Summer 2021 transfer window

[Tony Towner]

Why? We don't operate financially on a day to day basis so how these deals were structured will have pretty much no impact on our medium to long term financial strategy which is what a solvent football club works to. Both those deals were more favourable to the buying club financially for sure but not to our detriment financially*

*this is not a comment on whether Jota was under valued or Fabio too expensive

Because we appear to be cash strapped now after spending £35m up front last season. Whether it is cash flow or self imposed budget restrictions either from within the club or the wider ownership. What it isn't based on any analysis of accounts provided on here or by the likes of Swiss Ramble is FFP - PL or UEFA

 

[prawnking]

IIRC the popular opinion was that this would all be done and dusted midway through the 20/21 season after winter. Nobody at that time thought that this would be a prolonged affair or could have foreseen that it would mutate repeatedly - the multiple lockdowns in most developed countries are evidence of this - there is not even a single government that accurately predicted the full extent of the pandemic.

I'm sure had Fosun remembered to look at their magic crystal ball, they may have reconsidered some of last season's transfer activity, although I still believe they would have gone through with Fabio. That transfer is part of a bigger picture.



But signing Fabio is the reason that we were able to sign Neves and Neto - it's quite clear. We're in a partnership with Mendes, sometimes he does us a favour and sometimes we return the favour. The ultimate goal is that it's mutually beneficial and even after the signing of Silva is accounted for, I still believe it is. All of our Mendes transfers are inextricably linked - we can't just say yes to a few and no to others (well, obviously we could, but then we'd find out supply of cut-price world class players would dry up overnight).



Regardless of their current stature, neither of those players would have wanted to sign for us without the Mendes connection. A timeless club badge, being founder members of the football league, the pioneers of European football and the first club to win all four divisions are not typically things that represent a draw to international players

You overplay the Mendes angle. His benefits to us in the Championship were huge, but since that first summer window back in the PL when we signed Rui and Joao, returns have diminished significantly.

As for Fabio and Rayan not wanting to sign for us without Jorge... We'd live!

The idea that without Jorge we'd still be playing Dave Edwards in the PL is nonsense. Plenty of clubs our size and smaller (the likes of Boro and Bolton for instance) have attracted stars while in the PL, it's the draw of the competition as much as anything

 

[sycophantia]

We'd been in a global lockdown for six months when we signed Fabio, so I'd have hoped that Fosun were very much considering the impact of Covid.

Regardless of whether Fabio is offsettable or a necessary Jorge favour, the bottom line is that he (and Nelson to an extent) are massive luxury signings for a club like us.

I also take issue with you throwing Fabio and Rayan into the 'multiple superstars' list... Have I gone to sleep and it's 2025 or something?

Don't agree that Semedo was a massive luxury signing, we needed a RB/RWB and preferably one that was an upgrade on Doc....personally think he is

 

[prawnking]

Don't agree that Semedo was a massive luxury signing, we needed a RB/RWB and preferably one that was an upgrade on Doc....personally think he is

I did say 'to an extent' with Nelson. He's obviously a better player than Doc, still had a patchy season last year, and at his age we ideally needed him to hit the ground running really.

I'm optimistic for him this season, but a club our size who don't have a pot to piss shouldn't be forking out that much on a full back, surely?

 

[PuntsWolf]

Covid has affected us less than pretty much every other club in the league financially. Probably Burnley the only team less affected than us.

 

[WolfMan]

It's a slow day at work so I've been looking at our transfer expenditure per season since we got promoted.

It's on here:

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/transfers/einnahmenausgaben/statistik/plus/0?ids=a&sa=&saison_id=2020&saison_id_bis=2020&land_id=189&nat=&pos=&altersklasse=&w_s=&leihe=&intern=0

So,

18/19 - £101.48m
19/20 - £105.03m
20/21 - £74.52m

So a pretty big drop off in year 3, but not massive. The net spend is also virtually zero in the 3rd year, the first 2 years our expenditure was very high compared to our income.

I know there's been alot of talk about FFP and I'm not going to pretend to understand it, but surely there are cheaper ways of establishing us as Crystal Palace mark 2 than spending 70 odd million on players. I appreciate that how it was spent is debatable.

I'd expect us to spend around that level again, if we count Trincao as a commitment to a £25m fee, along with Yerson which was £4.5, that's nearly £30m. I'm fully expecting us to spend another £40m, whether that is loans with obligations or up front fees. That's regardless of who leaves.

