Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez
[quote author=keniget link=topic=33578.msg905951#msg905951 date=1247638973]
[quote author=Frogfish link=topic=33578.msg905942#msg905942 date=1247631607]
I don't see 27M+ as a bad deal. Considering we were asking 18M for him last season. Weren't Roma asking 18M for Aquilani ? If so then buy him (or a any other damn good replacement) at anything below that and we've made 10M+ to add to our David Silva kitty. Would I take Sneijder / Aquilani / Defour and then have to the money to bring Silva in, for Xabi ? Damn right I would.
We only paid 10M for Xabi from Sociedad so a 17M+ profit is good going even if the market has rocketed skyward this year, and don't forget it's only 4 or 5 teams that can afford those stratospheric fees, no other team is anywhere near that level - would Juve pay 27M for him ? Not in our lifetime.
[/quote]
Last year was last year, we're not selling him to Juve this time and what we paid for him is totally irrelevant.
I've always maintained that we're undervaluing Xabi (last summer was ridiculous) and now is no different. Why should we accept a deal that is merely reasonable? He may not be Gerrard or Torres to us, but he's still one of our key players, we're a big club in our own right and we shouldn't have to bend over for anyone else.
Did Utd consider that well, Ronaldo hadn't been *quite* as good as he was in 07/08, that they only paid 13M and that 50M wouldn't be a bad deal? No. The price was 80M and that's that. Don't like it? Good luck finding someone else.
I've done this time and time again, but let's review the central midfielders Real have bought over the last few years.
M.Diarra - Hilariously overpriced at €26M and not particularly good.
L.Diarra - £20M for a player that was traded about the Premiership for next to nothing and right now, not as good as he's made out to be on here. I wonder why Pompey's management didn't consider what they paid for him and what was reasonable?
Gago - "The New Redondo" cost them in excess of €20M and probably will lose his place to Alonso. Right now, he can only dream of getting to Xabi's level.
Sneijder - €27M from Ajax who are nothing these days.
They paid through the nose for all of those players, certainly not getting value for money, yet suddenly people think we should be giving it to them. And this after they've just spent 200M. So everybody gets some of that Real Madrid generosity, but us... right?
[/quote]
Good post Keniget, although I reckon all the players you mention were over-priced, I'd rather have Alonso than any of them.
