Nah. We can get a CB in on loan if need be. If Williamson is good enough, fine, but if not, don't waste money. Clubs selling will want the money. If they don't need/want to sell, or if the player doesn't want to join us, it's going to be expensive anyway. If they do want to sell/the player wants...
And the same would be true over Williamson if no one had seen him play.
It's obviously a bit uninspiring, but if Dunk goes (to whomever) we need more cover for Uwe and Greer, and I imagine he's a reasonable option. I imagine wages would be a problem though.
Because if one player is you first choice, it would be daft to bring someone else in so that you no longer have need for your first choice, unless you know you can't get him.
It's probably best for all it works this way. How long did we pursue Marshall for, and how much did it affect our plans for an alternative? Imagine that we left other options in favour of Marshall and after weeks of bids Blackburn finally accepted, so we went to Marshall and he immediately said...
Why? If the club wanted to sell and Dunk wanted to go, they could agree it all and just agree that it will be delayed so that he doesn't play against us. No need to fake um and err.
Tax on profit doesn't even come into it for us, as we're making significant losses. And even if we made a profit, we shouldn't be paying tax as we're carrying old losses forward. It's all about FFP, and as said already, you can't count the proceeds for future seasons - although bonuses paid for...
Eh? ??? You were thinking that Lewis Dunk himself could have updated wikipedia? :facepalm:
Not really.
I can't see why we'd agree to that if they hadn't signed anything. As I said, if he's going there, the deal could be done before the game, but late enough that he hasn't got time to play for...
If the clubs had reached agreement, it would be best to sell just before the match, so there wasn't time for him to be eligible to play.
It can be even more complicated if keeping him means we'd have to give him an improved contract.