All Activity

Think I've got it cracked. After the past season, Gordon isn't worth the £70 million that was being touted last summer, but maybe we could still do a deal with Liverpool even if their budget is being stretched. We sell them Gordon for £40 million plus Harvey Elliott, spend that £40 million on Jacob Ramsey before FFP day with Villa desperate to make a deal, then offload Longstaff and Willock for something in the region of £30 million combined. Even if we only had £100 million to spend at the start of the window, we are now up to £130 million with two decent additions. That's enough for Mbeumo, Guehi or whoever else we might be interested in at centre back, and of course for Adam Armstrong, who becomes a distant but hardworking and homegrown backup player for up front and the flanks. With another sale or two - Targett maybe - plus some squeezing of the figures, we could also afford a moderately priced goalkeeper. And I think we'd be stronger without having used too much imagination and without breaking the bank.

It’s split for the clubs in the club World Cup to get some players in before it starts. Which we are not so of course we might not do any business in it. We still might get some deals done for players to join when it re opens though.

Liverpool are pretty happy about it

I don’t think we will sign anyone until after the club World Cup. Complete waste of time splitting the window up.

I guess it’ll seem odd these days - but for the first 40 years of the European Cup / Champions League it was for champions only (they didn’t drop ‘champions’ from the name in 1996/97 like they should have). It used to be interesting - Eastern European clubs were competitive, and most nations got a slot in the tournament proper. Real Madrid went over three decades without winning it - it’s a bore fest these days, with the same handful of clubs winning it over and over again, unless they’re propped up by oil money (PSG, Man City). The change to the ‘Champions League’ destroyed much of European football. edit: runners-up (and after that 3rd and 4th placed teams) were added to stave off the threat of a ‘European Super League’ by the petulant ‘big clubs’. They resented having to actually win the league to qualify. That threat has been around for decades …

I agree with the last part, and said so myself. I was just a bit surprised by the fact that we only qualified twice through those 10 years or so. Not qualifying with second place seems brutal, and I had no idea that was a thing.

Eddie said he wanted to move quickly so the next week should be interesting. I hope we don't have another extended negotiation like Guehi. Set your top and then move on.

Bit morbid

Absolutely nothing to do with coefficients - only champions qualified for the European Cup (or ‘Champions League’) until the 1996/97 season regardless of which league you were in. After the Heysel ban English football got four European slots - 1 for the European Cup (standard with everywhere else), 1 for the Cup Winners Cup (again standard), 2 for the UEFA Cup (one went to the LC winners). In 1996/97 for the first time runners-up were allowed into the tournament - which still strikes me as being a right load of bollocks. After that, the numbers increased gradually to four. Howe becoming the first manager to do this isn’t really one of note - Howe hasn’t faced qualifiers, and had the fifth placed team been allowed in Robson would’ve added a third qualification; KK would’ve qualified twice under the current rules.

Danilo was one of their best players too before his injury.

Well said, ultimately 2 things can be true at the same time - Mbeumo would be a fantastic signing, further enhancing our current style of play - We could do with someone with a different profile on the RW (the next Olise would be my ideal type of signing)

One day.

Flekken’s distribution is brilliant.

Whilst I'd like us to sign more technical players, they must be able to do what Howe requires physically, particularly relating to our press. Switching high pressing players for merely technical players would 100% ruin an Eddie Howe side. It would be like asking Pep to have mainly physical players. That's why Tonali was the golden goose. We found someone physically and technically capable of both.

It’s the same at most clubs - their fans keep a very close eye on all news as well as having personal contacts. If you do it long enough you get a feel for what’s most likely true, what’s most likely bullshit and what’s most likely a party line being fed to somebody. I don’t generally have the foggiest idea what’s going on at any club bar Spurs, but I’d back myself to make a fair call on the likely truthiness of most “news” about us.

Not now Villa are selling Bailey to Saudi Arabia I don’t think we will.

I agree with some of your observations. Although I'll be excited if he signs. Who would be on your list of RW targets? I'm a big Gittens fan personally but I think he's better on the left.

Please open the Phwooaaar chest

If the club want to spend the majority of our budget on Mbeumo, then I’m all in. No further debate. Personally, I think it’s a bad move. I just don’t trust him in a possession dominant team, as for me based on my eye test he isn’t that accomplished. He is more than handy in transition, and has overshot his xG for a while now. (Let’s not forget Darwin Nunez did similar pre Liverpool). He’s just another Harvey Barnes who has elite characteristics but not a complete game, who will have some amazing moments, but frustrate us too. There is clearly a love in with him amongst our fan base, so apologies to anyone who disagrees, it’s not personal, and debate is what makes the beautiful game so much fun. At £40m or so, it’s probably worth it for us, or if we sell a Gordon and get Mbeumo with a few £m to spare then I can also see some logic. The risk of a drop off, the ACON, and him being a double down on high press high intensity, just doesn’t do it for me. I firmly believe there are much more suitable players out there for significantly less. The main issue is we need to completely overhaul the squad, raising the floor and the ceiling (in certain positions) at the same time. It’s close to impossible to do what we need to do without more impeccable transfer business. What Eddie has done over nearly 4 seasons is a miracle. I have every faith he will continue to perform minor miracles and just hope he has enough of a squad to handle the assault on 4 competitions. To be a fly on the wall during our transfer meetings…

Think he's an upgrade on little joe when it comes to football IQ, wouldn't say no

I just hope noone comes in with a foolish offer on Garnacho and that they continue being stuck with Sancho/Rashford/Anthony etc. Losing Fernandes wont be positive for them in the short term, even if they get some money to invest.

And yet he’s coming back to Europe at *checks notes* 23, having won the AFC CL, and a helluva lot wealthier than he would’ve been.