And had we accepted those bids the Invincible season and the 2005 FA Cup might never have happened
If we sold players for their maximum value we'd be selling them in their prime, which doesn't really reconcile with winning trophies.
Paddy we sold at the exactly right time, Henry could still have helped us but I get the feeling he didn't want any more part of the youth project so we didn't have much choice.
Plus, he came back and scored *that* goal #iwasthereandpissedasarat
Paddy's bid was after the Invincibles, so it would have only cost us the 2005 FA Cup. And Titi's bid was after we lost the CL final. We had Cesc, Ade, RVP and Reyes. And got TR7 in '06. That extra £30m could have bought us a CM to play with Gilby and Cesc in a 3 man MF, and a better CH than Gallas.
Yes, I'd have rather we kept both of them forever. But we turned down 10m for Mhikki and then sold him for 1m a year later. I have no idea why AW forced PV4 out. Thought that was silly. We didn't switch to 4-3-3 until a few years later, but imagine if we'd had Gilby, PV and Cesc as a 3 man MF, Titi, Bobby P/Reyes and Freddie up front, with TR7 able to cover the MF or wings.
In his autobiog, PV4 says he didn't understand why he was forced out. The year before, when RM had offered 30m, he says AW fought to keep him. But the next year, he's told AFC had received an offer and they didn't care whether he stayed or not. So he stropped out and then couldn't work out why he'd left the club.
As above, imagine if we'd switched to the 4-3-3 earlier, with Gilby, PV and Cesc in MF, with Titi {with RVP as backup} as the lone striker. Bobby and Reyes for the left wing, Freddie and TR7 for the right, with TR7 also able to cover 2 of the MF roles.
Dear Ganpati, imagine if we could get a squad with 9 options like those for the front 6. Reyes, RVP and TR7 as the 2nd choice front 3.
If only we could find a new PV4 who could play both as a 4 and an 8.
What's this new lad, Vieira 2.0 like?
We should make a cheeky bid for Ronaldo. We bid, Man Utd pay us a cool £7m and we offer him 50k a week.
Feck Cultural Marxist BLM