Cronky

I think he's actually a very good player, but mentally all at sea with all the turmoil at Chelsea. If he becomes available at a knock-down price, I hope we're in for him.

I really like the look of Szoboszlai. I think he'd fit in seamlessly with our current style of play. Make it happen, guys.

I hope he's not watching.

Only going by YT, but he looks like a good athlete. Overall though, the comparison with Messi seems very optimistic. I've been more impressed with Kuol. With the disciplinary issues, I'd have thought he was more trouble than he's worth.

Looks decent and very promising, but this signing does suggest that our recruitment may be just as financially restricted as Eddie is suggesting.

According to the Mail, we've been 'offered' Joao Felix. Looks rather unlikely.

Maybe, but finishing is only a part of what's expected of a striker now. He's strong and fast, but a bit limited technically, it seems to me. That shows in his erratic finishing and in his poor link up play.

Personally, I'm not bothered about the expenditure specifically. It's the strong suspicion that the club has gained an advantage by ignoring financial rules that every other club has had to abide by.

LIverpool recovered form in the second half of the season, and I imagine they'd be challenging City next season (though unsuccessfully, I imagine) Nunez wasn't a good buy, but Gakpo has been a much better fit, and I think that shows in their results. I'm not sure that our best players would be tempted by LIverpool at the moment unless they were to offer huge wages. And we have no need to sell, so we could probably see off any unwanted approach. However, if we were competing with LIverpool for a player, then we would be unlikely to succeed - not just in terms of wages, but because of their past record of success. But if I were a good player who hadn't quite made that final breakthrough into the top echelon (eg Maddison), I'd be looking at what Eddie has achieved and thinking I could benefit.

I'm not sure exactly when the voting took place, but a problem with these awards is that it doesn't take place at the end of the season. I suspect that if the vote had happened after our CL qualification was affirmed, Eddie would have stood a better chance.

'Tanner ball player' was a term in Scotland - I'm not sure if it's still in use - but it refers to a skilful player who only plays when they're in possession of the ball. That seems to be a charge that's being levelled at Maddison, but I doubt that it's justified. Even if it is, I think Eddie will soon sort him out, because he won't get picked.

He's always impressed me with his skill on the ball, and he's always looked willing to put a shift in and attempt a tackle, even if perhaps those aren't his strengths. The only time I've wondered about his attitude is when he seemed to be protecting an injury just before the World Cup. There seemed to be a bit of a mystery behind it, and Rodgers was a bit vague as to when he'd be fit to play. He managed to recover just in time for the tournament. There again, maybe it was all above board. Leicester got to the top with some backing from the owner, and when that dried up, the momentum went downwards. Even though the team still had some quality, that loss of the dream can really affect morale. We had that problem in 98 when the investment was curtailed and Keegan left. Vardy was always a key component in their success. Apart from his pace, he's an intelligent player who was often one step ahead of a defence, but he's not the same now. The loss of Schmeichel was also a blow. I feel encouraged by Lineker's comments on MOTD, when he praised Maddison's contributions this season. I have some faith in his opinions.

I'm not sure how far back you go, but there were a number of European Cup winners with Forest who weren't actually as good as the trophies would suggest. Birtles flopped at Man U. Like our Eddie, Clough had the ability to get players and teams to perform above expectations. Sorry, digressing a bit.

Linked with Barca in the Times for 100m euros. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/barcelona-set-sights-on-87m-guimaraes-from-newcastle-qf96fsn2f I suppose it was inevitable that this kind of rumour would start to circulate. Got to say, he looked a bit detached from the others during the celebrations after Leicester. I genuinely wondered about that at the time. It's not beyond possibility that this has unsettled him a bit.

I'm inclined to believe Eddie when he says two or three signings from a limited pool of possible targets. Obviously they have to be better than who we've got, but not so good that they will have the interest of the big six, who I think will still out-compete us in terms of wages as well as transfer fees. £40m for Maddison would be a steal because he's approaching his peak, but unless we're the only club he'd consider, I'm sure Leicester will be able to drive the price up via an auction. Left back is our weakest area, but I'm not convinced that any of the big six will sell to us, so that would rule out Tierney. Augusto from Monza has impressed me, but there's got to be quite a few LBs who are better than Burn or Targett, so I'm confident we'll get someone. Kim Min-jae looks good, but is he too good to be within our reach right now, I wonder. Likewise Jonathan David.

