TRon

Well just a smidge yeah.

He's 34 and a top keeper, at this stage of his career I can understand he wants to be no 1. It wouldn't surprise me to see a PL club come in for him.

That's my reasoning as well, and I am a Dubravka fan who didn't see the GK position as one that even needed upgrading, certainly not a priority. But if you can get an England goalkeeper for £10m due to circumstances falling a certain way, that's just good deal making.

Wouldn't be the worst thing to get some money for Dubs while we can even if it means keeping Darlow, who is probably good enough as a no 2.

He probably is tbh, and he's 4 years younger.

We don't have the ball most of the time because too many of our players aren't comfortable with it or have a poor touch. The more better quality footballers we can get into the side from back to front, the retention of the ball should improve.

Well they do have a decent Brazilian contingent as well now, and they are in Europe. Also still a more highly regarded team than us at this point, so I could see the attraction if their interest is serious.

I remember there used to be a running joke about Katie Price and Kriss Akabusi which from what I recall was not in great taste. But that is going back a while and this place now doesn't really reflect that mentality at all these days.

FWIW I think Diaby is unlikely as well, I'm sure the interest is genuine, I just think he'll be using us to flush out a CL club like Ekiteke.

There's some links which I find just not credible. Never thought there was much chance of us getting Phillips or Raphina simply because of who we were up against. Same applies to Osihmen. Ascensio doesn't seem that ludicrous though. He's only 26, his wages aren't ridiculous, and he would provide genuine quality end product. No idea if it's all just agent talk though or even if we have any interest. Just it wouldn't be that outrageous.

He doesn't just play safe passes though, he tries to carry the ball and sometimes go past people, that would make his stats look worse than someone like Colback. He can be a bit sloppy I agree, I just think because of his ambition on the ball he can be given a bit more leeway.

I'm sure we would all love to have the very best players in all areas, but we aren't going to turn this around overnight. It's not strictly true that a quality CM is an absolute must to move forward. If we get a genuine high quality RW as well as a rising star striker to add to Botman and Pope, I would say that's a pretty big step forward. Yes we do ideally want that quality in CM as well, but I can accept we won't get everything we want in one window. That said, I do believe that if the right player becomes available to genuinely improve us, these owners will try to bring them in. They will be looking for long term investments, players who will grow with us over the next few seasons.

He didn't even have a good season last time round, you would normally expect to see a few more goals. I suppose you could say it was due since he probably over-achieved in the six month loan period in the previous season, but generally he is going to get goals, he just makes too many good runs to not get them. Even if he doesn't make the full journey, he will still have been a good investment IMO. He'll be a good player for a mid-table PL side even if he isn't cut out to be with the very best.

Yeah, Willock is a talented young player with a lot of good qualities. That period you are talking about he was pressing really well and driving forward at defenses causing a lot of problems. He can be a bit sloppy in possession, but as you said, he's still only 21. Some posters were trying to make a case for Almiron staying as an impact sub - I would say Willock is a squad player who could actually make an impact as opposed to just running around and generally being a good lad.

I think the Ekiteke thing is done. It's becoming more and more clear that he doesn't want to come, even if he relented on deadline day you'd have to question bringing in someone who's heart is elsewhere. We'll be looking at alternatives now, Hugo can play another season at Reimes.

Precisely. Unlike other squad fillers like Almiron, Ritchie, Gayle etc, Wilson actually wins games when he starts. Considering we wouldn't get full value if we sold, he's well worth keeping a hold of in the hope he has a good spell clear of injury. The club have the right idea in bringing in a quality younger striker to give him some competition for the shirt.

Howe isn't starting him either. We have essentially three wide players in Almiron, Murphy and Fraser, out of those you might say Fraser has some end product, but he's injury prone and because he's so small has trouble beating defenders for pace over any sort of distance. Right wing is one of our weakest areas, it's pointless trying to find reasons to be cheerful. We have to accept that no one is breaking down any doors to sign any of them because they are pretty crap.

If he was decent there'd be clubs trying to buy him. As far as I know there's been very little interest, clubs will admire his pace and hard work, but one look at his stats and they'd probably start looking somewhere else. I heard Man U are looking at Osimhen as a replacement for Ronaldo, so I think talk of him coming here is probably wildly optimistic.

I do get this viewpoint mind. While I'm concerned whether Gordon has enough quality end product, you don't get the feeling he would just fade away after a decent season. He looks like enough of a cunt to make his presence felt over a longer period. But I think I would still rather we signed Odoi out of those two if the Diaby thing fizzles out.

He's full of energy and looks like a fierce competitor which are both great attributes for a wide player. But it's all about end product when you are a forward, and I wouldn't want to be paying £35m on a player hoping he will produce that year in year out.

Looks nearly as pissed off as that rat faced Anthony Gordon in that picture.

What a blast from the past!

This is where I am as well. Gordon has caught the eye when I've watched him, but there's no substitute for cold hard stats. I haven't seen enough of him to know that he'll produce goals or assists on a consistent basis, whereas Diaby's stats are too good to be a fluke.

I'm not even sure who won there, not even Mike Ashley. Well I suppose Shelvey, Ritche and Gayle won big time, they kept getting new contracts chucked at them despite no other club showing any interest in paying them the sort of wages they are picking up here.

Wrong side of 30? He's more like the right side of 40 now isn't he? I mean he does look after himself no doubt about that, but can't see many takers on his wages.