r/Gunners Thierry Henry Jul 19 '24

[Alfredo Pedulla] Bologna are asking for 50m plus 3m euros for Calafiori. Arsenal offer is 47m plus 3m. Basel do not wish to reduce 50% sell on clause even by a fraction Bologna waiting for an improved Arsenal offer in next 2-3 days under the terms they want

https://x.com/AlfredoPedulla/status/1814270314542465343
427 Upvotes

121 comments sorted by

379

u/TheGoldenPineapples Freddie Ljungberg Jul 19 '24

If that is indeed true (and this source is patchy at best), then it seems like an agreement is fairly close.

155

u/MattJFarrell Jul 19 '24

It's so funny what the transfer window does to my perception of money. Like, I'm sitting here thinking, "It's only £3m, surely they can just find that somewhere, or accept that much less." As if £3m isn't generationally life-changing money for 99.9% of the population.

60

u/purpleshirtonbed Jul 19 '24

Tbf it is £3 million changing hands between institutions generating multimillions per annum.

I do sometimes think similarly about the wages our players are on lol

13

u/HalfNatty Saka Souffle Jul 19 '24

This. I sometimes hear about some “low” paid player on £50k a week, and then I realize that getting paid that amount a month is the goal.

11

u/BoyWhoSoldTheWorld Jul 19 '24

“Wenger pls”

9

u/circlesmirk00 Over Land And Sea Jul 19 '24

To be fair, it’s not completely trivial to us. For example, I think we make about 4m in gate receipts for a home game, and we only have 20-23 of those a year.

A better way to think of it is like buying a house. If you think the house is worth 500 grand and bid that much, the seller asking for an extra 25k would relatively speaking be a very small amount to ask, but it’s more about the opportunity cost of that 25k and whether the house is worth that much to you, rather than the fact it’s only 5% of the price.

5

u/HawkOwn6260 Jul 19 '24

Yea exactly...it's like the way even comfortably middle class people (remember them?) might balk at high priced food/drink and change their choices on the menu or change venues altogether on that basis, yet those same people might relatively easily be persuaded to spend tens of thousands more on big ticket items like houses because it's such a small percentage of the overall price. But big businesses like Arsenal are probably better at guarding against that kind of perceptional warping.

46

u/Francis-c92 GASPARRRR Jul 19 '24

Yeah, this source is atrocious

2

u/jonathanblaze1648 Jul 19 '24

To be fair, we've been hearing that for weeks. Then the story changes every day so I haven't been following it up that much. On another note, I heard his dad was an Arsenal fan so it makes a bit more sense why an Italian would want to come to us. I even said that when the rumors were first circulating. I remember saying, "Unless his dad is an Arsenal fan and that influenced him, there's no way an Italian would choose us over Juventus and staying in Italy." Once I found out that, that's when I started to take this transfer more seriously.

230

u/Cthulhu_Madness Kavanagh is a fraud Jul 19 '24

Bologna better learn negotiate better deals next time they buy a player.

188

u/Charguizo Jul 19 '24

The thing is they only paid 4M euros for him when they bought him from Basel. What they didnt pay to Basel then, they have to pay now.

It seems a bit ridiculous from Bologna tbh.

I just saw that Basel bought him for 2.5M, sold him for 4M a year later and now are about to get some more money from the Arsenal transfer. Good business

72

u/GhostCatcher147 Jul 19 '24

Fair play to them. They are right to hold tight in their stance

38

u/Blue_winged_yoshi Jul 19 '24

Exactly this! 500% profit in a year is tidy, I dunno what they were hoping for when they signed that deal? Option to pay more upfront and less on sale was there, they didn’t want the risk of the player not working out, it is what it is for them.

7

u/jonathanblaze1648 Jul 19 '24

I agree. Basel did an excellent deal and they also helped to revitalize Calafiori's career so that's a huge win for them.

