TRon

You're right, it'll be about 13 million Euro's To be fair, I don't think there are a whole load of clubs who will spend more than £10m on an unproven player. He might look good in Turkey or even in the Euro, but then Viana looked great till he had to play in a much tougher environment. The Newcastle bid is a generous one for a player at that age. I'm not sure even if he has a great Euro tourney that the price will go up much more than that. Frequent viewer of the Sporting Lisbon reserves were you? We bought him on the back of some great performances for Portugal U-21's, doesn't quite have the same cut and thrust of the EPL does it?

You're right, it'll be about 13 million Euro's To be fair, I don't think there are a whole load of clubs who will spend more than £10m on an unproven player. He might look good in Turkey or even in the Euro, but then Viana looked great till he had to play in a much tougher environment. The Newcastle bid is a generous one for a player at that age. I'm not sure even if he has a great Euro tourney that the price will go up much more than that.

I think he'll do ok with Blackburn tbh. Small provincial club, less pressure to play good football - it's probably Fat Sam's level.

Good. More chance of us going for a more mobile target man then, Crouch and Bent are two that come to mind. Crouch more mobile than Ashton?!!! That just rendered your statement null and void. Neither of them are quick but Crouch has got a bigger stride so that nicks it for me.

They'll be looking to bring other strikers in though. I don't think Ramos was too keen on Bent, though that might have changed.

Good. More chance of us going for a more mobile target man then, Crouch and Bent are two that come to mind.

He's still better than Geremi or Milner, but he isn't the answer either. A quality up and coming right-sided player should be a priority similar to Aaron Lennon, but one who can shoot.

According to that article the Gala owner is quoted as being prepared to let him leave for £13m so he is available at the right price. Can't see us paying close to that so it will probably drag on till after the Euros which depending on what sort of tournament he has might bring other clubs into the auction. Could be a frustrating wait.

they did when we were after silvestre Makes it easier to understand how Pearce didn't exactly want to stand in his way when we offered the pleb a lifeline.

Dealing with Barton's present misdemenours is bad enough, looks like the repercussions of his past are starting to bite as well.

I rate Jewell tbh Championship manager at best for me.

Ashton is similar only to the 30+ version of Alan Shearer, and even then a poor copy. totally different to the world-class shearer we saw before the big injuries took their toll. i don't think it would be worth spending big on Ashton. He has the same flaws as Viduka, poor fitness and poor mobility. he is a bit stronger than the aussie and a bit less skilful and a bit less creative. so on balance i think he wouldn't really be an improvement at all, other than he is younger so could play for longer whereas Viduka will retire sooner. Crouch is another who would perhaps not be a huge improvement over Viduka but i'd much prefer him to Ashton, far better player imo. he has the same problems with movement, he's bloody awful when he has to chase down loose balls out wide trying to provide a bit of width. but he has far less fitness concerns and i think he is better on the ball than Ashton. I agree with both these posts. Ashton always looks a handful when I see him but the prospect of signing him fills me with dread. I always thought Shearer limited our style however good he was, and Ashton is in the same mould. I would far rather have Bent or Crouch if it came to it.

Give him more of a free role, if you do that you really see the best of those sort of players. I'm sure Keegan would know what to do with him. from also watching youtube.looks like he could play owen's roles and slip him and martins in It's tough to call on these ones. Skilful players tend to thrive in teams that play quick pass and move on the floor. In the Premier only a few teams are set up to maximise that, Man U and Arsenal are great examples. A Pablo Aimar is more likely to be effective at one of those teams than at say Villa.

FWIW, I've only seen the Youtube clips and although he looks tremendously skillful, he looks like one of those who's only interested in going forward. Couldn't se him tracking back much.

Depends which one you believe. There's other reports saying he's been put up for sale for £6.5m because they can't afford him after relegation.

I think the problem is there are some people posting in the Realistic Summer Transfers thread, but there are also several individual transfer target threads. Not everyone reads every post in every thread, so that's how these new ones get started. That's more to do with the poster than the forum though. "Realistic transfer target" thread for suggestions that maybe haven't been linked, a thread for a player when there's been a link. Surely not too hard or much to whinge about surely? I think that's right. There's a few news sites running this story (although I think it's just speculation) but it seems as good a reason for a thread as Turan, Ashton or any of the other threads currently running.

I think the problem is there are some people posting in the Realistic Summer Transfers thread, but there are also several individual transfer target threads. Not everyone reads every post in every thread, so that's how these new ones get started.

http://www.setantasports.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/06/03/Prem-Newcastle-keen-on-Aimar/?facets/great-britain-locale/sport-space/football/

Read something about us supposedly being interested. Weren't Liverpool linked in January?

I don't know what French football fans have got to laugh about. Their football is basically a feeder league for the Premier.

I am no fan of Shepherd but I don't want to hear this type of shit from Saunders. It's bad enough the useless cunt was on our payroll for so long.

I think this story is fabricated. My hunch is that they really turned down a whopping £75m

I disagree, we also have a choice not to take the risk. I know it sounds crazy but I think it could be done.

Like I said earlier, I hope the new regime do their homework before buying players as I don't think we have bought very well under the previous regime. This is not just about Duff. It could be Ashley's men are no better, we'll have to wait and see.

At the end of the day, whoever is paying the money for these players has every right to want players who'll hold their value. If it was my money I'd want that. Even though I have backed Keegan when many here didn't, I don't see how we can tell someone how to spend their money. The money will come from Ashley unless KK is planning on buying shares so there's only one person who can decide how it's spent.