macphisto

Whatever the number will be, I'm confident that players will be bought to fit into the team and not like PSG, Man U, Everton and Newcastle under Ashley where they just buy individuals without thinking about the needs of the team.

No, look at Man City's list of sponsors

The article in the Northern Echo about Newcastle being in for Eriksen just about sums up what journalists know. "Newcastle’s Saudi Arabia-based backers will continue to provide strong financial assistance, but as was the case during the January window [we were the 2nd biggest spenders in Europe and could have spent a whole lot more], Howe and the rest of the Magpies’ recruitment team will not be issued with a blank cheque........The Magpies will offer the midfielder a significant increase on his current wages at Brentford, and will be willing to match or better any other offer Eriksen receives from his other Premier League suitors.[that is almost the definition of a blank check]" Do journalists not realise that they keep on contradicting themselves like the article above or will talk about a limited budget one day and then bids for Botman etc. the next.

How times have changed!

I saw yesterday or maybe today was the day the bloke punched the horse after the Sunderland match.

KDB was on the radar of a lot of top clubs back then. He went to Man City for over £50 million 7 years ago. That would easily be £100 million+ now.

Irrespective of the club now and in the future, surely you would stay away from Pogba as he is now and those players in any circumstances?

Liverpool are renowned for their use of data and transfer committee, that is the main reason for their success in the transfer market.

Really no idea how the January window will pan out with the World Cup, the break is from the 14th November to 26th December. Clubs will essentially be making decisions in January based on their position from November.

That and investment behind the scenes where they have gone and, from what I've read, recruited in Ashworth one of the best Directors of Football out there.

I don't think so, obviously helps but also the fact that Man City are outward looking and have hired some of the best people in the business has a lot to do with it. I suspect their use of data, like Liverpool, is good too. Man City essentially looked at the best in class not long after their takeover, Barcelona, and hired their whole backroom team. Txiki Begiristain, Director of Football at Barcelona from 2003-2010 and Ferran Soriano Vice-President of Barcelona from 2003-2008 both joined Man City in 2012. Man U on the other hand, though a huge club, are very insular and are not prepared to put money into the infrastructure of the club (Ashley on a much bigger scale). It says it all that their Technical Director is Darren Fletcher and their Director of Football, John Murtough, was an internal appointment. Going back over the last few years, Carrick, Phelan and Ole were also prominent. As a club it's institutionally stuck in the past and stale. I'm not saying you shouldn't have ex-players around the club but you need fresh outside ideas too.

It doesn't matter, Villa still spent the money to improve the team. They also spent a lot the season before that too. The only things we need to be concerned about are: 1) Getting value for money 2) Conducting as much scouting as possible on our targets 3) Signing players with a cohesive strategy in mind with regards to the overall style of the team I would not be worried about breaking the wage structure for the right players. This is now by far the best club any of our existing players will ever play for, if they want to leave then see you later. They're not going to get more anywhere else or have a better chance of competing in the future.

This is a great point. We're not talking about anything that out of the ordinary when people mention £200 million, particularly when you look at the squad pre-takeover. It's only a ridiculous amount when compared to us under Ashley.

Undoubtedly Bruce and Carver at the bottom based on the fact that they are from Newcastle and to work for Ashley is inexcusable as they knew the harm he was doing to the club and city.

Worth noting Nunez has recently changed agents to Jorge Mendes so the paper talk might just be his agent trying to start a bidding war.

I would read more into the actions of Stavely and Howe more than their words. Stavely can't publicly come out and say they will spend a load of money as that would lead to inflated transfer fees and unbearable scrutiny given the opposition to Saudi ownership. It is also worth noting though that she wants us challenging in 5 years which doesn't indicate evolution. Same with Howe, in the middle of a relegation fight until recent weeks so he had no other choice than to build team spirit. He even said this week that Gayle is the best trainer at the club and yet he's hardly ever used him. With regards to the summer, if we eventually need seven or eight new starters then why not start the process now with say four/five players? Bear in mind some/most of the the players we sign, like Bruno, won't be at the top of their game but clearly have huge potential for them to be special players in the future. They will also most likely come from overseas and will need time to adapt to the league. We also have to factor in that even with the best recruitment team not every transfer will work out. So say in the best realistic scenario that we sign five 1st team players this summer, it is likely that only four at the very most will work out in the long term. Personally, I can see the following positions being targeted this summer and I don't see any point in keeping any of the current players in brackets, even as squad players: Goalkeeper (Dubravka) Centre half (Lascelles & Fernández (is he out of contract?)) Midfield (I don't think we click as a unit & would bin Longstaff) Forward (Nothing needs to be said) Wide forward (Almiron) The transfers could be made up from top quality free players such as Eriksen to players like Phillips who would cost around £60 million (used midfield as an example of our options with regards to transfer fees. I'm not advocating Phillips, just an example). One thing to note about the upcoming season, we don't know what impact the World Cup will have? I could see a scenario where players like Willock might not get a game at the beginning of the season but post-world cup he might get a run of games in place of Bruno as he recovers from being in Qatar. Make the changes above and with the right recruitment we would have a very competitive team. Not only would the new players themselves benefit the team but I could also see players like Joelinton/Burn/ASM stepping up their game and keeping the new recruits out of the team, particularly as some recruits will take time to adapt to the league.