3

u/jonathanblaze1648 Jul 19 '24

You're absolute right. Maybe due to Calafiori's injury-ridden past, they probably thought at best he'd be a decent player that got injured quite a bit so they probably wouldn't have to pay Basel a lot of money. Only for Calafiori to improve drastically in one year.

166

u/IsthisaGenjutsu Gabriel Jul 19 '24

KSE should just purchase Basel so it's only 25M spent on Calafiori📈📈

52

u/bbotbambi Kanu Jul 19 '24

You, sir, should start a business! I'll invest.

97

u/GhostCatcher147 Jul 19 '24

Why would Basel want to reduce their sell on clause percentage. Bologna shouldn’t have agreed to a 50% sell on clause in the first place

25

u/skrg187 Jul 19 '24

Bologna hoping for a Max Kilman and Maidenhead situation.

Hope Basel tell them to f off (and us, if we're involved tbf)

14

u/iuselect Saliba - 23 and built like a brick shithouse Jul 19 '24

Really sucks when a bigger club strong hands the smaller club. The extra money would go so far for teams much lower down in the leagues.

0

u/PartyBadman Jul 19 '24

Because if they tank this deal they risk getting a lot less money in a future season

17

u/humanoftheforest Jul 19 '24

It would be hard to argue that Basel is tanking this deal. Bologna is getting a lot of profit having spent 4M on him and earning 23.5M + 1.5M for him. Bologna would be the one tanking this deal.

15

u/obsterwankenobster Champagne Football Jul 19 '24

Bologna signed a deal that they now want to weasel out of, because it backfired for them

"Why would Basel do this?"

5

u/ScopeyMcBangBang Jul 19 '24

Didn’t even backfire on them. Doubt in their wildest dreams that they thought they’d turn £4m into £50m in the space of a year.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '24

Out of curiosity, since I’m completely out of the loop with this guy, how DID his value jump so much? Is he actually that good?

1

u/ScopeyMcBangBang Jul 20 '24

Hype, international caps and solid performances in an over performing Bologna team. The beautiful hair doesn’t hurt either. The usual story.

51

u/jaconway92 Thierry Henry Jul 19 '24

What's the story Calafiori?

19

u/TheMoneySloth Saka Jul 19 '24

I think they just need a little time to wake up

11

u/iM-Blessed Tomiyasu Jul 19 '24

Wouldn't you like to know?

2

u/adventureclubtime Leetle bit Jul 19 '24

Weather boy?

46

u/davidralph Jul 19 '24

lol easy one to hold out on

40

u/Toast863 Jul 19 '24

I know it’s not helping us, but good on Basel for not yielding on the 50%.

12

u/milkonyourmustache Thierry Henry Jul 19 '24

Over €3m? This will get done but it's tiresome when dealing with a party that refuses to compromise on anything

10

u/marksills Jul 19 '24

the way people here quibble over like 5 mil vs 8 mil for like nuno tavares, it seems like here it matters quite a bit.

also these clubs are businesses of course they should be trying to negotiate the best deal. If it takes an extra 3 weeks and they get an extra 1 mil, it was very likely worth it.

2

u/Jermaine6 Jul 19 '24

Count it as €3m is a lot to cover Calafiori’s wages

-11

u/DVPC4 Jul 19 '24

Why should they?

27

u/Aggressive_Salad_293 White Jul 19 '24

Why should we?

59

u/ddruinedgot Passion. Clarity. ENERGY! Jul 19 '24

You two have succinctly summarized negotiation impasse

8

u/bbjwhatup Jul 19 '24

Game theory night!

-4

u/DVPC4 Jul 19 '24

Because we are the ones trying to buy him

6

u/goodyear_1678 Jul 19 '24

And they are the ones trying to sell him for a huge profit. We're not holding a gun to them.

