Enough of this 'sell to buy' myth

OK, many a time on this forum, and in the media, I have heard the phrase that 'Rafa must sell in order to buy'. I think this is a complete and utter myth, this situation is in fact much graver than this.

He made a small profit in the summer due to the sale of Xabi Alonso, and has made a clean profit of £6.5M this window, with only a free transfer coming in, albeit a potentially top quality one, now, if Rafa were to able to 'sell to buy' then he would be allowed to get around 3/4 loan signings, or buy a player for around £7m, don't forget we also sold Robbie Keane for £15M in January of last year.

Bearing this in mind, if Rafa we under a 'sell to buy policy' as we have been told he is 'to balance the books, to attract investors' then he should have had £22M to spend this January, now that is roughly the price of a Turan/Mata/Silva/Jones/Chamakh (some there a combination of a few) plus a loan move for Huntelaar. Just think of the quality we could have brought in with £22M and to no cost of the owners, at present they have basically robbed us, the club of £22M.

Now, even if we do get this 'big' transfer window in the summer, we could possibly be out of the Champions League places, meaning big names will be put off from coming, Chamakh would choose Arsenal over Liverpool, Silva and Mata will stay at Valencia, Turan would move to a champions league club, and we may just end up signing Jones  

I just feel that it wasn't to much to ask to be given that £22M (or at least a chunk of it!!) if he wanted it, to strengthen the squad in the here and now, the present, I can't see Rafa turning down that money seeing as he is being constantly judged despite lack of funds.

I feel that this £22M may well be what we have to spend in our 'big' summer window. The thing is though, that wouldn't be a big summer window, it would just be correcting the myth that Rafa must 'sell to buy', and that is on the unlikely premise that none of our players are sold on, in which case we should be looking at around spending of £35-40M in the summer for Rafa to be truly allowed to 'sell to buy'.

If the owners decide that Rafa is not under this 'sell to buy policy' we should be looking at £50-60M in the summer.

Predictions?

I guarantee you we don't have £50 or £60 million to spend in the Summer, actually i guarantee we don't have £20 million to spend in the Summer

Rafa doesn't have as much money as he would want to have to spend on transfers, but let's face it: he's not the best buyer. We bought Aquilani for 20 million. He was injured for more than half of the season and he still isn't a first team player. And for 20 million he could buy Silva/Mata/Turan or someone else.



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No bought players in there, no money spent. 20 million to buy players and hopefully win the league.

The problem is however that we are asking Rafa to be unrealistically successful in the transfer market, every signing he makes must perform and that is not always going to happen, whereas Chelsea and United can sign dud players such as Berbatov, Nani, Anderson, Veron, Obi Mikel, Del Horno, etc etc... these are all big money signings that have pretty much failed, yet still they are backed in the market.

We bought Aquilani for 20 million.

Not a straight 20million, but only 5 up front(some other in installment and few add ons ie. if we win the league, CL & appearances).

If we don't win the League & CL within 3 years, Aquilani's transfer is worth only around 12-13million.

It is sell to buy, obviously, as we cannot buy unless we sell. That is what most are saying. However, we sell, and then we buy cheaper, and give the rest to the money sapping cu*ts.

It's just easier to say sell to buy, as a short. So its not a myth.

We have got nothing to spend as the winter transfer window. Maybe this is why Rafa wont sell Babel as he wont see any of the money. The two clowns are debt ridden RBS are calling for the debt to be reduced the only way this will happen is if someone invests or....selling top assets.

All of the profit goes onto the debt.

It is sell to buy, obviously, as we cannot buy unless we sell. That is what most are saying. However, we sell, and then we buy cheaper, and give the rest to the money sapping cu*ts.

It's just easier to say sell to buy, as a short. So its not a myth.

We have got nothing to spend as the winter transfer window. Maybe this is why Rafa wont sell Babel as he wont see any of the money. The two clowns are debt ridden RBS are calling for the debt to be reduced the only way this will happen is if someone invests or....selling top assets.

Two top posts mates.Also remember our so called transfer budget now includes player's,signing on fee and wages during the contract. For top players the wage bill alone would be between two and five million pounds per year.So over say a three year contract,that would amount to between six - fifteen million pounds per player,doesn't leave much to actually buy the player(s).So basically Rafa's hands are tied behind his back and is reliant on finding quality "free" transfers,with any money recovered through sales going to pay the wages of the "free".I would suggest that's where this last windows income has gone (Maxi), and with these two gobsh*tes in charge  will contiue to do so in future windows.

