Leonardo Ulloa was an £8 million bargain for Leicester, says Nigel Pearson...

Pavilionaire · Oct 16, 2014

<Daily Mail>: "The Foxes boss knows there were one or two raised eyebrows when he splashed the cash for the 28-year-old.

But it's a gamble that's paying off and Pearson is convinced it's been money well spent.

He said: "When you look at how much players cost right now, I don't think it was expensive.

"We broke our record to get him but we felt he had the qualities we needed - not just in terms of goals, but his link-up play has been excellent too."

The significance for me of this story in today's Daily Mail is that Leicester originally offered £3 million for the player, a derisory amount but an offer that doubtless turned the players head. They ended up paying £8 million and Pearson is implying Albion's valuation of £10 million might actually have been spot on.

How is ANY of this helping football?

Had Leicester paid the going rate at the start we would have had cash in the bank and more time to source a proper replacement, not scrabbling around two weeks before the start of the season and panic-buying O'Grady, Colunga and Baldock. Indeed, this is the reason we sit in 19th place today.

Go fvck yourselves Leicester.

Mowgli37 · Oct 16, 2014

We trailed Baldock for a long while and spent a significant amount of time trying to wrangle over the price, hardly a panic buy. O'Grady was brought in well before the season had begun and the jury is still out on Colunga. Plus we may still get more money for Leo based on goals and staying up bonuses. 20 goal a season strikers don't grow on trees.

nwgull · Oct 16, 2014

Mowgli37 said:
We trailed Baldock for a long while and spent a significant amount of time trying to wrangle over the price, hardly a panic buy. O'Grady was brought in well before the season had begun and the jury is still out on Colunga. Plus we may still get more money for Leo based on goals and staying up bonuses. 20 goal a season strikers don't grow on trees.

They don't; they're usually found in the division below. People need to accept that that's how the food chain works in football.

Rugrat · Oct 16, 2014

Mowgli37 said:
O'Grady was brought in well before the season had begun and the jury is still out on Colunga.

Jury still out on COG for me.

Colunga on the other hand, I'm fast reaching a verdict (but not yet!)

Tooting Gull · Oct 16, 2014

I think £8million was okay for a player of his age - even some of us are surprised at just how well he has done in the Prem Lg. Just goes to show that you need strikers of different types, and he brings a lot of things to Leicester - as he did for us - that they didn't have in anyone else.

But with reference to the Albion it was obviously the biggest scouting triumph for a while. Some more of that please.

Pavilionaire · Oct 16, 2014

nwgull said:
People need to accept that that's how the food chain works in football.

But that my point! Premier League club pays £5mill - £10mill to Championship club, big Championship club pays smaller Championship £4mill-£6mill (Charlie Austin, Jordan Rhodes), Championship club pays £2mill - £5mill to League 1 club (see Assombalonga. CMS, Baldock).

Leicester conducted business like they were still in the Championship dealing with a Peterborough or a Bristol City in League 1. They were offering £3million when relegated Fulham were buying Ross McCormack from Leeds for £11 million.

Fat Langers · Oct 16, 2014

Suppose it's like buying a house or a car.... You never offer the full asking price on your first offer and work upwards. Leicester played the game. And so did we to hold out.

Surf's Up · Oct 16, 2014

I'm not so sure it would've made any difference if the deal had been made any earlier. The money would still be sitting somewhere in a bank account, as it is now, and not spent.

hoveboyslim · Oct 16, 2014

gibseagull said:
I'm not so sure it would've made any difference if the deal had been made any earlier. The money would still be sitting somewhere in a bank account, as it is now, and not spent.

Sitting somewhere in a bank account? Has the club become debt free? I had hadn't realised that.

Mowgli37 · Oct 16, 2014

Rugrat said:
Jury still out on COG for me.

Colunga on the other hand, I'm fast reaching a verdict (but not yet!)

Yeah, I should add that I'm in no way an O'Grady basher. I thought he played well at Watford and if Baldock is still out then there is no reason why we shouldn't start him versus Boro.