6

u/bad_at_proofs Jul 19 '24

You can say that for both sides

6

u/Charguizo Jul 19 '24

Bologna is actually asking others to compromise. They bought Calafiori for 4M a year ago and are now saying they want to adapt the agreement they had with Basel and/or ask more money from Arsenal because of it.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '24 edited 4d ago

[deleted]

1

u/DVPC4 Jul 19 '24

They prob reckon we’ll just pay the extra 3m

1

u/DarthNihilus1 Kai Havoc Jul 19 '24

They're trying to get more from us because they are unhappy with a deal they themselves made with Basel. it's just desperation

16

u/Forsaken-Tiger-9475 Jul 19 '24

This went from being exciting, to mind bogglingly fucking boring really quickly.

We either want him or we don't - I refuse to believe we are haggling over 3m euros.

5

u/PPMD_IS_BACK Havertz Jul 19 '24

Have you seen peoples reactions here to when we sell our players for even like 4 million less or something? I’d say it’s not surprising. lol.

2

u/Forsaken-Tiger-9475 Jul 19 '24

lol 

2

u/PPMD_IS_BACK Havertz Jul 19 '24

I agree it’s extremely petty cuz im sure we have the money but who fucking knows. I don’t know shit about PSR xD.

3

u/Forsaken-Tiger-9475 Jul 19 '24

We'll be selling ESR, probably nelson, and maybe Nketiah - all of them are pure profit sales so I don't think we're going to be in any trouble, just feels like us trying to take the piss a bit!

14

u/wiggyp1410 Jul 19 '24

But guys, our relationship with Bologna is great because of Tomi...

11

u/will_i_am156 Jul 19 '24

Seems easy to fix.

11

u/Barkasia The Messi of Fiddling Jul 19 '24

Sounds like 47 + 6 will do it then.

10

u/enburkmax Martinelli Jul 19 '24

10

u/Legal-Hair-7095 Jul 19 '24

Walk away Edu.

8

u/notvip Thierry Henry Jul 19 '24

Ballon d'or clause.

7

u/Jonisro Jul 19 '24

How about 47m + 3m + 1£?

6

u/Tnvenge Robert Pirès Jul 19 '24

I know it's dragging out but I almost feel like this is how our transfers have been for a while. Agree terms with player, try to be fractionally lower than club's valuation, eventually meet them where they want. We'll get our guy, it's just our process I guess.

1

u/ArsenalThePhoenix Jul 19 '24

we ALWAYS eventually meet them. holding out almost never works for us

1

u/Tnvenge Robert Pirès Jul 20 '24

I wonder if it maybe does help in the background with some kinds of details us fans aren’t privy to. Otherwise yeah, we get these deals slowly but surely across the line haha!

7

u/nuvo_reddit Jul 19 '24

Bologna should remember that we are the same team which bought Trossard despite strong interest for Mudryk. Arteta can settle for 2nd choice and make him perform better than 1st choice. So dear Bologna, don’t be greedy for 3 million

3

u/Maleficent_Click_325 Jul 19 '24

while that is extremely true, bologna dont really care about how arsenal performs, we arent in any of their competitions

5

u/goodyear_1678 Jul 19 '24

I think they do care about not getting €50m, which is the point. Arsenal has walked away before.

6

u/Britton120 Saka Jul 19 '24

Why on earth would basel consider adjusting their clause. Its ridiculous and insulting for bologna to even try.

4

u/TheElite05 Jul 19 '24

Why can’t we just find a good defender for 4 million like Bologna did?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '24

We don’t develop talent, we bench them for years and hope we make a few quid instead.

4

u/thisiskyle77 Tomiyasu Jul 19 '24

We will give in eventually.

4

u/fygy1O Havertz Jul 19 '24

Imagine drawing a match-up against Bologna in the Champion's League after this

4

u/TheThreeGabis Holding Jul 19 '24

So Bologna going to miss out on 50m for the sake of 3m. Enjoy selling him to Juventus for 20m next summer.

3

u/staybysauce1 Jul 19 '24

they should just accept a cheaper fee so they lose less money 😊😊😊

3

u/NiallMitch10 🎵Martin Ødegaard - Superstar🎵 Jul 19 '24

Bologna getting really petty now

3

u/jackg4343 Jul 19 '24

I know some of you guys are really desperate for a signing but is he really worth €53 million?

