James

Looking for positives, if we do get Targett, and Lazaar falls through like it might yet do, plus Dummett and Gamez, plus Manquillo, Clark, Mbemba and Colback who can all supposedly play at left back, we should have a squad that is guaranteed to be highly appealing to Alan Pardew.

At least (clauses aside) we get two seasons of Merino.

I know. But solid as in a bunch of disciplined effective players who won't get relegated. But then it will be up to whoever came next to not fuck that up.

I believe he will stay for the players and the fans. But he will probably no longer believe in a long term project. He will be working to put us on a solid platform that the next manager can either build on or fuck up. Maybe one day he will return under new ownership.

It's been done before on many occasions, where have you been? Example A statement from Newcastle United Football Club Managing Director Derek Llambias A statement from Newcastle United Managing Director Derek Llambias Now that the transfer window has closed, we have had some time to reflect on the business we have conducted over the summer. Our aim was to secure young players who represented value for money and could add real strength to the squad. The majority of our transfer dealings were completed in the early part of the window and we feel we have signed some players of exceptional quality. Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux, Mehdi Abeid, Demba Ba and Gabriel Obertan were all brought in early and we have seen these players settle quickly into the squad and perform well on the pitch. Earlier this week we were delighted to sign Davide Santon from Inter Milan to fill our left-back position after the departure of Jose Enrique. Davide is an excellent young prospect and we're sure he'll be another superb addition to the squad. We also welcomed young goalkeeper Rob Elliot from Charlton Athletic who will help us retain healthy competition for that position after loaning out Fraser Forster to Celtic. [bold]Of course we had also hoped to secure a further striker in the window, in addition to Demba Ba. Work to bring a striker into the club began early in the summer. Negotiations were complex and protracted and unfortunately it was disappointing that ultimately we could not secure our priority target. Whilst we did turn our attention to alternative prospects in the latter stages of the window, we have a very clear transfer policy and will not make knee-jerk decisions at the last-minute which are not in the best interests of the club. We understand that supporters will feel frustrated that we did not sign another striker during the window, but it was not for lack of trying that we did not bring our final target in.[/bold] Other than replacing Fraser Forster with Rob Elliot, our best ever transfer window under Ashley

Don't get why we aren't in for Renato Sanchez, given that Swansea are favourites.

Someone had to..... Various sources saying he is to sign on loan

I believe Rafa will have some deals lined up. If he gets authorisation today, he will buy.

Ok we should let him speak to Fulham to ensure he is actually willing to accept. In the mean time maybe try to negotiate a few million extra. If we can find a striker or a number 10 that we can sign, who Rafa would want to start ahead of Gayle then we should move to sell him. But we should only submit final paperwork on Gayle once the new striker signing is complete.

I reckon Benitez actually quite likes De Jong and planned to keep him as an option on bench but others seeming impossible to shift meant he has had to cast his eye a bit further up at players 20-25. Similar to Colback, or so he thought. Credit to Siem for working with is to move on, unlike the others. Wish him well.

Hasn't scored today, send him back to Chelsea

Rafa will be here until the end of the season as he promised certain players he would be. Next year I doubt Rafa or those players will be here.

Hallelujah Hope he loses every penny he fleeced out of us and spends the rest of his miserable life reflecting on what a failure he is.

Really not a fan of how badly Krul has been treated.

Although I am no fan of Colback I am struggling to understand the logic of him now becoming surplus as we need 4 central midfielders and if you exclude kids and Diane who hasn't really played there that will leave us with 3. I read this as being Rafa's attempt to make room for another player in another position.

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.