A player is only worth what someone is willing to pay

Ok

 

Of course, it's true. There's always a WTP value, and the seller's willingness to sell may sometimes be priced into that. "We know they need to sell, let's try a cheeky offer and if we don't we'll move on to target no 2". Generally speaking, if there is more demand for something, the more value it has. Strikers/attackers win games and are in more demand and therefore attract higher fees. If there's only one party interested in paying, they have other options then their WTP may be based on other players (e.g. the market). If no one else is interested in buying then the value of the player is the WTP price of the 1 potential customer (unless you can wait say till the next transfer window but the player may be worth even less then). I think we as football fans get taken in by some of these figures that are bandied around which are based on sometimes unachievable or unlikely performance bonuses or are a result of multiple clubs being interested and creating a bit of an auction. We never see the reality of a deal from any club. It's always undisclosed so we think we don't achieve market value, but in reality, we don't get a true understanding of what market value really is. Peterborough are good at this smoke and mirrors. Look at their accounts, and you'll see the figures bandied around social media aren't necessarily reality. We also tend to sell in the final year of a contract rather than with 2 or 3 years left. This also impacts the selling price. If we have a hard valuation that we won't go below and it's higher than everyone's WTP value, then we don't sell (and the player leaves for free at the end of the contract). Finding that WTP value and truly understanding the market is part of the art of negotiating and I think we as fans don't have enough information to know how good or bad we are at that.