TRon

You only sell a player if you can buy someone better. Hence City sold Gabriel Jesus because they were getting Haaland. So for us to sell ASM we would need to buy someone who Howe considers better.

Brutal. I hope he has the sense not to read these boards, even though he's brazenly putting that liver spotted pate on open display, it's still got to hurt.

I think we wanted Pedro up until Isak became available. Gordon was probably seen more as a wide player whereas Pedro and Isak are primarily strikers.

The only way we would sell any of our blue chip players is if they wanted to leave and we got twice what we paid for them. So there's been talk of Barcelona wanting Bruno for example, maybe in a year's time. Any player can move, even Man City have reluctantly let Gundogan go. But there's some players we would consider easier to replace than others, those are the ones we might contemplate selling this season. I would put ASM/Almiron in that bracket. But we'd only do it if we thought we could replace with someone better, so for example, I have a feeling if Howe could swap Maxi for Barnes, he'd do it.

And a little bit naughty sometimes.

It was one poster @Cookie1892

That's worse than anything the Sun ever put out tbh.

Agree. I think there's obviously a line in the sand when it comes to selling. The handful of players in our team who are at a great age and already top level won't be for sale. The rest, if it makes financial sense, and we believe we can replace like for like...why not?

I've not seen that much of him either, but my main impression of him is he is more of a pest to play against rather than an influential player.

Mind it's a big jump to considering selling ASM/Almiron to the likes of Bruno and Isak. The idea is to have a team of elite players at some point. The former aren't that, but the latter two clearly are.

I think this is the important bit. Obviously we aren't going to sell key players just to get money in, but in reality we only have a handful of genuine world class players, and if there are players nearing the end of their peak/contract and we have identified replacements, then it's quite possible we could sell if we get a great price. The way FFP is rigged, we probably don't have much option unless we want to tread water for a season or two.

Think that's probably more true of those fans who are bitching he doesn't look happy. Either crying because he left Milan, or that he didn't land in Liverpool or Manchester.

We could legitimately get £50m if we sold to a Saudi club.

No one does, it's just educated guesswork. But some stories make more sense than others, this one definitely feels like it's based on real possibility if you believe that Howe really does rate Barnes, and I reckon he does.

You can imagine if Maxi does take the cash and head to Saudi, the price for Barnes would shoot up exponentially. Can't imagine Leicester happily accepting £30m if they see us land £50m for ASM.

You would think Villa fans would be more hyped about their own club right now rather than worrying about Newcastle shirts appearing mysteriously in the midlands.

You would imagine if given the choice, Howe would like to do a deal where we bring in Barnes and use the money from ASM to fund it. But at the same time, it will hardly be a disaster if the deal doesn't happen and we end up playing ASM instead for another season. Hence we put what we think is a fair value on Barnes and wait to see if something can be thrashed out.

Because some journalists, especially those with affiliations to the south, really do believe there are two tiers in English football. The Hallowed Six and the rest. Newcastle are a popular and well liked team, but not when they start treading on the toes of Spurs and Chelsea. I don't blame them really, I'd be the same if the Saudis had bought Villa or Everton. But then I'm not a professional journalist who should be objective.

I don't think so, he's clearly been on Eddie's radar for a long time, I'm sure we'd love to do a deal, but whether we'll be able to come to an agreement with Leicester is another matter. Seems like Barnes is keen on making the move though so that gives us a significant advantage.

No doubt, I'm not saying it can't happen, just not personally investing too much expectation just yet.

It'll be the same wankers who have moaned about Anthony Gordon for 6 months and are now licking his hoop because he's been the player of the tournament for England U-21s.

The talk about Chiesa worries me because I just find it hard to believe the Hallowed Six clubs would just stand aside and let us sign him even if he is available. Something just feels very suspicious about the whole thing, therefure I would advise anybody getting their hopes up just yet.

Even last season I was saying that while ASM was trying to play the Howe way, his first instinct was still to hold onto the ball before releasing it. He's not instinctively a team player despite all his skills. That decision to hold the ball and try to beat the extra player can often kill the opportunity as defenders use that time to get back in position.

Exactly. ASM is brilliant at pulling defenders towards himself and freeing up space for others, but then most of the time he tries to keep hold of the ball too long and ends up losing it rather than playing in those available players. This is what we mean when we refer to football intelligence.

Not trying to beat someone with three stepovers for the sake of it. He can beat a man if he needs to, but he will release it quickly if he sees someone in a better position. His finishes are clever, he'll pass it into the net when it needs precision, he can chip the keeper, he can blast it when he needs to.