Ikon

Yes please! Make it happen Rafa.. This reads like you're absolutely desperate to see the back of Grant Hanley, which is quite humorous. I meant Sandro

Who would you choose between Maguire and Shawcross? Just curious to see what people on here think? Having an experienced one is probably better for the short term, but I also like the look of Maguire and even though he doesn't have the experience I think he looks like a leader, albeit not as proven of course. Can see Maguire going to a club like Everton or similar though.

Yes please! Make it happen Rafa..

Don't think Cabaye's contract was about to run out (?), he had a release clause. I could be wrong about the time he had left on it though.

There's a lot of examples of players that didn't become very good until later on

Fair play to him.

Not sure if true?

Hope it becomes alive and strangles him until his legs stop kicking around.

As long as he's not retired I'll hold out hope. Same here I know it won't happen but in the back of my head he turns up every time I think of players we should go for Just imagining how much quality we would get without spending too much, maybe even a loan. Having a player like him you just now that he can win the game no matter who he plays against. Damnit, I should just stop and try to move on...

Come home sweet Prince!

Might not help with Ashley, but I have to say that there's no better person on this planet than Rafa to do the talks and try and convince us to invest money and be ambitious. He won't just go there unprepared and say I want this or that. He will have done his homework and it'll be very detailed and informative with tons of points how and why this club can be so much more than it currently is, and how it can be ran as an ambitious club and still be good business wise at the same time. I trust him 100% to do it as well as one can possibly do, whether that is enough or not remains to be seen. If Rafa can't do it then we might as well give upp while Ashley is at the helm. It's now or never more or less. There will be no better chance in the near future to finally make something good of Newcastle United. He will want tons of ambition but he'll not demand unrealistic things either, he's wise and experienced enough to know what is reasonable. This is the last flight, don't f***ing miss out on it Ashley! And not just for next season, ambitious in the long term as well otherwise it'll just be a waste of time and everyone's energy.

Jesus Villa will want to win..

How's Delph and Ruben Loftus-Cheek been doing this season? Barely played I assume? Just wondering since we were linked with them last summer for quite a bit.

Atsu has never really had any continuity during his career for various reasons, so maybe he could be a late bloomer the more he gets settled down and the more time he spends in a permanent place? Under Rafa he'll learn a lot of stuff that he might not be good at at the moment, but at least you can learn these things, it's not something you have to be born with is what I'm trying to say. However he does have some qualities which aren't quite as easy to learn out. For the price mentioned (6m) I really think it's worth it as we can't spend time chasing hundreds of players, and for that price we won't find much better back up players Imo. My gut feeling is that he has a lot to learn but I also think he's got potential and in a permanent environment under the guidance of Rafa I can only see him improving. What we'll pay for him we can easily get back for him in the future if it doesn't work out. Whatever Rafa decides when it comes to Atsu, I'll be happy with it either way.

:lol:

Need to find a signing like Loic Remy/Demba Ba (what they were then) or similar, which is easier said than done. No point in spending tons of money on average PL players that probably need to be replaced later on anyway if we're to progress as a club.

Not sure what kind of players I dare to hope for, but I guess it's fair to say that we're not gonna be like a "normal" club that just got promoted because we'll probably have quite a bit more pulling power.

Question is WHO do we see as "proven" but also realistic when it comes to price and possibility to attract the player? The quality striker we should and probably are looking for will probably be the hardest one to find I'd imagine. Do we go for a striker from on of the other leagues? It can take a lot of time before a player gets going in a new league. I really struggle to come up with names in my head when I think about this particular position. My guess is that we'll have to take our chances on someone, I just can't see us getting a player that will guarantee goals. Hopefully Rafa has a few aces up his sleeve.

Saying 120m is a bit over the top imo.

15 goals or something now for Thauvin? Lad is in form.

I think Rafa will want to aim higher than just survival. He's still gonna be realistic though so I can imagine that he'll look to aim towards mid table and see it as a good season if that's where we end up.

4 permanent signings and a couple of loans (starting quality) would be pretty good

Aim higher Imo.