ever transfer window wasn’t a summer window, or even window, but on the 26th of November 1992, Sir Alex bought one Eric Cantona from Leeds, during a call that Leeds made to Manchester United for a different player. That is the most successful transfer activity of all time.

Thank you
Ved Sen (MUFC)

 

Silver Isak lining

Dear Ed,

Last thing you want is another Isak email, but one big positive with him gone is we can finally use the Abba chant for Krafth. All together now, after me:

“🎼”Gimme gimme gimme a defender from Sweden. Always gives his best and keeps attackers at bay” 🎼
G.EN.  NUFC (Enjoying the Grealish toffee revolution)

 

The Emi award

Please please please place Emi Martinez as the biggest loser of the transfer window.

Angled for a move to United before the end of last season, contributed to us not getting Champions League, from reports had been speaking to United in June and July, tried force a move and all they Unied offered was loan at the start of August. He sat waiting for a move today (Monday) and United were never there. What an Earnshaw.
Paul

READ NEXT: Emi Martinez used to be Aston Villa’s d*ckhead but is now just a d*ckhead