The College Dropout

The Philogene deal was buying him back for the same price if relegated automatically. Or something like that Philogene was a standout player in the Champ though.

No idea. Would have to be more init. I feel like Villa have bought and resold Philogene lad a lot. It’s been bad for us career. The Madrid way is better for their development - getting at least a couple seasons with the same team.

Yeh we lack leverage and he’s a bit young. £15m to a promoted club maybe. The Madrid hack is the fees received are fairly low for what tends to be high ceiling players.

I would do a sale with an auto buyback clause like Madrid do. For the whole 4 year contract or whatever. Madrid did that with Carvajal, Morata, Odegaard among others. Think Madrid had a buy-back clause for Kubo + a 50% sell-on clause, meaning the buy back was half price. We don't have their leverage mind. But I wouldn't sell under any other circumstances.

If Howe thinks he's ready to step up next season I'm fine with that. He's not trusted him to that level yet. And I think we need another athletic beast in our numbers too.

Probably sell for both of their careers. Willock has positional flexibility but he's a bit too young to be a Ross Barkley type.

Agreed. It’s been an excellent move for him. Happy for him. We got the worst deal of all the FFP shenanigans by far. Sold our 2 brightest youngsters for decent to bad fees. Poor prep but we also don’t have a saleable squad. Miley needs first team football too. I would send him out on loan and get in a cheap cover player like Villa did with Barkley + a first teamer like they did with Onana. Gives us 5 good options for 3 positions and allows Miley to get regular playing time. Include a recall in January.

No way to tell. Had we won, we wouldn't be asking the question mind.

That's not how those things play out. If he's rushed himself back, it's likely the stress and pressure and just being overly active will have him back in hospital before the season is out. Praying that's not the case.

Unfortunately, Ian Wright being a part of the women's game and advocating for it in men's spaces has a massive positive influence on the sports growth (not massive but you get it). Wrighty did a podcast I would occasionally listen to. He would talk about women's football on there. That brings the sport to a new audience. I wouldn't have listened otherwise. Saying that - I mostly skipped those parts

Fantastic news. Hope is feeling strong and is not rushing himself back

I don't think we'll lose them this summer, but without CL, can we meaningfully build on what we have? The project's momentum would feel different imo. If I'm either of them - there's 2 years on the contracts in 2026. I'm looking to move on. Qualify for the CL, strengthen the squad close to what we did the last time we had real money to spend - it makes last season look like a blip on what is a turbo-charged trajectory. If we can do that, with a bit of luck, we could start to look beyond fighting for 4th. Qualify for Europa or worse - it's a slower build. Can't invest to the same degree. Not as attractive to players. We'll also probably need a sale to rebuild meaningfully in 2026. So another season of having a poorer squad or not signing top quality players (most likely). "gives us another go at it" - it's another go at qualifying for CL with a thin squad.

I still don't think we'll do those things. No rumours.

Oh, then we are on the same page. I do think not getting CL will mean this team will get broken up at some point. After two years without CL, Isak and Tonali should want to leave. If not this summer, next summer is more likely. If we lose out to Villa, they will begin consolidating themselves as a CL regular with their squad. Qualifying this year is vital for us to kick-on with this current squad. I agree, the most important thing is PIF's continued investment and commitment. Again, CL is likely to help keep them excited.

The additional £40-50m in revenue, bonuses from sponsors and justifies higher related sponsorships too The new format pumps more money in.