Cronky

Premier League: Winners: Man City Runners Up: Spurs 3rd-6th: Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man U - Chelsea and Man U some way behind. Relegation: Bournemouth, Fulham, Everton Overachievers: Brighton Underperformers: Southampton Top Goal Scorer: Haaland First manager to quit/be sacked: Frank Lampard Championship Winners: Norwich Newcastle United Where will we finish?: 7th Top Goalscorer?: Wilson FA Cup: Spurs League Cup: Arsenal Champions League winner: Man City

With that fabulous natural ability, Draxler has to be very tempting. It looks like he needs to recover his motivation and desire, and our Eddie seems to be very good when it comes to getting inside individual players' heads, seeing what drives them and pressing the right buttons. There seems to have been a bit of turmoil in the player's personal life, and I wonder how easy it would be to tempt him, and his partner, away from the Parisian life. And then there's the issue of his salary, though if we really are in contact with PSG and his agent, presumably the club thinks there's some way forward. Too many obstacles, in all probability, but I'd love it to happen.

Not sure about Barnes, particularly for that amount of money. I have the feeling that, at 24, he's already as good as he's going to get. He strikes me as a player that we'd be looking to upgrade in 2 years' time.

According to my impeccable source (ie Wiki), Ibanez can also play DM. Just a thought. Normally I don't like centre backs masquerading as central midfielders, but seeing he's Brazilian, I'm sure he'll be all right.

'Tis said that he wants to stay at Napoli. He doesn't seem to be linked with anyone at the moment.

Toney is better than Wood, but I'm hoping for more of an upgrade. He looks like a traditional British centre-forward to me - strong and athletic but technically a bit limited.

This is a player who divides opinion. I thought he was disappointing in his spell here. Somehow, he didn't seem to impose himself on a game as much as he could have. Did well eventually at LIverpool, but they're better than nearly every opponent that they face, and the demands are different. Plus, he might block the progress of Longstaff and Anderson. I'd say no.

I think Batty was a good all round player who became more and more conservative as he got older. I just remember, after the team declined post-Keegan, watching him crab across the field, exchanging an endless series of short passes with team=mates who had run backwards from forward positions. No threat to the defence at all. He had his better times in his career, but it was painful and frustrating to watch.

Not sure I like this concept of 'keeping things ticking over with the ball'. Every midfielder should be capable and willing to spot a forward pass that eliminates defenders. I'm not talking about a hopeful long ball, just a pass that forces defenders to move out of their formation to deal with a situation. Really, the CBs should also be capable of doing this, which of course allows all the midfield to move further forward. I think this is what Howe is aiming for. The opportunity to spot a good opportunity doesn't always fall to your more skilful players. My nightmare is watching a Batty or a Scott Parker collecting the ball off the centre backs and exchanging pointless passes which don't put any pressure on the opposition.

Don't remember watching Sweden, no.

Being linked with Alexander Isak. Only a YT scouting, but he has a good turn of speed and good footwork for such a tall guy. Yes please.

Gordon strikes me as a versatile player who could do a variety of roles, so I think he'd be a good signing. Doesn't look like Everton will sell though.

Not in the short term, no. Broja wouldn't launch us into the top six. But we are a long-term threat. The financial stability of the top six does rest on them getting regular European football. I assume other clubs are interested in Broja as well, in which case Chelsea might say to him you can leave, but not to the Mags. We haven't signed a player from the top six yet, either on loan or through buying.

Broja on loan would be a good option for this season at least. I'm not sure that Chelsea will want to do us any favours though. Threat to the big six and all that.

I'm still unsure whether any of the big six are going to sell or loan to us. It hasn't happened yet. Man Utd seemed to messing us around with Lingard and Henderson.

My guess is we've put a bid in for Diaby but Leverkusen want more. We're not inclined to increase the bid at this point, feeling content for the time being to see how the market pans out. Apart from youth players, I think we'll make one or maybe two more significant signings but no more.

Well at least there isn't an issue with his medical, which is what I was beginning to worry about. All a bit odd, but the club sound confident.

Unless they're going to buy him and loan him back, I don't think he's good enough for PSG, Real or Bayern.

I think he'll fit in with Arsenal better than he did at Man City. I suspect we still haven't seen the best of him.

Okay, okay, you know what I meant. This place is like a pack of wolves sometimes.

I went to the recent Rugby League cup final at the Tottenham Stadium. It's absolutely brilliant, but the cost is estimated at £850bn and they went into enormous amounts of debt to build it. If they were to miss out on CL places for a few seasons, I can't help but think they'd be in a lot of trouble. They are probably the most vulnerable of the 'big six', but this sort of situation would explain why those clubs are so desperate to maintain their position, and that we're considered such a threat.

Barbosa looks very tempting though. From what I can tell, he had a disastrous move to Inter 5 years ago, but he would have been only 20/21 and it would be interesting to know a bit more about what went wrong? The clips of him playing in South America, where he seems to score hatfuls of goals, look very encouraging even though the defending isn't European standard. He seems to play as a withdrawn / creative forward like Beardsley and Bellamy (late developers both) and those two transformed the side. Bruno would know him from the national side, and with Big Joe as well, he might be able to settle in to a new environment better than he did before. And a person can do a lot of growing up between 20 and 25. Not sure if he and ASM together would be a good fit though. A mountain of speculation on a molehill of fact I know, but if our Eddie thinks he's worth the gamble, then the rewards could be considerable.

For real?

The back five looks in very good shape now. I think there are three positions which I'd like to see strengthened - striker, someone who could play withdrawn striker / wide player in a 4-3-3, and a more defensive central midfield player. I suspect that finances mean that we will only make one more big signing, and the priority seems to be the withdrawn striker / wide player. I think the Ekitike move will still go through, but failing that we may push the boat out for Diaby or Gouiri. Or maybe James's Portuguese wonderkid. The striker situation worries me, given Wilson's injury record, but Howe seems to believe that we can still get some results with Wood, and a good replacement will cost more than we want to spend right now. Osimhen would be dreamy and would suit the team really well, but he's beyond our reach right now. One of Howe's minor miracles last season was to get some defensive strength into a midfield that lacked any proper DM and had Shelvey in the anchor position. I think he believes he can repeat the trick so that isn't the priority. I have some faith that Longstaff may step up to the mark, or even Anderson.

Burn is the last player I'd drop. He brought a commanding presence and leadership to our defending which was crucial to our survival. I only know Botman from clips, but his distribution looks very good for a CB and I could see him forming a good partnership with Burn. We could do with a bit more pace in that area, but then we're talking about one of the best CBs in the world - a Rudiger or something - and that's not realistic.