Obviously I could be way off and we literally won't spend anything more unless we get the money in first. I just have a feeling all this we've got no money talk is a bit of a negotiating smoke screen. You wouldn't walk into a car dealership and loudly exclaim you'd got shit loads of money to spend would you, why would Wolves do the same.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

Because we appear to be cash strapped now after spending £35m up front last season. Whether it is cash flow or self imposed budget restrictions either from within the club or the wider ownership. What it isn't based on any analysis of accounts provided on here or by the likes of Swiss Ramble is FFP - PL or UEFA

I don't see where the club has confirmed that we are "cash strapped". We obviously operate within our means as there hasn't been any additional funding provided by the owners and that generally means that incoming transfers are funded by a combination of revenue and outgoing transfers. Whether we spend £35 million up front or pay it in instalments makes no difference. The last 18 months and loss of revenue probably has more impact than how we paid for Fabio.

 

[thisisgil]

Obviously I could be way off and we literally won't spend anything more unless we get the money in first. I just have a feeling all this we've got no money talk is a bit of a negotiating smoke screen. You wouldn't walk into a car dealership and loudly exclaim you'd got shit loads of money to spend would you, why would Wolves do the same.

I wonder if it might be a case of Fosun wanting to get the club to a point where it is financially self sufficient (through PL income and developing and cycling young players a la Chelsea) being confused with "We're skint cos we're not spending £100m every season" by the fans.

Fosun clearly are not Abramovich, but equally, they appear to have a long term strategy. I firmly believe this strategy involves Wolves financing and sustaining their on the pitch ambitions through player sales. It's a model where no player is irreplaceable and every player has their price, which is fine just so long as the club is progressing to some degree every season. This doesn't mean that we're skint and this doesn't mean that we're happy to finish 14th every season either. It does mean that we need to get used to cycles of players who roll up and move on in a 2-3 season window as this is how the club is being run now - for better or for worse.

I'm excited to see this approach. We've tried the traditional friendly benefactor route and whilst the 90s were fantastic fun, we actually spent the best part of a decade spinning our wheels. Maybe the introduction of a board of objectively successful business men with little to no emotional connection to the club is exactly what we need to be successful.

 

[Deano]

If we didn't comply with the UEFA thing what would be the repercussions of that?

Also is the break even thing that gets talked about from this official and confirmed? I see a hell of a lot of people accepting it on Twitter and seem baffled that "Wolves fans don't understand this"

 

[YoungWolf]

They seem to have adjusted their approach, for definite. I don't think we suddenly have no money, but nor do I buy the FFP stance that they tried to get at in the Ask Wolves.

I think it's more likely we are going for the Red Bull approach as they actually said. I think they meant branding wise, but I think we are trying to get ahead in the market and sign the young talents like Mosquera, Ait-Nouri and yes, Fabio! There does need to be a balance though. The coaching has to be top level (let's see) and there needs to be some proven players in the group to provide consistency that is needed.

 

[WolfMan]

I wonder if it might be a case of Fosun wanting to get the club to a point where it is financially self sufficient (through PL income and developing and cycling young players a la Chelsea) being confused with "We're skint cos we're not spending £100m every season" by the fans.

Fosun clearly are not Abramovich, but equally, they appear to have a long term strategy. I firmly believe this strategy involves Wolves financing and sustaining their on the pitch ambitions through player sales. It's a model where no player is irreplaceable and every player has their price, which is fine just so long as the club is progressing to some degree every season. This doesn't mean that we're skint and this doesn't mean that we're happy to finish 14th every season either. It does mean that we need to get used to cycles of players who roll up and move on in a 2-3 season window as this is how the club is being run now - for better or for worse.

I'm excited to see this approach. We've tried the traditional friendly benefactor route and whilst the 90s were fantastic fun, we actually spent the best part of a decade spinning our wheels. Maybe the introduction of a board of objectively successful business men with little to no emotional connection to the club is exactly what we need to be successful.

Yes I'd be more worried if we were selling players like Jota and not reinvesting the money, to me that would symbolise they've lost interest. Then it just comes down to competence in scouting and player development. I don't really care if we spend 75m a year but our net spend is zero. After 5 years of spending that kind of money the squad should be looking fucking excellent as long as it's spent competently.