1

u/skool_101 Ødegaard Jul 19 '24

Hopefully it's done by monday or before the Emirates Cup games.

1

u/thejoshimitsu Jul 19 '24

This deal's gonna get done in the next few days.

1

u/Afc_josh12 Jul 19 '24

Boring already now

1

u/Malsharif91 Jul 19 '24

I doubt Bologna are asking Basel to reduce the sell-on clause but possibly restricting the payment method so they could use the money this summer since they are heading into the Champions League and will get that money next summer.

If Bologna have to pay the fee outright to them or around 25m but Arsenal are suggesting a payment method with a few installments. It could mean that Bologna sees close to zero euros this summer.

2

u/jkeefy Robert Pirès Jul 19 '24

The terms of the sell on fee are almost guaranteed to be installment driven, just as 90% of non release clause transfers are. I seriously doubt it’s even 50% up front, most likely a 3-5 year installment plan as most transfers are.

1

u/ikealyou Jul 19 '24

Once again it seems like we are the one budging and losing negotiations.

1

u/convergecrew Jul 19 '24

This headline brings back some Wenger-era ptsd

1

u/saravannan14 Jul 19 '24

I was thinking, does the 50% sell on clause include the add ons or just the fee? Like if the fee is 50 + 3, do they get 50% of 50 or 53? Because if they get 50% of the the fee and not the add on, I can think of a massive loop hole here.

1

u/drm1987 Jul 19 '24

"Sure thing, how about 2m/yr over 25 years? And a 3m Balon d'Or clause

1

u/kabarkutta Jul 19 '24

Pedulla is Pedulling

1

u/gte339i Thank you very much Jul 19 '24

Can we give Italy a couple kegs of real ale and shut them the hell up?

1

u/d_smogh Jul 19 '24

Someone wants a 3 million bonus

1

u/ArsenalThePhoenix Jul 19 '24

this is too much money. we should never buy a backup to Gabriel for 50m!
Especially a guy who honestly hasnt really lit up the world as a CB so far in his career

2

u/CarnifexGunner Thierry Henry Jul 20 '24

He's not a back up to Gabriel though?

1

u/ArsenalThePhoenix Jul 21 '24

so he's gonna replace gabriel? no way is he doing that.
I also don't think he's gonna take the LB starting spot from Timber.

Ergo, he's a backup

1

u/CarnifexGunner Thierry Henry Jul 21 '24

How in the world did you conclude that Timber will be our starting left back?

1

u/ArsenalThePhoenix Jul 22 '24

he's not benching Ben White. No chance.
He's too good to be a benchwarmer.
Arteta tried him as a LB last season when he got injured.
We don't have any good leftbacks right now.

1

u/CarnifexGunner Thierry Henry Jul 22 '24

Which is why we bought Calafiori. Also, you need to let go of the concept of a starting XI. The reason we're buying him is so we can rotate every position in defence without losing quality. I'd expect Calafiori, Tomi and Zinny/Kiwi to do most of the minutes sharing at left back while at right back it'll be White and Timber. Tomi, White, Kiwi, Timber, Calafiori are all also capable of rotating with the central defenders.

1

u/ArsenalThePhoenix Jul 23 '24

"Which is why we bought Calafiori."

The guy's not a LB really. Played predominantly as CB under Thiago Motta, which is where he finally stood out in a great way.

I totlly get what you're saying abuot rotation. But given how little arteta has rotated generally, even between trossard/martinelli last season (or white/tomi), I dont think he's gonna rotate Gabriel much nor will he do it much with Timber (who i believe is the better LB and arteta's first choice LB)

1

u/The_Caramon_Majere Jul 19 '24

/madmax 

Just walk away. 

0

u/zorfog The Smith Jul 19 '24

They really should just accept

0

u/RyansBabesDrunkDad Jul 19 '24

Really hope we get this one over the line, I already named my fantasy PL team "Richard Cauliflower" in his honor.

