The College Dropout

This idea that you can't have an opinion on the window - 1 week before the season starts - is silly. Nobody is coming to any conclusions but clearly a lot of work needs to be done to make it a good window.

Not when the season starts next week and the window closes after GW5.

The price point. Knowledge of the player. Knowledge of his availability. If we get him in Aug, it's because we've dallied on other targets.

I like Cornet a lot. But we could've signed him a month ago. That's my only issue with that one.

Nah. 44 goals midfield and forward line. 9th is the ceiling with that type of output. I think Wolves & Brighton bored the league to that type of finish.

Maybe. I like Cornet a lot tbf.

Aye - mean 10th is literal progress from 11th last season. I don't see how going backwards "but no threat of relegation" is a good thing.

It would've been better having them now.

This season things start earlier. Teams doing late business will pay for it in league position. There's 5 GW's pre-deadline, rather than the usual 2-3. Look around - the better run clubs have finished their business or missing 1 non-crucial part.

Also - i think 12th would be a failure for PIF. I think a key goal of this season, is getting buy-in from the wider football world that this evolution/revolution is real. Establish that we are on the up and are serious. Legitimise the project. That means 10th and above. Better goal difference. More goals scored. 7th and above and people sit up. We look the legitimate part.

The season starts next week. The window closes GW5. Playing 5 games without filling our top 2 priority signings would be poor going.

I'm talking about this window alone. That window has made us a midtable team. We've doubled-down on making a solid defence... even more solid. Great. It's still a midtable team. If the window ended here... it would be a dissappointment. I think we will sign at least 2 more and have 1 "marquee" signing. That would represent a solid window that looks to take us up the league rather than consolidate us as midtable. I'm not ideologically tied to this new regime smelling like roses. The window started strongly and it's faltering now. Hope deals are getting closer behind the scenes. Likely in GW1 Shelvey will start and Longstaff will be ready to come off the bench for him. Almiron will start and Fraser will come off the bench for him. Wilson will start and Wood will come off the bench for him. In May, I was expecting better. Hopefully, we will get better.

In terms of incomings: Botman, Pope, Cornet & Targett is an Ashley type beat. Extending Krafth, Dummett and Longstaff is also an Ashley type beat too tbf.

It might be. But it is genuinely dissappointing that we are 1 week away from the start of the season and are seemingly not close to filling 2 crucial positions in the first team.

In the same window Liverpool bought Robertson (An A+ signing) they signed AOC & Salah and were chasing VVD all summer - got him in January. I understand people wanting a Bruno/Botman level player coming in as well. Cornet + 2 bigger would be ideal. Cornet + 1 bigger signing would be good. Cornet + a Broja type loan.... feels like an Ashley type summer.

I like Cornet a lot tbf. Would people prefer him or CHO?

Aye. If they're reliant on La Liga rights in 2030 - they will implode.

At first I thought if you sign a striker for 50m, you going to have to give him 200k+ per week. But I doubt Nunes earns that. Chelsea’s wage structure is a lot higher than most. CHO is on 120k I believe. Kante 325k. So Werner being somewhere in the middle makes sense.

He’s not taking that kind of wage cut. we can pay him £160k. And Chelsea can keep paying him the rest for the next 2 years. they can have a healthy sell on clause too.

Where? He wanted to leave in January to get game time and the heirarchy wouldn't let him.

With the season starting next week,... you do have to start rating it from now.\ You taker Arsenal and Spurs. Nearly all key positions filled in time to participate in pre-season. Good window. City - still chasing 1 player but everyone signed nice and early. Then you have Chelsea, Man United.. us... key potentially season defining transfers will happen in the last 5 weeks and most likely after the season has already started. It cannot be an ideal window. We've got enough stop-gaps for now. We need another 2 players - a level above what we have.

This is my fear. A slow start to the season, might actually help.

Fair. Worst case, I thought we might panic ourselves into some big signings close to the window closing. More likely pre-Ashworth though.

We've been a team desperate for goals for a number of years now. Our top 2 positions to be filled - haven't been filled. We've picked some low hanging fruit in Targett and Pope. Landed someone we've been after since January. The more difficult business of getting creative and attacking players... there's Wood from January.