22 Apr 2025 20:10:23
With our current owners and our new commitment to our current superstars, I wouldn't be surprised if its a left back only in the summer. Do the Eds agree or do you think we'll actually spend some cash?
22 Apr 2025 21:54:42
who knows but from what I've learned and appreciate about how we do things - we spend what we earn. we spend on the players we want. we'll not be rushing ourselves into panic buys.
22 Apr 2025 23:43:49
Like last summer, faith? if Chiesa wasn't a panic buy I don't know what is.
23 Apr 2025 00:30:24
A panic buy doesn't cost £14 million, Salah.
23 Apr 2025 00:58:32
Ben Davies cost next to nothing (in football terms ofc) and if that wasn’t a panic buy then i don’t even know what’s real anymore.
23 Apr 2025 01:05:19
Chiesa was more of an opportunistic one than a panic buy ;)
23 Apr 2025 02:57:40
How much does a panic buy cost, babbity?
23 Apr 2025 05:23:15
Hardly a panic buy Salah.
23 Apr 2025 06:21:31
You think buying a sixth choice forward was a panic buy? Hilarious. What were they panicking about? Being able to win the Carabao Cup ?.
23 Apr 2025 07:01:33
I think this thread is quite interesting though. It makes us think what makes a purchase a "panic buy" and there's so many perspectives to it. Personally for me, a panic buy is when there's no plan and we just buy whoever is available to fill a gap in the squad. Players like Carrol, Kabak, and Davies comes to mind. Chiesa, I feel, doesn't fall into this category. It seemed like we did initially have a plan for him, to be a back-up to Salah, but things just didn't work out that way and he fell out of favour.
23 Apr 2025 07:14:42
If Chiesa wasn’t a last minute opportunist buy with the hope of selling him on for profit then what was he? He certainly wasn’t a Slot signing. The naivety on this page when Lord Hughes and co are criticised is staggering.
23 Apr 2025 07:29:57
I do feel for Chiesa as I’ve wanted the signing to work but the lad was available for the whole transfer window so surely he would have been just as opportunistic in July as he was on the 29th Aug.
He's played a total of 33 minutes in our PL campaign and I don't even know if he yet even qualifies for a medal.
Including wages he's going to cost the club about 18-19 million (he's our 5th joint highest paid player) which apparently to some posters isn't a lot of money.
2 weeks ago there was hope that he might start games going forward as our Centre Forward but in reality he didn't even make the last match day squad.
23 Apr 2025 07:40:12
Who said he wasn't that, Kippers?
People were saying he wasn't a panic buy.
Maybe he was bought as reinforcement. Fans have been saying all season that we needed reinforcements. He has hardly played and we are on the brink of winning the League which could show that we didn't need just any old reinforcements.
{Ed001's Note - and the fact he has hardly played should tell you why there was a problem with the signing.}
23 Apr 2025 07:48:31
I think Chiesa was a panicky type of buy. If he was part of the plan why hasn’t he played?
23 Apr 2025 07:59:48
and if that's what he was, then what's the problem with doing that on a 6th choice forward?
the desire to find any crumb to criticize Hughes based on an 'IF' proposition is staggering.
{Ed001's Note - because it is a huge amount of money out of the budget, which affects future transfers. If he was a cheap punt on minimal wages fine, but he is on big money.}
23 Apr 2025 08:07:56
Balotelli was a panic buy, Babbity, and he cost £16m.
23 Apr 2025 09:00:20
Gotta say the emergence of all the Hughes stans was not on my bingo card for this year.
23 Apr 2025 09:03:04
Ed001, I agree that it was a poor buy. I think it was done because of the price and availability and not because of what we needed.
It's on Hughes, for me.
I just don't know whether him signing any left back or midfielder would have worked out any better, either. People were crying out for both in January and if we'd signed a Dorgu and Nico, say, it could have affected future transfers, as you say, without them offering much long term.
All transfers are a gamble and Chiesa hasn't worked out.
{Ed001's Note - I don't have a problem with the signing per se, I like Chiesa myself, but it was clearly not thought out and planned. And I agree, we could have brought someone else in who failed in January and really put us in trouble, but we can't just not sign players in case they fail.}
23 Apr 2025 09:50:35
Panic buys cost 50 million euro and Samuel Eto'o.
23 Apr 2025 09:56:49
I think Chiesa will do well for us next season as I do believe he will still be with us. There’s a top player there definitely.
23 Apr 2025 10:33:28
I think Chiesa was a gamble sort of buy. Didn’t cost much and could be top notch if he returned to the form he showed before the major injury. If he didn’t return to acceptable levels (which seems to be our coaching staff’s view) then we move him on and re-coup our outlay.
A gamble that didn’t come off but was covered by Mo playing out of his skin for the first two thirds of the season and, as I say a gamble that we can get our money back (or most of it ) .
23 Apr 2025 11:04:24
And Chiesa will be an important player next season and is a great pro to have about the team.