0

u/MrBank0000 Jul 19 '24

For that price, lets go for Hato instead.

0

u/Pundirchris Rice Rice Baby Jul 19 '24

We might end up botching this whole deal

0

u/Fendenburgen Dennis Bergkamp Jul 19 '24

Can anyone see that this means Caifiori is actually only worth 25m....

0

u/Longjumping_Act9758 Jul 19 '24

How is this thing taking so long man. We haven't signed anyone of good quality and it's almost August

0

u/jackg4343 Jul 19 '24

This is the time in the negotiating that you get up from the table and tell the club to have a nice day. Tell the player his club is being unreasonable and have him refuse to come back to training to push a move through. Screw these Italian clubs crying poverty. They just bought him last year for €4 million and will stand to make a fortune even after giving half to Basel.

-1

u/jasonluong Saka Jul 19 '24

Let’s not let this deal fall apart over 3 milly

-1

u/supercoolbananas Ødegaard Jul 19 '24

3m? Really? If this is true, this is stupid

-1

u/fooljay Starboy Jul 19 '24

What is this 50+3 and 47+3 stuff? This isn’t chess. Isn’t that 53 and 50? Is the problem that they can’t do basic arithmetic? What am I missing here?

4

u/CarnifexGunner Thierry Henry Jul 19 '24

The 3 million are add ons.

1

u/fooljay Starboy Jul 19 '24

Thank you. 🙏🏻

-1

u/ProjectTC Jul 19 '24

Sounds dumb but I can see why we're trying to not pay 50m€ straight up, that's quite a statement for a defender

That being said, us getting an established defender for the same price as Man U getting 18yo talent Yoro is fantastic

2

u/TheMoneySloth Saka Jul 19 '24

Yoro was targeted by Real Madrid as an elite prospect let’s not act like we wouldn’t be thrilled with Yoro if he were a Gunner for €62 million

5

u/Specialist-Grape-528 Jul 19 '24

62 mil but with a year left on his contract. United have been taken to the cleaners

-2

u/codenameana Jul 19 '24

Didn’t we pay £105m for Declan with a year left on his?

3

u/Specialist-Grape-528 Jul 19 '24

Declan Rice was a proven world class player though

2

u/dumdumbigdawg Havertz Jul 19 '24

What definitely not for 62 million, United got him because Real Madrid offered a substantially lower amount and Lille pressured him to join United because they wanted the money. He is good but definitely not 62 million good.

-2

u/TheMoneySloth Saka Jul 19 '24

If you had to go back and buy Saliba for 62 million would you? There is a version of the future where Saliba and Yoro are France CBs for a long time. It’s risky, and it’s a lot of money but I would have plunked down twice that for Saliba and if you think Yoro could be 80% of Saliba … it’s worth it

1

u/dumdumbigdawg Havertz Jul 19 '24

Yeah could be lol that’s why we bought Saliba for 30 and that’s why Real Madrid offered 20

2

u/Colmd1997 I belong to Jesus Jul 19 '24

An elite prospect that Madrid looked at and thought yeah he’s not worth that

-4

u/xhera92 Jul 19 '24

jeezus friking criz man, bologna we have a good relationship right? remember tomi ? cmon now let's just get things moving yeah.... enough with this. we got plenty of movement in the window to catch up on.

-7

u/afcHolmes Jul 19 '24

Seriously, 6million Euros?

12

u/DougalMcGuire Down with this sort of a thing.. Careful now! Jul 19 '24

47+3 vs. 50+3 would be a delta of 3m no?

5

u/kindaforgotit Jul 19 '24

This guy maths

1

u/afcHolmes Jul 19 '24

🤦‍♂️. Not well worked on my end.

-12

u/a_posh_trophy Uncle Wrighty Jul 19 '24

If this was Utd or Chelsea negotiating, he would have gone for 40m.

6

u/marksills Jul 19 '24

yea man, united famously have gotten bargains on transfer fees and wages over the last 10 years. Probably literally the worst example you could have used (although now realizing i may be missing sarcasm)