STM

Genuinely think we will pull someone of real quality out of the bag under the radar.

From what we have seen of our ownership, Howe and Ashworth, they aren't the sort to hang onto a deal unless they thought there was a solid chance of it happening. I just don't buy the "Botman doesn't want to sign for us" stuff. He was outrageously flirting with us in January. That doesn't mean to say that he's not really interested in Milan. I genuinely believe there is alot of over thinking, guesswork and false reporting going on. I suspect neither us nor Milan have agreed a deal with Lille, but that we are far closer in our evaluation. I also think that there is no "hold up", just that transfer hasn't happened yet. After all, doesn't that mean there is a hold up in all of our negotiations that are going on with clubs at the moment (and there will be lots)? Remember when we sign Bruno and it was reported that we had agreed a deal but in actual fact we had only agreed the outline. I don't even think we are at this stage yet, it's just that in Botmans case, everyone knows of our interest. In short, it's no different to any other transfer, except this one is being played out in public. Should Newcastle have turned away from Shearer because he house hunted in Manchester and had conversations with Fergie?

The reason our side was so functional in the second half of the season was because of the "odd parts". Each of our midfielders all offers something different and work well as a unit. Shelvey: Quarterback Longstaff: Box to box Joelinton: Ball winner, water carrier, legend. Willock: Advanced runner Bruno: All of the above The only one we are missing is the hardest one to find. Someone like Coutinho, Bruno Fernandez, Bernardo Silva type. An assist/goal merchant, someone to open doors in the final third and break teams down. Edit: Actually, we are missing a traditional DM but Bruno and Joelinton win a lot of possession for us.

Forest really aren't THAT dangerous. Atmosphere will be outrageous. Besides which, can you see us losing that game if Bruno and Wilson both start? Also, if there is anytime Liverpool and City slip up, it's in the opening few weeks when they are still bedding in players. PMA.

Joelinton Bruno JWP Or: Joelinton JWP Bruno Either of these would work but actually, Howe might want Bruno and JWP in a double pivot. BTW, I don't for one second think we are in for him. He won't leave the Saints IMO.

And whilst I get that to an extent, we need to get out of this idea of only having 11 players. We need a squad. Given his passing range, I could easily see JWP playing the Shelvey role, releasing Bruno. One of the benefits of JWP is his versatility. On the other hand, for the 40m that they would want... we could just sign Paqueta for a few extra quid.

JWP is fucking class. You lot are mental.

Beat Forest and we will be on the march.

Will feel a lot more at ease when I hear Eddie's voice again at the start of pre-season. Even just one good one by then will be great.

Right now I'm feeling pretty Bi-Polar, I go from thinking howay NUFC pull your finger out and get these deals done, thinking that everything is a disaster if we don't sign two players which I haven't even watch 90 mins of. But I think all of that is still a hangover from the Ashley era. I have to remind myself that we have extremely competent people in charge of the club and a whole raft of targets on our list. The thought of Ashworth calms me down a lot.

Let's just be thankful that the people running our club have more brains.

Was thinking we should be tying him down to a new deal.... there's a sentence I never thought I'd say. If he's happy playing second fiddle to KT, he's worth his wait in gold to us. He's been absolutely solid under Howe and he can cover at RCB. We got him fairly cheap too, so he should hold his value if anyone shows interest.

If Bissouma is off to Spurs, I wonder if Hojbjerg would now become available? He's a player that apparently we have been interested in a lot.

We don't know what the situation is. Everybody is guessing. If I was to take a guess, I would say that much of the lack of noise is because Botman (and Ekitike) have still been playing. This is the week when I'd expect things to spice up a bit.

I'm not bothered about missing out on a player, I'd be raging if we hadn't thought about who was next on our list. I'm sure we have. If ever we get so far down our list that we are no longer getting value for money, I'd rather we used our budget on another area; Paqueta for example. We just need 3 or 4 top quality players, the position they are in, isn't actually that important, given our severe lack of depth.

"Talks taking place," is always an absolute cracker. Talks have taken place between Newcastle and probably 30+ clubs/agents/players since the end of the season. When someone says "x player to undergo medical in x hours", that's a story. The rest is vague hot air aimed at getting followers and clicks. BTW, Newcastle twitter is perfect place to exploit if you want a quick following and plenty of views. Literally nobody does any due diligence on the credibility of a story, they just quote it and move on.

Fucking absolute chancers these twitter journalists. Say something vague and non committal, can't go wrong.

I'd be shocked if CM was seen as a priority TBH. I think we will sign 1 midfielder and I don't think it will be Paqueta because we will concentrate the bulk of our budget on other areas. Eriksen is an obvious choice but more likely someone very young and raw in the Ekitike mould. We've been linked with a few young midfielders on the continent and that's where I'd put my money. The only way this changes IMO, is if someone comes in for Joe Willock, then we might go again in midfield.

Yeah, I have no idea whether the media reports were bullshit but I'm 100% certain he is someone we are aware of and fairly certain he will be on our centre back list somewhere. I agree totally on the agent thing. During Ashley we had favoured agents and it seems at the very least we have built up a good relationship with a couple of agents from January. Wood/Trippiers agent for example. You can someone like Brunos agent sending a file over on hard a dozen players. It's their job to perk up interest.

Joe Geldhardt.

Or perhaps not. Have a look in the plane spotting thread on the 2nd of June, I made a post speculating that Mehrdad and Brunos agent (also Ibanez agent) were going to have talks with Ibanez. They were both on the same flight somewhere and Ibanez certainly fits a profile.

https://football-italia.net/tottenham-and-newcastle-ask-roma-for-ibanez/ Definitely a chance that we were indeed going to meet Ibanez. I'm not going to lie, if that one happens I'm going to be fucking delighted with my sleuthing.

Wonder if Eddie's training has helped Miggy turn the corner. Would want him to stay ahead of Murphy. I trust Almiron to do what Howe wants of him. That said, if someone is hoying 15m for him..

Trying to get this transfer over the wall.