- Sep 20, 2005
- 19,156
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We have been proactive and no doubt will continue to be. N'Jie, N'Koudou and Janssen were all proactive buys, as was Alli. Some work out and some don't. The problem is the risk-reward ratio. Can we afford to spend £30-40m on a player who might make it or do we continue to spend £10-15m on these players?
You can get the occasional gem. Bayern spent (up to) $20m on Alphonso Davies from the Vancouver Whitecaps and he looks like he will be a hell of a player, but there is no guarantee. Instincts - and performance in lower-quality leagues - don't always deliver success.
You’re right of course in terms of almost guaranteed success, but as you say it comes down to risk. If we continue to be too risk averse it will work against us anyway as players soon become our of our range very quickly.
The “pro active buys” you list ( and I’m not sure I’d describe them as proactive in the sense that I meant) were of the £10-15m level and were all duds. At least in terms of the quality we needed.
And the days of getting an Ali for £5m etc are dead.
It’s a different landscape now ( and has been for a few years), whether Levy/Lewis like it or not.