What would you expect to pay in the market 2 years ago for a 30-year old defender with 10 years experience at the top level in Europe?
Name a clear figure (to the nearest 2-3 million).
Not saying you didn’t lol but it doesn’t mean you’re not still exercising hindsight in making such comments.
It was a bad deal at the time of signing, that would have only been redeemed with CL qualification.
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Considering we got Luiz (who I think is better too) for about £8mill, I see no justification for spending more than double that on Sokratis.
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I asked you to name a clear figure. Not make a comparison between those 2 deals.
So again, can you please name a clear figure (to the nearest 2-3 million) that you would expect to pay in the market 2 years ago for a 30-year old defender with 10 years experience at the top level in Europe?
I know you didn’t want me to compare between other deals but Luiz fitted the profile and specifications you have outlined, and we got him for less than half the price we got for Papa.
Why do you need me to name a figure when my example and explanation easily justifies my reasoning that we paid too much for him/our money could have been much better spent elsewhere?
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Some of us wanted Evans who was significantly cheaper and would of fulfilled the same need /shrug
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Daivd Luiz doesn’t fit the criteria I specified actually. He is 2 years older (in terms of at the time of signing).
I’m asking you because you said it was a bad deal for someone of Sokratis’ skill/level. So I’m asking what you think the market price for such a player is?
Why is it so hard for you to just name a price? Considering you are trying to make a point about value or cost of a player, it makes sense to know what the relative baseline is.
If you look at players like Mustafi, Sokratis, Luiz etc, they have all played at the top level and shown themselves to be very good CB’s.
It’s not that they can’t defend properly but they are playing in a defence that has lacked any organisation and discipline for several seasons going back to when Wenger was here.
If you look at Sheffield United and Burnley, they don’t have players as good as ours but they have defenders that play in a system that is organised and disciplined.
Until we do that, the defenders we have will continue to look out of their depth in the PL.
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Yeah I would have taken Evans too and he was cheap due to West Brom’s relegation. Doesn’t mean Sokratis is necessarily bad though. Which is the point I’m basically trying to make. Sokratis is decent and has been mostly decent for us.
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In fairness there’s a clear difference between Emery and Areta’s defensive stats, which give me alot of confidence.
Guys like Luiz and Mustafi are the kings of unforced errors
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Our problem is none of our defenders or genuinely reliable over continuous games.
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Because I don’t have one. But I can probably look up a long list of deals and examples where I feel we could have got similar calibre for much less money, hence better value.
Obviously we’re both of a completely different opinion and I don’t see us convincing one another here. I’m certainly never going to be convinced we paid for what we got by getting Papa for £17 mill. It’s all good though man 
Feel like Sokratis is genuinely underrated. Think he is the best CB we’ve had in the Emirates era. Shame he missed out on Kos and Mert during their peaks.
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What you laughing at?
You told a joke, right? So I’m laughing. It was funny.
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Brilliant.
I nearly laughed at that as much as that girl did. 
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It’s not a joke. Name me a better CB in the Emirates era. I’ll wait.
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Just one? OK, Koscielny.
But if you want more, then Per for sure. I mean, I’d even argue that Gallas is better!
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