Shak

Signing someone to be an upgrade on Burn rather than a proper out and out back would be interesting and frankly a bit of a surprise to me. Not necessarily against the idea of having a LB who becomes more of a third CB when we're in possession, just don't expect that to be the route we go.

Jesus there's a blast from the past

Who's the AM/winger version of Tonali? A player we've had a couple of links to but nothing major. An elite option for the position that has everything Howe wants in terms of work rate and quality. I'd say it's probably Kvaratskhelia. Christ, can you imagine?

Aye, I remember us being linked with Chiesa soon after the takeover... I wonder if similar to Isak he's on the long term list. I remember in January there were conflicting reports about why Maddison didn't end up here. He seemed nailed on going into the WC, everyone thought he'd join us once the window opened. Some said Leicester started to play hardball with the price, others said Maddison decided to wait for the summer and see if a better option came along. If it's the latter and he ends up at a club with no European football at all instead of playing for us in the CL it'd be pretty funny.

Wouldn't be surprised if we bring in a different winger/AM and then maybe come back to Maddison later in the window on top of that. Maybe late in the window we move on ASM/Miggy and bring Maddison in? Leicester will have to sell him eventually.

Massive festival on in Roskilde, starts this weekend. Maybe Tonali is the end of our transfer business and they're off to celebrate by getting absolutely fucked for a week?

Imagine getting those two

Another potential reason we may not be so keen on Maddison if this guy is a bit of a free kick dynamo?

More the reactions than the words but I should have seen the issue with the GIF, aye

Don't think I've ever seen net salary mentioned so much

Feels like we've spent the last few weeks getting a feel on the price tag and gauging interest of lots of players. Then as soon as the international fixtures ended we've decided it's go time. Gonna be a hectic couple of weeks, I reckon.

Nice video that, cheers. As the season went on last year I became more and more against the idea of moving Bruno from the #6 role. It's just so important to how we play having him as the base, dictating our passing. Thought adding a more traditional DM to push Bruno up would be a mistake given what we'd likely lose from that position. Watching Tonali though, if this guy is the new #6 I no longer have those concerns. Looks very smooth on the ball. Honestly, he looks like he'd be dynamite as a #8 too. Wouldn't be surprised to see him and Bruno swapping positions at times to keep opponents guessing. I'd guess this ultimately knocks Longstaff out of our strongest eleven but he'll still play an awful lot in the spot he was last year with either Bruno or Tonali as the #6.

Some people are just dickheads, basically. @Milanista makes some of the most well considered, thoughtful posts of anyone on this forum but for some I suspect it's as simple as not wanting to hear from a fan of another team. He deserves some ribbing for his post of course but I'd hope he focuses on the posters who appreciate his posts rather than the few dickheads having a go at him. Having said that...

Fucking hell Maddison being the fallback option is quite the thought.

This feels like the right guy for us in terms of playing style, seems like he'll be able to play as DM and let Bruno push forward. Not sure we'll get it done but feels more real than Barella ever did.

Wouldn't be surprised if we signed both of them and moved on ASM.

He'll surely want to play in the Champions League at some point and our big selling point IMO is that we guarantee that. We're in it this year and if he comes to Newcastle he'll be a key piece in a CL team straight away. Spurs will probably get into the CL at some point over the next few years but there's no guarantee. It's gonna be competitive as fuck for those 5 spots in the coming years and Postecoglou is a complete unknown at this level. If he fails who knows what will happen to them and when they'll be back there. Hopefully we get this done. Think this saga has been going on for so long that people have started to forget what a genuinely quality player he is, he'd be a great addition.

They probably do have a bit of a surplus of CMs with Bellingham, Camavinga, Tchouameni and Valverde there so maybe one will leave. As has been said though, I'd expect our wage structure takes us out of the running for any of them.

Is he not going to be a starter for Madrid with Bellingham going there or something? Seems very, very unlikely

We've been after him for a year, would be pretty mental if we've just now realised that he's not a great fit for any spot in the formation Eddie wants to play

Just saw this. So pleased for the guy, genuinely beaming here

"Say to his face" I mean, he's a CB. Clear as day. Can do a job at LB and his ability to cover there as well as being Botman's backup is going to be a great asset for years to come. Hopefully we only see him there in emergencies going forward.

It depends on Howe how feels about Targett, for me. Burn did a commendable job at LB given his skillset but I wouldn't say he was good by any means. The fact that Targett didn't manage to take the job back doesn't fill me with confidence about him going forward. If it was just a fitness thing or aversion to changing something that was working and Howe likes Targett... I'd be OK with no big name LB signing. A young player that can backup Targett (with Burn being the emergency LB option) would be the minimum though, can't go into next season with Burn and Targett the only left footed defenders in the squad.

I think it would just be so needlessly stupid to not bring in a LB though, I'd struggle to not be annoyed