So we need a DoF purely to handle transfer/contract negotiations?
Ed Woodward handles contract negotiations on a daily basis. Albeit on the commercial side, and has got us some fantastic deals. So I dont think he's inept at negotiating, which I think is what your trying to say on the footballing side of things. A deal is a deal whether that would be for a player or a commercial contract. Even from a business perspective, you still have to weigh up the pro's and con's of signing a pleyer for x ammount.
I dont think anybody can argue at the prices we have paid for players, considering their ages and potential. Also taking into account any sell on value. The only one that I could point out being bad is Fellaini. It was a panic buy at the end of the window, and Moyes just wanted a player he works well with and to stamp his authority on the squad.
Darmian - £12.7m - Italian international. Can play anywhere across the back 4. Still only 26 so sell on value is still there. Could maybe even make a profit.
Schweinsteiger - £6m-£14m (depending on source) - German world cup winner. Experienced player to organise the midfield. Absolute bargain at £6m (if that is to be believed). Even at £14m, his experience is worth that alone. Signed at 30, so potentially a good 4 years out of him if he plays a Carrick type role. No sell on value but he's there purely to add experience.
Schneiderlin - £25m - Signed at 25 years old. So still a good 6/7 years in him. Also great sell on value if need be. Best defensive midfielder in the league 2 years running (aside from Matic last season). Been in English football a long time and thrived on moving up the leagues. £25m for one of the leagues best in his position, and the amount of years we could potentially get from him is a fantastic deal.
Martial - £36m-£60m - A lot to pay for a youngster, but obviously has a lot of talent there. Could go either way, but we are yet to see the best of him because of the teams style and poor form. Most would agree after what we have seen from him in parts, he could well go to the top bracket of footballers. Our hand was forced on him due to Monaco's CL exit. The plan was end of the season but had to jump in otherwise we would have had a lot of competition next season. Due to the rising transfer market, could easily recoup what we paid in 3-4 years time if need be.
Memphis - £25m - See Martial. Not a lot of difference.
Shaw - £27m - Again, like Martial and Memphis, had to act fast because of interest of Chelsea and others. Should be Englands first choice left back for the next 10 years. Absolute bargain considering the years we'll have him for (all being well after injury). Even if we needed to sell him there is massive resale value on him. Again due to the rising market, and the premium on English players, we could easily recoup what we paid in 3-4 years.
Herrera - £29m - You could argue that the price is a bit steep here, but when he plays and we see what he can do, once a manager comes in that will play him and use him correctly, that price could easily look like a bargain. Still a decent resale value aswell.
Blind - £13.8m - Probably paid a bit too much here, but that was always likely after Hollands WC showing. Has already proved very versatile and is a fantastic squad player to have.
Rojo - £16m - See Blind. Pretty much in the same boat. Unlucky with shoulder injuries. Again due to the rising market, and their ages, both have decent resale value if they dont work out in a few years.
None of the deals have been particularly bad. Most are good deals, with most likely a little loss or even little profit if we came to sell given the market. The only question mark is over how much we have sold players for. Hernandez being the main one. But you can make a case for most of the others. RVP was past it and on a very high wage. Probably had to take what we could just to get him off the books. Same for Nani after Moyes giving him a new 5year contract.
One of the biggest reasons why we are where we are is the fact we let so many decent squad players go and never replaced them. That isnt Woodwards fault. Its LVG's. He likes to work with a smaller squad. Which when it works is probably great, but he wasnt counting on the absolute **** storm of injuries we have had in the last 2 years. He knows our defense isnt good enough when its down to the bare bones. So he sets us up to be hard to beat. When we open up like we did against Newcastle we get ripped apart.
After the new year last season, when we started to recover from all the injuries, we went on a decent run. Because we was pretty much full strength, we could open up a bit more. We even started the season OK with Darmian slotting straight in and Shaw finding his form after working hard in the summer. Since Shaw broke his leg, the injuries have been terrible and mostly to the defense. So we have had to compact again and make ourselves hard to beat. Which means keeping it tight and defending from the front. We have seen what happens when we open up.
You can blame LVG for stripping the squad and leaving us **** all when the injuries strike. But its a catch 22 again. If we keep the squad players incase of injuries, the young players are pushed further down the pecking order. So he got rid and relied on the youth to step in here and there. Which would be perfect if it wasnt for all the injuries. A player coming in now and again for a few games is great, but when you have to put 4 or 5 of them in for a couple of months instead of a couple of games, it was always likely to be hard.