The College Dropout

But he's a £45m striker. Not the silly money Chelsea want.

This take is a bit lazy imo. He's very solid technically. More so than a Nunez. I don't think his overall game is raw, it's refined. He links up well with others. He's just often poor in front of the goal and has temperament issues. His technique often falls apart in the box but that's more mental than anything. You can almost see his heart rate increase then he doesn't sort his feet out in time and he rushes the finish or be off balance. But in general play or when his confidence is up his touch, ball control, ball striking is good. But he doesn't have that composure. He could do with studying Aguero. Aguero was so right foot dominated but the way he would plant his left foot so firmly in good timing, that right foot was just butter. Look at Jackson, he's rarely set when shooting.

He’ll gross £60m in wages. He’ll be fine.

That’s what makes his links credible. Ita clear from The Athletic’s Gyokores signing that Sesko’s agent overplayed their hand. Now they’re desperate.

In my dreams we used PSR hacks to kick up our wage budget so we could compete at the higher end of the market. We would probably still lose out to Liverpool and the like but be proactive in securing Isaks contract (or a position with him) and landing the likes of Trafford. Until we pay the big bucks we’ll be a 3rd/th tier choice in the market. that requires PSR fuckery.

I would’ve watched one of the semi final games. CL I watch Real and maybe a glamour tie - even that glamour tie is usually just background tv.

If I did, he didn't stand out. I don't watch Serie A, and Milan haven't had a good run in the CL in forever and not played in a major international tournament to my knowledge either. I've seen Sesko but not enough to have a massive opinion on him - beyond he missed a bunch of chances against Real. For foreign signings I look at comps, data I can find and general sentiment among fans and reports. It's usually pretty accurate about skillset (strengths and weaknesses), what's harder to gauge is how it translates to the PL.

Exactly - I had never seen/noticed Botman, Bruno or Tonali before we were linked. That Chevalier moved for 40m to PSG - never noticed him.

Look at this shit.

To my knowledge - the CEO announced he had cancer 10 months ago. To not have anything in place now doesn't give me confidence that we'll have a best in class setup that can influence PIF in the near future but here's to hoping. My gripe is that it's going to take more than a professional setup to catch number 6 of the big 6, let alone any of the others. And we don't even have that as of today. It's not that unfortunate. Eales resigned 10 months ago, and the DOF appointment went wrong from literally the first day. Let's hand accountability out fairly. Slow and bad decisions contributed to our predicament more than the bad luck alone of Eales. PSR is not a snakepit. It's rules. The types of rules our board side-step in their personal/business lives, like they do with taxes and such. It's a challenge but one we can navigate well if our owners are engaged at the right level.

In time I do think Howe can help make Ramsdale a better keeper than Pope. How made Dubs a better keeper at crosse and getting off his line in his mid 30s.

We aren’t even really going for any young talent. For an explosive winger Elanga isn’t ‘young’. We should get players with lots of room for natural development. We are only targeting players that can be Howe’d which I guess is similar but is still harder to sell on

To make myself feel better - I’ve told myself that’s what the new CEO and DOF will install with the Isak money. This summer is to get us over the hump and keep us competitive where we should be.

The bigger issue with such a window is we’ve stopped signing players with much room for higher sales. Wissa, Elanga, Gallagher etc. we’ll just want to get our money back when we want to move them on. A club in our PSR position should sign 80% of players who will can realistically increase in value

We’ll get plenty for Isak next season. Tosin and Ramsdale on loans.

Honestly Ramsdale Tosin Gallagher Elanga Wissa Keep Isak. that’s a 7 out of 10 window. CL play offs and Europa/Conference league finish or thereabouts. Let him buss case and throw in Paqueta and it’s a 8 or a 9.

At least one of the signings will be a fancy bame from abroad. Gallagher

Eddie has made good food from worse ingredients. Welcome aboard Aaron lad.

It’s funny though. For the first couple years people fought against the idea Howe had an English/PL bias. While o think there’s some other reasons for that - a need for short term results. The evidence is overwhelming now. It takes a lot for us to go for a foreign player init? Must be part of the reason we’ve been so successful with them. They have to tick so many boxes for Eddie.

It’s definitely coming up Dominic Calvert

Its true. Thats my main positive take. Hey man, we’ve agreed a fee and terms quickly. I’ve been meaning about that all morning and this comes along. I guess I have to give credit.

I hear you mate. Im not a fan of our approach.

This is my crumb. Ultimately I do trust Howe. But jeezy… this doesn’t look great.

People forget Kelleher had a mare against us in the league. Don’t cover himself in the league cup final either. Not big on Kelleher personally.

Yes.