TRon

I doubt it. Doubt Spurs are either tbh. Really only Chelsea out of the London clubs could go head to head with us at this point.

If we haven't got the players we need by close of play on Jan 31st then I think we will all be entitled to moan. It would have been nice to have 5 players in before Watford, and we could have done it, but they wouldn't have been the players to make a difference. After Leeds there's 17 games left. I'd rather face those 17 games with the best possible players than face 19 games with "let's just get someone in ffs" signings.

Got to hand it to Conte like, there's no way Levy would spend that sort of money on a soon to be 29yr old, but we know Conte can throw his toys out of the pram if he doesn't get his signings. Got Levy over a barrel now it seems. Let's see what comes of it. I would still take this news with a pinch of salt at this stage.

From all accounts the DOF position is being addressed, if you cast your mind back we interviewed Michael Emenalo for the position a good while back, but for whatever reason that wasn't considered a good fit. It's an important position, I think making the right appointment is crucial, I don't agree with the idea you should just get one in asap regardless of who it is.

Yeah, for all the moaning about lack of signings, I wake up in the mornings wondering if there's been any developments, and I go to bed at night checking for the same thing. Under Ashley I didn't even use to check this thread, would wait until there was an actual thread on a player, then try to muster some excitement. "Maybe he's a diamond in the rough!"

I think they would probably prefer to do the deal with us tbh, especially if it's a permanent one. All depends on how sold on it Lingard is. There's talk of him wanting to return to London, but would he be going there to retire? I think this is going to be West Ham's stand out season, would be surprised if they kick on to much more following this, they just don't have the finances for it. Maybe Jesse would be tempted to be part of one of the most exciting football projects in the world right here instead? Honestly think we can get this done if we really want him.

Love it.

Yeah I really don't get the comparison with Willock like, Lingard's been around for years. He might not have been good enough to win titles or CL trophies, but he's always been a good player, far above standard level. Some of the goals he has scored during his career were pure class. I'd say that even if he ends up at West Ham fwiw. From what I've read, seems he would prefer to go back to London, but he's also open to coming here. If we can offer him a better package that might do it.

Can't really answer that definitively until the 31st January. I have a hunch we'll get a CM in next week some time, might be on loan. The priority was said to be defenders and strikers, I can understand that, but we do need a CM, and by that I mean a genuine CM, not a floaty forward who can get in between the lines and score a nice goal such as Cantwell. We need someone who can operate box to box, who can tackle or press effectively, and has good possession stats as well. If we don't have one by the end of the window I would definitely be concerned.

The guy is trolling at this point. Of all the players they would go for as a replacement they would pick Botman!?

You are right. Although you would also be right if you said we'd win the league if we had the best players in the world with the best coaches and facilities. It's not rocket science.

That doesn't affect his end product though, if he's playing anywhere across the front line he should be able to pick an incisive pass or hit a decent shot.

Think he'd prefer to go to West Ham all things being equal, but we can probably offer him and Man U bigger money, so he might just be persuaded. I have no problem with that, he seems like a good professional, if he comes here I reckon he'd give it everything.

The media reports I heard were saying this was still ongoing and there was a couple of directorial roles we would be looking to fill shortly, DoF and one other although it escapes what it was exactly. I think these are really important roles tbh, I would rather we did our homework and got the right one in.

Yes but that doesn't mean he's going to jump ship in the middle of the season. Might be he's agreed to come in the summer. We don't really know, but I would think for such an important position we'd want to make sure we get the right one.

Still think it might go through personally, just depends if we are prepared to wait until the end of the window. Sevilla were talking about needing to sign a replacement first so they are willing to do a deal, but it's not happening until they get someone in.

How? I doubt it's any easier appointing DoF's in the middle of a season than it is footballers at the best of times, never mind when a takeover suddenly goes through leaving everything up in the air. Well, you could appoint a crap one I suppose.

Not me tbf, I didn't rate Joselu's goal hunting instincts, but I thought he could finish when he did find himself with an opportunity. Not exactly clinical, but a lot better than Almiron.

Think he might well be here in the next couple of days tbh. Assuming he wants to come.

Is that after the final bid we put in for him this morning?

Shelvey's wage won't be the ceiling for max wage like.

Van de Beek would be coming on loan while we are in the Premier, he wouldn't even be here if we got relegated. Is playing in Man U reserves going to be better for his international career than getting first team football here?

Fair enough. Wouldn't be my choice personally but I can't argue with it, he is better than what we've got.

I barely went to any games when Pardew was here, I took my nephew to two, in one he went on a run from the halfway line beating about 5 players before planting it in the net to win it with about 10 mins to go. In the other he destroyed Stoke (admittedly with 9 men) and as far as my nephew was concerned he literally walked on water. And he isn't even a Newcastle supporter, he was brought up in Scotland.