TRon

Fair enough mate, I will cede to your greater personal experience. I think that will just have Eddie Howe even more buzzing to get the likes of Jonjo over there.

So he has a clause...?

I've been to Saudi zero times, and have no plans on going either, but I would have thought your situation will be different to a team which is actually owned by the Saudis themselves. They will be considered VIPs of the highest status, I would have thought there would be special arrangements made if they agreed to go over there. Although personally, I doubt Howe would sanction booze on a training trip anyway.

Ok, bomb on is probably a bit optimistic, but he could at least chug on and overlap in his own good time.

Ditto. I think that would cover us on Ritchie's defensive weaknesses, and allow him to bomb on forward to wing in those crosses for Wood.

There'll be booze available in private, probably at the hotel they will be staying at. Not sure Howe would be allowing it anyway.

No doubt, but it's also money you will never get back. We've already made two signings where we've written off close to £40m on 30yr olds, at some point we have to consider how it will affect our ambitions in the future if we can't show we are abiding by FFP rules.

Klopp is supposed to rate him highly as well, don't know if that's just good man management or is he actually good? A few on here saying he's pants, but how well do they know him?

Kessie is reported to have some of the biggest clubs in the world ready to make an offer in the summer, is he actually a realistic target in that case? With Kamara we've been narrowed down to two clubs in pole position in that bullshit article.

Not one who's 28 yrs old.

Hello Trensa, Carlos is going to triple his wages by coming to Newcastle. He is already making faces about being prevented the move. You don't want an unhappy player on your hands trust me. Sell him for the best price £28m and cash in before he gets too old. Both sides win.

Blow them out of the water with a huge signing on fee.

How many times have the Longstaff's done that in the last few years?

One of the reasons I'm trying to work Willock into the line up somehow. Not one of those has either the instinct or the finishing to pounce on anything.

But aren't Man U one of the clubs who are furious about our takeover? I would think they'd be top of the list who are refusing to sell/loan players to us.

He's no good in a 4-4-2 where he's expected to play more centrally, but in a 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 he would find more space to attack and get up in support of Wood. I suppose you could start with Longstaff and bring Willock on as a sub.

Yep. They'd have liked a CB in as well obviously, but if they can't get the one they want, they'll wait until they can. Only two games this month, while they are important, we can't fix the problems with 5th or 6th choice signings, look where that got us under Ashley.

Can't see them tripling his salary like. I think he'll be coming here, might take a week or so, but I reckon he's on his way.

The 5-3-2 doesn't have to be defensive, it can be 3-5-2 in possession, you'd expect Trippier and Ritchie to have more licence to get forward and get those crosses in for Wood. The extra central defender should be able to cover the breaks from Watford. Far better than playing 4-4-2 with an ageing wide midfielder as a full back.

Just checking I'm in the right thread. It's the match thread right?

Imagine if one of the Greggs staff slipped a razor blade shard into that pasty. That would be awful. Would like to think he'd at least be arrested and questioned if that proved fatal.

I reckon this lad has moved to the top of the wanted list. With both our primary targets looking unattainable, we might be tempted to go with Badiashile as he's only 20, and will be a good long term investment. Maybe get someone experienced and available in on loan alongside.

Good shout. Time to bin this off.

Which is why I would go for 3 centre backs to cover the far post where Ritchie is always found wanting, and the 3 man midfield to get Longstaff out of there.

I think at this point we'll just be looking to get the best CB possible on our books during this window, the striker was more urgent for Watford, and we paid the premium to make that happen. Now we'll just work at the options we have bid for, and see which one bites. I think at 28, there's only so much money we'll throw at Carlos.