If it was a choice, I'd go for Eriksen well ahead of Lingard. I agree with the club looking to lower the age of the squad but I also like the idea of a few older top pros who have been there and done it to be role models, leaders on and off the pitch, help raise the standards in the club and also maintain team discipline. They would also play a key part in helping young overseas players settle and let them know what is expected. The question that poses is are there many older players from the Ashley era who could act as role models for promising young players we sign in the future? What got me thinking about the above is the situation at Man U, where from the outside it looks like they are really missing older players to set the tone for younger players to follow.

I really don't get this kind of thinking, why would you put off changes that you'll make at some point in the future? Take away Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea and possibly Spurs and we are more than capable of matching any other team by the end of the 2023/24 summer transfer window if we make the right signings, starting this summer. One other thing to bear in mind regarding FFP, prices are only going to go up in the future so if we can get the right players now then we should go for them as we'll save money. We should focus primarily on 1st team starters, with current 1st teamers moving down to squad players. This would be supplemented with the odd top quality youngster to boost the squad/impact substitute. We'll see how this summer goes but I think we'll be pleasantly surprised by PIF's ambitions. They're not messing about, just look at them so far: Director of Football, gone for one of the best in the business Manager, went for Emery who has worked for some top clubs. We can see with Man U's search for a manager that there are not many top quality managers around and Howe fits in with where we are as a club with the potential to also grow as a manager. January Transfer Window=2nd highest spend in Europe and could quite easily have been a lot more with confirmed bids in excess of £60 million Including a sought after Brazilian international A £25 million striker who will not be viewed as a 1st team starter after this season. It begs the question how much would they be willing to pay for a striker that they see as part of our long-term future? Mark Leyland joining from Liverpool as Analyst coach when Liverpool are widely regarded as being one of the best clubs in their use of data Academy: Only rumours on this message board so I'm possibly scraping the barrel, but rumours today that we are after academy staff from Chelsea

Where would you expect us to be after 4 years? Personally, I'm expecting something along these lines: 2022/23-bouncing around between 6th & 11th place 2023/24-bouncing between 4th-10th place but finishing in the lower half of that spectrum 2024/25-A real sustained challenge for the top 4 2025/26-Genuine top 4 team, we may finish 5th but say on the last day or by a point or two 2026/27-Possible challenge for the league

And the player who committed the foul went in goal???

And that's when Cole was considered one of the best fullbacks in the world. I don't know if this would correspond with his decline as a player but it felt like he was never the same after Terry went with his girlfriend.

Bridge was involved around the England setup for a long time, just checked and he had 36 appearances as a starter and sub. Anyone with that type of profile would now be a lot more than £30 million. As much as I'm happy with Targett, his profile is nothing like Bridge.

I totally agree on players like Bridge and Bellamy who would be a lot more than £30 million in today's market. £200 million is not all of our money in one go, far from it. I can't give suggestions as I don't know enough about other leagues but I'm sure there are a fair few players of Bruno's standard we could get and that is what we should be looking for. As I said in my last post, interesting summer ahead but I think we will all be pleasantly surprised.

I'm very sure our deals will come through very soon to allow us to stay well within FFP! I enjoyed our exchange and hopefully we both agree on enjoying the summer ahead!

Not every player but in the main people are defying logic if they can not see the relation to spend and league position. As I have said, it is no coincidence that by far our best player this January was the most expensive one who will end up close to £40 million with add ons. We should now be looking at Bruno-type of players not Targett-type of players which is what people are indirectly advocating through free transfers, clauses and £20-£30 million on players. I have nothing against Targett, a good player who will be around the 1st team for a good few seasons but buying players of his standard in the future won't improve the team in my opinion.