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I agree, he's clearly an anti north of northest snobs. Fuck him.

Lee Ryder says

2 injury prone CB's doesn't sound like an idea scenario, wouldnt this mean 3 of our 4 first choice defenders have had serious knee issues?

The hacks reported we were in talks a couple of months ago.

Despite the similar surname The Chronicle doesn't believe he is related to the brewers of the famous Italian lager enjoyed by Sandro Tonali with his daily lunch of spaghetti

I am fucking rock hard right now.

I think getting a goalkeeper who is good with his feet is as important as any other position needed in this side with the exception of an RCB. To grow as a team we need a goalkeeper that is comfortable passing it out from the back and we need to get Botman back in instead of Burn. The problem of course is affording everything we need but I think the signing of Trafford would be huge long term. To challenge higher up and to stay there we need players in every position that are comfortable on the ball: Sign a goalkeeper Bring Botman back in Sign a right winger who can retain the ball more Sign a right sided centre back comfortable on the ball with a bit of pace Last piece would then be to sign another central midfielder who is comfortable at retaining possession to replace Joelinton (won't be this summer) People will moan that Pope, Burn and Joelinton have done so much for this team which I would not argue against, and they would still be in the squad and getting plenty of opportunities. But to progress into an elite team all those positions need to be filled.

Giving his recent injuries, probably say there's more chance he ends up following similar path to Yusuf Demir.

If Bardghji goes to Barcelona, I can picture a loan move to Sunderland. That'd be annoying.

Could argue that Hall and Tino were signings we couldnt afford but they were young talent that the club identfied and they thought it was right time to roll the dice. I'm still of the opinion that Hall and Tino signings were luxury gambles that we shouldnt have made and they massively hinderered our squad progression over the last 4 windows. Had we made back to back CL qualifications they would have been fine but the gamble back fired and we had to stand still as a result. However, now we are coming out the other side of the PSR hole they look fantastic aquisitions at great prices. Hate PSR...

Someone please post that on there

As in names or positions?

June 8th last year we where first in talks.

Only their TV games for me, but having watched him at the u21 Euros, then for Burnley in Prem, there is a clear progression in his game I've seen. There may still be occasional mistake in his game, but for a 22yr old keeper with the games he has under his belt, you will be hard pressed to get better across Europe IMO. A position locked down for a long time goes a long way. Would even say £30m isn't that big in the goalkeeper stakes when you consider Chelsea have spent god knows what on many GKs, Man Utd £50m on Onana, Arsenal near £30m on Ramsdale, Mamardashvili for £30m. All who over recent seasons have shown countless mistakes in their game.

Weren't talks underway a month ago?

Depends on the other signings for me.

Some juicy Champions League level misc sponsors this summer may help towards the budget without a major sale hopefully.

I heard this stuff when we were replacing Dubravka with Pope, too. Goalkeeper is the second most important position on the pitch after centre forward - the ability of the keeper has a direct correlation with results, far more than a right winger or a centre back. So yes, upgrading a goalkeeper is worth it pretty much every time. Whether or not Trafford is that upgrade I leave to our manager - but if he is, I’m happy to trust his judgement.

Agree, at the expense of other key positions this summer though? (Assuming we can’t afford everything).

He has said yes, his agent is the same as Delap's, he uses Stellar. Trafford came up during those discussions with Chelsea, I think if he was going there he would have been going at the same time so he could go to the CWC.

If we want to improve our possession game, we need a new keeper like.

Not always. The agent would’ve said yes and then engineer a deal with another club/s and tell his client look what’s on offer… It’s why clubs particularly us don’t like diving in as it gets used as a benchmark for other clubs to then match/improve.

Jesus H, quite a depressing take. I wonder why the club would be chasing him if he’s not very good and costs too much.