Just interested in opinions from forum members regarding our success in the transfer market.

Do you think we do a good job in signing players compared to other clubs?

Do you think we get value for money?

Who do you contribute the our successes and failures to?

For me, when compared to the teams who are consistently around us in the league table, we do not compare well.

looking at our successes and failures in the transfer market over the last few season, i think we are wasting far to much money, and for the money spent we could have already planned and prepared for this current transitional period.

03/04

G Johnson - 7 m -not value for money

J Cole - 6.6 m - value for money

Makelele - 16 mil - ?

Mutu - 15 mill - not value for money

A Smertin - 3.4 m -not value for money

Veron - 15 mill -not value for money

Ferreira - 13 mill - not value for money

Robben - 12 mill - Success

S Parker - 10 mill - not value for money

W Bridge - 7 mill - not value for money

duff - 17 mill - not value for money

Crespo - 17 mill - not value for money

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

C. Ronaldo - 12 mill - great value for money

R Van P - 3 mill - outstanding value for money

Fabregas - Free - Outstanding value for money

G Clichy - 250k - great value for money

04/05

Didier - 24 mill - good value for money

Riccy C 19 mill - good value for money

J Jarosik - 3 mill - not value for money

M Kezman - 5 mill - not value for money

Tiago - 8 million - not value for money

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

X Alonso - 10 mill - great value for money

eboue - 1 mill - good value for money

w. rooney - 27 mill - good value for money

05/06

Mikel - £16 mill - been fleeced!

B Sahar - 3.2m - poor value

Sheva - 30 mill - been fleeced!

Kalou - 8 mill - poor value

Ballack free - great value

essien - 24 mill - poor value for money

SWP - 21 mill - been fleeced

del horno - 8 mill - been fleeced

lass - 1 mill - good value for money

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

Reina - 6 mill - great value

adabayeor - 7 mill - good value

wallcot - 9 mill - good value

evra - 5 mill - good value

vidic - 5 mill - great value

van der sar - 2 mill - great value

06/07

Ashley C - 5 mill + gallas - good value

Boularouz - 8 mill - rip off

Sidwell- free - good value

07/08

Brana - 9 mill - fair value

Di Santo - 3 mill - poor value

Nico - 15 mill - fair value

malouda - 14 mill - fair value

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

Torres - £26 mill - good value

Skrtel - 6 mill - fair value

mascerano - 17 mill - fair value

sagna - 5 mill - good value

Tevez - 9 mill - good value

nani - 13 mill - fair value

fabio and raf de silva - 5 million the pair - good value

anderson - 15 mill - fair

08/09

Deco - 8 mill - rip off

bossy - 16 mill - rip off

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

V Kompany - 6 mill - great value

de jong - 16 mill - fair value

09/10

Danny - 4 mill - good value

Yuri - 18 mill - rip off

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

vermeillan - 10 mill - fair value

a johnson - 7 mill - fair value

10/11

Torres - 50 mill - rip off

Luiz - 26 mill - poor value for money

ramires - 18 mill - fair value

yossi - 5 mill - poor value

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

Suarez - 23 mill - looks a steal

J cole - free - fair

Hernandez - 6 mill - great value

silva - 25 mill - good value

y toure - 25 mill - fair value

This season

Lukaku - 18 mill - looking overpriced

mata - 24 mill - fair

meireiles - 12 mill - fair

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

Aguero - 35 mill - looking good

nasri - 22mill - looking good

Ash Young - 17 mill - looks good

Of course - our rivals have also had their fair amount of turkeys - but i do feel that the money we have spent has been spent poorly in many cases.

In summary i feel that we have spent huge amounts of money on mega flops when we could have bought in genuine world class players for a fraction of the cost. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but when you compare the money spent on the like of fabregas, van persie, vermaillen, vidic, Kompany, Sagna, Suerez, Nani, Alonso, Ronaldo, hernandez etc, it makes the huge amounts we spent on the likes of Deo, Bossy, Yuri, Torres, Sheva, Veron, Luiz, Ramires, Boularouz , SWP, Mike etc look laughable. It is clear to me that we have been ill advised in the transfer market and made dodgy decisions galore.

Interested to hear your thoughts.

