We have to disagree on this one. If the figure was something like 15M for Darmian, I like that investment better than 40M for a relatively unproven player, even if a portion of that is deferred over time. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Darmian is this world class talent. However, I haven't seen enough evidence that Cancelo is or ever will be. He is in his mid-20s, not 19. I hope you guys are right on this one.
As I mentioned earlier, Nelson Semedo from Benfica went for 30.5m euros plus bonuses, which entitles Benfica to 5m euros for every 50 games he plays for Barca (and he signed for 4 years). That was two seasons ago. If he had gone without injury, they'd likely be paying somewhere around 40m euros for him, as of now, and the final amount is will almost certainly be more than what we paid for Cancelo. And please, I'm not talking about providing an official scouting dossier of actual targets. Just from watching other leagues and CL/Europa matches, who in that position is actually worth 40m euros? Fewer than you can count on one hand. And of those, who is available/wants out of their club? *crickets* If people are going to whinge that we could have done better, then they could at least have a couple of names, even if they're only pipe dreams. The simple fact is that nobody has mentioned any other RB that would be better value for money and whom we could remotely afford while at the same time satisfying our ambitions is because, realistically, there simply aren't any. It's very easy to just claim that we could have done better when you're not obliged to explain how. Our administration is arguably the best in Europe (and therefore the world) at finding and unearthing signings that will improve the squad and which we can afford. The summer we signed Alex Sandro, we had already opened negotiations for Guilherme Siqueira. Once it became clear that we could realistically sign Sandro, we dropped our negotiations for Siqueira like a bad habit. Does anybody truly believe that if a better RB was available, let alone one that we could have gotten for less than we spent, that we wouldn't have been all over it? Or that we wouldn't have at least inquired? Please; of course we would have. That doesn't mean we don't make mistakes; obviously we do. But our batting average, especially when it comes to significant transfer fees, is the envy of Europe, or at least it is amongst clubs that don't have bottomless coffers (which is everybody besides Madrid, Barca, Bayern, Man Utd, PSG, and City). Supporters bitch constantly that Marotta (as if it's solely his decision) is too cheap. So even if we may disagree with the management on this one, they are not going to drop 40m euros on any player if they do not realistically believe that we will be able to at least recoup our investment. Remember, we were very heavily linked to the player last summer. We've scouted him in the past, so we're not mindlessly gifting Valencia/Jorge Mendes (although it's clear that we've sweetened the deal in order to strengthen this connection) millions of euros simply to sign a player. So no, I won't agree. Is he overpriced? Certainly. But "exorbitantly high"? Not even close. The general transfer market certainly is, but within that context this price is fairly typical and it will only become more so with each passing summer.
If Darmian had that kind of talent by which to flatter and deceive, then I wouldn't be opposed to dropping 15-20m euros for him. But his only standout season was with the cows under Ventura (like with Cerci). Everything that came before and everything that has come after has been nothing but flaming garbage. And while Cancelo may be 24, Darmian is 28. The fact that our management was willing to pay 40m euros for Cancelo, but not 15-20m euros on Darmian, speaks the kind of volume which is deafening. Marotta & co. have rebuilt this club based upon these kinds of unorthodox signings. In fact, Darmian is exactly the kind of transfer I would have expected our management to make if they believed he could be of any help to our squad: cheap (relatively), Italian, plays in a position we need filled and he (once again) has something to prove, especially at a club of Juve's stature. If we thought Darmian was any kind of bargain, we'd at least be heavily into negotiations by now. The fact that we are not, have not (and it's clear that we definitely inquired), and did not, at least not before making such an investment in Cancelo, says a lot about Darmian, and none of it is good.
Scirea, in the transfer thread, I listed about several fullbacks signed in recent windows. The most expensive was Semedo at 30.5M. Most were between 20-30M, all big name clubs. Why did we pay 40M? Don’t get it. Yes, Semedo’s acquisition included bonuses but they have to be earned. If he winds up playing 50 games for Barca, it justifies the extra 5M. Why didn’t we do a similar structure then? I’d be less opposed to a 30M plus 10M in bonus structure. It puts more impetus on the player. I’ve seen nothing from Cancelo that makes me think he’s worth 40M. 25-30M yes, but not 40M. I saw him last season, sometimes in Inter games I noted him as having a good game, others he made no impression on me. Before last season, I don’t know of anything noteworthy that he accomplished at Valencia. But I don’t see them much to be honest.
And as far as other options, I don’t know how attainable any of them are but also don’t know what their prices were. Did we see what other teams would’ve wanted for the likes of Bellerin or Arias, both of whom we were linked with? A friend of mine raves about the Sociedad kid Odriozola, what about him? Did we inquire into the Croatian back at Atletico (he has Serie A experience)? Cedric Soares and Pereria were BOTH picked for the Portuguese national team over Cancelo, what was their asking prices?
JULY 10 Cristiano Ronaldo moves to Juventus from Real Madrid for a fee of €100 million ($117,352,300 US). An additional €12 million ($14,082,276 US) will be paid if certain obligations are met. Payment will be payable over two years. Ronaldo put pen to paper on a 4 year deal set to expire on June 30, 2022. http://www.juventus.com/en/news/news/2018/cristiano-ronaldo-signs-for-juventus.php
You can buy CR7's jersey on the official site now, and it's #7. Cuadrado has no number, he'll probably go back to 16.
I love the move, but a part of me has an issue with going out and buying his jersey over guys like Chiellini who have been here for the long haul.
Any have any info about Giangiacomo Magnani? He’s a 22-year-old CB that we got him from Perugia for 5M about a week ago. Didn’t see any info on him here. I know very little of the player. http://www.juventus.com/media/native/investor-relations-docs/english/price-sensitive-press-releases/2017-18/comunicato 02072018 magnani eng.pdf
JULY 12 Pol Garcia moves to Sint-Truiden on a permanent transfer, no financial disclosures were announced. Alberto Cerri moves to Cagliari on a one-year loan for a fee of €1 million ($1,167,270 US). The loan becomes permanent and a further €9 million ($10,505,430 US) will be payable over three years if the player meets certain conditions.
He's almost certainly going to be a bargaining chip for one of the smaller clubs in Serie A or Serie B, even if joins us for pre-season. We've been doing a lot of quid pro quo business/favors with multiple lower league clubs, and especially Perugia it seems.
Rumors of my transfer have been greatly exaggerated ..... Tutto ciò che sono, tutto ciò che voglio! Life is a matter of Black and White.#MC8 pic.twitter.com/2QVv2ycwUL— Claudio Marchisio (@ClaMarchisio8) July 13, 2018