Buendia to Arsenal for reported £40m

[Jim Smith 2,349]

What I will also say is if he’s sold then I expect us to fully push the boat out in the transfer market this summer. Signing one or two players for a few million and banking the rest will not cut it. 

[Fr. Chewy Louie 137]

1 minute ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

Arsenal want Emi as a 10, there is even talk he could be made into an 8 like Santi Cazorla was - there is no doubting Arsenal are interested in him, and have been for a while, so where there think to play him is probably irrelevant at the moment.

I

Irrelevant to the transfer maybe, but interesting as we don't play him as a 10 (not ever as far as I can remember), and not sure it suits him.

[TheGunnShow 6,034]

3 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

Arsenal want Emi as a 10, there is even talk he could be made into an 8 like Santi Cazorla was - there is no doubting Arsenal are interested in him, and have been for a while, so where there think to play him is probably irrelevant at the moment.

I

Totally agree with Buendia having the potential to end up a number 8 or a box-to-box player with a playmaking focus, I might even have said similar myself in previous threads. However, he's not proven in that position in the Premier. If Arsenal, who are trying to get back into European football, are lashing that sort of cash I wonder if they'd want a player already proven there rather than one who looks like he could, based on a season in the Premiership at a struggling team but in a slightly different position.

Even £35 million is a lot to bet on that sort of move.

Edited June 4, 2021 by TheGunnShow

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,629]

Just now, Fr. Chewy Louie said:

Irrelevant to the transfer maybe, but interesting as we don't play him as a 10 (not ever as far as I can remember), and not sure it suits him.

His notional position is on the right wing, but looking at his heat map he does nearly all his work in the centre of the pitch. Farke doesn't really use wingers in his current system so I'd call Emi, Todd and Dowell all 10s to be honest.

[Midlands Yellow 4,114]

Just now, Jim Smith said:

Firstly it’s a lot more likely that replacements will be adequate when bringing them in at championship level. Secondly it took a while for Emi to integrate and reach the level that saw him start to stand out and it’s really only been in his third season he has shown the sort of composure and consistency that we have come to love.

To parachute in a cheaper replacement at premier league level and expect them to make an immediate impact is a big ask.

i accept this is happening but I am never going to like it and I resent the fact that as fans we seem to just have to shrug our shoulders and accept it. 

Accept it and defend it every time it happens. We are in the top league, have sold 7/8 players for an average of over £12 million (at least) in the last few years plus collected Sky money and yet still plead poverty. Now we can add the pandemic to the Naismith purchase and justify our stance to do everything on the cheap. 

[Jim Smith 2,349]

4 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

Accept it and defend it every time it happens. We are in the top league, have sold 7/8 players for an average of over £12 million (at least) in the last few years plus collected Sky money and yet still plead poverty. Now we can add the pandemic to the Naismith purchase and justify our stance to do everything on the cheap. 

Plus don’t leave out the new ones “we promised him he could go if he gave us another year” and “we can’t stand in the way of him furthering his career as it damages our model.”

endless reasons why we always have to sell. Never any mention of actually trying to achieve something meaningful on the pitch again at the top level. 

[Canary Wundaboy 1,360]

39 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Yeah like when we sold Maddison and bought Buendia.

Horrible decision.

How many potential Emis are out there? If they are, why haven't we picked them up already?

[Midlands Yellow 4,114]

9 minutes ago, Terminally Yellow said:

1. If you're panicking about football you really need to get a grip. It's a sport. Not the end of the world.

2. The fact of the matter is we will not be talking about Emi at all in a year if he's sold and the money is used to buy 3 or 4 who ease us to mid table safety. 

3. No player is irreplaceable. How a player is replaced is as important as the deal struck. We've seen that time and time again. 

Seriously? You think Norwich will reinvest all the monies from Emi and anyone else who leaves. Norwich have to nearly double their last woeful points tally in the Premier league and selling one or all three gems will make it nigh on impossible. 

[Terminally Yellow 2,485]

1 minute ago, Midlands Yellow said:

Accept it and defend it every time it happens. We are in the top league, have sold 7/8 players for an average of over £12 million (at least) in the last few years plus collected Sky money and yet still plead poverty. Now we can add the pandemic to the Naismith purchase and justify our stance to do everything on the cheap. 

Again, so narrow minded.

It's not a choice to do things "on the cheap". I drive a Renault. I'd love to drive an Aston Martin. I don't because I can't afford it. 

It's living within our means.

It's ridiculous that fans like you and Jim would rather risk our continued existence for what? So we can be a premier league side?

Continued success should be second as a priority to long term stability.

[Fr. Chewy Louie 137]

6 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

His notional position is on the right wing, but looking at his heat map he does nearly all his work in the centre of the pitch. Farke doesn't really use wingers in his current system so I'd call Emi, Todd and Dowell all 10s to be honest.

Yeah he does feature centrally a lot, but my mental picture is of him driving into that central space from wider positions rather than picking the ball up there. I may be wrong though. Obviously those three have a pretty flexible brief, but my expectation of a true 10 is that they would consistently occupy that space behind the striker as a focal point for attacks.