Edited December 3, 201113 yr by nonotnowjim

I disagree with a number of your valuations of the 03/04 signings. Glen, agreed. Joey Cole, agreed. For the service we got out of Maka, £16million is brilliant value for money if you ask me, same with Duffer for £17m, he and Robben were lethal. Mutu probably the worst business that season, Veron and Smertin I'll agree with too. But I think you were harsh on Ferreira and Bridge. We've had Paulo for 8 years now, a mainstay under Mourinho, now he's a good quality squad player willing to fill in at any time, for 8 years service at a great standard, £12m is brilliant. Bridge was very good for us too in his 3 or 4 years here, before Ash arrived, his goal in that Quarter Final is probably worth about a quarter of his fee! Parker, agreed, though looking at him now, had we stuck with him, £10m would've been a steal at that time! Finally Crespo, I absolutely adored him, 26 goals in the 05/06 season is superb, but £17m is a bit too high.

Didier and Riccy obviously worth it, two outstanding buys.

On to the 05/06 season, Kalou for £8m is actually pretty fair if you ask me. 6 years service, yes he's a scapegoat whenever he plays, but he's had a few flashes, under Hiddink for example he was actually pretty decent, and his record is something like a goal every 4 games, which isn't bad. Mikel, agreed, £16m is way too much. Essien though, I disagree wholeheartedly. Before he did his knee in in 2008, he was outstanding for us. He was our player of the year in 2007, Ballon d'Or nominee, he was sensational. In recent years because of his gammy knee he's been a bit hit and miss, but I think the £24m we paid for him was worth it.

Ivan for £9million is a steal if you ask me, easily one of our most consistent performers for the last 2 or 3 seasons now. Anelka and Malouda agreed.

Deco and Bossy I'll agree with, Bossy definitely way too much, Deco slightly too much but he was still pretty decent for us.

Zhirkov agreed, he had so much promise but never delivered, which was a shame. Studge however, if he continues the form he's in this season, £4m is an absolute steal, been one of our best players this year, £4m already worth it if you ask me. Ramires too, I think his £18m is MORE than justified given how fantastic he was after a shaky start last year and being one of our best players this season so far.

And then we get to last year, notably January. So far, Torres has not lived up to the £50m. Simple as that, but considering Andy Carroll was £35m, in comparison, it isn't the worst deal in the world (har har). We've been saying it for ages, but he just needs a consistent run of games, get a few more goals under his belt, and with Mata and Sturridge alongside him, I genuinely believe he can get back to his best. Luiz is a tricky one however. I don't think £26m is poor value for money, currently I think it's fair, he has so much potential to be our new Riccy Carvalho, he looks the business I think.

Finally this summer, Meireles for £12m is a good deal, Lukaku far too much, but given his form for Anderlecht, you can see why he had such a high asking price. He's still young, give him a little time, with some good guidance he could prove worthy. And finally Mata, on his 3 months here so far, I don't see why he isn't already good value for money, and I'm not sure how you can say Mata at £24m is far, but Suarez at £23 is a steal? Both have performed excellently so far, but Suarez has got nearly a whole year under his belt.

We're very 50/50 with our signings, I think. The likes of Drogba, Essien, Ivan, Ferreira, Carvalho, Robben, Duff, Anelka, Maka, possibly Luiz too were all brilliant deals I think, but then the likes of Mutu, Sheva, Zhirkov, Glen, Veron were all stinkers for an insane price, and then Torres who hasn't lived up to expectation yet. We're not bad in the transfer market. Not great either, however.

We buy the wrong players a lot of the time and we pay way too much for them. But it's not my money, it's Romans and he can do whatever he wants with it. Though I would prefer if we had a better scouting team, because we've missed some very good deals.

Our transfer policy is the only thing that we still lack compared to other big teams in England and also Europe.

Not only do we buy players at position where we are already having enough quality (like signing Torres and Lukaku when we already have Drogba, Anelka and Sturridge). Buying midfielders that cant create even though we desperatly need creativity (Ramires, Meireles) and also letting the wrong (young) players go (Töre, Stoch)

Lets be honest transfers like the one for Torres and Shevchenko are making us look really stupid and its no wonder other clubs dont pay/demand fair prices when negotiating with us.

That beeing said, things seem to improve. (at least if you look at it in a optimistic way).

What also really makes me mad is that we cant seem to get any sort of transfer fees for our players... Will be the case with Drogs, Anelka, Malouda just as it was the case with Sheva, Crespo, Deco, Ballack and Veron. The only time I can remember we sold at a fair price was Yuri to Anzhi

(sorry cant edit my postings thats why I had to make two posts)

Essien poor value for the money? What the f**k?

