Shak

Be absolutely fucking hilarious if we did sign Frimpong instead

I appreciate the solidarity. I'm willing to do some sort of Thelma and Louise style ending for us, so long as the gorge is completely ablaze.

Haven't moved off this stance at all.

Aye, much of the above is why I don't really like the idea of Gordon playing on the right. Think ideally we get a left footed RW who is going to play quite narrow and operate in a lot of the spaces a #10 would normally find themselves in while Trippier bombs forward and provides the width. Almiron is actually pretty well suited to it, but you'd want someone who offers more as a passer to help with what you've mentioned. The ideal signing for this would probably be Raphinha but Barcelona not landing Messi or Guler likely killed off whatever slim hope we had of getting him. I'd also have loved us to get Guler ourselves... but as I recall you don't really rate him, Ikon.

Think our front three need to work their bollox off out possession so there's more need to rotate. Hard to see any of our attackers playing 90 minutes on a Sunday and then doing it again on a Wednesday in the CL. We need another winger IMO. Went into the summer needing one and we've sold one and brought one in. Chiesa loan to buy just seems such a good idea

I think we're a player light on the wing, personally. Barnes, Almiron, Gordon and Murphy is not a good enough group for us to be competitive in Europe and challenge for top four IMO. One more (on whatever side we don't see Gordon playing) and Murphy being pushed to 5th choice winger would look vastly better. I get that Joelinton can play LW, but if that's the plan then it leaves us looking a bit light on options in CM. Don't think we'll see Isak on the left to start games, more something we only do when we're chasing a goal. He'll be the main man at CF. Wilson will get plenty of games giving Isak a rest and will be a fantastic option off the bench either seeing games out or chasing a goal. Our style of play means we need quality depth more than most IMO and I do think we're light. A couple of injuries to key players and we could get very stretched. I think we're fine to go into the start of the season with the present options so I wouldn't be surprised to see another wide man be something that we do late in the window rather than a priority. Maybe Howe has confidence that Murphy and/or Anderson are going to be able to play a lot and contribute positively, if so then maybe it's not a need. If love to see Anderson go on loan and start every game in the Championship but maybe we think he's ready.

One thing that was interesting with the PGA v LIV court cases in golf was that ultimately the PGA were willing to settle because years of legal battles was just looking like such a fucking expensive prospect over the coming years. Most people seemed to think the PGA was in a strong spot... but when your opponent has almost unlimited resources it quickly starts to look daunting. Personally would like us to keep building slowly enough but if the likes of Liverpool and Spurs are going to be cunts I'd find it pretty funny is deciding to just go nuts and spend years and hundreds of billions challenging FFP in the courts.

Was such a good career move by Mudryk going to Chelsea instead of Arsenal.

I didn't think much of Ottoman's posts at first but he's right. Go back and read them again but CAREFULLY this time. Really think about the words. They're excellent posts IMO.

My point was that we basically have 8 players I have any confidence in to rotate between 5 starting positions, Ritchie doesn't add to that at all.

Not sure where Joelinton will play most of his football this season but if all goes expected we basically have to fill the 3 midfield spots and 2 wing positions with... Bruno, Tonali, Longstaff, Joelinton, Willock, Gordon, Barnes, Almiron, Anderson and Murphy. That's really light IMO. Anderson should really be going on loan and Murphy isn't someone I have any interest in seeing as anything other than a shithouse substitute. We really need another winger IMO.

And we still have money left over for more

If we're signing him instead of a LB it shows serious committment to thinking about the players we bring in as long term assets rather than filling needs. Might not improve us as much in the upcoming season but if he develops into a genuinely top class RB it'll look great in a few years.

Fee seems about the same as what we paid for Barnes. Surprised we weren't involved, seems we've liked him for ages and now he's going for a reasonable fee and we're not in there. Hopefully we have someone else in mind because we're still really light on numbers on the wings.

Like others, I was checked out during the Bruce era so don't have the same attachment to him as the ray of hope he was in a turgid time. Sad to see it not work out for him here, I really think he tried to do everything Howe wanted him to but it was just never a good fit. Hope he does well and stays fit out in Saudi, think he'll be class to watch ripping the absolute piss out of inferior defenders there.

Saying for a moment that both fees are 30m... The 30m we receive for ASM would all be added to our FFP income this year. And the 30m we spend on Barnes would be divided over the length of his contract. Probably about 5 years, so about 6m per season. For this year, that's +24m on FFP. Of course, it's -6 towards FFP for the next four years... but we'll hopefully have revenue increases from other business by then. (I think )

Think selling ASM separately and paying Napoli extra would make far more sense in terms of FFP. Not that I think this is happening like

This is fucking disgraceful smoke and mirrors last season seeing the cracks now

'The Arab Sirens' would be a cracking name for a band.

Yeah but then you're arguably light on CM too. Don't think we'd need to sell either of them, anyway. Maybe Maxi actually, then Chiesa loan with obligation to buy next summer for the RW. Should sort out FFP nicely

That's mentally light on wide players like. Kvaratskhelia, Gordon and Murphy?

I don't doubt for a second our interest in him is very, very real. Just a case of whether it's financially viable right now. As much as I do feel we need to build a squad, spunking the rest of the budget on Ben Kvarfa is likely going to pay off better long term than spending it on Barnes, Tierney and a similar level CB.

I'd agree with your general point about not overhauling the squad too much LFEE but "tell me which specific players you would bring in instead" is a nonsense arguement IMO.

I think their price tags will be similar enough but that frees up an awful lot of FFP room this year.

An Italian journalist who was early on calling Tonali said to keep an eye out on us and Chiesa. Think that's about it but a lot of our moves seem to come from nowhere anyway.