[TheGunnShow 6,034]

2 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

Seriously? You think Norwich will reinvest all the monies from Emi and anyone else who leaves. Norwich have to nearly double their last woeful points tally in the Premier league and selling one or all three gems will make it nigh on impossible. 

And a considerable part of that was due to losing three centre-halves with long-term injuries with the resulting imbalance throughout the team that such runs cause. Indeed, that was a key reason why Liverpool's title defence this year was so abject for long periods.

[Midlands Yellow 4,114]

Just now, Terminally Yellow said:

Again, so narrow minded.

It's not a choice to do things "on the cheap". I drive a Renault. I'd love to drive an Aston Martin. I don't because I can't afford it. 

It's living within our means.

It's ridiculous that fans like you and Jim would rather risk our continued existence for what? So we can be a premier league side?

Continued success should be second as a priority to long term stability.

Have a short rethink on the funds that have come into this club just in the last 5 seasons. We are not slugging it out in league one, I think we should and could be driving a decent Astra by now. 

[Jim Smith 2,349]

Just now, Terminally Yellow said:

Again, so narrow minded.

It's not a choice to do things "on the cheap". I drive a Renault. I'd love to drive an Aston Martin. I don't because I can't afford it. 

It's living within our means.

It's ridiculous that fans like you and Jim would rather risk our continued existence for what? So we can be a premier league side?

Continued success should be second as a priority to long term stability.

I don’t want to risk our continued existence.

its a choice that our owners have made and have imposed on us. We as fans have not been given any choice or say in this. 
 

im sorry I don’t agree with your last sentence. It’s a balance but placing long term stability at the expense of ever winning anything is not what professional sport is about and will eventually backfire. Ultimately the best way (indeed if you are “self” (ie fan and tv money) funding the only way really) to long term stability is continued success on the pitch.

[TheGunnShow 6,034]

It's been "imposed" on us because we nearly went into administration twice in the last fifteen years through following a strategy of spending more and more - either on transfers or on player wages.

We were nearly in administration and arguably a Maddison sale away from really being in there. We still have to run a club, pay wages, bonuses, signing-on fees, loan fees, the odd transfer fee etc., and we've also spent a considerable amount on refurbishing the training facilities to help coach/train our team better and also be a greater pulling point for potential new talent. We had something of a windfall for coming last in the Premier League plus parachute payments, as well as the sales of Godfrey and Lewis, but as Webber said, that money does not come in all at once, and we'll have at least a season of such a end-of-season bonus again plus parachute payments. We're still hardly rich, and in cashflow terms, certainly not.

But if you'd told me before Farke joined the club that we'd have two promotion campaigns, having cobbled together teams with a strong emphasis on developing our own and playing some of the best stuff seen at Carrow Road in years, whilst making ourselves more financially prudent and responsible in the process, I'd have absolutely torn your hand off in gratitude.

[Canary Wundaboy 1,360]

1 minute ago, TheGunnShow said:

But if you'd told me before Farke joined the club that we'd have two promotion campaigns, having cobbled together teams with a strong emphasis on developing our own and playing some of the best stuff seen at Carrow Road in years, whilst making ourselves more financially prudent and responsible in the process, I'd have absolutely torn your hand off in gratitude.

I totally agree with that, 100%, but if that is the ceiling under our current ownership, there's a limit to how long it can be sustained for. We should be aiming to spend several seasons in the top flight, selling Emi doesn't further that cause.

[Terminally Yellow 2,485]

10 minutes ago, Jim Smith said:

I don’t want to risk our continued existence.

its a choice that our owners have made and have imposed on us. We as fans have not been given any choice or say in this. 

im sorry I don’t agree with your last sentence. It’s a balance but placing long term stability at the expense of ever winning anything is not what professional sport is about and will eventually backfire. Ultimately the best way (indeed if you are “self” (ie fan and tv money) funding the only way really) to long term stability is continued success on the pitch.

The first and last paragraphs are so contradictory, I'm suspicious you're now on a wind up.

[TheGunnShow 6,034]

5 minutes ago, Canary Wundaboy said:

I totally agree with that, 100%, but if that is the ceiling under our current ownership, there's a limit to how long it can be sustained for. We should be aiming to spend several seasons in the top flight, selling Emi doesn't further that cause.

Sorta agree, but would always say that with this model in particular, there is always an element of going backwards to go forwards.

[Jim Smith 2,349]

4 minutes ago, Terminally Yellow said:

The first and last paragraphs are so contradictory, I'm suspicious you're now on a wind up.

No they aren’t. There is a middle ground. 
 

The issue with Naismith snd Klose (and Jarvis as well really) was that they were poor signings compounded by McNally uncharacteristically losing the plot and agreeing to contracts he would not normally agree to, possibly due to desperation because we were doing it in January when we should have strengthened in the summer. 

[Jim Smith 2,349]

3 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Sorta agree, but would always say that with this model in particular, there is always an element of going backwards to go forwards.

We went backwards though. This is supposed to be the going forwards element. 

[TheGunnShow 6,034]

Just now, Jim Smith said:

We went backwards though. This is supposed to be the going forwards element. 

