stozo

Guessing Ba and Cisse are fit as Campbell is in the squad for the U21s tomorrow.

Crazy that he turned down Spurs because they weren't offering him enough money to go to Southampton.

I'd prefer 4-3-3 but I reckon we'll see: Krul Simpson Taylor Colo Santon Jonas Cabaye Anita Marveaux Ba Cisse

Molde or Lokeren would be ideal really. Not far to travel and very winnable.

As many as you want, 10% max. How does that work with the Pozzo(?) family who own Udinese, Granada and now Watford?

I'd be surprised. I honestly don't think Pardew would have any problem with playing Simpson or R.Taylor at RB.

Would be class if someone managed to beat PSG to the title again this year. Can't see it happening though.

Mata Oscar Hazard Torres Of the 8 that make up both of those front lines only half have ever kicked a ball in the Premier League and two of them have never played in Europe. A little bit early to be saying how great they are before they've even proven themselves in the league.

This. Think it's great that the club captain goes down to watch the development squad. Shows real class.

Not sure if it's been posted already but there is a piece in the Times this morning saying the Premier League have decided to accelerate the introduction of the Elite Player Performance Plan and introduce new U21 and U18 Elite leagues this season. We will be playing in the Elite league (17 Premier League clubs (QPR, Swansea + 1 other who I can't remember aren't of sufficient standard) + 6 Championship clubs). The Elite League will start with a Group stage (3 groups - 1 of seven teams and two of eight) which will last until Christmas. If I remember correctly at U21 level you'll only be able to field 3 over-age players + over-age goalkeeper.

Let's hope the article is true. Would be fantastic if it is.

Surely Arsenal will sell him to Juve rather than City/United?

Twitter thread? The account just looks like a bunch of fake rumours.

It's Anthony Koura from Le Mans according to Lee Ryder on Twitter.

To be fair we've done our bit in making our bid. Now, if Carroll really wants to come back, he needs to stick in a transfer request. We're obviously not going to offer anything near £20m so if we're going to get a deal we need Liverpool in the weakest negotiating position possible.

"Clint is a player we've enquired about, it is as simple as that," said Rodgers. "Ian Ayre, our managing director, has spoken with the club to see what the position is. That is where we're at. "He's a very talented player but we don't like to talk about other clubs' players."

While I'd be reluctant to pay a high price a loan with an option to buy would be ideal. At the moment our striking options are Ba, Cisse and Amoebi. That's one injury away from needing to play Amoebi. Carroll's had a tough time at Liverpool but he's only 23 and clearly has massive potential. If we actually want to start competing with the big clubs then we need situations where we have good players (such as Carroll) who don't start every game but play their part in all competitions and are good enough to (a) provide excellent cover for injuries and (b) try and prove they're good enough for a place in the first team. Like I said I think it would be a mistake to pay silly money for him but a loan with an option to buy is something I would be very happy with - it could also lead to the potential situation where he comes on loan, bangs in 20 goals and we use our option to buy him for £15m at the end of the season.

Like a new signing...

Jacob Butterfield, who we were previously linked with, has joined Norwich.

Only two more clubs need to come out against and then they're out of the SPL?

Pretty sure he's leaving now. It's obviously Ba's team who have leaked that the release clause ends on July 31st. From that you have to assume that they are looking to engineer a move for him.

SSN saying they may speak to as many as 12 candidates.

In a way I'd have loved him to go there because if he could make his footballing style work at a top club then it would be great to watch.

Photos on the Villa forum of Lerner's jet in Norway.

I would love for us to do an annual tournament like we did a few years back. The NewcastleGateshead Cup I think it was called. Sporting Lisbon beat us in the final with a pretty good goal. I'd change the name to the Sir Bobby Robson Trophy, give a percentage of profit to the Sir Bobby Robson foundation. Maybe we could get Barca and PSV involved for the first one? Think it's been mentioned they'll be nothing at home this year because of Olympics so I guess this type of an idea is a non-starter for this year.