The College Dropout

New contract. £6m deal in the summer in Saudi.

It was just 2.. maybe 3 matches. Dortmund being one - which is super high level. And he only got a half. But he was bad. I personally always believed in the kid. Baller. Glad to get one right for once.

Tbf he was 19, new city, new team, basically a new level

What fee we getting for Dubs? I’ve been consistently wrong about keeping fringe players. Mostly because I don’t like breaking up functional teams. While Dubs is passing it around like Kroos I’d keep him number 1.

He’s just ageing in a shit team. Toni Kroos would’ve looked awful at Man U these last few seasons.

It’s almost certainly Leicester. They’ve got off 2 points deductions due to technicalities.

They stole our european spot last season by winning the FA Cup - should've lost in the semi's. If they win the Europa, they might take the 5th PL CL spot. @El Prontonise says their can be 6 spots.

Hope they haven't. The quality of the Europa League is low man. I don't watch any non-CL European football. But the names and league positions don't seem great outside of Porto & Lazio. I'd hate for Man U to trick us out of another European competition.

I don't many predicted he would be behind a kid. You would fancy the Chelsea CBs to get injured and Tosin get his chance tbf.

The kid being selected over him is a killer. Honestly think that type of thing is horrendous for squad morale. As fans we sometimes don't like it but keeping the squad hierarchy does a lot for the squad. As a Senior Pro knowing you're 1 or 2 injuries/suspensions away will keep you sharp like a Lascelles or Krafth. Being overlooked for a kid as a new signing should have Tosin calling his agent - they fucked it up. Disasi too. That might be Maresca's intent tbf.

Where have you seen this? I can only find an ESPN article that says there can be 7 but with no links to UEFA. I think City finish above us but don't win the CL anyway. It's the Europa League that is v. winnable without CL dropouts for Spurs & Man U. Who might give up on the league if they get to the QFs.

Has this been confirmed? Atalanta finished 4th and won the Europa League (qualifying for the CL twice) and Italy got the additional CL spot. But the CL spot didn't go down to 6th. Think Serie A got 5 CL, 2 Conference League, 2 Europa League - I believe that is the maximum allowed in UEFA comp. With priority given to Cup Winners. Edit: Read an article from ESPN. They say a maximum of 7 can get a place from one association. But it doesn't pass down in the league. So top 5 if earned through Euro comp. UCL winner. Europa winner. So if we finish 5th but PL get the additional spot, City finish 6th but win CL and Spurs win Europa - we all go into the CL.

Honestly, his composure on the ball has helped us tremendously. Can't we keep him until June?

A lot depends on injuries. At the start of the season I would’ve taken 7th. I think if we finish above Forest that will get us a CL Spot. From the teams below us only City and Villa could get 65+ points. Finish above Forest and we should be good. From here I hope we can get CL. Europa League at a minimum. Man U, Spurs are out of it.

On performance and leadership he deserves it 100%.

I wouldn’t. But lad is immense. I’ll always have time for a CB that is committed, brave and wins his headers. Been excellent all round. I love Fab but I’d be tempted to keep Burn and Botman (I guess he’ll need rotation anyway) for a bit.

Second half he was the only lad keeping the ball, buying fouls. Still our Godfather.

Superb first half. Second half I think he tired a bit.

Used to it. He’s gonna make a sub 10 minutes after you would like it. he’ll have lads running around exhausted. It is what it is. He’s got us going again. He’s doing a great job. Hope those that were considering getting him sacked this season have a long hard look at themselves.

Missed him.

Thought his general play on the ball was great. A colossus defensively.

Worst case scenario these owners will have us 7th highest revenue and trying to improve. Thats fine with me. With smart management and recruitment we can fight above our station and if not - 7th is often European football and decent cup runs. Better than most years at the club. If we aim to be number 1 - we need more creativity and aggression in revenue.

The club themselves have spoken about being on track for £300m+ in the latest accounts. This accounts for CL football and the adidas deal for the first time. This isn’t unexpected performance. Which is still in line with needing to sell before investing in the squad. The needle hasn’t been moved. The numbers they are talking about are the same period we needed to sell Minteh and Anderson to balance the books.

This is my point. To continue growth we’ll need a change of tact. There’s nothing stopping us from doing 2 year deals in this very manner but we haven’t.

The rate of growth YoY is currently so high in large part down to the underdevelopment of Ashley. Unless the owners change tact the rate of growth will slow - rapidly. You might think we are trending towards £504m commercial revenue in 5 years but I don’t think the club share tbat opinion as things stand. Where do we get the next 40% from? The biggest ticket items are signed up for the next 4-5 years. And then the next 40% after that? Basically this. Continued 30% growth YoY is unsustainable with our current approach. This year is CL and Adidas money. How are we getting that growth this season? £27m is gone from the CL.