IMO, you are hugely overrating some of rivals' transfers . . . anderson, walcott, adebayor . . . just above average players at best if u ask me

Essien poor value for the money? What the f**k?

And Duff, and Makalele?, and Ferreira? Frankly a ridiculous premise on which to create a thread. Why only compare it to notable transfers in of other clubs? Why not create a list of each clubs and point out the sh*t ones they made also. I`m starting to wonder if anyone hates our club more than some of our own fans the way some enjoy pointing out how much worse we are than anyone else.

Essien poor value for money? The f**k?

Ivanovic - 9 million, complete baragain

Mata - 23 million, complete bargain

Luiz - 23 million, give him a chance?

Lukaku - 18 million, hes 18? Of course hes not going to be amazing yet

Edited December 3, 201113 yr by Sparkz

Those talking about Lukaku, he cost us only £11m, with bonuses going up to £18m. So £11m for the best teenage center forward with extremely high potential isn't bad.

Essien poor value for the money? What the f**k?

IMO, you are hugely overrating some of rivals' transfers . . . anderson, walcott, adebayor . . . just above average players at best if u ask me

And Duff, and Makalele?, and Ferreira? Frankly a ridiculous premise on which to create a thread. Why only compare it to notable transfers in of other clubs? Why not create a list of each clubs and point out the sh*t ones they made also. I`m starting to wonder if anyone hates our club more than some of our own fans the way some enjoy pointing out how much worse we are than anyone else.

Essien poor value for money? The f**k?

Ivanovic - 9 million, complete baragain

Mata - 23 million, complete bargain

Luiz - 23 million, give him a chance?

Lukaku - 18 million, hes 18? Of course hes not going to be amazing yet

Guys, DKW, dont get me wrong, i am not intending to diss or overly critisize our players, and guys like essien i have adored and supported immensely. And as i said, i realise that other teams have had more than their fair share of crap. Far to many to list on here! To be honest though, i am not concerned with other clubs wasting their money...but i am when we do it (hence my post and the fact that i only highlighted other clubs signing which i perceive to offer good value) . We are all entitled to opinions and i dont expect everyone to agree.

In defense:

The bison has not been the best value midfielder, and for the money we spent on him we could have had better value players. When you look at players like Alonso, Mascerano , Fabregas, all three combined cost just 3 million more than we paid for Essien. Hence my opinion that Essien wasnt good value for money.

Players like Walcott and adebayor were bought for relatively cheap prices and dramatically increased in value after their arrival (hence my opinion of them places being good value).

Mata at 23 million could be good business, but to put it into perspective David Only cost 2 million more.

Luiz at 20 something million for me is overpriced. i agree that he has potential, and that he could turn out to be world class, but again, when considering that players like Vermallen only cost 10 mill, vidic only 5 million, even taking inflation into account, i maintain that 23 mill is not representing fantastic value.

Makelele - is a legend for us, but considering we bought him when he was getting on in age and we didnt get anything back for him, then i dont think he was the best value.

Paulo F, well, again i love paulo, but the truth is that we paid well over the odds for a player who has rarely been first choice in his position and as a result we have needed to spend another considerable sum (on bossy) to try and replace him.

Lukaku @ 18 mill is a gamble and for a relatively unproven and raw player who appears to have a heavy touch is not in my mind the best business.

Ramires has a great engine, fantastic speed and enthusiasm. If i had to choose my fav player at the moment, it would prob be him...but again, considering that genuinely creative player like ashley young and nani cost 17 and 13 mill each, thats why i think he is only fair value, as opposed to great value.

Love the debate though....

Edited December 3, 201113 yr by nonotnowjim

The bison has not been the best value midfielder, and for the money we spent on him we could have had better value players. When you look at players like Alonso, Mascerano , Fabregas, all three combined cost just 3 million more than we paid for Essien. Hence my opinion that Essien wasnt good value for money.

Before the cascade of injuries, Essien was better than all 3 of them. Value for money in a pure pound by pound sense is far less important for us than it would be for a cash strapped club. Essien, at his peak, had no equals. He was fantastic value for the money.

Players like Walcott and adebayor were bought for relatively cheap prices and dramatically increased in value after their arrival (hence my opinion of them places being good value).

