TRon

Agree, but we still have the rest of the window to see how this plays out. After last summer expectations are high this time round when we've got decent money to spend. We have to be creative in the market. We might not be a cartel club but we are still in a better position than all the rest of the clubs to spend big.

It's just the way the PL is set up for the cartel clubs. Not really a lot PIF or any other owner can do about it. Doesn't matter who the owner is, PSR is going to stop them from spending money to make up ground on the cartel clubs by ploughing their own money in. Can't really blame PIF for putting their money where it can benefit them outside of the PL. This is a PL policy which is there to protect the interests of the big clubs already at the top.

I mean the problem is PSR, nothing else. PIF will spend money on NUFC if they are allowed to. Or at least we can only really find out if PSR is got rid of.

How come there isn't a PSR stopping PIF spending money on the FCWC then?

He seems like the type of wanker who would happily go there to sit on the bench for a season tbh.

Only if it's against a big team in the PL for me tbh. I thought he was a good squad player for us, but never really made a decisive impact when he came on. I would much prefer to have kept him, we got robbed at £15m, but that was out of our hands.

While it will be great to get Trafford through the door, signing a really top quality midfielder or forward is always the one where competition is really intense, and harder to nail down. These are the players where the skillset is more rare and you get more clubs chasing the same players. We'll either have to be more creative and look for promise rather than the ready made options, or just pay more than our rivals.

We really need to have an extensive list of back up targets for just this reason. It may well be that we are working on these behind the scenes and no one has got wind of it yet, just after what happened with Guehi last season, and Eddie's own quotes about having a small pool of players to choose from, fans are understandably nervous.

I think he'll happily come if Chelsea haven't thrown their hat into the ring.

I don't need any communication whatsoever. Just get the deals done and the results tend to speak for themselves.

Hopefully we do have a good number of alternatives lined up in case we don't get our prime targets. Just going off last season and Howe's quotes I'm not sure we will.

We know all that because we are familiar with Britain and most of the major cities. For foreign players the capital city will always hold more glamour because it's recognised worldwide. It's not a huge deal, but in a decision between two clubs it might make the difference. Plus Chelsea is one of the more attractive London clubs location wise. Even if you hate them, objectively that's true.

Just stick with the players we've got if last season's saga with Guehi was anything to go by. I think Howe does tend to stick with his very small pool of players he wants in, if we can't get them then we hold fire and maybe just sign young hopefuls.

I watched them when it looked like we were signing him from Watford a couple of years ago. But generally it's a golden rule to stay away from Youtube highlights until the signing is more or less rubber stamped. It just makes you more angry if they fuck off somewhere else.

Well they also signed Delap but they probably think he's not good enough either.

He won't give a shit. But it is interesting they are so opposed to him signing. You would think they would be desperate for a decent striker. Maybe they think they should be aiming higher.

I think Howe might prefer us to stop playing hardball on fees and pay what it takes to get his first choice players through the door.

I'm sure we've been asking this same question for the past couple of windows and they just keep finding a way.

I'm interested to see if we have changed tack on alternatives this season. Last time round Howe seemed to intimate that the pool of players we were interested in was very small, and he was reluctant to trade down from his targets. I think he would prefer to pay what it takes to get his preferred choices in and might veto players he's not that keen on.

They still need to jump in for Elanga and Trafford yet, give them some breathing room.

Nkunku and Felix have flopped somewhat, and Jackson isn't really top tier. It's not that outrageous when you think about it.

I don't agree that the players are overpriced. We don't tend to go for bad players, and it's not that easy to get clubs to sell us their best ones.

Most players would jump at the chance to sign for us tbh. Unless one of the cartel clubs come in and offer bigger wages, and in Chelsea's case a London location.

I've said another striker is our most important signing for some time now. We have more than enough games to rotate two strikers even without considering the option of playing both.

Chelsea's striker options aren't great tbf. I know TCD is a big fan of Jackson, but as a top level striker he's a bit shit really. They beat us to Delap, maybe they are thinking they can deploy Pedro alongside him, same way we would do with Isak.