Quote Originally Posted by Master View Post
I have a soft spot for Man City but what they are doing is a bit obscene. They are paying extortionate amount for only half decent players, Real Madrid are doing the same.
I don't think the prices are so bad.

Bellamy £10m + £4m based on appearances (won't happen) - Not great

Given £8m - Bargain

Bridge £12m - Not great but is Glen Johnson worth £17m? English players cost more

Tevez - £26.5m - Who knows, but that was always the fixed price regardless of who came in for him.

Barry - £12m - Compare that with the £12m Villa have spent on Downing

De Jong - £16m - Unfair to comment just yet. Good at his job as a defensive midfielder. Price is a bit steep but a good player nonetheless.

Santa Cruz - £12 + £5.5m add ons - Maybe a bit steep but a good player and he gives us a different threat upfront.

Adebayor - £22m - Fair price imo. Only Torres and Ronaldo scored more goals than him in last 2 seasons. Scored more than Drogba and Anelka combined over last 2 seasons.

So yeah we've paid a little over on some players but that's not purely our fault. Other teams know we have money and as such they raise their asking price by a few million. Every club has done it with us and we can't honestly walk away from every deal, otherwise we'd have the same squad that finished 10th.

Also it's not just City spending money on 'average players'

For example Chelsea spent £18m on John Obi Mikel, Villa spent £12m on Milner and Downing. Man Utd have spent £16m on Valencia.

Another thing, the media keep adding a few millions onto deals and a few thousand on proposed wage offers, because it makes more of a story.

For example, Adebayor is nowhere near the 170k p/w he's reported to be on. Barry isn't anywhere near the £130k p/w neither. Robinho is the top earner still and he takes home 92k p/w after tax.