Adebayor was good business for Arsenal because they sold him at a profit but he wasn't a particularly great player. Walcott, I wouldn't want. I also don't think you're being consistent here calling Walcott good value but bagging on guys like Luiz and Lukaku. For f**k's sake, Lukaku's made 6 appearances. It took Walcott 4 full years before he made any appreciable impact at Arsenal.

Mata at 23 million could be good business, but to put it into perspective David Only cost 2 million more.

What's your point? They're virtually identical players in terms of what they bring to the table. Both are perfectly good pieces of business, no "could be" about it.

Luiz at 20 something million for me is overpriced. i agree that he has potential, and that he could turn out to be world class, but again, when considering that players like Vermallen only cost 10 mill, vidic only 5 million, even taking inflation into account, i maintain that 23 mill is not representing fantastic value.

Luiz is easily worth twice what Vermaelen is, so I'm not sure what you're getting at. By the same token, you could point out somebody who was signed for 2 MP and say that, relatively speaking, they're even better value. Doesn't mean they're right for Chelsea. With Luiz, you're paying for the potential, so if you agree that he has that potential, I don't see why you think he's overpriced. If you wanted to name the number of CBs with Luiz's skill set, you wouldn't have a terribly long list. As for Vidic, you clearly don't understand the evolution of the transfer market. A player like Vidic nowadays would not go for anywhere near 5 MP. Furthermore, there's a big difference in buying from Portugal and from Serbia, particularly when the Portuguese club, Benfica, is known for getting good money for their players in transfers.

Makelele - is a legend for us, but considering we bought him when he was getting on in age and we didnt get anything back for him, then i dont think he was the best value.

So let me get this straight, you admit he was a legend for us for the 5 years he wore our shirt but you don't think he was good value because we didn't get anything back for him? Who the f**k cares? What matters is what he did in our shirt and he was easily worth the cost.

Paulo F, well, again i love paulo, but the truth is that we paid well over the odds for a player who has rarely been first choice in his position and as a result we have needed to spend another considerable sum (on bossy) to try and replace him.

Not a huge fan of his, truth be told, but to get nearly a decade of quality service out of him justifies the price in my mind.

Lukaku @ 18 mill is a gamble and for a relatively unproven and raw player who appears to have a heavy touch is not in my mind the best business.

6 bloody appearances. 18 years of age. There is absolutely no logical way to tell if he's value yet or not. He was bought for the future, not what he does at age 18.

Ramires has a great engine, fantastic speed and enthusiasm. If i had to choose my fav player at the moment, it would prob be him...but again, considering that genuinely creative player like ashley young and nani cost 17 and 13 mill each, thats why i think he is only fair value, as opposed to great value.

Ramires doesn't even play the same position as Nani and Young. They're not similar players at all. If you feel we're lacking a genuinely creative player, that's a separate issue from Ramires.

Edited December 3, 201113 yr by That Boy Brandinho

Before the cascade of injuries, Essien was better than all 3 of them. Value for money in a pure pound by pound sense is far less important for us than it would be for a cash strapped club. Essien, at his peak, had no equals. He was fantastic value for the money.

Adebayor was good business for Arsenal because they sold him at a profit but he wasn't a particularly great player. Walcott, I wouldn't want. I also don't think you're being consistent here calling Walcott good value but bagging on guys like Luiz and Lukaku. For f**k's sake, Lukaku's made 6 appearances. It took Walcott 4 full years before he made any appreciable impact at Arsenal.

What's your point? They're virtually identical players in terms of what they bring to the table. Both are perfectly good pieces of business, no "could be" about it.

Luiz is easily worth twice what Vermaelen is, so I'm not sure what you're getting at. By the same token, you could point out somebody who was signed for 2 MP and say that, relatively speaking, they're even better value. Doesn't mean they're right for Chelsea. With Luiz, you're paying for the potential, so if you agree that he has that potential, I don't see why you think he's overpriced. If you wanted to name the number of CBs with Luiz's skill set, you wouldn't have a terribly long list. As for Vidic, you clearly don't understand the evolution of the transfer market. A player like Vidic nowadays would not go for anywhere near 5 MP. Furthermore, there's a big difference in buying from Portugal and from Serbia, particularly when the Portuguese club, Benfica, is known for getting good money for their players in transfers.

So let me get this straight, you admit he was a legend for us for the 5 years he wore our shirt but you don't think he was good value because we didn't get anything back for him? Who the f**k cares? What matters is what he did in our shirt and he was easily worth the cost.

