Originally Posted by
the other bob wilson
Right, starting with Sawyers. In 19/20, he was in a West Brom side that got promoted and was regarded as one of the best players in his position in the Championship. The Premier League did not work out well for West Brom or Sawyers and he lost his place in the team.
West Brom then bought a new manager in for the Championship, Sawyers was clearly not an Ishmael type player and it was no surprise that he was loaned out, but I strongly believe that this was a situation where pre Covid West Brom would have been able to sell Sawyers with a year of his contract left as a proven Championship level midfielder who would be a first choice at most of the teams in the division. However, with transfer budgets smaller because of a loss of revenue caused by Covid, no one was willing to pay what I believe would have been a seven figure fee for his services. I don’t think that reasoning is nonsensical at all.
That’s one specific case, but it’s more of a general point at issue here - are you denying that the transfer market has changed for most Championship clubs because of Covid? Do you think City could have created a whole new squad pre Covid while spending a reported £540,000 in transfer fees (we’re supposed to have received £150,000 for Connolly as well), a squad where there were collectively 900 plus Championship appearances among the newcomers, plus someone who has won twenty five caps for a country in the top thirty of the world rankings? Where clubs would have been looking to cash in on players of a certain standard by selling them with a year left on the contract pre Covid, they were unable to do that in the new circumstances because the money was just not there in the sort of clubs that would have been buying such players three and four years ago.