TRon

He's in his 30's, no one is paying £15m. He'll be here playing for us this season, and we'll not be signing an upgrade unless we are ready to accept about half of that.

Yeah I doubt he's signing any new contract, I was just answering the question.

No one will outside of Saudi.

If he signs a new contract then he doesn't want the move anyway.

Aye that makes sense. I think our offer is pretty generous given this is probably the last window Palace can maximise his fee.

Can't say I know that much about Elanga, but if they are reluctant sellers, that suggests he must be half decent.

I think this will be the final offer. If Palace don't come to an agreement, we'll probably look elsewhere for a back up solution then maybe go back in January when the price will be lower.

Depends if getting him off the books releases enough money to get a replacement. The rumour is Madueke at the moment, but I can't see any club outside of Saudi giving us any sort of sizeable transfer fee, so might be dead in the water already.

I don't have bad wishes on him personally and never have, if anything I supported him when he used to get called worse than shit back in the days before Howe. But when we lose promising players because we had to sell someone for PSR reasons, and we end up losing a lot of money because players want to sit on their contracts, I do feel miffed. That's nothing personal, just as he wants the best for himself and his family, I want the best for Newcastle United. Him staying wasn't it.

Can't really compete with cartel clubs. It is what it is.

Only thing I see is that it's cost us at least £15m. At this point not really arsed if he goes to some other club for a nominal fee, we've ended up selling players I'd much rather have kept because he stayed.

It seems like the difference in valuations is not that great though, would imagine there'll be a compromise one way or the other.

Someone mentioned yesterday that we haven't upgraded RW for 7 years - might have been @HaydnNUFC I think - so that shows how hard it is to get the right fit for that position. There are options out there, but probably cost a shitload of money. We could probably get by with our current options, but equally it might be the difference between CL and Europa.

I like Solanke, but £65m for a 26 year old who has had only one good season in the Premier does seem like a risk. I think he'll do well though.

Agree, keeps players invested in our club rather than getting their heads turned by playing elsewhere. Incidentally, while he looks a bit raw, I hadn't realised he's only 17. Already looks like he could give us some options off the bench if we need a goal. He gives defenders problems.

What? Did David Moyes get sacked?

Well I agree with you 100% on that, which is why I said I was glad that our opening offer was for £50m and we weren't just chucking money at it to get the deal done. It shows we have a very good recruitment team and excellent negotiators.

He's a striker, they are always going to cost a lot more than defenders.

I don't think people appreciate this enough. There's always a bottom line, at least while FFP/PSR are in place. Every penny we spend impacts us down the line. One of the reasons why shipping out players is as important as bringing in new ones.

Appointing an interim makes perfect sense. Keeping the door open for Eddie if things go wrong at Newcastle.

Would be interesting to see who they are targeting to replace him once they finally get shot.

It would also mean that we'd be waiting for at least the next window until we have a side with no real weak areas. If we get Guehi, RW would be the only part of the team which I feel is not really up there in CL class.

You don't usually pay £60m for potential when it comes to defenders like. You'd want the finished article for that.

Yep. It just means we are not going to be played as mugs in the negotiations. I think we'll come to an agreement which suits both sides as Palace will want to get their replacement in sooner rather than later.

At least it means we won't be relying on Gordon as back up. He's got enough on his plate as a wide man, and Osula will offer us a bit more of a battering ram alternative.