“My job is to not spend money from Fosun,” he says. “I’d rather that money go into the stadium, training ground, or to build something that leaves a footprint for the club. On the pitch, we can be self-sustainable. No problem. I don’t see why we feel we have a given right to expect people to put money in. It’s also not that easy to spend. Look at Newcastle. They can’t spend the money they’ve got.
“Essentially, every summer, I probably have to sell someone at a high value. The fewer I can sell to raise the money we need to spend, the stronger we will be as a club. Let’s say I want to raise £60million to invest in the next summer. If I can sell one player to do that, it’s much better than selling two or three.”
“We’re not in a position where we have to sell,” Hobbs says. “Realistically, we don’t want to sell more than two starters this summer, but if big clubs come, I’ve never been the person to stand in someone’s way as long as we can reinvest in the right way to move forward. We showed with other players leaving last summer that we’re able to move forward with three or four starters going.
“We’re always looking to improve and we have the ability to turn down big offers, but every player has their number. I’m not sure the same market is there now. I don’t see three or four £100million players going. For me, there’s no need and no players is itching to get away. They’ve bought into Gary and everyone’s on the same page.”
The messaging is as plain as it gets.
