Summer Silly Season Transfer Thread 2024

[jayffc]

Did we just take a week to haggle £1m? Last week it was quoted the deal was £28m + £7m

Much as I know ya joking and generally pretty reasonable here ... and of course aware we may have spent time negotiating Emiles personal terms AND the structure of the deal...I do find it funny more generally when people talk about millions in footy like it's nothing and love to spend clubs millions in footy for the sake of it (perhaps a result of us all playing too many football games ha). "in football 5m is nothing" I never really get this stance...even when ya rich - a million quid is a million quid when it's part of balancing a wider budget - specifically in the age of PSR and FFP saving £1m here - £5m there, £3 million on another - if you do it on every transfer and ya bringing in 6+ players it all adds up to potentially another player outright - or more funds to tip over another deal with higher offer or higher wages you can pay for quality players. £1m is almost 18k pw in wages for a year. Thats over half of Wilsons yearly wage.

[Count Flapula]

This post on SSN suggests we haven't even agreed a fee.

Can't be both - what is it?

https://www.twitter.com/konnor_ffc/status/1817949822667604327/photo/1

?

It doesnt say anywhere on there the fee hasn't been agreed: it quotes te fee and says agreement in principle has been reached, so the fee is one of the things has has been agreed by all accounts coming out.

The details that need to be finalised could be amount ot be paid up front / how many installments etc. Nothing there indicates the fee hasn't been agreed.

Initial £27m plus add ons is a good deal for someone of his calibre.

Ref his injuries, yes it's a concern but seems most his time out was due to his recurring groin issues, which haven't resurfaced since the surgery in September 2022/returned to training Jan 2023. Yes he was out for 40 days with a knee injury last season but unrelated so am less concerned than I was when I initially saw his injury record.

[FFC1987]

Did we just take a week to haggle £1m? Last week it was quoted the deal was £28m + £7m

Much as I know ya joking and generally pretty reasonable here ... and of course aware we may have spent time negotiating Emiles personal terms AND the structure of the deal...I do find it funny more generally when people talk about millions in footy like it's nothing and love to spend clubs millions in footy for the sake of it (perhaps a result of us all playing too many football games ha). "in football 5m is nothing" I never really get this stance...even when ya rich - a million quid is a million quid when it's part of balancing a wider budget - specifically in the age of PSR and FFP saving £1m here - £5m there, £3 million on another - if you do it on every transfer and ya bringing in 6+ players it all adds up to potentially another player outright - or more funds to tip over another deal with higher offer or higher wages you can pay for quality players. £1m is almost 18k pw in wages for a year. Thats over half of Wilsons yearly wage.

I mean, when talking about the difference between £1m and £3m....I always think of this quote '"We could charge more than £104. Let's say we charged £300. We'd get £2m more in income, but what's £2m to us? 🗣 "In a transfer discussion you argue about that sum for five minutes."' Admittedly this is about charging fan tickets, but the points the same in regards to how small those amounts are. It really is a drop in the ocean when talking about transfers. So its not really macroeconomically the same as say, covering wages.

[jayffc]

Done
https://twitter.com/skysports_sheth/status/1817946940828532888

Sooooo glad we didn't just fold and pay the £35m sum being quoted earlier in the window

This saga started with reports saying Arsenal wanted 40m+ earlier in the window

Ended up £27m potentially rising to £34 based on add ons

So 13m less than first levels bounded about up front. If he does well and hits all add on triggers - £6m less than what was first rumoured as being wanted by arsenal

Good thing all in all

Cheer up Angus 😉

[demeant0r]

Did we just take a week to haggle £1m? Last week it was quoted the deal was £28m + £7m

Of course it must be Fulham's fault for any delay.

Did we just take a week to haggle £1m? Last week it was quoted the deal was £28m + £7m

Much as I know ya joking and generally pretty reasonable here ... and of course aware we may have spent time negotiating Emiles personal terms AND the structure of the deal...I do find it funny more generally when people talk about millions in footy like it's nothing and love to spend clubs millions in footy for the sake of it (perhaps a result of us all playing too many football games ha). "in football 5m is nothing" I never really get this stance...even when ya rich - a million quid is a million quid when it's part of balancing a wider budget - specifically in the age of PSR and FFP saving £1m here - £5m there, £3 million on another - if you do it on every transfer and ya bringing in 6+ players it all adds up to potentially another player outright - or more funds to tip over another deal with higher offer or higher wages you can pay for quality players. £1m is almost 18k pw in wages for a year. Thats over half of Wilsons yearly wage.

