This was the thing that I found the most confusing at the time and still do. I was looking forward to the Hyypia, Alonso, Riena, Arbeloa type signings. Underrated and undervalued (at the time of transfer) which all went on to make bigger contributions and play a more significant part than their previous reputations and fees would have suggested.
I think I may have mentioned it/them once or twice previously.
So far Bellamy, Enrique and Adam (if he continues his improvement) sort of fall into that catagory or at last are proving good value (obviously we knew what was what with Bellamy, maybe more than the others).
agreed re Henderson.....a good lad, plenty of potential, but possibly wrong player at the wrong time. And I DEFINITELY would have slowly introduced him, not thrown him into the team from the start. But give him a year or two, and he should significantly improve and offer more.
Adam is a good lad, always liked him. I was hoping he'd be more of a Paul Scholes type. But he's more of a Danny Murphy type. Not a world beater. But a good player.
Bellamy and Enrique were frees. Easy to spot Bellamy, given his age and experience at this level. Indeed Rafa already had. Sadly age is the issue, re what he can add in the future. Enrique is a great lad. A good free signing.
But after spending 112 million quid this year, why have we not pushed on?
Has our spending made our team better? Have we now got better technical players than we had a year ago?
My answer is no. To get results, Kenny is depending on Rafa's players.