I think a few players who are never going to reach the levels that were expected of them, should be sold, as long as the money generated goes back into the transfer kitty. Namely Babbel and Lucas   . I can't see us getting much more than 20 million to spend in the summer, and that will not be enough to compete with the top European clubs to buy the striker we desperately need. Plus we still need a wold class left back and a back up winger to get back where we belong. YANKS GO HOME!!

Player sales are kept in a 'pot' of money apparently and as Rafa did have money to spend in the winter window this will be carried over although since this is also used for wages etc then it will always be less. Purslow has also insisted that this will remain the case and has said this on a number of occassions in the public domain recently. Surely this is not another lie as it would be pretty foolish.

I also expect potential Summer sales such as Ryan Babel adding up to 10million to this.

Rafa will be working hard NOW to identify players (before the world cup adds a few million to their value) and if we get 20 million to spend and we spend it correctly, along with a couple of bosmans (Chamakh please!!) I will actually be quite happy.

£20million can go a long way if it buys someone of real quality and a couple of freebies. Just think of over the period of Jan-July we add to the squad with Maxi (free), Chamakh (free), Jovanovic (free) and a £20m signing.
Add this to the real quality that we have in Pepe, Stevie, Johnson, mascherano, Torres, Benayoun and we have a really strong squad.

Optimistic I know but I am fed up being depressed about this. It doesn't all need to be doom and gloom.

Player sales are kept in a 'pot' of money apparently and as Rafa did have money to spend in the winter window this will be carried over although since this is also used for wages etc then it will always be less. Purslow has also insisted that this will remain the case and has said this on a number of occassions in the public domain recently. Surely this is not another lie as it would be pretty foolish.

I don't believe a word out of that lying bas**rds mouth. That pot of money what's it total now? Probably around £1.50!!

I'm just about to post this in another thread but this is how our budget seems to be set:

We don't have a transfer budget. We don't have any form of set budget for players. It's a 'we'll see how much money we have after a repayment' budget. Is that acceptable? You would think not (to put it in a nice way). It only heightens the difficulties of a manager being successful and how, under these circumstances, we even are still talking of a top 4 spot is beyond me as we should really be down in mid-table oblivion by now.

If we sell, that money goes into refinancing first and foremost. If we sell, that means money off the wage bill - which i believe is the only set limit we have. The money accrued from selling players allows freed up wages which means free transfers are priority. If Rafa can find someone on a free that is of quality, then he must pounce and do it quick.

So in fact your right, it isn't sell to buy. It's sell to 'try and buy' and if not then shame.

It's goingto be an interesting summer thats for sure, whilst the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, United & City will be rubbing their hands together and bidding on the cream of the cop from the World Cup finals, we will see Johanovich and maybe Chamakh arrive on free transfers, sure we may see the 6.5 million from the sale of Dossena and Voronin and the monies from other players being sold, but in all honesty I can't see any form of transfer budget unless we get real investment and Rafa will be wheeling and dealing, bringing in stop gaps.

I dont really think we can make a judgement on the current transfer policy until the summer. I know a lot of us doubt the "big" summer we have been promised but we will have to wait and see. According to the minutes JD recently posted Purslow stated that there was considerable funds for Rafa to spend in January but he chose not to. I was personally dissapointed we didnt spend but lets face it who the F**k was available.

Jan transfer window is a joke and for me we actually got the best signing of the window in Maxi on a free. Who did we miss out on? No-one. Who was genuinley available? Who knows.

Maybe we could have got a couple of average joes on a loan but whats the point in pissing more money against the wall.

Maybe im being unrealisticly optimistic.

He is now a money making Manager for the yanks, whilst at the same time trying to keep us in the title race, top 4, champions league, FA Cup etc..

Its a shocking state of affairs.

Since the 2007 Final, the Yanks have put 0 money in the club, in fact they have taken money out to finance the debt they made to buy the club.

If in teh summer of 2008 Rafa was given the kind of money City have had last summer, we would ave won the league last season. Im sure of it. And we would have kept Xabi, Arbeloa & hyypia.