TRon

That's a very significant quote. It does tie in with what so many of us thought at the end of last season, that we might not make a ton of signings this summer, but they would all be high quality.

That's his job though. If PSG hadn't been genuinely interested then he would probably have ended up here.

Bruno's movement is the exact opposite of what we are used to seeing in our CM's in the past. Whether he picks the ball up from deep, or whether he's making runs further forward, he never stops moving. If he passes it, he'll be running forward to get the return ball. If you are Colback or Shelvey, your job is to pass the ball sideways ( Colback) or long ( Shelvey) then sit back and have a cuppa, your job is done.

Oh yeah, would be happy to see him as a back up player. But we desperately need some real quality on the right wing.

He has too many injury issues to be regarded as a first teamer for me. He's out for months at a time, then it takes a few weeks to get up to speed again, he plays a handful of games, then he's injured again.

Yep, it does show we are after serious quality regardless of success in the actual procurement. It will be interesting to see who we move onto now seeing as a lot of clubs seem to be after similar sort of forwards.

Maybe we've got someone better lined up then.

Even if you disregard the goals, he doesn't even wing in any decent crosses. He produces no end product whatsoever. I don't care if he has been mis-managed, what that tells you is, he just can't produce quality when it's required.

Surely that opens the door for us to make a move for Kalimeundo?

This just seems to be flying over everyone's head. So would we be buying him then looking to sell ASM to fund our quest for a right winger?

It all depends on how strictly we are adhering to this supposed budget of around £90m, with half of that already gone on signings. If we are working with £45m, then we aren't going to buy two rising superstars for that price. There are still other options like Sarr and Kalimuendo, maybe you could get those two or similar. But it's not beyond imagination that the club might look at older established superstars like Zapata and Asensio as viable alternatives for the same price.

31 isn't like being a pensioner, their bones don't start getting brittle at that age. I mean if you were talking about a 34 yr old I would get it. But if Zapata is injury prone, then yes you want to avoid, same as you would if he was 27.

That was my reasoning as well. Obviously we are looking to bring in long term players ideally, but maybe with a limited budget, we won't turn our noses up at 30 year olds who will immediately bring world class attributes to the team if the price is right. Kieran Trippier was one of those for example. By the time those players are no longer pulling their weight you would think we'd have signed up some decent youngsters who are pushing through, and we'd also have sponsorship in place which would make buying the younger stars a lot easier. I'm not saying I approve of this tactic, just trying to work out the logic.

Well you would be getting a world class striker who would maybe give you 2-3 good seasons which is pretty hard to put a price on. I mean this standard of player is transformational in results terms, you could genuinely beat anyone if you have that type of firepower in your team ( assuming you get someone like Sarr in for £20m in the RW slot). I doubt we'd do it, but it's not out of the question if you believe we want to be in Europe at the end of THIS campaign.

Not really an answer to your question, but this is why I'm not too fussed at this stage if deals for Diaby or Paqueta don't materialise. Obviously I'd love to sign them, but those are just the type of unsexy signings which we could afford, and would immediately improve us in the right areas for the coming season.

Yep. It's going to be a balancing act, loads of factors to consider. But that doesn't mean we automatically are ruled out of making a signature signing just because Luke Edwards says so. We have the power, but with power comes great responsibility as they say.

We might still get Diaby yet. It's an outside shout just because of the fees involved, but there will be cheaper options as well. Luke Edwards knows very little in reality, so why would anyone take what he says seriously?

Why would they when they are buying better players with the money?

I mean that's fine, I'd rather just wait until the window closes before forming any judgements based on angry journalist tweets. I trust the competency and the intent of our recruitment team and the owners.

Can't argue with those numbers like. There's plenty of exciting prospects out there, I think we are just biding our time and seeing which players become available at the right price. For around £20m each we could probably get Kalimuendo and Asensio for example, that would hardly be bad business. I think the only reason we aren't going there is because we believe we can still get better, although might have to be patient.

Probably the most sensible response to anything coming from Luke Baldwards. Us refusing to get our eyes pulled out on every deal translates as Newcastle hopes dashed again in this sad bastard's world.

That's magic like.

We need both, but yeah it's been too long since we had wide players who were capable of scoring 10 goals a season. It makes a massive difference.

Absolutely. You also have to question why he'd want to go to PSG where he is unlikely to be starting many games. I mean it's a great club, much further along the road to greatness than we are, but it won't be much use to him if he's not starting most games.

Which is exactly why he would be the wrong player for us. I am really fed up of buying up everyone else's fast and dynamic wide players who are useless at goals.