Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The value of the Pound - More on Andy Johnson

It seems record breaking transfers can create a bit of a stir. The club is due to confirm the signing of Andy Johnson at a press conference today alongside new right back Fredrick Stoor.

In response to my concerns about the cost of Andy Johnson, both Rich CCN and Colin CatB offered compelling arguments that a 10 goal a season striker is actually quite hard to come by and also very much worth having. Obviously there's no guarantees that AJ will score 10 but they are right that he has a decent track record of doing so. Rich also mentioned his pace, which is definitely something I think we're missing right now. Kamara had pace but too often didn't look like he knew what to do when his pace had found him a bit of time and space. However, even these arguments failed to make me completely at ease with breaking our record transfer fee.

With the deal taking a typically Fulhamish length of time to complete I've had plenty of time to ponder the pros and cons. Something that has crossed my mind is what a £13Million pound transfer REALLY means. When Spurs signed Darren Bent for £18Million last season a Spurs supporting friend at work (who suffered no end of grief from Arsenal colleagues) countered that whilst the fee might eventually have reached that figure, Tottenham certainly hadn't just splashed out the full amount from the off. In today's modern transfer market there are all sorts of conditions that affect the final price you end up paying. That means we may be paying something like an £8Million fee up front but the rest would only come after so many appearances for the club, a set number of England caps, maybe even a number of goals scored. In fact we may even be paying the initial fee in installments. It seems the credit crunch might even affect your common or garden Premier League chairmen.

Of course it's unlikely we'll ever know the exact terms of the deal. Fulham are the kings of the "Undisclosed" transfer, and even if we do announce a figure it's unlikely to go into the intimate details. For some reason that helps me feel more comfortable with the whole business. With the dust settled and Johnson soon to be a confirmed part of our team it's all largely irrelevant anyway. I'm ready to start singing his name - let's get this season started!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is taking a long time to come through. I am slightly worried that another club is going to come in for him at the death! Certainly getting a little frustrating for all Fulham fans.

Excellent site by the way, please drop me an email when you get the chance.

Anonymous said...

The famous Fulham medical Thomas. We can only hope and wait!

BTW - I haven't got your email address, drop me a line at chopper68-AT-yahoo-DOT-com and I'll get back to you.

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