Player of the Season: Bruno - the heartbeat of this team Most Improved Player of the Season: Murphy. Sean a close second. Most Disappointing Player: Gordon, but only in the sense that I rated him highly and expected him to do a bit better, even at this early stage. Nobody else has disappointed me - the hallmark of this team is how everyone plays at or near their max. Signing of the Season: Isak Goal of the Season: Murphy v Everton. Not a great finish, but the set-up by Isak was incredible. It's the one that sticks in the mind. Assist of the season: See above Game of the Season: 6-1 v Spurs. 5-0 up after 20 minutes - unforgettable Moment of the Season: The final whistle against Leicester. Very emotional. Manager rating out of 10: 10, of course. Season rating out of 10: 10

A while back, we and Spurs always seemed to be competing for the same players. We were generally at the same level, but then Spurs moved ahead during the Levy - Ashley eras. It's nice to feel that we're rivals again. The idea that Maddison would prefer to move to London has been kicking around for a while, though the rumours seemed to centre around Arsenal rather than Spurs. There may be other personal factors at work eg proximity to his or his partner's relatives etc. And salaries too - Spurs seem to pay about 50% more. But yes, there's also the idea amongst Southerners that moving to the North East is like moving to Lapland.

We ran out of money.

For all the talk about the Saudi money, if you asked supporters of other clubs who they would most like as their manager should need arise, I'd bet you 95% would say Eddie Howe. The other 5% are mad.

It's a bit tricky. Thinking about it, I can see the difficulty in taking a lad who has played first team football (albeit at a lower level) and for his national team at a World Cup and putting him with the youth team. On the other hand, he hasn't had enough game time at Hearts. My hunch is that he's more in need of coaching than first team experience at this stage. Either way, I'm sure Eddie will make the right call.

Yeah, anyone could put that list together just by looking at gossip columns. Eze I really like, and I think he can play in any of the wider positions in a 4-3-3, in attack or midfield. It'll be an interesting window, because the only position where I'd say we were actually weak is left back. For the other areas, a replacement would need to be at or near the top bracket. So I think we'll make just 2 or 3 Isak-type signings, and maybe fill out the squad with 1 or 2 promising youngsters or old pros who can do a job, in the event of injuries or fixture congestion.

When Gordon first broke into the Everton team, he looked very good. It's not unknown for a young player to suffer a dip after making a strong initial impact - eg young Longstaff. Hopefully, they then come back from that apparent setback. It may be something to do with opponents sussing them out a bit, at which point the player then has to add a bit more nous and versatility to their game. Or maybe it's psychological, they think they've really made it when they get in the first team, then they get brought down to earth with a bump. They then have to reinvent themselves a bit.

By rules, I meant the formal restrictions that the system places on the clubs. If the rules aren't fair, then they should be changed. You can't allow one club to ignore them and gain an advantage on the clubs who are obeying them. In terms of your cap on expenditure, that sounds okay, although it does sound a bit like one that would suit our club in particular, as you suggest. I think there would be a lot of difficulty in agreeing on a figure though. I imagine it would have to be set very high, in which case it might not make a lot of difference. I also wonder about a situation where a club's income is actually over the limit, due to wise long-term investment and good management. Shouldn't they be allowed to make use of such a genuine profit? We might run into legal issues there. As I say, to avoid that, the bar would need to be set very high. I'm not as cynical as you about the purposes of the current system. It's there to attack financial doping by owners, and the dangers of allowing it to go unchecked run through all parts of the system - not just the top of the Premiership. If one club is over-spending by those means, that puts pressure on the other owners in their division to take financial risks to match them. And what happens when that owner can no longer sustain that investment, as often happens? One or both of Everton and Leicester will go down this season, and that will spell trouble. Investment has to be sustainable in the long-term. Clubs are not just private businesses, they are also institutions of importance in a community and need to be managed carefully. The issue that I think really does need addressing is the large gap in income that exists between the UCL clubs and the rest of the Premiership, and between the Premiership and the Championship. The rewards of getting in the top four or getting promotion, and vice versa the risks of missing out on Europe or getting relegated, are so great that owners are pressured to take huge risks which put the future of their clubs in jeopardy.

Thank you. Obviously I am of a different opinion, and the 'other clubs transfers' thread didn't seem the right place. City now seem to be winning things without breaking sweat. They've given teams like Liverpool, Arsenal and Real a right hammering this season. Their second eleven is almost as good as their first, so the normal issue of injuries or fatigue doesn't affect them as the season goes on. If it's all the product of a genius manager then fair enough, that won't last for ever. But there are clear suspicions that they've not been playing by the same rules, and if so that has to be stopped or the competition will die a slow death.

What does that mean? I've had no luck googling it.