TRon

He did get frustrating for us. When I first saw him he looked a hell of a prospect, but then it started to look like he was found wanting against top level defenders. That might still turn out to be the case, he's just short of being top class, but he is getting a good crack at it with Forest, and you always saw a bit of Ross Barkley in him.

We had our easiest start to the season in years. We'll have a better idea after this month.

We seem to have thought that for the last two summers and the reality was we had to sell £35m of young talent just to come in under the PSR limit.

I think Howe was a big fan of his, but was never able to find a spot for him in CM, and that is where he is starting to show some form. Howe is also very reluctant to give young players an easy route to the first team, we have also seen that with Lewis Hall and now Osula. Forest gave him that freedom and he is doing well apparently.

Again, Levy knows as a member of the cartel group, he has the full backing of the PL authorities, whereas PIF don't. He doesn't need to be wary of any backlash with the threat of the hammer coming down.

If you are talking about Levy the Spurs owner, you are comparing apples to oranges. Spurs are one of the cartel clubs favoured by the PL, even with their stadium rebuild they got plenty of concessions. Even then to pay for it, he restricted investment in the squad. Is that what you are advocating PIF do?

I was thinking more of the players already here who might start getting itchy feet, like Isak or Bruno. I guess we just sell them at a (hopefully) hefty profit and rebuild if that happens.

Agree, I think he's mentally very tough. Just his body has been brittle for a long time now, and at his age it's not going to improve. His next move will be a semi-retirement basically.

I think that can run for a window or two, but to still be resorting to Murphy or Miggy 3 years after Benitez left is disappointing. It's also inevitable that players who are top tier will want to play top tier football if we aren't staying ahead of the chasing pack.

Which is fine as long as he's good with losing players who don't want to miss out on Europe.

It's great for us either way tbh. We don't have to pay CL wages, and if he leaves it will be for a massive fee. Obviously ideally he would sign an extended contract, but we need to be playing CL football to keep this type of player.

I agree that our stated aim of Europe has not been matched by our transfer strategy this summer, we are one of a bunch who might get top 6, but probably outsiders. I would need to see what we do in January to confirm it though, since we had the DOF turmoil interfering with transfer strategy this time round. Howe and Mitchell need to be on the same page, and we need to be going after targets who we can actually get over the line.

In the early days when Man City were bought out they thought nothing of spending money on a 30 year old proven player who had no resale value because PSR wasn't even a consideration. We could land any amount of top class players if we weren't hamstrung by the restrictions brought in since our takeover.

One thing which is becoming crystal clear is that we can't compete with the cartel clubs for the best in class, proven players. We almost had Tosin but Chelsea stepped in. We wanted Elise but had no chance when all the CL clubs were also in there pitching. Under current spending restrictions imposed by the PL, the only way lure we have is for players who are not proven yet, and we can spend a bit extra in the gamble it pays off. That's how it worked with Isak and Bruno basically.

Agreed. We'll be looking at the next Mbuemos or Elangas. At £10-15m they wouldn't look like such bad deals.

This is probably a good take on it.

My bad I just saw the £90m for a decade

First I'm hearing of it. Considering Howe would have had the almost unquestioned backing of Staveley to buy him at a much reduced price, it seems unlikely.

Hadn't City already bought their way to the title before FFP restrictions could take effect?

Yep. Longstaff has some genuine qualities, but mostly off the ball. He will run tirelessly, cover his teammates who might switch off, and he will make runs into the box to get on the end of moves. The downside is he is less adventurous, has less vision, and will make safer passes due to lack of killer instinct.

On the stuff about us being cautious rather than gung ho, that's quite obviously because we are up against the PL and their financial backers in the cartel. You can't compare our situation with others who don't have the whole league lining up to shoot them down, with the sheriff in their corner.

The fella you were quoting @timeEd32 didn't name you specifically, and what he described was frustration leading to the edge of panic with some, not all. You responded to his post asking about panicking, otherwise there was nothing to suggest you were panicking.

Haven't watched them at all this season, but they are getting great results, and they can't all be flukes. I'm suprised there's still two clubs pretty hard on their heels tbh. Obviously I hope they crash and burn, I'm not one of those who would like to have two local sides back in the Premier. Most of their fans are bitter as fuck about any success we have.

I did laugh, but they are getting £900m not £90m according to that.

You are one of those who questions their commitment and lack of movement most often on here.