Darwin Nunez’s move to Liverpool is debated in the Mailbox, as is whether the Reds can compete with City. Also: is anyone arsed about the Nations League?
E-mail us at theeditor@football365.com
Liverpool splurging again
It has been a few weeks since ‘Lucky Liverpool’ has departed the realms of myth and entered fact, so it’s with interest that they are now spending a colossal, almost repugnant, amount of money on one of Europe’s best young strikers.
Following Allison and VVD, as well as throwing cash at the turgid Ox and Keita, amongst others, it seems the holier than thou Liverpool are using money as the answer to their problems. Again.
I’m sure some Liverpool fans will use net spend to be the factor that helps them sleep at night, but ‘buying the best’ has still happened and is frankly embarrassing for a club and risible fan base that attempts to put itself on a pedestal as ‘doing things right’.
At least we can all rest assured that they will come second to City in the league (the asterisk season doesn’t count) and lose to Madrid in the Champions League again.
Rob, Dorset
Value in the market
I gather Seb and a couple of others were less than impressed by my usage of Transfermarkt player values in Friday’s Mailbox to suggest cheaper alternatives to Darwin Nunez. Indeed, Darin Nunez is listed at 49.5 million pounds, which is cheaper than the values listed for Lautaro Martinez (67.5 million) and Victor Osimhen (58.5m), but not Jonathan David (40.5m).
There was a reason why I said these were cheaper alternatives. Benfica have placed an 85m price tag on Nunez. These price tags are often higher than what a player may be worth. For instance, CIES Observatory estimates Nunez is worth 70.1 million euros, which is about 30% lower than what Liverpool will end up paying.
Of course, nothing stops Inter, Napoli, and Lille from also placing a price tag on their players which is greater than a reasonable estimate. But as I also mentioned, Inter need the cash. And even though CIES Observatory estimates Martinez is worth 106.7m euros, they will in all likelihood accept much less than that, especially if they want Lukaku back.
As for Osimhen and David, they are estimated to be cheaper than Nunez. Of course, Napoli and Lille can play hardball and perhaps aren’t as desperate for money as Inter. But until a price tag is known, I can only work with the numbers available. If a report emerges tomorrow saying Napoli want 101m euros for Osimhen, then…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…