Not a huge fan of his, truth be told, but to get nearly a decade of quality service out of him justifies the price in my mind.

6 bloody appearances. 18 years of age. There is absolutely no logical way to tell if he's value yet or not. He was bought for the future, not what he does at age 18.

Ramires doesn't even play the same position as Nani and Young. They're not similar players at all. If you feel we're lacking a genuinely creative player, that's a separate issue from Ramires.

I appreciate your views - dont necessarily agree, but cheers for the input!

Am not going to argue about previous transfers , cant follow all games. But do want to comment on Lukaku , being involved in national youth football in Belgium for a few years and seen him too many times playing against my team.

Give him a year , maybe even two and you will see , Romelu will deliver !!!

There have no doubt been mistakes.

These are my views

Bad

Glen Johnson - 7m

Veron - 15m

Smertin - 3.45m

Parker -10m

Kezman - 5.3m

Nuno Morais - ?

Jiri Jarosik - 3.1m

Asier del Horno - 8m

SWP - 21m

Sheva - 30m

Khalid - 8.5m

Zhirkov - 18m

Matic - 1.5m

Benayoun - 5.5m

125.35

Meh

Geremi - 7m

Mutu - 15.8 (we still might get our money back, so not bad yet)

Crespo - 16.8m

Kalou - 9m

Mikel - 12m

Pizarro - Free

Ben Haim - Free

Sidwell - Free

Belletti - 5.5m

Deco - 8m

Bosingwa - 17m

91.1m

Good

Wayne Bridge - 7m

Damien Duff - 7m

Joe Cole - 6.6m

Makelele - 16m

Paulo - 13.2m

Petr - 7.1m

Robben - 12m

Didier - 24m

Lord Percy - 19.85m

Tiago - 10m (Crucial in that first year)

Diarra - 1m (Sold him for a solid profit)

Essien 24.4m

Ballack - Free

Ash - 5m and Gallas

Malouda - 13m

Alex

Anelka - 15m

Ivanovic - 9m

Danny - Probably 6.5m the way he is smacking in the goals

Ramires - 17m

212.65

There have obviously been others more recently, but I'll defer judgement on that. Also excuse any math errors in there, I'm in that hungover fog, but the figures should be closish.

We've certainly made some mistakes (expensive ones) but we've done reasonably ok. Plus we've won three titles and countless other things that we never dreamed of.

Edited December 3, 201113 yr by Spiller86

Wow, sorry, dont agree at all. Youre being mostly fair on us (aside from the exceptions people have noted here) but totally ignoring the many, many mistakes made by our rivals.

Fabregas? Yeah, value for money, but anyone can steal in to sign youth players and have them pan out. Everyone knew he was the tits, including Barca

Eboue? Forget his transfer fee, how many points did this guy cost Arsenal?

Anderson for 15 million? You can count the number of good games one on hand. He has been mostly crap. And yet youve rated him level with Nani who has been excellent

Tevez cost 9 million 4 years ago? Source? He was being pimped by MSI to whoever would pay him. Try 47 million to City for his actual value, and considering what's happened since he is far more trouble than he is worth.

the da Silva twins have been displaced.

How about some you forgot?

Andy Carroll, 35 million. The most expensive english player ever, and cant even put down his pint to trap a ball

Stewart Downing: 20 million. Terrible so far

Jordan Henderson, 20 million: One of the least impressive English youngsters and they paid the most

Alberto Aquilani, 22 million: Now being paid to help AC Milan keep the scudetto

Bebe, 8 million: Remember him?

Gallas. -5 million: yeah, they thought they got the better deal there. Instead, agent Gallas f**ked them up

Asamoah Gyan, 11m: and now he is collecting a check in Oman

Robinho, 32.5m: for a good 6 months and then a plane ticket to brazil

Ryan Babel, 12m: all for some twitter comedy

Fellaini, 16m: this transfer might end up killing Everton as a club

Bilayetinov, 8m: great start, terrible since

Mido, for any club that paid any money for him.

Freddie Ljunberg, 8m: West Ham were drunk.

Koscelny, 9m: his legacy is costing them the Carling Cup

Rosicky

Arshavin, aside from that 4 goal game and hot start

How about City?

Joleon Lescott, 24 MILLION f**kING POUNDS. Think about that!

