Aston Villa had been tentatively linked with a move from Brentford centre-half Chris Mepham and in my humble, it would’ve been a good signing given his progress at Brentford under Dean Smith in recent seasons and although I can believe we maybe had an outside interest in him, I cannot for one second believe we offered a higher fee and wage than Bournemouth did given the Premier League riches they can spend.
With some of us not believing the Financial Fair Play doom-monger shenanigans going on in the media a few months back, it has been funny watching so many of them fly to the other end of the spectrum and now confidently claim we have upwards of £15-20million to spend this month.
Mepham squarely falls into that category for me, with Smith putting his faith in him and promoting him into the first team and letting him establish himself, it makes far more sense that if interested, we couldn’t financially complete with Bournemouth – rather than claiming it was the other way around.
It’s rare a Championship side wins out over the Premier League anyway.
Bournemouth are understood to have fended off interest from Aston Villa for Mepham. Villa offered a higher transfer fee and more lucrative personal terms, but Mepham chose to play under Eddie Howe who has been chasing his signature for over a year. #afcb #avfc #BrentfordFC
— Pete O'Rourke (@SportsPeteO) January 22, 2019
The only way this would be plausible is if we offered greater time-based add-ons and given Brentford use sales for profit, why would they wait 4 years to get slightly more than a greater upfront fee?
Non-starter.
Can't see this being true if Bournemouth are paying £12mil with add ons. We're in no position to be offering more than that. Either way he's made the right decision
— Mitch (@mitch16avfc) January 22, 2019
I can’t see that.
— Steven Healy (@Ste_Healy) January 22, 2019
Hard to believe we were willing to pay over 12m considering our current situation regarding ffp
— Kane AV (@kaneloco7) January 22, 2019
Nonsense. We can’t offer £12m for anyone at the moment. FFP. Why would anyone choose EFL over EPL anyway ????????
— Ady Milne (@mooseavfc) January 22, 2019
Surely it’s a choice of championship or premier league. Simple as that.
— Suspect Device (@Arfa1969) January 22, 2019
Premier league and to work with a great young coach, can't blame him
— Heel Hicks (@krh944) January 22, 2019
Doubt we would pay over £12m
— Faithful 1874 (@Faithful_1874) January 22, 2019