TRon

I think so. Was a generous offer in the first place, I think it now depends if Botman is willing to downgrade his expectations from Milan to NUFC. I think his head is being turned though with the Tripper coup.

I don't hate Brummie or Villa, but I do hate Gerrard, somewhat unreasonably. It's that effing Liverpool connection.

He looks like a similar type to Willock to me, which makes it all the more strange. I mean if you were getting Coutinho in to upgrade, that would make more sense, otherwise do we really need a player in that position at this moment?

Woop Woop! (again) Wasn't in the fridge for long after the false alarm yesterday, but always seemed like our primary target.

Well I was about to say Martin Samuel was proven sort of right when he had a dig that we had Gerrard would have more pulling power as a manager than Howe, but then we wouldn't have got Trippier if Howe wasn't here. Fair play though, Gerrard is doing well at Villa, and Coutinho is a great signing for them.

Isn't he a bit lightweight for what we need?

Really inventive that, never seen anyone manage to work a stud rake into a ball clearance before.

It'll just be Trippier, and that will do me. Save other players or sponsorships for tomorrow, there's no hurry.

ASM's not the greatest example like, he cuts in too much if anything. He'd be even better if he delivered the ball in first time once in a while. If you want an example, Manquillo's cross for the Wilson goal against Spurs. Murphy's cross for the Gayle header last season, the one he rocketed in from about 12 yards out. It's not essential I agree, but always better to have someone who can wing one in quickly if they get a yard of space.

The Vlahovic talk always seemed a bit optimistic considering he's one of the hottest striker prospects in the world. I guess with us being the richest club, we are going to get mentioned with everyone, from Mbappe to Lloyd Kelly.

All this bullshit could have been avoided if Fantail had just said he's nearly 29.

But for full backs it's quite important that they can cross first time from their natural foot rather than cutting back inside. If Howe is that fussed about having a left foot/right foot CB combination, I can't see him compromising on full backs where it's even more of a factor.

My woop woop! still stands, just gone into the fridge for a couple of hrs.

It's the ref who should have been sent off

Agree, but when you spend that much on a senior player, there's not much room for error. As long as he's the real deal, no problem with it at all. He looks hard as nails, that's for sure.

He must be some player if they are asking £35m for a 29 year old. I had no idea he was that old. Obviously he's still in his peak years, but no resale value at all by the time he's done here. He'll have to be fucking brill.

Woop, WOOP!

I think that's why he doesn't play much for Liverpool either, Klopp considers him mostly a penalty box finisher, albeit a very good one. When you think how much ground Salah, Mane and Firminio cover, you can understand why.

Klopp was saying after he came off the bench and scored recently that it wasn't fair to keep him on the bench indefinitely even though he never made a fuss, I think he said he would let him go if the right offer came in. That was before AFCON obviously, but they might let him go for his own sake. And obviously a premium price.

I used to get one twat who kept trotting out that Michael Winner tagline relentlessly. Ironically made me feel like punching him in the face even more.

Botman and Vlahovic, it seems there is a deal to be done, even if it is for daft money, but the impression seems to be that both are hoping for CL challenging clubs to come in. If any of those are interested then we'll have to look elsewhere.

I don't think he'll turn him into anything that he isn't already, he'll still be fantastic at running 50 yards with the ball, and he'll still miss 8 out of 10 of his final passes. Can only assume Conte likes him because he's built like a bison.

We'd be better off keeping him and letting him go for free in the summer, we still need midfielders, it's not like we are overloaded in that department. I guess if Ramsey comes in then we'll need to clear players out, that would be the only reason you would let him go, but even then I think I'd rather just de-register him.

Spot on. Too many in our team who put their heads down when the refs start giving dubious decisions.

I suppose if they get Coutinho as s being rumoured they might need to offload a forward. But I agree, he's a natural replacement for Wilson, genuine goalscorer.