Surf's Up · Oct 16, 2014

hoveboyslim said:
Sitting somewhere in a bank account? Has the club become debt free? I had hadn't realised that.

Well £8m would certainly make a big dent in whatever debt we have. That's assuming the money is in a club bank account.

Thunder Bolt · Oct 16, 2014

gibseagull said:
Well £8m would certainly make a big dent in whatever debt we have. That's assuming the money is in a club bank account.

We're losing £1 million a month according to Paul Barber yesterday.

Surf's Up · Oct 16, 2014

Thunder Bolt said:
We're losing £1 million a month according to Paul Barber yesterday.

Which begs the question - where's the £8m gone?

SAC · Oct 16, 2014

It's a bit too soon to say if he is worth £3 million, £8 million or £15 million. 5 goals in as many appearances is a fantastic stat but lets see what they statistic is at the end of January or the end of the season. If he can get 15 goals in the PL then £8 million is probably the correct price, over that and it will be considered a bargain.

On the flip side, if he is the difference between promotion and another season in the Championship then £8 million is going to look such good business.

Tony Meolas Loan Spell · Oct 16, 2014

With the goals he has scored already he is worth £8m. The points Lesta have now could very well keep them up come the end of the season.

Anyway thats not the issue. The issue is the REPLACEMENTS - a spanish midget on Burkes list and another midget Baldock who scored goals in L1 with a strike partner (who was pretty tall) so in effect it was the CHEAP option. We already had a midget that runs around alot in CMS.

O'Grady is merely a squad player and was probably worth a punt as he scored 15 goals last year so Im not counting him as a replacement for Ulloa.

Mackenzie · Oct 16, 2014

£8m rising to £10m was a good price for Ulloa. We were happy with that amount, it helps offset losses, and Leicester were happy to have bought a do the business striker.

Luke93 · Oct 16, 2014

Selling Leo was the right thing to do. His head was turned, we are looking 1M a month and the amount paid was substantial. BUT, if he stayed, we won't be sitting in 19th right now. His replacements are yet to impress.

gordonchas · Oct 16, 2014

Pavilionaire said:
/snip

Have you considered that a player who was signed for a fee of 1.5m (and then sold 18 months later for 8m) might have been "undervalued" at that time as well? In which case Almeria might well say the same thing.

The reality is that in both instances it was a gamble, it only looks a bargain with the benefit of hindsight and ignores the terrible signings that all clubs make.

Codner's Wallop · Oct 16, 2014

gibseagull said:
I'm not so sure it would've made any difference if the deal had been made any earlier. The money would still be sitting somewhere in a bank account, as it is now, and not spent.

I love this concept that any cash we redeem from our transfer dealings should be ring-fenced for any future dealings - all the while the club is leaking MILLIONS of pounds every year.

I appreciate TB is a hugely generous guy, having already invested around £90m in the stadium, but to expect him to further protect any incoming revenue, is ludicrous.

It's a bit like ordering Sainsburys, having spent £90m on a new superstore, to ignore their shareholders and instead plough all their future profits into local community projects.

Pavilionaire · Oct 16, 2014

gordonchas said:
Have you considered that a player who was signed for a fee of 1.5m (and then sold 18 months later for 8m) might have been "undervalued" at that time as well? In which case Almeria might well say the same thing.

The reality is that in both instances it was a gamble, it only looks a bargain with the benefit of hindsight and ignores the terrible signings that all clubs make.

But that's of secondary importance. The actual value in the British market was far in excess of £3million and I'd argue that the time Leicester spent messing about has had a detrimental effect on this season. Leicester always knew they were going to get him, and they knew that had up to £8 million to spend so all was quantifiable for them. What makes this more surprising is that we'd just dealt with Leicester over Upson, so you'd think we might have cut through the bullshit a bit quicker.

As for the issue of his value at Almeria I'd say that a) No Spanish club was offering £2million, and b) There is inherently more risk in signing a Spanish / South American player who hasn't played in England before. David Rodriguez sunk without trace and Clunge looks like going the same way.

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