James

Gayle should be first choice anyway, he is good enough to start for a mid table side and had a great season for us last year. We should instead be looking to ensure Gayle gets the best possible cover, and we have the players behind him who can create chances.

We are absolutely fine

Was a lost cause there because of the PSFM that immediately opposed his appointment

Dropped out just now, bad gateway. Maybe it's just a 5am thing?

This is my favourite transfer so far, it ticks a lot of boxes. Excellent news about his English speaking too.

All the talk about Xabi Alonso, even if he is nearly as good as Mikel Arteta that would be fantastic.

Wouldn't be surprising, supposedly our transfer targets were being selected using a subscription to analytics software, with Carr rubber stamping the conclusions.

We actually have a functioning team unlike most of the rabble in the bottom half. We can climb up further with well targeted upgrades, not a complete overhaul.

Comfortably mid table??.....i very much doubt it, as it is i think we are certs for the drop....lose Gayle and we won't score goals and even Gayle will do well if he hits 10+ desperately need another striker and number 10 to chip in with goals Did you read anything but the last three words. I clearly stated that we need a back up for Gayle and a number 10 in order to do so!

As I see it, we have three functional problems in the transfer market: 1.Increased player valuations swallowing up what initially seemed like a modest transfer budget. 2. A need to ensure the club can afford its operating costs e.g. Wages 3. An over capacity squad with players on high wages and long contracts who we can't shift (they couldn't get a game in the championship) There was talk of maybe 10 new players initially but I think we can downsize and do ok. All we really need now are a central midfielder, a number 10 and backup for Gayle and even with a small budget we could sign two £20m players here. If other players do eventually leave we can consider a replacement on a case by case basis. Once we get to the new season, we will have a squad who have predominantly played together and won the league together, with a few refined improvements. Plus a superb manager. A number of other clubs will either be drowned by mediocrity if quiet in transfer market or otherwise find their players aren't gelling or have come for the money. We can get results against a lot of these teams especially up to January and we will be comfortably mid table.

Charnley forgot to put it fridge, Mike's having the Vienetta instead now.

I doubt it considering he didn't have a professional contract and at this point in time he is merely deciding who to sign his first professional contract with. We are not getting a "transfer fee" we are being compensated for the time and money spent on him while at the academy and the level of development, which in his case has been quite stellar. At present we can negotiate whatever we want. Only goes to tribunal if we can't agree compo.

Hopefully we have both a buy back and % of future sale clause

I believe Murphy was only signed because it got confirmed that Gouffran was not going to sign that contract. Regarding Lejeune I believe permission was granted due to the risk of missing out on a release clause (these often have time restrictions) plus sensible assurances from Hanley and his representatives that he is looking for a new club. Similarly Manquillo replaces Anita. The club have long had a policy of not recruiting if their 25 places are full (it has been in the forum minutes and other interviews a number of times) Business was much easier to conduct last summer when a number of players demonstrated determination to leave. This year failure to shift players like Lazaar will prevent new arrivals, and it will be the players and agents (and those that were responsible for the signing) that will be blamed by the hierarchy.

This thread is done, someone start the Josh Murphy thread

Anita was probably one of the worst players to play 50 top flight games for the club, and he wasn't even a right back so I don't know how it can be a downgrade.

How old was Harry Kane again before he made Spurs team again? And after how many 'unsuccessful ' loans?

Roeder will have finished scouting Dirk Kuyt by the time it's agreed.

If the transfer market is fucked and we only have £100m available. I would just spunk our remaining £86m on two central midfielders and a winger.

Glad to see you back Rich. Clearly he has had injury problems, but is Krul really THAT bad? Same injury as Elliott after all and I don't understand how Elliott seems to be preferred on the basis of what happened before. So I'm on the fence with goalkeepers too and wouldn't want to spend money that could go on other areas. Yedlin and Gamez at RB is a risk, but I think it's a position we need to ignore to focus on other priorities. Centre back, I think we have six players there, we will probably try to ship one or two, but the second would leave Findlay as 4th choice, and without knowing much about Lejeune the opportunity to sign an excellent centre half should not be ignored if it comes up. Left back, Dummett I feel will become more acceptable if he has a better player in front of him. Jury is out on Lazaar for me but it's telling he never really played. Would like a new left back but again not a priority right now, but we should take the opportunity to improve if it comes up. The only central midfielder I am completely happy with is Hayden. Shelvey can still earn my trust but if he still isn't up to scratch in the PL, or one of the central midfielders gets injured then what's behind them is terrifying. I don't think Rafa is too fixed when it comes to wingers he likes them to have capability on both feet and both sides. Ritchie is great and Atsu is good cover. I think we need a quality winger though to take the creativity pressure away from Ritchie and Shelvey. This makes this position priority number 2, we need a starter and possibly a back up. Attacking midfield and up front, I think Perez and Gayle will have their best ever seasons next season. This makes these positions a little less important, but we still need players of at least equal quality to rotate.

I do think £16m is a bit excessive for a lower league player. However £11m +£3m at various career milestones seems to be a reasonable compromise

Jese Rodriguez on an initial loan with buy clause.

Thanks no Rafa would want to sign more players with PL experience but we will now have to mostly tap the foreign markets or lower leagues.

I vaguely suspect he may have been drunk.

Also received international clearance to sign Juanito and Tyrique Bartlett.