The College Dropout

The most comparable players are Raphinha and Richarlison. Same age, length on contract, PL experience, PL output in recent seasons etc. £50m-£60m. That's the going rate. If we got him for £45m we've got ourselves a great deal.

Wouldn't that be a huge surprise? To finish above a team with an obviously superior squad? We are going around in circles now. I stated there's no short-term footballing benefit to joining NUFC from Leicester which you disagreed with. And after some back and forth - you've said so in your own words that their squad is better. Clearly, he's not joining to play for a better team in 22/23.

Diaby seemingly our number 1 target. Not interested and too expensive. Harrison - bid below Leeds valuation. We have seemingly moved on to other targets. Including bidding more than Leeeds valuation of Harrison but for another player.

This is my perspective. Except I think it's likely we are doing it wrong based on what happened with Diaby and Harrison.

Aye so in the short-term we aren't an improvement. Our aspirations are similar or less big in the upcoming season. That was my point many people disagreed with. There are no footballing reasons to join Newcastle United from Leicester in the short-term e.g. 22/23. Most NUFC fans would consider finishing 8th a relative success. Leicester would consider that a regression.

They had 1 bad season which coincided with a lot of injuries. Daniel Amartey played A LOT at CB. CL maybe not. But 7th with no European football this season? With all the injuries and Europe they still managed 8th. Point being. Leicester have a good squad. Better than ours. I wouldn't expect to finish above them as things stand. Moving to us at the moment is a sideways move regarding 22/23. JM would be betting that we get stronger (which we will) and Leicester get weaker (which is possible) in the medium and long-term.

At £30m next season, a top 6 club would pay him good money to be a squad player. This is our chance. But we'll have to pay market rate.

They've recent history of doing so with this squad.

2022: 8th 2021: 5th 2020: 5th If they finish somewhere in-between = Europe. First choice CB's injured for most of the season. As did a first choice fullback. Vardy scored loads but missed 13 league games. If they all stay fit or at least considerably more fit and maintain form and don't sell key players. You would expect a top 7 finish. Maddison, Vardy & Barnes is as good as it gets outside the top 6 alone. Fofana, Evans, Tielemans. It's a good team. As it stands they have Ayoze Perez as dead wood. We'll be starting Miguel Almiron at the weekend. Their squad is a level above ours. We are in an upward trajectory though. And Leicester might lose one of their best players to us. Seemingly their cycle is over and they need a rebuild.

Aye - this is the prevailing thought in the game and the only plausible football reason JM isn't in the England squad. That's my impression of JM as a player. Fantastic talent and ability. A bit of a luxury out of possession. Hence not the best to have as RCM or RF (who has to track fullbacks). Mount maybe not as eye-catching on the ball but perhaps more efficient / better movement in the box and a presser off the ball a proper gegenpresser of a attacking midfielder / forward.

Aye. But as things stand now?

Many here would take 8-12 in the league and a decent cup run. Leicester would have European qualification as a good season.

Also makes him more appetising to bigger clubs.

A lot of reports of a 35m bid.

A top 7 quality squad. With some injury luck they can challenge for top 4 again. Decent chance at cups.

Aye. Aye. Targeting players and being way off what the selling club would accept is amateur stuff.

Really? I think of Mount as much more of a "pressing" player and JM as someone that doesn't do so much of that. My impression of Mount is of a hard runner out of possession and again JM as not so much. I thought that was why Mount was a shoe-in under Southgate and JM struggles to make the squad. All subjective and not looking at the stats though.

He's being discussed now as a wide player vs Cornet. James Milner put in tremendous graft and never got this grace as an English teenager. I guess that's a good thing. I'm not suggesting people give him stick or owt. It's the rating his ability on the pitch that just doesn't make any sense. He's expected to start as a RW this season or a LW. And people are suggesting we would be not better off with Cornet in the team instead. Grace isn't even the word. Undeserved faith in his ability as a footballer.

Also - more money. Probably the deciding factor. Mid to high 100's I assume. There's no short-term footballing reason to join us from Leicester.

None of this has anything to do with footballing ability. You have people saying "Cornet is not an upgrade on Almiron". Based on what? It sounds like you like his smile more. We've had hard-workers in the past with little end product (Sissoko, Ritchie, Milner) and they got plenty of stick on here for lacking quality. I've no problem with people liking the lad - as a lad. But to suggest his ability is similar to Cornet..... there's no basis for that train of thought. There's little to even suggest he's a PL level player. It's been a colossal waste of £30m. Maybe because he's Rafa's lad he gets even more grace.

Almiron has scored the same number of goals Cornet has in the PL. It's just taken him 4 seasons to Cornet's 1. I'll never understand how much grace this lad gets from the fans on here. He's done little to deserve it.

one thing about JM. Is his ideal position is 10. He can play in a number of other roles but comprimises would need to be made where he's perfect as 10. SO you almost have to build the team around him or you decide to be defensively exposed a bit on the wings or in midfield. A lot of other clubs are deciding against that. To our advantage I guess.

Think I finished top 5 in this league last season. Aiming for the top 5 again here.

Aye but also a little older and surplus to requirements. With wages so high, only 5 or 6 clubs in the world could afford him with a fee. Leicester could still probably get £30m for Maddison next summer. I think Richarlison and Raphinha are more similar transfers to this.

Sterling only had 1 year left on his contract.