The College Dropout

I don't believe the bolded is a real thing. I do think betting the entire priority transfer dealings on a 19/20 year old who has previously wanted to bide his time and explore his options without a decent back-up route - is a bit of mismanagement. Whether we got him or not. I could've predicted we would struggle to generate funds for non-first team players because most of them are crap and are on relatively high wages for their talents. I actually assume they anticipated it would be difficult to shift players anyway and that was already factored into our incoming transfer policy. Again, not the worst mistakes in the world. Most of these things were rolling pre-Ashworth.

They desperately need bodies. Lost out on primary targets too.

Oh ok. I thought he was replying to me.

I'm not making it sound negative - just sharing my thoughts. It's clear Ekitike was Plan A. Ekitike, Botman & Pope c. £90m maybe a loan too. Call it £100m all in. Deals structured over the contracts. That was a good solid plan. If we knew in May that we couldn't sign Ekitike and how much some of the other options would cost, I think we would've tackled the market differently. e.g. maybe Dubravka is fine as #1 if we have another £15m to spend on more expensive wingers. I'm giving the management credit in saying - Plan A made a lot of sense. But clearly Plan B wasn't sufficient because we have surpassed that too. With Howe saying we aren't going to splash the cash as some have thought. I currently, don't expect us to sign £70m worth of attackers. I think a permanent transfer under £45m with a loan to supplement. Which would be good.

£40m+ isn't the £50m+ we'll need to have a proper chance of securing JM though is it? It sounds like our last offer was our best.

I don't see it.

Eddie is lowering expectations. I'll say it again - I do question the wisdom of spending £50m on GK & LCB with our limited budget before getting in attacking players. I guess we counted our chickens with the Etikite deal. I think a loan or 2 is looking most likely. It doesn't sound like we are willing to drop £50m in transfer fees at all. Unless we lose all 4 opening games and panic sets in.

Could be both.

It was hilarious when that lad compared our young left-back to Olivier Bernard the other day. I come with interesting and valid points that add value to this forum man.

He's fairly short isn't he?

Signing a back-up LWB for £55m is insane tbf. They'll also pay Brighton £20m for Colwill if he's any good too.

At the start of the summer, we would've said RW, ST, CM (assuming we sign MT) were the top priorities. It turns out we circled back to get our CB from January. I'm glad we got him and he could prove to be a bargain. But i wouldn't have said it was a priority position. IMO anyway.

He's guaranteed to score and assist this weekend too.

More risk of that with Fofana than Maddison. Playing for a much higher profile club might have Fofana going to the WC. Crazy wages. CL football. Another bad injury and this chance may never happen again for the lad. Maddison could have a poor year and still move to us and earn the same money in a years time. No CL. Similar profile for now.

I think we'll sign at least 1 attacker if not 2. We'll drop the money to make it happen imo. I think signing nobody dos border a disaster. We are 1 injury away from relegation fodder attacking line-up. Could easily finish 13th with this current squad with some bad luck.

They prioritised positional flexibility and got Zinchenko instead. Xhaka has played well under Arteta but they need depth (and mobility).

TBF Arsenal's window has gone to plan. They've sorted out their priority positions in time for everyone to play in pre-season. Striker, a creator and a player that can play LB and CM. They've also brought in someone who can play RW. Chelsea are having a mare. Mostly due to a late takeover, players leaving on a free, more players wanting to leave and Barcelona signing 1 of their players (maybe more) and taking 2 of their top targets. We have 0 of our main targets in. I agree with @Tiotes Witch Doctor. Some are acting like this is going to plan and everything is under control. That is clearly not the case. Plan A went to PSG and we are on Plan D and that isn't working out so far either.

Yes a few have suggested they wouldn't represent an improvement on him. Personally, I think if his contract expired in June 2022, he wouldn't get a move to a PL team.

Aye but had the right attributes. He was also a difficult character. He was sold at least twice due to personal conflicts (here and Liverpool the first time).

Tbf Brighton are a thoroughly midtable team.

It's in Leicester's interest to start a bidding war. Can't have a private bidding war.

I've seen enough from Werner to want him in. I like his work rate, movement and pace. He didn't score many but he was crucial in their CL win, he ran Real Madrid ragged. I've said before - he reminds me of Craig Bellamy and that dimension he added to our team was a game changer back then and could be the same today. I wouldn't want to pay the 275k wages or whatever. But half? Option to buy? I;d take it. I reckon he would prefer Leipzeig(sp?) over us though.

Cornet was more productive in 1 season than Almiron and Fraser have been in the last 2 seasons combined. He's not the first to suggest Almiron is comparable to Cornet. There's a section of our fans perfectly happy for him to start at RW 30 games next season over the likes of Cornet or Harrison. 0 goals and assists. Output worse than Gouffran.

With FFP such a scare it's not ideal considering low resale value. We'v not signed any other players for depth. Had we signed Botman in January - I doubt we would have signed Burn this summer. Tbh I dion't think our transfer issues are specifically budget related. But at the start of the summer I would've prioritised getting a quality RW & ST over CB & GK - if we had a defined budget pool. As i've said i think the issue is more about how we value players.

Fornals. Lanzini. Benrahma. Antonio. Nice depth too.