There is no such thing as "market value" after Neymar. Would not surprise me one bit if Citeh dished out 100 mil for him.
70m isnot beyond his market value. I would be surprised if he goes for less to be honest.
Will probably be more..
The most expensive players from Eredivisie (a terrible league btw) was worth 48M which happened after Neymar deal btw, you can't say that paying 146% of that is just normal and not beyond his value. Almost twice as Arthur who was same level of talent when he was signed.
There is a huge risk in that, FDJ is a good talent but he is far from a risk free, it is normal if the club cave out to the price. Dembele lesson should be learned.
Especially for a team that needs reinforcement in other positions, that 70M for FDJ would compromise those
De jong isnt the mental midget Dembele is. He is a hardworking, smart level headed guy. Same for de Ligt imo.
Only question is if they will live up to their potential.
When Hleb was signed, fans were happy, he is talented, from a team that plays a football very close to us at that time. He failed and fans proven wrong.
Then we signed Ibra, most fans were like "he can't fail, he is best striker in the world right now. he isn't Hleb". He failed.
When we went for Cesc, he isn't Ibra, he doesn't have ego, he has Barca DNA, he has played with Spain, only reservation on whether he is worth it with Thiago here or not. yet he failed
When we went for Arda, many said he is versatile, he is worriers, he has liga experience and he runs a lot. the level of his failure was beyond anyone imagination.
Then comes Gomes, and proves many fans wrong again.
Then comes Dembele, whom almost no one had a reservation against him, whom I had prolonged argument with those who thought that we should get him at any price, because no player is worth "at any price" unless he is next Messi or something and Dembele isn't that one.
You see, there are dozens of reasons for a player to fail, just because a player doesn't check same reason that another previous player share doesn't mean he is sure thing.
And truth is, player's price in this club is an extra pressure on any young player, media and fans are unforgiven and will ask for results in day one. This can get to any young player head and you can't just say FDJ is prepared for this. No one is prepared for this until he faces it.
Money won't be the deciding factor in this imo. If the managers would be reversed he'd be as good as signed for us no matter how much money City have.
Money could be the only factor in this transfer, you are living in lalal land if you think otherwise.
City can afford paying 70M for couple of young players every year, we don't.
Ajax will push FDJ exactly where they want, and his agent will likely help them to do so because as I previously explained bigger transfer deal = more money in player and agent pocket.
Players at those clubs has almost zero say in where they go, if you reach a deal with Ajax you get him, if you don't forget about him. It is that simple.
City's main pulling power is not money, it's Guardiola. Our main weakness is Valverde. Who would you want to play under as a young up and coming player, fecking Guardiola or Ernie? It basically comes down to the prestige of playing for FC Barcelona, or the benefits of being coached by the best manager in the world.
But let's assume you are right and I am wrong, it isn't about money.
If he stupid enough to trap the rest of his career for 2 years of Pep, what can we do then? You know even if we sacked EV we won't get a coach as attractive as Pep. Right now no coach is as attractive as Pep anyway
why the hate for Rabiot then if he is ready to play for us anyway and we won't pay transfer fee on it?
More importantly, what is this discussion about? club tried to get and he prefers somewhere else. move on and stop hating on board for this deal.
IF FDJ decided he wants to join us and pushed for it in a Dembele way and we can get him for 50M or under (which is still a lot btw) then I am all for it.
But if we find City has offered 70+ then this is a whole other discussion in a club with limited resource, with multi needs, with a player of same age and close profile in Arthur,with best upcoming La Masia kids all being midfielders, should we go for auction for FDJ against City? And people are mad we are considering an alternatives like Rabiot and Ndombele?