Shak

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.

I love when people feel the need to belittle sports they don't like themselves, like it'll prove they like the correct sport or something

Had to turn that off after a couple of minutes

Cherki would be class like, few sneaky links to him the last week or two.

A lot of deals are being done for much less than the initial rumoured prices, it seems. 25m for Barnes does seem particularly reasonable given his output, though. That said, if you take away his goals we're paying too much IMO.

The highlighting which one he was at the start of each clip was really helpful there, would have been lost without it.

Theo Hernandez.

Perhaps it's possible to prefer one of ASM or Barnes without pretending the other is shite?

I almost feel bad for them, they clearly have no fucking clue what's going on and can't comment on things like this one way or the other as a result

Just Pata posting shite as usual, best to ignore him.

I think this is on the assumption that ASM will be sold. In which case that would fund the new RW. If ASM isn't going anywhere then I don't see us buying any more wingers. Almiron, ASM, Gordon and Barnes (with Joelinton also able to play LW and Murphy an option too) is pretty deep in the wide positions. Whether there's enough quality there is a whole other debate but the numbers are adequate.