Zero

I don’t understand, unless there is no obligation to buy

Why can’t we pay 30m and find the next Jackson in La Liga or even Eredivisie?

Why would we agree to have a meeting with Liverpool? Jesus

I am fine to give Osula / Neave a chance to develop, and buy a new ST during January window. And tbh I think Isak won’t go, we simply won’t let him go this season. Eventually he will play again - level of commitment is doubtful though However for CB, I even don’t know who is able to perform regularly except Burn.

I actually think the priority of a new CB is even higher than a ST.

Jesus, what an idiot

What? Sanusi? Did I miss something?

To be fair there are a lot of people supporting the idea of buying within EPL AND also a lot of people against the idea, questioning why we need to change.

Your eyes are on Liverpool and Chelsea, I can understand, but also take a look at Man Utd. Those mega clubs can push much more than us because they have accumulated their fortune and hard work for many years, close to 20. Certainly they also need to go through a period of bad investment and results like Man Utd in order to fall from grace. Thats why I said I never expect it’s that easy to challenge for the title and regular top 4 finish is what we should realistically targeting at this moment. It’s not a game that we can win by doing our best only. It’s a game that you also need your opponent to commit error. If Liverpool and Chelsea can keep on making perfect moves then we have no chance to overtaking them. That’s the truth. But this won’t hold forever, and that’s why I said it’s the next generation of players that can make it, not the current one. Somewhat it’s good that you have forgotten the Ashley era. I haven’t. I obviously have more patience than some people here, despite I always being labeled as the most miserable poster. edit: Spurs is also the same as Man Utd. Are they part of the cartel? Yes. Are they able to fuck up us now? No. The Soldado deal killed them.

Put it simple, you are right that if we can score 100 marks this coming exam, we can get an early graduation and save 5 years time, however I would say as long as we score 75 marks we can graduate in 5 years. And the reason why we might get an early graduation is because in the past few years we keep on scoring something like 150 marks. In fact a lot of fans from other clubs still can’t believe we can make such a leap within a short period of time and relatively less investment made. Even Man City need to spend a lot more and change a few managers before getting their first title.

I think there does have an expectation gap. You are talking about the best chance to kick on, bring in a few and we can go for the title. You ain’t wrong. However I would say I would be more realistic - we need to qualify for ECL a few more times and accumulate more PSR headroom before really make a challenge. Things would never be that perfect. Just like Heron said, put it back one year ago, if I told you we can win a cup to break our curse but with massive cost, I think everyone here would just say fuck yes do it at all cost. That’s the level of expectation one year ago. So can you see how the cup win affects your expectation? I know I always hold a different view compare with others here. In my opinion, only a few players in our team really deserves / good enough for challenging the EPL title. I always expect this generations limit is regular top 4 finish. We need them to build a foundation, a culture, a winning spirit, but they will need to be replaced by better players, and this is exactly why we need PIF to continue their investment and we need Eddie to steer through the process. It’s our next generation that can challenge the title, not the current one.

I do think that’s actually a good lesson for Eddie - your wish list is somewhat unrealistic. I ain’t blaming him, but obviously we have been fully focusing on Eddies wish list last summer and this summer. EPL proven, first team quality, can immediately contribute to the team. The club listened, and go ahead, and crashed, twice. In fact I agree with KI, now I really doubt whether we had sent scouts to other leagues the last year. It really looks like they have been fully focused on Eddies wish list and thus now, we simply have no contingency plan, we don’t have cheap options from other leagues. Every bid now looks like panic buy. I hope Eddie takes this lesson well and work with the upcoming DOF (hope that’s Wilson), and then back to finding gems or semi finished products from other leagues. We aren’t in the position to go head to head with other mega clubs yet. I am not saying Mitchell is a good DOF but I genuinely think he mainly clashed with Eddie due to the transfer planning, and this summer shows he is probably right. Hope Wilson can find a balance and convince Eddie to change his mindset a little bit

To be honest after the cup win I expect NO to be more “relaxed” and people should have more composure re situation like this. I mean, no matter what, Isak is just a player. He is just a player. On the other hand, we got 1. PIF as our owner that never has financial problems, even if the level of commitment is questionable 2. Close to PSR limit investment (compare with none or even negative investment during Ashley era) 3. Eddie Howe who performed miracles multiple times, and he is fully committed to us. We even going to hire a DOF that is fully on his side. 4. A very solid starting eleven, except ST why and what are we afraid of letting Isak go? In the past, letting a player go means a total loss because Ashley won’t bring an adequate replacement in. What we would see, if still under Ashley, is DCL, the cheapest available option. Now, it is just a matter of which prospect in the world that we can agree a fee with. Yes we have a historically bad transfer window but the money is still there right? Why panic? The club ultimately would bring in a replacement, that’s for sure. Guaranteed. Even if it’s not this summer, it will arrive next summer. The club won’t just get a rubbish in and say good luck to the fans. I understand that we might not make a good run in ECL this season, but a top 6-7 finish is still highly likely. Even if we can’t make it, so what? We have passed the first PSR limit suffering period and we have the Isak money. in the past, we have an owner that would never reinvest the money, and we have tons of fucking shit manager like Bruce. now we got an owner that always willing to spend to the PSR limit, and we got arguably the best manager since the EPL was established. come on. It shouldn’t be me who post this.

so Liverpool will get Isak?

Even if we accept money with player exchange deals, it won’t be Liverpool. Forget about it.

that's actually a good news - it means the Liverpool route is off

My personal take is it depends on Howe. If Howe wants him to stay (and if he change his mind) then he can.

The problem is not about missing out Trafford. The problem is why there is no back up plan / other targets down the list that the club can immediately go and get.

9 mins. Record made.

Agree, his own reputation is at stake. He won’t budge.

That is definitely a good news. I mean, if they really decide to sell Isak, likely they won’t put out Yasirs name and will just say the management has collectively made the decision. Isak won’t be allowed to go this summer.

Calm down, it’s nothing, compare with the years under Ashley, or even the Souness era. It’s not the end of the world, who knows, might be Neale will be a superstar given the chance, might be Osula will bang in 20 goals a season. There’s still a lot of things the club can do, and we dont have any real financial concerns. If really feel that frustrated, just switch off everything re football, take an holiday and go for a cruise trip with family.

how about Al-whatever other than Al-Hilai?

That’s where I am a bit puzzled at. Surely the Saudis won’t want (or I should say, tolerate) their representative in the football world to be treated as a nice target to be bullied? That’s the Saudis we are talking about. If we really back down and let Isak go to Liverpool, I think we would have an answer re what we really are within Saudis “big picture”

not sure but the betting sites showing us as the most likely destination https://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/benjamin-sesko/club-after-summer-transfer-window Wissa as well.