TRon

£25m and I would reluctantly part ways.

He did his job, we avoided promotion so we can hardly gripe about losing £25m, but that still isn't going to make him any more useful to us this season, neither does it mean we'll get our money back if we decide to sell. It's a write off basically, we'll need a proper alternative to Wilson if we want to do anything significant this season.

Only way I could see us going back in for Diaby would be if the Pedro deal collapsed. Apparently Diabe wants out now though.

They haven't got much choice after spending £25m on him. They are hardly going to publicly admit they bought a donkey.

Why anybody would waste that many words on someone who just likes to wind fans up is beyond me. I actually remember him from his days as football writer for the Journal and he was actually quite decent back then. I think social media isn't the best platform for him, he should stick to long form articles, preferably about some other club.

That would have been really naive on their part if they thought he was suddenly going to have a problem free season considering his fitness record since he's been here. In which case this hamstring tweak could be a blessing in disguise.

Yeah so realistically we aren't getting even £12m unless a PL side comes in for him, which is unlikely considering he scored 5 goals last season, and other than goals, he doesn't really offer much else. One of those where I guess you just keep him on the books and wheel him out for cup games until his contract runs down.

It's perfectly understandable that Everton might have decided to put in a late bid to snatch Pedro (probably without even having seen him play), but that doesn't mean he wants to go there. I reckon this is all but done bar crossing the t's and dotting the i's. Everton are just desperate, we can all see that.

Everton and Villa took punts on the two managers we ruled out, they probably figure it's not a bad idea to chase our transfer targets,. They probably trust Howe's judgement over Frank or Stevie G.

Has Romano posted a tweet with him in an Everton shirt with a "Here we go!" yet? Because he would look like a right tit if Pedro ended up there. (He won't).

I wonder what we'd get if we put him up for sale? I'm thinking maybe £12m at a push? I honestly don't think anyone would pay that either tbh.

Nice one Craig. Now Luke will chime in to tell us Stevie G is ready to swoop and take him to Villa.

I wouldn't replace him, I'd add another top striker to compete for the shirt. There's always room for two quality strikers at a PL club when we play so many matches.

He won't even be proven right here, the only thing proven will be that he hates Newcastle with a passion, unless they hire shit managers.

The fact he's speaking about it at all tells you everything. Howe would never normally comment on other club's players at all normally, it must be more or less done bar tying up some loose ends.

Yeah would like to see Bruno a bit further forward sliding those through balls in to Wilson. Looks like Shelvey's injury has made us consider a DM, which is a good thing IMO, it's one position we haven't really got a specialist for, Bruno can play it, but feels like he is prone to the odd late tackle as the pace is frenetic in the PL. I think he's a bit more effective pushed up a bit.

I'm surprised more hasn't been made of the bid for Manu Kone, that's something which went under the radar somewhat. It means we are looking to add a DM as well, and assuming we won't up or bid for Kone, then would there be other alternatives for that position?

Yeah I don't think the club would have problem giving him a new contract if he continues to perform. But they don't need to do it just yet, if he's still flying by Christmas, then he'll get what he wants. Seems like we are still sniffing round Jack Harrison though, doesn't he also play LW?

I think he'd rather lose the signing than see Romano get credit for another tap in.

Welcome Jao Pedro. Fuck the Telegraph.

That's oddly specific. "What about Newcastle putting in two bids then James, fancy that much?" "Naww, but if Arsenal randomly showed some interest I'd be all over that!"

Obviously if he bins off the new contract at Leicester and declares he wants to move to Newcastle he'll become one of the best players in the Premier and a great lad to boot.

This £33m price tag is obviously horseshit, don't know where it's come from but they are never selling him for that. Might take it as a down payment with the rest to follow.

Getting thumped 3-0 off Leeds won't have helped our cause tbh. He might be having second thoughts on which players are surplus.

No coincidence he scored coming in at the back post. I think this is what we need from both wide players, there are always goals to be had there.