I remember him being very happy with this (potential) signing, so your argument doesn't hold up.
He also has a very valid point ie. We have discovered nothing that he and his current club weren't already fully aware of. It's only that we perceive the risk greater than they do.
No doubt it has...
We as fans can only judge on what's in front of us. The standard of footall, the effort on display and our business in the windows.
Well exactly. It's 2017, football is absolutely brutal business and the only thing fictional is your opinion that it is/was not possible to bring in quality...
Don't worry.
I have it on good NSC authority that the closer we get to the window, the cheaper and better quality the signings become.
The fact we left it this late would surely mean we have exhausted previous options, otherwise we would have easily been able to find out about this condition...
We'd had gotten an outrageous fee for one or more of our players and in turn used that similarly to how we've been spending now (looking for highest possible pedigree at good value).
Obvious based on what exactly?
The fact we have been tracking him a while, expressed interest and submitted a rejected bid prior to this would suggest it's not very obvious to me.
Proven at this level costs 100k+ a week. Dunno what people were expecting. If we were prepared to give contracts like that we'd have gone for Defoe/Hernandez etc.
We just have to hope this is a Knockaert and not a Manu.
I'm confident, he looks promising.