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Fraser Forster for Celtic vs Barca in 2012 & vs Rangers in the 2019 League Cup Final are two of the most astonishing goalkeeping performances you'll ever see. Tim Krul vs Spurs levels of heroism. Go watch the highlights.

Isak may play every game when fit but if we had someone fitter and more available I can see them getting minutes every fixture as Isak often tires after 60 mins and we should be aiming not to Flog him into injury. It's a hard balance though too much and your wasting the fee if Isak has no issues. Too little and the quality is so poor they only get on when the game is won and you dread them having to carry the team through an extended period. A hybrid player to mix up our formation and help Isak and plug gaps would be more ideal and something worth spending more of a limited budget on. Who that player is no clue though.

I agree with this. I just don’t see the value in a fee for a backup striker alone. Alvarez/Marmoush types that can play with the star striker is the way to go. Either 10 or wide.

Yeah. What I’m saying is that I don’t want either, but a middle ground would be class even if a bit at the cost of “running”. Cherki for example is probably one of the best players in the world if you purely look at technical ability. It doesn’t have to be all black or white. I just think that we need better technical ability than a lot of our players have (even some of the more “expensive” buys we’ve made. To both improve us and give us more variety and tactic flexibility in some games.

Point is when is he actually going to play? It doesn’t make sense to spend £25m on a player who will only play when a single player is injured or when a game is already won. It’s not like he’s a kid with massive potential either.

One thing we also have to start thinking a bit more about is the selling to Saudi option. South American and African players are much more open to playing in that region, and so if they don't quite work out, it's much more likely you get your money back, or even make a profit funnily enough.

He was dogshit in 2008. Remember him playing for the reserves away at either blue star or benfield (can’t remember which), got stuffed 5-1 and he got lobbed from outside the box twice Anyone who was at the Leeds friendly will know how bad he is too. Still, for free and cheap wages, he’s worth it for third choice and the added benefit of homegrown quota.

I think you've picked two players there that are polar opposites, which is fair enough. I think most match going fans would want to watch a Cherki over an Elanga, week in week out, mainly because he's a better footballer but also because that's what fans want to see. However, Eddie Howe has to think about the team and someone like Cherki might just flat out refuse to do the things Eddie requires, where as Elanga might follow the plan to the letter. Personally, I'm like most on here in that I'd rather we went for someone better than Elanga. If we can find an Elanga with a sprinkle of magic, that's the sweet spot.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6404742/2025/06/06/newcastle-squad-audit-summer-2025/?source=user_shared_article (https://archive.ph/x2PXF) Our squad depth is… something. Really is a massive summer coming up.

When I first glanced at that I thought you were on about Richard Madeley who, famously, doesn't like any form of CCTV but, alas, you meant Bobby

Wonder what Francis Jeffers is up to these days?

I mean in this particular case it wasn’t possible for us to get him. But Reijnders for example if he played in our league already he would cost twice as much. Yeah you can possibly argue that that he isn’t proven in this league, but I still reckon my point stands to a degree. Or Tonali for example.

I don’t see the logic of paying a decent fee for a player that will be strict backup. Isak will still start every game he is 80% fit for and the other player will be on the bench. A worthwhile understudy needs to be able to play with Isak either at 10 or RW. That way you can get a higher calibre of player.

It's worth baring in mind that we haven't signed him. I say that because perhaps the financials of it aren't worth it and therefore the club have moved away from him. But let's say we did sign him. The going rate for a good PL striker, who's 24, has room to grow and is looking like seeing out his contract is probably somewhere around 20/25m. In fact I'd argue that's a pretty good deal. We need someone who is useful and someone who our coaches can get their teeth stuck into. At 24, if I didn't work, we'd likely get the bulk of that fee back a couple of years down the line, just as we did with Chris Wood.

I think a 10/striker hybrid and a change of system is on the cards. It probably means we could get away with a free/cheap CM as effectively 6th choice CM. Id take JP for £60m + Gomes/Doucoure for ‘free’. If we planned to play with JP at the 10 a lot of the time. Both would be backup in that system. And next up in a 433 if needed. That should still allow us to buy a RW and CB imo.

Obviously, like I hinted towards in my post already. Yeah they can cost a bomb if we go for the players that already are at the highest level/more experienced and especially from within our league alone. Personally I do think there is technical players out there that aren’t in the mould of Cherki for example, and that wouldn’t cost a bomb. It’s not like players like Elanga to name one isn’t very expensive.

The striker will be DCL

I know it's unpopular to say we want forriner but it's a black and white case of there being value there, and I'm honestly sick of being told we're pinned back by PSR, only to then spunk value on domestic based players.

This is where I struggle with these kind of links. I am totally on board with getting the correct "type" of player in, however, surely there are cheaper alternatives in other leagues, yes it could be riskier but the funds involved would be a lot less than what Fulham will want plus I am not convinced Muniz is that good? .

There are strikers out there, but just not sure we'd do it. Think we're trying to land players that are going to be comfortable in the league straight away. Somewhat understandable, but also limits us to some extent.

The problem is that we can't sign technical players who can't do the physical side. There's no world in which we actively go out to sign technical players who are just technical players because it would kill the team DNA. Quality players who can do both cost a fortune.

Whatever striker we sign is going to feel underwhelming but we have one the top 5 strikers in the world, no one who feels exciting as a signing is going to come here to sit on the bench. I'd like to see an Alvarez type who came in to play understudy to Haaland and was relatively unknown at a cost of £14mil. Hard to find.

Even 30m will be too much.

Can only see it happening if we are also selling someone the other way for decent money. Something like Muniz for £45 million and Willock to them for £30 million.

I often see folks on here saying similar to “He’s not a Howe player” when player X is kind of creative and has very good technical ability. I mean, yeah sometimes it’s justified but I also see it when it’s not tbh. I know we currently don’t have much creativity or technical ability in some areas. Even out wide where we’ve spent close to 100m we lack this. I’d be amazed if Eddie doesn’t like great technical ability and some creativity. I mean he has been saying how much he admires the way PSG play football (so do I). Surely he would know that it’s needed to evolve and that you can’t play the way they do without it. Especially at the very highest level. It obviously cannot be 100% of that and then no work rate. Without great technical ability you can only get so far. I guess balance is key here. I take most links with a massive pinch of salt. I also hope and think that Howe realises that we need to improve in this area to go to the next level (sign technical ability). I love intensity and pressing but there needs to be a balance and variety on top of that. 100% intensity alone isn’t sustainable. Not mentally or physically. Especially with Europe involved. So, even if I know 90% of all the links are bullshit, I still don’t like it when we get linked with players that lack that extra natural ability on the ball. Hopefully we will get the right players in for us to take the next step.