We just won the Championship with a record number of points for our club. That's not going backwards. Furthermore, we won it with a far stronger defensive record than two years ago and a more evolved style of football with better in-game management, unlike many of the heart-in-mouth madcap matches we had back then. We sold two of our crown jewels and replaced them with arguably better players (I'll accept any argument that Godfrey's got the potential to be world-class, but by definition, he's a fair old way to go yet and Gibson is a much more seasoned pro further along that train, and just what we needed in a position we needed it in). And I'd say getting Giannoulis in for around half the price we sold Lewis for is going to be a tremendously underrated piece of business.

Emi's sale would be a step backwards, depending on what new players come in and how well they perform / gel with the team.

[Icecream Snow 762]

We'll see. Webber's said to judge the strength of the squad at the end of the transfer window, and I think he's earned the right for some patience. If the squad isn't good enough at the end of the window, then you can all raise your burning torches and pitchforks.

Realistically we've got a £25m-30m budget for transfers, and Webber wants to grow that by selling a player or two. He's already said he expects us to break our transfer record and that we're targetting some top quality players.

[Alex Moss 2,165]

2 minutes ago, Icecream Snow said:

We'll see. Webber's said to judge the strength of the squad at the end of the transfer window, and I think he's earned the right for some patience. If the squad isn't good enough at the end of the window, then you can all raise your burning torches and pitchforks.

Realistically we've got a £25m-30m budget for transfers, and Webber wants to grow that by selling a player or two. He's already said he expects us to break our transfer record and that we're targetting some top quality players.

Well said Icecream, you are absolutely correct 👍

[TheGunnShow 6,034]

Just now, Alex Moss said:

Well said Icecream, you are absolutely correct 👍

There's another thing getting missed - or at least I don't think any of us have mentioned it yet. Let's assume we get that AC Milan player, Krunic for a theoretical fee of £15million (just pulling a figure out of thin air) and he turns out to be the balanced central/attacking midfielder we need. If we agree that, we can be a little more relaxed in a Buendia negotiation as AC Milan wouldn't know we made that sale and know we have lots of money and can have us over a barrel in negotiations.

[Upo 91]

23 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

...
But if you'd told me before Farke joined the club that we'd have two promotion campaigns, having cobbled together teams with a strong emphasis on developing our own and playing some of the best stuff seen at Carrow Road in years, whilst making ourselves more financially prudent and responsible in the process, I'd have absolutely torn your hand off in gratitude.

 

Everything Gunn said. There is a growth path available for "permanent" PL status, but it takes investment. And investment takes time to bear fruit.

[Jim Smith 2,349]

31 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

It's been "imposed" on us because we nearly went into administration twice in the last fifteen years through following a strategy of spending more and more - either on transfers or on player wages.

We were nearly in administration and arguably a Maddison sale away from really being in there. We still have to run a club, pay wages, bonuses, signing-on fees, loan fees, the odd transfer fee etc., and we've also spent a considerable amount on refurbishing the training facilities to help coach/train our team better and also be a greater pulling point for potential new talent. We had something of a windfall for coming last in the Premier League plus parachute payments, as well as the sales of Godfrey and Lewis, but as Webber said, that money does not come in all at once, and we'll have at least a season of such a end-of-season bonus again plus parachute payments. We're still hardly rich, and in cashflow terms, certainly not.

But if you'd told me before Farke joined the club that we'd have two promotion campaigns, having cobbled together teams with a strong emphasis on developing our own and playing some of the best stuff seen at Carrow Road in years, whilst making ourselves more financially prudent and responsible in the process, I'd have absolutely torn your hand off in gratitude.

It’s been imposed on us so the owners can keep control of the club without putting in any significant further funds. 

[TheGunnShow 6,034]

And it worked well. Two Championship wins and a far better financial position (although not as wealthy as some think).

[jaberry2 556]

Like anything there needs to be a level of risk, measured risk. In my view its time for the club to gamble a little more than what has happened previously and by that I dont mean risking our financial future, just going for a it a little more than previous years and trying to break the cycle of being a named yo-yo club by many. I think the sale of Buendia for example at the touted figures would add enough to our warchest alongside £20-25m touted as our original transfer budget to add 4/5 quality players. Its my view, we will need a few more than that, however I dont expect us to see that many new arrivals. 

[BigFish 1,988]

1 hour ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

Arsenal want Emi as a 10, there is even talk he could be made into an 8 like Santi Cazorla was - there is no doubting Arsenal are interested in him, and have been for a while, so where there think to play him is probably irrelevant at the moment.I

What is the difference between an 8 and a 10, @Bethnal Yellow and Green?

[king canary 7,681]

4 minutes ago, BigFish said:

What is the difference between an 8 and a 10, @Bethnal Yellow and Green?

An 8 plays from a deeper position I believe more traditional cental midfield than just off the striker.

[hogesar 9,780]

2 hours ago, Canary Wundaboy said:

How many potential Emis are out there? If they are, why haven't we picked them up already?

You could equally ask why no-one else had signed Emi before we did - why didn't all these prem sides with huge scouting networks and funds snap him up?