McArthur fallout

Fatfox, this is about how we were going to pay the accepted bid.

So we made a bid which was rejected and then depending on which source you believe, we made a second bid (total valuation not pay structure) which was accepted

Once both clubs were in agreement of the valuation of the player the next thing was to determine how we were going to pay the £7m. This is where we hit problems according to John Percy.

Wigan apparently contacted Leicester to discuss this and the club didn't get back to them. At the same time a deal was being finalised with Cambiasso. When the club did respond it was with an unacceptable payment structure which would have given them not much upfront at all.

If there was no Cambiasso deal on the table I'm not sure this would have happened

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^
What John said.


It seems to me that there are three distinct possibilities:

Firstly: That, perhaps out of a bit of panic, we've acted exactly as Wigan say we have, in which case we really should offer a public apology to both Wigan and the player, stating that we've let ourselves down on this occasion.

Secondly, that Dave Whelan is actually the one playing games, that everyone knew we were in for Cambiasso but Whelan really rather wanted the transfer fee we'd verbally agreed and tried to push it through by going public. We went quiet while we made sure Cambiasso was actually signing (not wanting to burn our bridges) and Whelan has now given himself the get-out position of saying to both the player and the fans that he always wanted to keep him, he wasn't actively trying to offload him and it's all Leicester's fault. Granted, this is a bit of a conspiracy theory but I don't believe it's an unreasonable one and it is backed up by the fact that it's only Wigan who have gone public throughout and the fact that surely everyone involved knew we were after Cambiasso and what this could mean for the deal.

The third possibility is what I'd put my money on though: A combination of both of the above, much like John described above. Both parties are partly to blame and poor old McArthur is caught in the middle. In which case, there's nothing much to be done than just get on with it.

Response from Nigel Pearson -

"My reminder anyone that wants to listen is that my policy is not to discuss other clubs players. The reason I do that is precisely because of whats now been thrown in my face. I don't discuss other clubs players because sometimes a transfer cannot be done and the player has to stay at his club

At no point have I or Leicester made anything public regarding any player other than Cambiasso and thats because it was in the public domain"

To be honest I feel that the mistake Whelan made was to try and drum up a bidding war by making it public that we had put in a bid for McArthur. This is what will have really irked Pearson to start with.

This was a foolish thing for Whelan to do, because putting in an accepted bid does not mean you are going to sign the player. Why was the player saying his goodbyes at the club when a payment structure had not been agreed between Leicester and Wigan?

Thats down to Wigan

Once we got our man he wasn't required so it however you dress that up. I hope like JG that we have acted appropriately but McAthur and his family might be thinking WTF

DW shouldn't of gobbed off until confirmed and signed!! NP likes doing his business quietly for this very reason. Wigan are to blame only IMO. They played a game of pushing Leicester above what they wanted to pay and then targeted players they wanted to buy without selling the one that was going to pay for it!

A lot of football clubs are crap at business and blaming Leicester is poor and childish.

Whatever else happens, I find it a bit hard to believe that people weren't aware of the Cambiasso situation and what might happen. If McArthur was told that he was coming regardless then whoever was behind that message has let him down very badly. Similarly, if we actively allowed him to believe that so have we.

Interesting one this and some very good posts above that make all of the sensible points.

What is interesting though, is Pearson's comment - and do you know what, I'm fully with him (come on Nev and JG - you didn't expect anything else did you )

Pearson basically said - I'm no the one bahaving like a 3 year old here. Whatever DW now says he has nowhere to go, he just looks like an idiot because Pearson has cleverly taken the moral high ground.

Now, whether or not he has any right to is another matter that you've all discussed very eloquently above.

My guess is, we had a get of of jail card we didn't need, and as a result, the player was put in a unfortunate situation.

I suppose what lends some credence to the potentially disappointing scenario that we acted less than wonderfully is we'd have ended up with 6 midfielders, so how would they all (when fit) be kept happy in terms of playing time? Hammond to go perhaps?

I think I'd prefer to wait a bit and see what is said, before making too many judgements. I can see the possibility of more from Wigan, but have a feeling that we may not get involved in a war of words, which may be unfortunate as Leicester could then be seen as guilty as charged m'lud.

I hope it is clarified from our side but in any event do feel some sympathy for player who seems to have been caught up in a situation not of his own making. What is without much doubt so far is that Whelan was trying to maximise the sale value of a player by speaking to the media, which is obviously destabilising to the player involved.