TRon

That is proper embarrassing stuff tbh. No one would blame the lad for dreaming of playing for Milan, but he always seemed genuinely interested in coming here as well. as has been proven.

Aye, you've had your little pout and playing hard to get BS. Now get over here #Rayden

Feels like another Bruno level of signing this one. Maldini wanted him and he knows a bit about defending. Buzzing.

I actually think Lascelles is a decent squad player, but since he's probably one of our more saleable assets, it makes sense to cash in on him. Sort of similar to the Hayden deal. He never really let us down, just we had outgrown him, and I would say we are close to that with Jamal as well. We do need money in to fund some of the players coming in.

At this point I agree. His wage demands might be high, but they could probably be accomodated into our FFP strategy. Still hope we can get in someone more in the mould of Ekiteke, but if not then Lingard would definitely give us some options.

I am really pleased with this signing though, let's be clear about that. I always thought Dubravka was one of our more solid players and that we didn't really need a replacement, but Pope is a really top class goalkeeper, and for the money it was a great decision to bring him in.

So what? In a couple of years hopefully we'll be at a stage where we can attract any amount of top strikers. If he wants to leave for other pastures, we will probably be able to sell him for a decent fee and on to the next one.

Yep. I think it would be a really big ask to expect us to hit top 6 form without one or two real game changer signings. Teams will adapt and learn to probe our weaker spots better. As it stands, we are still looking like more of a defend and counter attack team, but massively reliant on Wilson staying fit.

This is me as well. These are all very solid signings, especially from a defensive POV, but it's the midfield which will allow us to control more of the play, and some really top quality attackers who will win matches. Patience is definitely going to be needed, might need another season of mid-table consolidation before we can really start making inroads.

Arsenal's wage budget doesn't look like a top 4 team's tbh, no wonder they are struggling to make CL places these days.

It illustrates how much further along the road clubs like Arsenal are than us more likely. Maybe because they have had access to Europe and better sponsorship deals for so much longer, they don't fall foul of FFP. If we spend a few quid more than what we used to under Ashley we get the Fair Play police battering down the office doors and confiscating the computers.

The agent is working for the footballer at the end of the day. I would have thought if the player really wanted a move he could make it happen.

I always felt we could have signed Abrahams back then if the club had backed Rafa. With this one it feels like Howe has been supported to the hilt to get his man.

Well I'm with the club on this one tbh, from what I've seen he's got some real promise, and crucially looks to have some football intelligence as well. I can understand why they pushed hard for it, but ultimately he has to want the move himself as well.

But the club don't want a repeat of January where we spent the whole month setting up the deal only for him to tell us to fuck off on the last day. We can't afford to hang our hat on him, we have to move on to someone who wants to be here.

I'm sure there's a bit of that, but at the same time we won't want to lose out on secondary targets so we will probably have put a deadline on how long we are prepared to hang on waiting for his camp to make their minds up. I personally think we've sort of drawn a line under it, and will be sounding out other strikers now. It would take a pretty quick turnaround from his agent for this to happen now.

Alternatives are a bit tricky unfortunately. Strikers cost a bomb, and we can't do what City and Chelsea did when they started getting bankrolled by states. They were able to pick up 30+ year old players by offering a bit of extra cash, but we can't really do that because of FFP. We already chucked £25m at Wood because we were in a desperate position. A genuine class striker is not going to be easy to source. The best bet would another up and comer like Ekiteke, but one who actually wants to come here.

I mean it is stating the obvious somewhat. I'm sure we like Phillips as well but since Man City are talking about signing him, links with us are a bit pointless.

No one else will be interested if we are being priced out of a move. The agent is fucking himself and his client over. We can't wait to hang around so I would imagine we'll look somewhere else now unless the Ekiteke camp realises they have pushed us too far. I think for it to happen now the agent will have to relent pretty damn quick.

We were basically that by the end of last season. We should be looking to push for top 6-8 this time round, and we aren't going to do it unless we bring in two or three players who significantly improve us.

At least we were the leading Entlish team to be interested.

Football isn't just about midfield any more. It's about ball retention all over the pitch which seemingly includes goalkeepers and central defenders. Then you have to add a player's abiilty to break or press the opposition into a mistake. While I'd love to have a world class CM alongside Bruno, I look at other areas of the pitch and think those need fixing first. Up front and wide forwards mainly.

And he releases the ball at the right times instead of dallying to do some exhibition stuff. We might end up taking more of a risk, but I have a feeling there's more chance of making a much larger profit in the long run, even if he doesn't stay long term.

I'm not even convinced we are buying one CM let alone two.

The agent works for Hugo, not the other way round. Surely there comes a point where the player can just say I want this move, make it happen. Let's not lose sight of the fact his agent doesn't make a penny if there's no move and the lad just stays put.