Joao Carvalho

[Alf]

As our most expensive signing ever I would expect him to be leading the way. When you look at previous record signing such as Francis, Teddy, Stanley and PVH then I think there’s more of a perspective and it seems MON would agree. I totally agree we can’t have three defensive midfielders selected every week otherwise we’ll become very predictable but so long as Cavalhro goes missing for 85 minutes each week he won’t be in the team.

Cisco, great point but Bowyer, Anderson, O’Neill and Barrett (?) were all struggling prior to Sir Brian’s arrival, then suddenly they were part of the best team in Europe. Let’s hope MON can spark our man in the same way Brian sparked them. It’s in Cavalho’s hands but he must embrace the wider game and not just when he’s got the ball.

He may be our most expensive signing but relative to what.
Francis was also the most expensive signing ever, equivalent to Neymar to PSG. 
The two cannot be compared.
That's how much the finished product costs nowadays.
13 million is peanuts in the grand scale.

But the grand scaled shows us as a club which 13m isn't peanuts for.

I'm totally with Woody on this. A record transfer should be leading the way, not being developed. Prem clubs may spend 13m on potential, but the core team is usually made up of 20m+ players. Our most expensive signings should be ones which make the difference every week between winning & losing like PVH used to.

That's not a slate on Carva as a player or blaming him for it. It's criticism of how poorly we've thought through our resource allocation. Had we landed a quality striker + winger as well I wouldn't have any qualms, but we didn't and it's left us chancers not certainties.