The College Dropout

Aye. Harrison looks like he'll improve the first team dramatically for that money. As in this season. JP? Not so much.

Ekitike didn't come because he had an offer from a much bigger club. The rest - we just haven't stumped up the transfer cash.

Forest have PL facilities?

Aye. It's not the players rejecting us in the main. It's the clubs.

I'm super confident we won't go that high. It doesn't make any sense.

I'll go back and re-read. Ok. I see those signings as short-term, stop-gap signings to keep us safe and then consolidate a midtable position. I would be dissappointed if we went that route again. I agree - the track record is pretty good and the players they brought in have met and perhaps surpassed expectation but fundamentally I was hoping for more Bruno level signings. I'm happy for JP as back-up to Wilson because the Wood transfer flopped. But would expect a higher level at RW and CM.

I called it! It's such a Juventus signing. Aye some big boys are getting linked. Gallagher is one of few Chelsea players I think is on wages we could pay or improve. Can see Conor being forced to extend it and then moving on loan with no option to buy. Previous Chelsea regime loved that move. Didn't work a lot of the time though.

I hope that is accepted. I doubt we will go much higher, don't see us offering £30m.

With the greatest respect. That was 20 and 30 years ago. Those teams also had 4-5 of the greatest attackers this league has ever seen and very good players beneath that. But ok. Let’s agree to disagree. Burn and Targett wouldn’t look out of place in a top 6 team according to you.

The what? They did. But they were still midtable players. That team had 3 genuine superstars in it and a lot of things went right for them to win the league. Nathan Ake was a "wonderkid" He moved for £20m in 2017 as a CB - that was massive money then. By 25 he had a combined sales value of £60m. He's the same age as Targett. Robertson has surpassed all expectations but he was only 23 when he earned a move to Liverpool anyway. Like yeh some players are better than you expect and reach heights you don't expect. But at the ages of Targett and Burn. That is highly unlikely to happen. Burn in particular has already surpassed many expectations of him.

I said this in this thread or another one. It's Man U, Juve, Atleti type clubs are the only clubs that can pay Chelsea players' wages. Everyone else and Chelsea / the player will need to take a loss.

I like Burn and Targett. But they are midtable players.

To get to this position they paid a premium for the likes of Aguero, Barry & Milner. We don't have that FFP privilege though.

They are doing that now from a position of power. When they needed too they splashed £50m+ on fullbacks. Went and got one of the best 25 and under CB's for £50m+. Now the core of the team is settled, they just add quality to it when the time is right or when players want out. Get their pick across the world.

Also re: Chelsea - wages will be an issue for most of the players they want rid of. Unless they can ship them off to Juve, Atleti, Man Utd type clubs either the player or Chelsea will need to take an L to get a deal finalised.

Where's the chess? We've shown we set a value for players. Sometimes that's higher than other clubs are willing to pay (Botman, Etikite). Sometimes it's lower than the selling clubs will take (Maddison, Harrison). Clubs won't drop their prices because they are dealing with us. It's good for our coffers but that's about it.

Aye. But I think for a loan we can work something out.

I hope Watford take the £25m or a little higher. I don't think we'll go to £30m.

The types of fees we want to pay for players are only reputable if the selling club are keen or desperate to sell. Like Botman and Ekitike's clubs would have sold him them for cheaper than we offered. Pope & Targett - both clubs happy to cash-in. Now we are trying to sign players clubs would much prefer to keep and we are struggling to get deals done. I think a Chelsea player is inevitable because they are actually keen to get rid and we could get a favourable deal.

Not really. They've just maxed out their potential without CL football and haven't sold a player for big money in some time.

He doesn't watch much non-English football so does the usual stereotype thing. His quotes on KDB or Yaya Toure when they joined City were from a place of ignorance for example. But when he actually watches a player and pays attention - his takes are usually spot on.

You'll probably need to have at least 1 player that could earn that much or close. Like a Vardy or Declan Rice.

Richarlison was held in high regard after his spell at Watford. He cost Everton what, £40m 4 or 5 years ago? Hardly an unknown. Never heard of Raphinha before Leeds but it was clear within 2 months that he was a cut above. I remember he was in my FPL team when Leeds smacked us up and he scored. I rate JP from what I’ve seen. Fancy him way more than Dennis as a player.

It’s the same everyday. This is a great post.

Really good discussion. I've seen models online that would count both shots as @Wullie described which is a definite weakness. I've seen some FPL stats like that. Counting a penalty and a rebound as 2 Big Chances and an Xg over 1. whatever.