ok I was with you until you mentioned Carson.
I find it highly unbelievable that any reporting of what wages a player is on is going to report the after-tax rather than the actual wage paid. That makes zero sense, and would rely on the writer sitting there with a calculator, and considering the various ways to divert money prior to tax would probably be inaccurate anyway. Think about every article you have ever read that talked about the wages a player was on. Was even one time that figure not the agreed wage, not what happens to get transferred into the guys account?
The very 1st thing they owners said was the wages did not reflect the quality of the squad. DC is hardly going to go out and pay silly money to a player to sit on the bench and replicate the Joe Cole/Jova fiascos. The deal broke down and was dead because of wages and the break through came when Roma negotiated with him (in other words the money to make him happy was not ours).
Actually when players/Clubs negotiated in Spain and Italy, most of that negotiation used to be centered around their "after tax pay" and not the headline number. At least that's how it used to be up until a couple of years ago.
It was a function of Spain for many years having a 24% tax-rate for high-wage earning foreign players, while every player in Italy was paying 43%. And by talking in terms of "after tax pay" it allowed the players/Clubs in these different countries to talk apples-to-apples. It took a worldwide recession for the Spanish citizens to finally figure out that it probably wasn't fair that they were paying taxes north of 40% while foreign players like CRonaldo and Diego Forlan and Kun Aguero were only hit @ a 24% rate on bazillionaire salaries.
Anyway, the press in both Spain and Italy are fairly accustomed to reporting the after-tax figures for players.
Check out that site @ La Gazzetta della Sport and go through the various figures. They all check out for the various teams from Totti's to Ibra's to Doni's. For example, it is fairly well reported that Totti signed for 8.9M for '09/'10 and 8.6M for '10/'11... and that 8.6M taxed @ 43% is equal to 4.9M in take home pay, which is accurately reflected in that work by
La Gazzetta della Sport that I referenced. Doni's checks out, too.
I surely hope that Roma are on the hook to pay a large chunk of Doni's salary, because even if it's Liverpool paying £30K per week and Roma picking up the rest (or paid him to leave with a lump-sum payment), it really doesn't look like a decent bit of business by Comolli when you consider that guys like Douchez and Friedel who are better than Doni are making £30-40K and are actually starting for their new respective clubs. If £30-40K per week is starter money for many decent Clubs, surely £30-40K doesn't represent good value for a 31 yr old back-up who many people believe is past it.
To me what is even more perplexing is that this is exactly the type of deal that DC was not supposed to be making, but all the numbers are suggesting that he did.
With this move, it's clear that Kenny wanted significant experience in that #2 back-up GK role. But if that's the case IMO there are plenty of available options out there who
(1) are just as good if not better than Doni,
(2) have just as much experience as Doni and
(3) are on far fewer wages (i.e. Nigeria's Enyeama, Saint-Ιtienne's Janot, Denmark's Thomas Sorensen, and free agent Timo Hildebrand all spring immediately to mind as available & cheaper options who have significant experience).
Anyway... I hope that the various Roma forums who are rejoicing over Doni's departure are wrong, and that he comes good for us and can give Pepe a needed breather from time-to-time. However, on the face of it we had to have been able to get better bang-for-the-buck with another experienced back-up keeper.
DC & Kenny most certainly upgraded our #2 GK in terms of quality. It was a glaring hole and needed to happen. However, it seems like we are significantly overpaying for the position (particularly if we are on the hook for several years).
This Doni deal is reminiscent for me of how I felt when we signed JCole : Not the best bit of business, but I hope it works out for us & him.
Aside:In case people were wondering, Roma are cleaning house with all of their keepers. Too much £££$$$ being spent on them all last year.
They just brought in 26 yr-old Curci from Sampdoria to be their #2. Guy is 5 yrs younger than Doni, already has international experience and is on 17K per week wages (vs. the 77K per week that Doni was on @ Roma). A 60K per week difference for back-up keepers ! That's what you call a good bit of business.
