We had just signed the Man of Glass - Mata, and viewed him as the long-term answer until transferred out for a profit. Why do that and spend $300k on Cole if it limits other positions - it’s not as if we had a spare $300k lying around. $300k is still $300k, gotta balance the books. Plus, who knew Mata was going to be injured every week and nobody else would be good enough to unseat Sweat. You make it seem as if signing Cole would have been done in a vacuum.You can argue the 20/20 hindsight, but salary and cap space are not relevant. Ashely Cole was a free transfer making 300k.