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Makes us having Isak sewn up even more golden

He says he's a fan of settled back lines though. I'm not sure he'd want to be mucking about too much if we're just on a Saturday-Saturday schedule - if we have a strong start I could see him just wanting to stick with what he's got to let things gel, and I wouldn't blame him. With Kelly's injury record, it might not be an eternity until Hall gets his turn, mind...

We'll see... Although, ironically, a traditional first XI will be more effective than it was last season due to the lack of Europe.

So we've established that the top performers in the Dutch league can be either excellent players or shit players outside of Holland. Pig in a poke country, then. Just have to make sure we don't overspend on this one, and he'll be worth a gamble in that case. Oh wait, we already have him.

I'll be shocked - and pleased - if Hall is our starting LB from the beginning of the season. I've got the same working assumption; Kelly LB, Burn CB.

Went awfully quiet after those email revelations.

The sad thing is I'm not sure he'd cope with that experience. Frankly, it makes me really excited if Howe is wanting to make this change to the squad even for such a relatively low amount of money. Indicates he's got real ideas in mind about what went wrong last season, even if Longstaff was virtually ever present.

If it were true we were accepting £15m for Longstaff, it tells me Howe really doesn't have any hope for his future. Which I'd see as a relief. Maybe the injuries really have clobbered him.

It occurs to me Ratcliffe is probably doing this to try and force Ten Hag to find a new job himself to save on compensation...

Overall you're right, but we're in tricky terrain as a club on the way up a mountain. There's a place for making smart placeholder moves to get you through a 12-24 month situation while saving energy for more strategic moves. Dan Burn is a strong example of that. No comment on Iheanacho specifically.

I know this sounds upside down, but just to put the alternate case that got us into this situation, the claim is that it's unfair if the clubs/businesses that generate the most revenue and global interest don't get the lion's share of the money. That if Man United disappeared tonight, the Singaporeans would just stop watching rather than transferring their support to Southampton. And it's only fair that a club with 40k supporters like Sheffield Wednesday should be smashed to bits or ignored by one in the millions like Liverpool. Basically, that we need to make football less fair to make it more competitive and enjoyable. I guess I'm just saying this to help clean up our argument a bit. Words like fairness are easily twisted and used to distract from what we really want.

Yeah, it's not really meant as a comment on him, more just about where I'd use the funds if I had the choice all over again. Assuming Willock is good to go (big assumption, I admit), and considering what we now know about Gordon, Hall, Joelinton and others, I just wouldn't be looking to spend £45m on Barnes this summer. I'd be aiming at the spine of the team (or the critical RW spot, but I'm hoping we're already going to sort that one out...).

I like Barnes and really want him to succeed here, but if we had a plan for the funds, I'd probably take our money back for him if we had the chance, to be honest. I don't doubt he's effective, but considering the options we've got there now (I'm assuming Willock's career isn't goosed), I'd rather have that £45m somewhere else on the pitch, bearing in mind we're playing a lot less games for 12 months. Certainly hope to be eating those words next season.

Yep, I'm feeling genuinely optimistic about him now, but some people go waaay over the top in their confidence in him. I've heard one or two talk about him as being captain material - he's so far away from that at this stage in his career with us.

From some interviews and articles about him, it sounds like he's extremely dedicated to bettering himself and his career, so I'd imagine Eddie would be all over him. It's probably the thing that makes me most reluctant to see him go - determination and ambition matched with unteachable talents like speed can be lethal. A bit like Gordon.

Top sleuthing. On a side note, that would've (pretty much) been before the Tonali decision came through, then (2nd May).

No, you're right. It's pretty appalling to me too. I don't really rate Almiron and have wanted him to be sold for ages, but all these things - especially with a character like him - should be handled with as much dignity as possible. All the 'get in the sea' type stuff is rank.

Bearing in mind this is all hypothetical at the moment - we will also have to take into account what Minteh makes of all this. Bearing in mind he's basically never been here and Howe's had a hands off relationship with him, you couldn't really blame him for having no real loyalty to us and being highly attracted to Liverpool and continuing with the manager who oversaw his breakout season.

Arguably only Livramento and Botman had secure futures here at the time (Re: Tonali, I'm not sure if filming was done before the FA announced they were giving him a suspended sentence for the extra gambling).

You're right, although I would imagine they'd work around the schedules of any key players they were determined to have included. You'd have thought being injured he'd have been more available for a shoot than most.

Hmm... I don't feel good about it but this is FFP working as designed. Thank goodness restraining trade is keeping football sensible and accessible to ordinary people. If it's seriously £40m, +£35m is a very significant piece of wiggle room for us, it has to be said. Could let us spend an extra £100m this summer while holding on to our most important midfielder in decades.

It does kind of feel like it was written with Wor Flags in mind.

Still of the view he helped stop us get relegated. Couldn't finish but led the line for us and let us begin to implement proper pressing.

Yeah, that's where I'm at. In terms of playing talent, they haven't signed a dud yet.

Now that IS interesting.