Forget the fee and be patient with Jay

JAY Stansfield's incredible £10m-plus transfer to Birmingham reminds me of when Arsenal paid Lille £72m for Nicolas Pepe.

- Adam Virgo

I'd watched a lot of Lille that season and, without being disrespectful, he wasn't yet at a level where he merited that sort of money. Even at 24, he was still very raw.

If Arsenal had paid maybe £30m with add-ons and gradually let him fulfil his potential, that would have been about right. But when you're paying club-record fees, there's no time for settling in.

You're expected to hit the ground running and you're branded a flop if you don't.

That's why, for me, Pepe's failure at Arsenal wasn't really a failure. It was just that the transfer fee created unrealistic expectations around what he could deliver.

Another similar example is Rhian Brewster, who joined Sheffield United from Liverpool for £23.5m in 2020.