Bridge, 10m: they paid more for him than we did

Adebayor, 25m: pissed off the gooners, and now hates their guts

Jo, 19m: Rememeber him? Man City got a single goal for nearly TWENTY MILLION

Milner, 24m: Terrible, terrible value for money

Roque Santa Cruz,17m: This time they got 3 goals

Kolo Toure, 16m: and Arsenal are still laughing

How about some from the Spuddies?

Darren Bent, 17m: and not as good as Mrs. Redknapp

Robbie Keane (part 2), 12m

David Bentley, 17m

Wilson Palacios, 12m

Giovanni Dos Santos, 9m

Crouch part 2, 9m

Defoe part 2, 15m

Woodgate, 8m: for a handful of games

Finally, some players you have underrate for us:

Ramires has been excellent

Danny has been excellent, far more of a steal than Suarez has been for the dippers

Nico has scored about 60 goals for us in about 4 seasons. Thats pretty good

Brana has been a steal for us.

Riccy C was excellent value for money. He was one of the best defenders on planet earth this past decade.

Makelele....? What is up with ? THE POSITION WAS NICKNAMED AFTER THE MAN because he was the absolute best at it. A player like that would be worth 30million+ today.

Ferreira is broken now, but stabilized RB for us for years. That IS value, even if its unremarkable

Duff and Bridge did their jobs here and did them well when they had the chance.

Luiz was expensive but he may yet be one of the best defenders this club has ever seen. He has all the gifts, just needs the coaching and the discipline.

In short, a players value is not just about their transfer fee. Its about what they have brought to the team. And you have clearly forgotten about the flops of other teams

I could go on, but I'll stop there

Thin you're a bit harsh on a couple of cities buys. Kolo Toure has been solid for them. He and Kompany are forging a great defensive partnership. Also Milner has been solid as well, plenty of assists this season. It's also hard because of the massive inflation in the transfer market. Drogba or Essien would have cost us 35+ now

You're also forgetting that they got Johnson for virtually nothing.

I agree with you about us getting value as well. Maka and Robben for 28m? Both would make the squad of the last decade.

Not wanting to start an argument here, but I just want to clarify a few things regarding TheWestWayWonder's comments on City.

Lescott has been one of our best defenders this year, he's playing like what we expected of him when we got him.

We got Milner for 16m and Steven Ireland, personally, that's a great deal since Ireland was a headcase and not worth half of that.

Kolo has struggled and I wouldn't play him against top opposition but he can do a job against the lesser sides.

Regarding Jo. I'm not entirely sure but I don't think we ever actually paid the full 19m, I think that was the total figure if you calculated all of the bonuses that were to be paid if he played so many games/scored so many goals etc.

Can't really argue with the rest.

Edited December 4, 201113 yr by MCFC-Alan88

Makelele was probably one of the DM of all time and one of the best players for our team, 15 million was great value! Madrid went sh*t as soon as he went, that speaks alot

03/04

G Johnson - 7 m -not value for money

J Cole - 6.6 m - value for money

Makelele - 16 mil - worth every penny

Mutu - 15 mill - could have been worth that but snorted it all away.

A Smertin - 3.4 m -for that low price i would say value for money

Veron - 15 mill -one of the top 3 wastes of money in our history

Ferreira - 13 mill - good value

Robben - 12 mill - great bit of business

S Parker - 10 mill - at the time not that good value but looking back it probably was.

W Bridge - 7 mill - he was ok but once Ash arrived he was never going to be first choice.

duff - 17 mill - maybe a bit over priced but he was fantastic for us.

Crespo - 17 mill - not value for money

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

C. Ronaldo - 12 mill - great value for money

R Van P - 3 mill - outstanding value for money

Fabregas - Free - Outstanding value for money

G Clichy - 250k - good value for money

04/05

Didier - 24 mill - good value for money

Riccy C 19 mill - good value for money

J Jarosik - 3 mill - waste of money, panic buy

M Kezman - 5 mill - not a lot of money spent but it just didnt work out for him.

Tiago - 8 million - good value.

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

X Alonso - 10 mill - great value for money

eboue - 1 mill - he is crap!

w. rooney - 27 mill - good value for money

05/06

Mikel - £16 mill - massive waste of money

B Sahar - 3.2m - over priced

Sheva - 30 mill - too much money

Kalou - 8 mill - we was robbed!

Ballack free - great value

essien - 24 mill - good value

SWP - 21 mill - not good value

del horno - 8 mill - 8 million wasnt a massive amount but he just didnt make it here.

lass - 1 mill - ok i guess, poor attitude tho.

