08/09 Squad - A (not so drunken) rant and look back

_00_deathscar · March 9, 2012

I'm actually at work, but was chatting to a friend about our 08/09 side. Which intrigued me. We were talking about use of money and how well some of it was spent.

As a reminder, here are the main players of our squad in 2008-2009, with the approximate sum we paid for them:

Reina 6 Cavalieri 3 Dossena 8 Arbeloa 2.5 Aurelio 0 Carragher 0 Hyypia 2.6 Agger 6.5 Skrtel 6.8 Mascherano 18 Lucas 6 Alonso 10.5 Gerrard 0 Kuyt 9 Riera 7 Benayoun 5 Torres 20 Keane 20 Babel 11

Total cost: GBP 142m

Now, obviously, not all players were signed in the 2008/2009 season, so inflation must be taken into account. However, what must be remembered is that bar Gerrard & Carragher (free) and Hyypia (1999), all the other players were signed during Rafa's tenure, with Alonso having been there the longest (4 season at the start of 08/09). Following that, Reina, Agger and Kuyt. All the other players had just been signed in the last season, at the start of the season, or in the interm transfer window (at the start of 08/09).

If you account for average inflation over a period of time in a developed economy like the UK/Europe being 10% year on year, the cost of the squad adjusts to 163m. Also, some of the fees above may have been inflated naturally (e.g. no one really knows how much Keane/Mascherano cost, so I went with the high end), and then further inflated to account for inflation.

We had built a team capable of dominating Europe for 163m. This astounds me. The wheels fell off, yes, but I just don't see where the "Rafa wasted money" myth perpetuated by the media comes from. Of the above squad, only Keane and Babel were 'bad buys' - and we (nearly) got back what we paid for Keane and it's arguable that Babel paid for his fee with his cameo vs. Arsenal in the European Cup alone. The "Rafa wasted money and delivered nothing" brigade just astounds me. Three of the players above were there before he came - the rest of the side was his. It shone, albeit very briefly.

Chelsea haven't dominated Europe, but have done extremely well domestically - and they've spent that approximate sum on their defenders! Man City haven't achieved anything yet, and have spent that sum probably on left backs alone.

Of course, we all know what happened after. I was merely intrigued, and extremely bored at work - so decided to do some calculations. That's all.

As it is, we sold Mascherano, Torres and Alonso shortly after for a combined 100m (nearly).

Ramón Benítez Hernández · March 9, 2012

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