HawK

No, he always showing the fraud he was. He just had the whole tabloid press paid off. And still does evidently.

He seemed better with more strands on his head. He's a bit like Sampson I think, the less hair the less good he is.

In January, I didn't know who the f he was. I still don't other than Youtube clips. I was worried in January this was a panic signing. But now he's being described like the second coming of the real Ronaldo, sign me up

Dat commercial income boost from the US exposure

Aye he was decent, never felt he was one of our stronger players in our team at the time, though.

I just think he's not very good at all, and if we're to reduce our squad size and also look to bring in another central defender, he's the weakest link at the moment out of Schar, Burn, Fernandez. The latter of those three seems content at being a squad player, whereas I don't know how Lascelles would react to sitting on the bench as only a backup. I believe we should have our captain on the pitch, leading from the front, not on the bench so either our captain will be sitting on the bench, or he has the captaincy removed which might cause friction in the dressing room. Him going to Forest just seems like a very obvious way out of a potentially sticky situation where we're having to tip-toe around our captain being one of the worst players on the pitch (imo).

Would drive him there myself

Whilst I agree with the sentiment of reducing the squad size and planning for the long term, that graph is pretty arbitrary. I'd argue Trippier peaked at Atlético and is still going strong now, and Wilson is also at the top of his game. I think the 'peak' range for each position picked there is at least 2 years younger across the board than where it should be.

This might be a bit fanciful, but is Chiesa out of our league? Primarily a right-sided attacker, but can play either wing, has played up top and even cover in the middle. Hard worker, doesn't stop running for 90 minutes, big game player, speaks English, undoubted quality. Used to playing in black & white stripes... recovering from an ACL injury though, but could be back for pre-season. I think we'd need to pay nearly double what we paid for Bruno though.

As someone who fondly wore Enriqué 3 on the back of our Championship banana-top, I think this lad has been the best left-back we've had in my living memory. Make of that what you will, i.e. our quality in that position over the years really hasn't been great, featuring such gems as Babayaro and Dummett as regulars. I only remember back as far as Beresford and then Pearce, but I don't recall any of our left backs as good off the ball offensively, or as good at striking the ball as Targett. Bernard and Domi were decent, but they were ball carriers rather than playmakers, and defensively they were average. I can't easily compare Targett to anyone we've had in that position before, other than my old favourite player Enriqué defensively. Offensively he's been a revelation, let alone the added threat from set pieces he brings. With him as our left back, we were in Champions League form without even having a decent striker. Then there's his personality, which is absolutely spot on. I think any other 'better' left back is just unnecessary at the moment when we have other positions that are more pressing - cover/competition for Wilson, a starting right-sided attacker, a world-class centre back and a proper link-up player in the middle. We need to spend wisely and imo the wise choice here is to not look a gift horse in the mouth with Targett.

I signed up to Twitter today just to block Glendenning

Almost 9m too, might as well say almost 50m, let's just pick numbers eh

Come back, sweet Prince

Looked quality from the first moment to me tbh.

And also why he was so effective for us when he was fit.

Loved that little prick when he played for us.

Yup, have said as much previously in this thread. He doesn't seem to comprehend that defenders will be giving him a nudge in his back for every contested ball. They don't care if he wins the header, because it'll just be a flick on to the other team's centre backs.

I'ts been humbling to be honest, to read such heartfelt messages from fans of another club. We don't get many young-player loans incoming to Newcastle, so it's hard for me to guage what the experience must be like to have so many young players just turn up for a few months or half a season and just disappear all the time, knowing that they won't be staying. Last ones I can actually recall are Saha and Rossi. The way you guys are describing Billy (thank you for coigning that as well!), it's almost like he's the second coming of Beardsley or Gascoigne with the way he controls a football. I think I might have jumped on the bandwagon more than most, as I'm advocating for him to be given a run in the first team squad in August, during which he can be fully assessed after a pre-season here and some substitutes appearances before deciding whether to loan him out again. If he doesn't end up back at yous for next season, best of luck. I think more than a few of us might be keeping an eye out for how the Gas are doing now.

Ramage maybe, but Chopra, come on man, the ideal rolemodel for young footballers everywhere, eh ?

If I could put a fiver on him being in our squad on the opening matchday PL fixture next season, I would. If it turns out he's not quite there yet after a few sub appearances, he can still go on loan somewhere up until the end of August.

I don't know how accurate the FM eligibility rules are compared to real life, but from what I recall they need to have trained at the club for 2 or 3 years before they turn 21? And Under 20s are free so no point giving the spot to a youth player? Patchy memory here, someone will hopefully correct me if I'm misremembering. My takewaway is we're going to be seeing Longstaff and Dummett with contracts until Billy and someone else comes good...

Home grown at club for one of them Champions League squad spots.

I don't see him moving to us unless he's guaranteed starts, though. If Willock can become a right-winger then there's a spot for him more centrally potentially. But I wouldn't be so eager to take Lingard over Willock in the middle.

Not getting any of this 'don't sign because he's 30+' talk, we'd never have brought in Trippier if the club had such a blinkered view to transfers. Stop thinking like Ashley's transfer policy is the right one. The only question from me is the positional one, I don't see him as a right winger. If he was, it'd be a no-brainer for me - quality, cost (with FFP constraints in the coming years to consider), character (something to prove). But as it is he'd take Saint-Maximin's position, which is one of the only positions in the squad in the short term that doesn't need addressing.

Imagine in 20 years Brazil and England fighting over him potentially