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

Reina - 6 mill - great value

adabayeor - 7 mill - good value

wallcot - 9 mill - they were robbed at the time

evra - 5 mill - good value

vidic - 5 mill - great value

van der sar - 2 mill - great value

06/07

Ashley C - 5 mill + gallas - good value

Boularouz - 8 mill - again not a bad price, it just didnt work out.

Sidwell- free - good value but not good enough to play for us.

07/08

Brana - 9 mill - great value

Di Santo - 3 mill - it was a gamble, didnt work out.

Nico - 15 mill - good value

malouda - 14 mill - i guess its a fair amount but it seems like a rip off.

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

Torres - £26 mill - good value

Skrtel - 6 mill - good value

mascerano - 17 mill - fair value

sagna - 5 mill - good value

Tevez - 9 mill - good value

nani - 13 mill - fair value

fabio and raf de silva - 5 million the pair - good value

anderson - 15 mill - too much.

08/09

Deco - 8 mill - we was robbed

bossy - 16 mill - way too much money

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

V Kompany - 6 mill - great value

de jong - 16 mill - fair value

09/10

Danny - 4 mill - amazing value

Yuri - 18 mill - massively over priced

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

vermeillan - 10 mill - they was robbed

a johnson - 7 mill - fair value

10/11

Torres - 50 mill - he is also in the top 3 mistakes we have made

Luiz - 26 mill - probably too much but he will be worth it

ramires - 18 mill - nice bit of business

yossi - 5 mill - robbed by the scousers again.

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

Suarez - 23 mill - fantastic buy

J cole - free - good deal, just didnt work out for him.

Hernandez - 6 mill - great value

silva - 25 mill - good value

y toure - 25 mill - massively over priced.

This season

Lukaku - 18 mill - over priced for someone of his experience

mata - 24 mill - lovely bit of business

meireiles - 12 mill - great value, we robbed the scousers for once

Rivals notable transfers in same season.

Aguero - 35 mill - outstanding buy

nasri - 22mill - way overpriced.

Ash Young - 17 mill - good buy.

Putting aside the debate regarding the relative success of various named players, I thought i'd share my thoughts on the bigger picture.

I think player for player, in the last few years (with the exception of Torres of course), we've done a reasonable without being great job at scouting.

The problem is for mine that while the scouted players are of reasonable quality, the revolving door managership and the fact managers haven't had enough of a say as to who comes in and goes out, it's meant we have a mish mash of players who don't necessarily click properly into a system that the manager is asking of them.

That to me is the big issue here. If we want to be making good purchases regularly in the longer term, then we need a safe, secure manager with the authority to chose who he wants the club to buy (within the budget constraints). Anything else and we will never be consistently good in the transfer market.

Nico - 15 mill - good value

Kalou - 8 mill - we was robbed!

Anelka: 13330 mins 59 goals 38 assists

Kalou: 12899 mins 58 goals 38 assists

And thats with Anelka getting to play in his favoured striker role more times. I don't get why the general opinion among fans of these players is so different.

vermeillan - 10 mill - they was robbed

y toure - 25 mill - massively over priced.

nasri - 22mill - way overpriced.

These are all actually pretty good value for money.

That's a fair point Qaz. I think it has to be at the forefront of Roman's mind in January if questions continue over the future of AVB.

That to me is the big issue here. If we want to be making good purchases regularly in the longer term, then we need a safe, secure manager with the authority to chose who he wants the club to buy (within the budget constraints). Anything else and we will never be consistently good in the transfer market.

This was the gist of my thoughts a couple of seasons ago. Hutch's view was that Fergie and Wenger would be the last of the all-powerful managers but, seeing Real Madrid on top of La Liga, makes me doubt that.

As an aside, do I gather that Hutch has been permanently banned? That would be a great loss. He was never very kind to me but his overall contribution to the forum was undeniable- posting links and generally acting as a one-man publicity machine for the club.

Anelka: 13330 mins 59 goals 38 assists

Kalou:   12899 mins 58 goals 38 assists

And thats with Anelka getting to play in his favoured striker role more times. I don't get why the general opinion among fans of these players is so different.

vermeillan - 10 mill - they was robbed

y toure - 25 mill - massively over priced.

nasri - 22mill - way overpriced.

These are all actually pretty good value for money.

Its all just a matter of opinion isnt mate. The truth is a players value is only as much as someone is willing to pay for him.