 

[Kenny]

If we didn't comply with the UEFA thing what would be the repercussions of that?

We have had our fine and slap on the wrist, so the next step on the UEFA front is getting a ban. Obviously only hurts us if we qualify for Europe and no idea if they say "next time you qualify, forget about taking part"
Annoyingly the way FFP is judged now by UEFA we are fine but we are under their rules at the moment and having to hand in our homework every couple of months until next summer I think

 

[thisisgil]

They seem to have adjusted their approach, for definite. I don't think we suddenly have no money, but nor do I buy the FFP stance that they tried to get at in the Ask Wolves.

I think it's more likely we are going for the Red Bull approach as they actually said. I think they meant branding wise, but I think we are trying to get ahead in the market and sign the young talents like Mosquera, Ait-Nouri and yes, Fabio! There does need to be a balance though. The coaching has to be top level (let's see) and there needs to be some proven players in the group to provide consistency that is needed.

Establish Wolves in Premier League

Maintain net zero finances

Establish global network of Wolves branded clubs

Buy talent Develop in network Play in Premiership Sell player (200% ROI) 25% pure profit to Fosun Group

Fosun are an investment group. Wolves are an investment. None of this should be particularly shocking to anyone.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Because we appear to be cash strapped now after spending £35m up front last season. Whether it is cash flow or self imposed budget restrictions either from within the club or the wider ownership. What it isn't based on any analysis of accounts provided on here or by the likes of Swiss Ramble is FFP - PL or UEFA

It does feel like we are the only club in the Prem who is effected by FFP, particularly as the rules have been relaxed due to covid, it's just an excuse isn't it?

 

[Tony Towner]

It does feel like we are the only club in the Prem who is effected by FFP, particularly as the rules have been relaxed due to covid, it's just an excuse isn't it?

Depends if you believe the UEFA restrictions or not. I've not seen anything from people who know what they are talking about to suggest they should be impacting us to the degree it would appear. As always September 1st is the true time to judge

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Fosun are an investment group. Wolves are an investment. None of this should be particularly shocking to anyone.

Well, it's in direct contradiction to what they said they were going to do, Shi said we'd be challenging for the league title/champions league places within 5-10 years. Their actions over the last 18 months or so suggest that is no longer the aim, but taking the piss out of people for being annoyed is unfair, as the club have made promises that they clearly aren't going to keep, whether it is getting us consistently high in the table, or building a 50k stadium.

 

[WolfMan]

Establish Wolves in Premier League

Maintain net zero finances

Establish global network of Wolves branded clubs

Buy talent Develop in network Play in Premiership Sell player (200% ROI) 25% pure profit to Fosun Group

Fosun are an investment group. Wolves are an investment. None of this should be particularly shocking to anyone.

You forgot "customer value maximisation":

 

[AndyWolves]

It does feel like we are the only club in the Prem who is effected by FFP, particularly as the rules have been relaxed due to covid, it's just an excuse isn't it?

We're apparently under a restriction due to breaking UEFA FFP when we got into the Europa League.

It's not PL rules we're obeying, it's the restrictions / agreement we're under as a result of breaking UEFA FFP rules.

No one knows what happened to that agreement as a result of Covid, whether it got extended or whether it has now expired. I think it probably got extended for another season as I'd imagine we'd have failed it due to Covid related loss of income.

IIRC as part of the agreement we are allowed to lose £30m over 3 seasons, which is significantly tighter than PL restrictions.

 

[YoungWolf]

IIRC as part of the agreement we are allowed to lose £30m over 3 seasons, which is significantly tighter than PL restrictions.

It is, but the reason I don't believe it is the issue is because as far as I can tell it doesnt mean a zero net spend. We spent as much as we did in the first season and made a £20m profit, did we not? Second season was a 40m loss because of Covid, but I don't see it being that much as an issue for the next financial year?

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

Establish Wolves in Premier League

Maintain net zero finances

Establish global network of Wolves branded clubs

Buy talent Develop in network Play in Premiership Sell player (200% ROI) 25% pure profit to Fosun Group

Fosun are an investment group. Wolves are an investment. None of this should be particularly shocking to anyone.

Well said.

Obvious I'd love us to be the next man city, but Wolves - at least spiritually in my eyes - are a Championship club that have spent a lot of money and are now doing well in the PL. I'm happy it we continue to look like we belong in the PL.