Yeah, I was of course joking. It doesn't materially matter much if we signed him last week vs this week as he'll still be going to Portugal for the training camp. So a million saved is a million we can put into Andre.

[jayffc]

Did we just take a week to haggle £1m? Last week it was quoted the deal was £28m + £7m

Much as I know ya joking and generally pretty reasonable here ... and of course aware we may have spent time negotiating Emiles personal terms AND the structure of the deal...I do find it funny more generally when people talk about millions in footy like it's nothing and love to spend clubs millions in footy for the sake of it (perhaps a result of us all playing too many football games ha). "in football 5m is nothing" I never really get this stance...even when ya rich - a million quid is a million quid when it's part of balancing a wider budget - specifically in the age of PSR and FFP saving £1m here - £5m there, £3 million on another - if you do it on every transfer and ya bringing in 6+ players it all adds up to potentially another player outright - or more funds to tip over another deal with higher offer or higher wages you can pay for quality players. £1m is almost 18k pw in wages for a year. Thats over half of Wilsons yearly wage.

I mean, when talking about the difference between £1m and £3m....I always think of this quote '"We could charge more than £104. Let's say we charged £300. We'd get £2m more in income, but what's £2m to us? 🗣 "In a transfer discussion you argue about that sum for five minutes."' Admittedly this is about charging fan tickets, but the points the same in regards to how small those amounts are. It really is a drop in the ocean when talking about transfers. So its not really macroeconomically the same as say, covering wages.

Id imagine its easier to say that when ya run Bayern Munich, 6th richest club in the world with champs league footy etc 😅 this is already a club record transfer for us as it is

Also wasnt dealing with the same ffp issues

And his ticket comment indeed was about not being worth ripping off fans that badly and how german clubs differ to English ones in that regard, and fair enough there.

As mentioned its the accumulative effect of saving each million on multiple transfers that can contribute to wider success long term and or ffp compliance etc

[ffc73]

Announced at same time as Arsenal sign Califiora. Likely Arsenal accountants counting one in & one out to balance books, or at least try to as prices are relatively similar.

[bencher]

Club record transfer. Always makes me nervous. Really hope this works out.

[Arthur]

At least ESR's coming to us and not Crystal Palace. One less thing to grumble about.

[SerbianLad]

Pretty much everyone reporting now this is a done deal. Extremelly happy with this. Out of all rumours we've had in the past year or two, this is the one that excited me the most from the beggining.

I am aware of his injury issues, but I rate him really really highly. I remember that one sequence of games where he was by far Arsenal's best player and was almost unplayable. He pretty much single-handedly saved Arteta's job at Arsenal. I'm sure he can still become a world-class player.

I hope we keep Andreas too, and ESR plays on the left. With ESR, Iwobi, Traore, Wilson and Sess, we now have great options on the wing. I'd still try to resign Willian if he's interested.

Now let's hope a rcb is coming in shortly, as well as a number 6/8. After that, anything else would be a nice bonus, but we'd more or less be ready for next season.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Relax, it will all come out in the wash .
I do not want to hear of you having sleepless nights worrying about it, it's only football.
Personally i am very pleased if all goes well that we have acquired both Emile 🤞 and Sess for more than one reason.

So i would like to propose a toast as i know you are all sitting in your back gardens enjoying the sunny weather and topping up your tans whilst drinking a large pint of beer 🍺.
So raise you pints to drink to Fulham Football Club and all who sail in her.

[FFC1987]

Did we just take a week to haggle £1m? Last week it was quoted the deal was £28m + £7m

Much as I know ya joking and generally pretty reasonable here ... and of course aware we may have spent time negotiating Emiles personal terms AND the structure of the deal...I do find it funny more generally when people talk about millions in footy like it's nothing and love to spend clubs millions in footy for the sake of it (perhaps a result of us all playing too many football games ha). "in football 5m is nothing" I never really get this stance...even when ya rich - a million quid is a million quid when it's part of balancing a wider budget - specifically in the age of PSR and FFP saving £1m here - £5m there, £3 million on another - if you do it on every transfer and ya bringing in 6+ players it all adds up to potentially another player outright - or more funds to tip over another deal with higher offer or higher wages you can pay for quality players. £1m is almost 18k pw in wages for a year. Thats over half of Wilsons yearly wage.

I mean, when talking about the difference between £1m and £3m....I always think of this quote '"We could charge more than £104. Let's say we charged £300. We'd get £2m more in income, but what's £2m to us? 🗣 "In a transfer discussion you argue about that sum for five minutes."' Admittedly this is about charging fan tickets, but the points the same in regards to how small those amounts are. It really is a drop in the ocean when talking about transfers. So its not really macroeconomically the same as say, covering wages.

