Okay, so it’s risky to draw such a straight line from one transfer out to another transfer in even when the latter follows the former. Correlation is not necessarily causation. However, having said that, it’s hard to resist the idea that selling the Smith to Fulham greased the wheels to help us sign Calafiori. Now, along similar lines, as talk of us signing Merino hot up, and as rumours of us pursuing Toney gather momentum, it’s again hard to resist the idea that selling Nketiah might serve as a similar kind of grease the wheels to help us sign one or the other.
Just so we’re clear on timelines and on not drawing straight lines connecting one transfer to another, we announced Smith Rowe’s departure on 2 August and Calafiori’s arrival on 29 July. Of course, it’s entirely possible that this apparent disparity simply reflects marketing needs or the crossing of i’s and dotting of t’s. None of us will ever really know how Smith Rowe’s transfer out facilitated Calafiori’s transfer in…unless someone involved blabs, in which case we’ll all know.
A week or two ago, we were all quite chuffed to see that Eddie Nketiah might be on his way out the door, on his way to Crystal Palace, Olympique Marseille, and Bournemouth. Sadly, each of these seems to have fizzled out for various reasons, and we found ourselves contemplating yet another season with him riding the pine at £77k a week. Then again, if current rumours are true, we could sell him to Nottingham Forest for £25m plus add-ons. We seem to be holding out for £30-35m up-front. In either case, look at it this way: he’s an Academy product who joined us for free in 2015. Should we sell him for £25m, we’d still turn a tidy profit of something like £15—and that would be after subtracting his wages over the last decade.
Even if we settle for a £25m fee plus add-ons, that could and maybe even should be enough to free up enough to land Merino, for whom Real Sociedad want…£25m. Again, we’re not necessarily drawing straight lines from one to the next. This isn’t connect-the-dots. Then again, maybe it is. Maybe the apparent delay in securing Merino’s transfer in does relate to snags in confirming Nketiah’s transfer out.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see us announce the arrival of Merino and the departure of Nketiah (not necessarily in that order) by the end of the week. As with the Smith Rowe-Calafiori sequence, we shouldn’t confuse correlation with causation. Then again, if ti looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck…
We’ll have to check back before the weekend to see if any of this amounts to anything more than pointless folderol and fulminating. It would be grand indeed to see us sign Merino—his arrival would, as we’ve previously explored, create a very-dynamic midfield trio with him shielding the defense whilst Rice and Ødegaard eviscerate in their own particular…idioms. Nketiah will not have been sold in vain.
In fact, as with Smith Rowe’s departure perhaps facilitating Calafiori’s arrival, Nketiah might just perform a similar service to this club while advancing his own career. Neither Smith Rowe nor Nketiah was going to crack the XI. By accepting this fate and agreeing to leave, thereby facilitating an upgrade at other positions, they each may have, in their own…idioms…helped this club more than they could have by staying.
Time will tell.
