Alright, here's a good question: has anyone seen this Romagnoli kid play before? How good is he? Personally, I had never heard of him until he started being linked with us. Apparently our last offer to Roma was 18 million plus bonuses, which IMO is A LOT for someone as unproven as him, yet Roma are asking 30 frigging million instead. Is it me or are they just pulling our leg here? They know we've got lots of money now so they're trying to squeeze as much as possible from the deal. If they don't accept 20 million I'd tell them to f*ck off and focus on someone else instead.

I think he's regarded as the best young defender coming out of Italy right now.

Is he worth 30m? No f@cking way. And the 20m we offered is more than fair imo. How much did Benatia go for last summer? 24m? It would be ridiculous to pay anything more than that for a player who isn't half as good as Benatia currently. Maybe he has a higher ceiling of potential but he's not a ready made product

I think we're waiting things out because the player wants to come, he's not going to be a starter at Roma while Mihajlovic will guarantee him that at Milan. Plus he has a history with Miha after their time at Samp so that's another plus.

Anything above 25m and we should look elsewhere imo. Laporte's buy-out clause is 50m apparently so that's beyond us. Maksimovic is also good and most likely Toro will ask for half of the sum that Roma want.

Doesn't that answer itself?

In terms of worth, no players are 'worth' these sums. But the market value would suggest a brilliant young player is always priced at that level.

I think 20m is a much more fair evaluation for someone that could just as easily turn into another Ranocchia or Astori. Because these guys were regarded as the best Italy had to offer a few years ago and they turned out far and away from being what they were hyped as.

It's always a gamble with young players, he's only had one season where he's been a starter for a Serie A side. 30m is what I would pay for a finished product, not someone who's just a prospect

Doesn't matter that they 'could' be a dud. You're paying for the best-case scenario, and if a youngster produces it now, they fetch serious cash.

Young English, Italian and Spanish players are glorious for this. Furthermore, you said it yourself - a full season as a first-choice starter for Roma?

24-year old Bertolacci cost us 20M. Someone who has 4 or 5 years on him and has had a stellar season? Sadly, they cost even more.

He's Moroccan. That was about right for a Moroccan who's top class. It's Romagnoli's nationality that counts in Roma's favour re: his value. He's also an OAP by comparison. 28.

These all explain why Benatia's value is less than Romagnoli's.

Not saying it's fair, or that I agree with it, I'm just explaining the reasons.

He was a starter at Samp on loan under Miha

Don't know, but unless a player is a super talent, 30m is too much for someone who's young and inexperienced, no matter what their nationality is.

A player's price I think is defined by certain criteria, how important he is to his current team, his form based on the past season played, age, attributes and last nationality could factor but not as much as you say.

Would a club really care if it's getting an Italian/English/Spanish p[layer vs a Maroccan one when the latter has shown that he is one of the top CBs in a top European league? Hardly imo.

If Darmian costs 18m, than Romagnoli at best is 10m. Both Italian, Darmian is still young especially for a defender and currently considered a lot better than Romagnoli. Roma just want to try to bleed us dry because they don't have the cash they need to complete all the moves they want to make (Dzeko especially)


I understand that talents from Italy, England and Spain tend to go for slightly a bit more. But being from another nationality doesn't diminish the price of a player especially if he's a quality one like Benatia.

Also have to add, that my initial argument is tainted since now I remember that Benatia pushed his way out of Roma and Sabatini initially wanted a lot more for him than they got because Benatia was being an @sshole.

However I do think Romagnoli wants to join us so wecould also use that as an advantage

No it doesn't, but it does explain why younger players cost more.

Can you tell me the last excellent young Italian, Spanish or English player to go for less than 25M?

Darmian? Verratti? Isco?

English players are ridiculously overpriced and overhyped. But off the top of my head, Lallana I think went for something like 20m and he was one of the most hyped English players next to Barkley and Sterling in the EPL before his move. Talking about Sterling, there is no way that this guy is worth 50m. Talk about overhyped and overpriced. But he's considered as one of those super talents so he's an exception rather than the rule

Like I said, I think 20m for a prospect, even one from those 3 major countries, is fair (in this market because it's still a ridiculous amount to pay on a gamble). 30m is not a price that you'd pay for someone who's just promising and a young talent, you pay 30m for someone who's established

Also, people balked at the Luke Shaw transfer for 26m and he's regarded as one of the best young English players around. And you know how much they over hype their players. So it's really not normal to throw around 30m for a young player that's only really done it for a season and can still turn into a dud.

Isco was £24M. That's about 32M Euros.

I give you Verratti, but then Verratti wasn't hyped massively till his displays at PSG - and Pescara couldn't reasonably demand 30M.

Darmian is 25 and not a 'prospect'.



35M Euros for Lallana.



Illarramendi - barely 23, cost £34M, that's 45-50M Euros.

So, no you don't. You pay what you're willing to, and what the recipient demands. And it's usually a compromise on market value.

Er, what? Luke Shaw is NOT regarded as one of the best young English players around!

The fee was baulked at BECAUSE he's seen as mildly above average.

None of these guys I'm mentioning are teenagers. I think Darmian qualifies. Also the fact that he's not only just a prospect but a full fledged NT player who has tons of top flight experience at just the age of 25 should make him even more expensive than just a prospect.

Nah, he was hyped up at Pescara just as much as Insigne, however none of the Italian clubs were willing to pay for him because of the usual backwards mentality of Italian football that older is better and younger shouldn't be starting. Now he's lost forever to the Italian league imo, I seriously cannot see him playing in Serie A anytime in the near or distant future.

I'm sure had Pescara really tightened their hold they would have squeezed a crazy number out of PSG, but again, it's the mentality in Italian football that youngsters aren't really worth all that much, not until they reach a certain age.


Thought he went for less, this mainly proves that English players are ridiculously over priced. In what reality is this guy worth 35m?


Real over inflating prices as usual for a player who's barely had any first team action. All that is wrong in football right there.

Anyway, I think what this all proves is that it's the English and Spanish that are over priced as you say. Italian players aren't. Why? Because clubs are usually willing to jump at any decent fee offered to them. Look at Toro. They could have easily held out for at least 25m for Darmian, one of the best in his positions around right now imo. Yet, they jump on the 18m because every club in the league is desperate for cash.

Same with Verratti really. You think a club in Germany or Spain, no matter how small or poor they are would allow a talent like Verratti to go for the fee that he did?

So you're right about one bit that Spanish and English talent is overpriced but I don't agree that it's the same with the Italians. Which brings us back to Romagnoli. There is no way this guy is worth 30m, no matter if this market is over inflated and he's Italian.

20m is already stretching it way too much imo

Like I said, if Darmian is worth 18m, this guy at best is 10m

He has 6 years on Darmian.

I'm not repeating my point again.

Let's just end this one now!

Who? Romagnoli?

He's 20, that means Darmian is the one who has 5 years on him. Which should make him even more expensive, especially considering that Darmian has much more experience in top flight football, is at a great age and is a NT player. Romagnoli has a few months of good displays in Serie A and he should be worth more? How is that logical?


Anyways, Witsel about to play in the Russian Super Cup game n about 10 minutes. Could be his last game for them and probably why Monday and Tuesday are important days for negotiations