STM

He's already backtracked on that second tweet.

Whoring himself though. Suspect it's more him than us.

Sigurdsson is worth about 24m IMO. Based on absolutely everything and nowt.

Remember the medical and signing is literally the last step, if everything is agreed and we trust the player, there's no need for the club to panic.

There's a million reasons why a transfer takes time, normally because agents, solicitors, players, club officials, medical guys all need to come together at the same time and that's not even including idea of negotiating fees and salaries etc. I'm fairly certain that we will sign this guy, probably next week before the players come back for training. I'd like to see 2 or 3 more follow in quick succession.

Rafa wins.

Ambition also attracts players. If we are seen to be paying big fees, which these days is probably between 20-30m, other players will see that we are honest in our ambition for success. I'm not saying we should be daft and pay for players like Sissoko (Spurs only did that because they could afford the risk). IMO, for every smart signing like Lejeune, I'd like to see an ambitious one to complement it.

It's only a hard group of fixtures because Sunderland are so shite. What a shame.

Cairney, McCarthy, King and Sturridge have all been linked and all of them would break our record going off fee's mentioned. Aye but are we not interested in those players BECAUSE they are overpriced and therefore we aren't willing to go above the 16m mark on them? Apparently Kelechi (can't spell surname) is available, but I don't think I've seen us linked to him? We should be paying 20/25m for him, easy.

It's correct to say that theres no guarantee of success when it comes to transfers but it will be interesting to see how many of our deals are; last year of contract, loan to buy, release clauses. Seems a quick way to narrow down your shortlist IMO.

I think he's probably right too. I don't know how we are going to ship some of our players. Riviere, De Jong, Krul, Hanley, Murphy, Gamez, Haidara, Lazaar?, all need peddled. We could sign first and then sell our players for lower fee. Not our tight arses though.

It's been said that we will break our transfer record this window too. I've yet to see us linked to a player which would command such a fee. I'm aware it's only June but I'm starting to see the usual signs from the club.

We will see what happens if Rafa wants to spend decent wedge on a proven premiership player. Will they sanction it? I'm yet to evidence that they will.

Seems we've gone back to release clauses and unproven foreign players to me. We will see.

Because buying him isn't an option.

Can I be the first to say he would be a good acquisition?

Premiership standard, for sure.

Having had a look at this, seems like naughty journalism to me. Clearly something to do with this tax carry on or potentially selling the club. It's not that I trust Mike Ashley, I just don't think there's anything to read into.

Rafa still looks happy.

I wouldn't want to play Spurs once they have a head of steam up. Good chance some of their best players will take time to find form. Should be a great atmosphere. Win this and it sets us up nicely.

Why? It's like I suffer transfer amnesia. Every time time the transfer window opens I'm like "yey, I wonder who we will sign," then by week 3 I'm ready to hang myself after seeing the same journos spouting the same bollocks. Ultimately, I sicken myself by looking at the phone every hour waiting for us to sign someone. For no good reason either.

Already sick of this transfer window.

We got that Sissoko and Pickford is actually half decent... and young. Still a bit steep though. 20 would have been about right.

Great price for Sunderland. Shame they are in so much debt it won't make a difference.

If someone buys 25% of the club for say 100m, we won't see a penny for transfers. The only way I can see someone coming in is if they are taking over as the majority shareholder, therefore buying at least 51%. It would make sense for Mike Ashley to keep his foot in the door, since he's gaining so much by way of advertising. I simply can't see someone buying a small share in the club.