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TheGunnShow

Should we go for Diego Costa on a free...?

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Afternoon all,

The title's a bit provocative and misleading - yes, Costa is on a free as he's just terminated his contract with Athletico Madrid, but it raises a question I wanted to ask.

We know our model is fundamentally about encouraging youth, in giving them their head and developing to become stars with us, either to sell for a nice fat profit, or for us to climb up on their backs by getting gradually better players to come along. At the same time, we're also a little bit hamstrung in terms of being financially able to compete as a more self-sustaining club.

On some occasions in here, I've noticed comments that "we need a little more proven PL quality" to give us greater depth at that level. After our last season in the Premiership, I don't think that's up for much dispute. So, there are often a fair number of free transfers going around, and let's face it, we pulled this off with Pukki and Krul already so it's not exactly new territory. However, what I would ask is this:

1. Would this be a route you could consider as a fan?

2. To what extent can an experienced player, out of contract, be a useful supplement to our philosophy as opposed to being its polar opposite? By that, I'm thinking - could someone like Costa be useful to bring along a young talent like Idah or Omotoye? (sure, we've already got Pukki, but let's apply this notion everywhere across the pitch - could make the same argument for Krul bringing along Oxborough or Barden).

3. How many of such older heads on frees could our team reasonably "take" before our philosophy starts looking compromised?

Edited by TheGunnShow

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He'd costa lot more than we'd be prepared to pay and.............. he'd pick up too many cards in this league with refs that flash yellows and reds for just breathing on another player 🤨

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31 minutes ago, Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man said:

I assume this thread is talking about big-name free agents in general rather than Costa specifically?

Exactly, Costa was simply brought up as an example simply as he'd just become available on a free.

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Big name players almost always demand big name wages, and most who've done very well at PL level are likely to be asking for at least 60-100k a week (or more in cases like Costa for example), which would destroy our wage structure, disrupt unity and also not really fit in with our current approach.

IF a deal could be done for a player to accept sensible wages in-line with our top earners AND they can still offer ability as well as experience, then great, but the likely options will either be over-priced or over-the-hill...

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We won’t ever sign any of these type of players, ever. 
 

We won’t sign Michael Owen on a “pay as you play” contract, or Mario Ballotelli because he’s desperate to play football or anyone like that ever, ever. 

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I can us signing top quality players (i.e. ex internationals) but they need to fit into the wage structure and still have a good attitude.  Krul is a great example.  The issue with strikers is that they are so valuable that they will rarely be affordable.  Does anyone know how much Brighton are paying Welbeck?

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53 minutes ago, The Real Buh said:

We won’t ever sign any of these type of players, ever. 
 

We won’t sign Michael Owen on a “pay as you play” contract, or Mario Ballotelli because he’s desperate to play football or anyone like that ever, ever. 

Balotelli is well within our budget these days, he is playing at the bottom of Serie B

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I’d imagine Covid has totally changed the shape of things for those whose contracts are expiring. Most if not all clubs have significant financial losses due to the current climate so the power players had during free transfer negotiations is presumably diminished.

Highly sought after players will still be fine but I’d imagine there will be a few experienced pro’s nervously wondering about their future come summer. Usually I’d say it’s a pond we shouldn’t be fishing in, but given the circumstances I imagine there may be deals that make sense this summer.

Edited by Monty13

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yes, grab the opportunity

don't miss out

as the old saying has

'never let a dei go by"

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5 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Yes, we should. After all we would have no issues paying him £265,000 a week

I wonder what this forum would be like if people actually read posts instead of making themselves look illiterate. 

5 hours ago, TheGunnShow said:

The title's a bit provocative and misleading

To answer the OP, I think that a club should always be pragmatic and consider all options (not that Costa is a realistic one, but its a good point).

But I'm not really a fan of going up and then just signing a bunch of old journeymen, didn't QPR try that with Rio Ferdinand, Bosingwa etc? Ivanisovic a ridiculous signing by West Brom. 

I suppose that year we signed Simon Charlton and Thomas Helveg the only time we've really done this, we did sign Yobo as an emergency signing (that's pragmatism).

I more a fan of going up and then trying to strengthen by signing a few of the best players that didn't win promotion from the Championship, like when we signed Howson, Snodgrass, etc. A more successful strategy for us historically? 

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