midds

This is what I was trying to explain last night. Yeah we'd like a little more for him but he's very much surplus to requirements and we need to shift him before he's worth nothing. That may mean we have to accept less than we think he's worth but that's just life. We might need to ay a bit more than we think Guehi is worth to get him, it works both ways 'worth' is a very subjective word to use I know

They offered 8 (apparently). I'd snap their hands off for anything close to 10 No idea where the ridiculous hostility has come from tbh

I don't believe they were offering a million quid? I never even mentioned a replacement? Not really sure what you're getting at tbh

Just take whatever they're offering ffs.

Story broke 11 days ago and it was out of nowhere. I'm aware of the urgency of the deadline but...

The Southern magnolia Middlesbrough. Steak & Ale pie FC

Luke Shaw's bedroom is full of Callum Wilson posters

If he's not got Wayne Lineker's number I'll show my tits in Fenwick's window all winter

We'll get them eventually mate. We both know this

City (A)

The fact he's conducted a live interview with SSN is enough for me to say fuck it and walk away from him and them. He's got every right to dig his heels in and ask for as much as he thinks we can get away with but to air it all publically like that a huge no-no from me. By all means reject it but keep it private and at boardroom level. And that's before we even get into the realms of the undoubted 'Newcastle cave in and pay whatever Palace wanted' drivel that would follow any bid being accepted. Sends out a message that we'll bend over and take it for any old shite like Man U have for the last decade. Once you get that reputation you'll overpay for every player you go in for. Fuck it, there's other CBs - Guehi is class and I'd love to see him in black and white but not after this like

No idea if that's correct or not, I'll take your word for it But I find it incredible that the other 19 clubs who'll be directly impacted immediately by the result of the case don't even want the decision of the case to be made public. That's fucking absurd to me. Hiding the details of the case I can kind of understand but waiting until it's all over and not even announcing the result of it?? Fuck - that's some shady shit

How on earth can you allow a case to go ahead - whose outcomes either way, will affect every other club massively - and not allow any reporting on it, including the fucking judgements until after it's already done and dusted? How the fuck is that allowed? How on earth is it transparent? How on earth are clubs supposed to adjust their entire financial strategies based upon the decisions of a completely closed court? This is a huge deal here, the state of accounting to circumvent all of this bullshit is off the dial and the fuckers running the gaff won't even allow the fucking decisions to be made public let alone the evidence and rationale behind it all. The whole thing is utterly fucked but the PL are the absolute worst man

If we manage to sign Guehi and sell Almiron on the same day I think I'll fucking burst

Without wanting to kick the whole Tripps thing off tangent in here but the bust up with the fans at Bournemouth seemed to be a bit of a turning point. Or I could just be misremembering the timings of it unravelling, it was a bleak few months Oct/Nov-Feb

Plus he's already managed to escape from that fucking borstal of a club once before, can't see him wanting to back there in a hurry. Not if he's got any sense anyway

Just a foot offside but he still took the chance really well, great finish. Very encouraging

RCM

First time for a few years, missed the place

I like him, he's definitely got something. He's a bit raw and needs a bit of polishing but he also needs to be in and around the first team squad this year. He's quick, has a trick and also has the confidence to go at players, his decision-making is also pretty good in the final third. He dovetailed nicely with Joelinton at times and they switched positions here and there and he slotted into LCM nicely as big Joe stayed wide. For a 17 year old to stand out is impressive, he needs to play in order to develop but I honestly think he might be good enough to be thrown in sooner rather than later

Can't see how signing Todibo - who has had his heart set on Juve all summer - can work out well for West Ham. He's clearly a good player and it's a decent price but if he doesn't really want to be there...

That seems excessive too but with Kelly there was always an expectation that the salary would be much higher because of the lack of a big fee. It's why players wind their contracts down after all, but we all know this. At least it's not £150k on top of a hefty fee

£100k does seem a little excessive I must admit

I wouldn't even put it down as a mistake tbh. At the end of his loan it was a complete no-brainer to make it permanent, he'd played really, really well on loan and at the time the decision had to be made it was the correct decision to sign him permanently. It's easy to have a pop with the benefit of hindsight but you can't do that in the real world, the decision had to be made at the time

Exactly. He played intermittently for one of the worst teams in PL history who spent the vast majority of games defending. That's a perfect storm for a young inexperienced striker trying to impress, I'm essentially ignoring all of his stats for last season, he'll get plenty of minutes this season and I'll judge him purely on what I see, I think he'll do rather well tbh