Id imagine its easier to say that when ya run Bayern Munich, 6th richest club in the world with champs league footy etc 😅 this is already a club record transfer for us as it is

Also wasnt dealing with the same ffp issues

And his ticket comment indeed was about not being worth ripping off fans that badly and how german clubs differ to English ones in that regard, and fair enough there.

As mentioned its the accumulative effect of saving each million on multiple transfers that can contribute to wider success long term and or ffp compliance etc

I mean, we have a super wealthy owner, credited now in the best league in the world, so I don;t think its a stretch to say the odd extra million here or there will actually hurt us.....Personally think pretending that it is isn't really reality of the footballing world. Now, I'm not suggesting creating a culture of overpaying isn't really an issue.....but if we held off transfers trying to save the odd million here and there, which potentially also meant we missed out on transfers is a much bigger issue than saving a poultry sum of Wilsons wages (which are on an entirely different part of the balance sheet, so not how it works financially.).

Point really is, the footballing world doesn't live on saving the odd million in transfers. Now, you pointed out its gone from £40m,to £27m plus add ons which is a completely different ball game.

[jayffc]

Relax, it will all come out in the wash .
I do not want to hear of you having sleepless nights worrying about it, it's only football.
Personally i am very pleased if all goes well that we have acquired both Emile 🤞 and Sess for more than one reason.

So i would like to propose a toast as i know you are all sitting in your back gardens enjoying the sunny weather and topping up your tans whilst drinking a large pint of beer 🍺.
So raise you pints to drink to Fulham Football Club and all who sail in her.

Here here

Esr and sess would be a welcome injection of youth and potential as it is....

Now, bbq time!!

[Bal_13]

It's the same every year. Frustration piled on frustration as we try to squeeze the last drop out of the deal. I know we need to get the best deals possible but sometimes you're better off just coughing up.

I know it's frustrating but the counter to this would be the amazing deals we got over the last few years for Leno (£3mill rising to £8mill), Robinson, Tosin (both £1.5mill) etc.

Sometimes we haggle hard over players and (much less often) we pay the asking price pretty quick, as with the £17.6mill price we paid for Palhinha a few years back.

I think the reality is doing the former helps us do the latter and working hard on driving down the Andre deal in reality probably helps us pay the slightly inflated ESR deal etc. or meet our other targets

Robinson was bought from Wigan, who at the time didnt have much of an economy and played in League one (?). Dont think we squeeze much of the prize on him anyway.

Tosin was bought more or less straight from Citys Academy so he was never going to cost much.

So those two examples arent probably a good example of our hard bargain strategy

Leno was dragged on if I remember correctly. Dont know how much in the end we actually saved, maybe a mil or two? Either way, dont think anyone would have blaimed the club if Leno in the end would have cost us a couple of mil more considering how important hes been.

I disagree on Tosin. He signed with us on October 5th which was transfer deadline day of that year.

Seeing the prices City usually get for Academy graduates I think we must have drove that bargain pretty hard to get him for £1.5mill when he had already gained decent Champ experience the season before for Blackburn.

Robinson I can see your point but we clearly got a good deal out of the situation.

[General]

Just to address people's concerns about ESR's injury record.

He's actually not been injured that much over the last two seasons, he's just not been starting/playing for whatever reason.

He's been in matchday squads and on the bench a lot though.

[junior white]

On the Sky ticker news update they say they expect us to bid again for McTominay, I actually do not mind that. If we got Andre as DM and McTominay a the box to box (8 i guess in modern day talk) it wouldn't be a bad midfield at all. I suspect it is one or the other though

[junior white]

Just to address people's concerns about ESR's injury record.

He's actually not been injured that much over the last two seasons, he's just not been starting/playing for whatever reason.

He's been in matchday squads and on the bench a lot though.

I thought I would add to this post with the injury record shown on Transfermarkt

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/emile-smith-rowe/verletzungen/spieler/392765

[SG]

Did we just take a week to haggle £1m? Last week it was quoted the deal was £28m + £7m

Of course it must be Fulham's fault for any delay.

I wonder if some of the readers on this board have ever conducted a multi million pound negotiation. £1m shaved off is a lot of money however you look at it. Many of us haven't got more than a few quid but seem happy to spend millions of someone else's money

[Fulham 442]

Any news regarding a CB?...

[General]

A nice article about ESR in Sky Sports..

https://www.twitter.com/nicholaspwright/status/1817965238073049572