STM

You are smart enough not believe in "reported budgets" man. Our journalists don't even understand how PSR works. 4 wingers who do the same thing is am odd criticism to label at 4 good wingers. What exactly were you after? It's been explained why we need physically capable players. Yes we'd all love more technical players but try and find one, it's not so easy?

Depends what you mean by adequate? If you mean can we sign a CB after that, then yes. If you mean more than that, then it's likely we will need to sell but we can sell, Longstaff/Willock for starters.

Barnes is a left winger. Elanga right. Gordon and Barnes LW Elanga and Murphy RW Is much better than without Elanga. This idea of Gordon or Barnes RW is a non starter.

I'm with you KI.

Elanga would be much better for us than Barnes IMO. 50m is alot but it's also 2025.

That's a sterling point.

BuT HeS NOt FORIn. He'd be a good signing. For a certain price.

Now thell them that we are signing DCL.

Are they actually going to get kicked out?

This is it for me. They do a clever (well sort of) job of slipping a small piece of truth into a speculative article. For example, "x player is definitely on Newcastles list" or "x player is someone who interests them", they just leave out the part where they have a list of 50 players or how little someone actually interests them. The most damning thing is the complete lack of knowledge on foreign targets. That's not because they don't exist (brexit Eddie) it's because they just aren't in the loop. When there are domestic targets Guehi or when we signed Tino or Hall, they are often getting leaked through the other club. Some local journo at Southampton or wherever tips them off.

Matt Richie and Paul Dummett were kept around for similar reasons. Part of this, I'm sure, is Howe wanting the squad to understand the worth of a good professional character. Something like "If you have a good attitude and work hard and do what we ask, we won't just throw you on the scrap heap at the first opportunity". If he stays, he will barely feature and he'll be on alot less money. It's really not a big deal. Mind, I'd be surprised if one of the promoted sides or upper tier championship sides don't take a punt on him. Even if someone like Leeds could eek 6/7 goals out of him from the bench, that might be the difference in survival.

Liverpool won a PL and CL (and loads of other trophies) with this type of player. Yes they had quality but it was based around a physical aggression. There is a reason why Jordon Henderson was the captain of a CL winning side and yes it had lots of quality, Mane, Salah etc but it had a bedrock of Henderson, Wijnaldum, Fabinho etc, none of which I'd associate with being technical players (it's hard not calling them technical players when they were so good but you get the point). Do we need more players better on the ball? Absolutely.... but not at the expensive of being to be able to physically impose ourselves on the opposition, which is the foundation of how we play. It's also not something we should be ashamed of. Edit: Sorry Tron I know you weren't really disputing any of this. I do think it's doable though, but you are relying on plucking a Mo Salah out of your arse.

Potentially 20/30 minutes of each game we have this season and given we might have 50 games, that's alot of game time. That's not discounting the idea that he could start cup games, or the idea that if he can prove his worth he could start some PL games when we have alot of fixtures. I don't entirely disagree with you mind. I'd probably prefer your idea of a versatile player.

I think you've picked two players there that are polar opposites, which is fair enough. I think most match going fans would want to watch a Cherki over an Elanga, week in week out, mainly because he's a better footballer but also because that's what fans want to see. However, Eddie Howe has to think about the team and someone like Cherki might just flat out refuse to do the things Eddie requires, where as Elanga might follow the plan to the letter. Personally, I'm like most on here in that I'd rather we went for someone better than Elanga. If we can find an Elanga with a sprinkle of magic, that's the sweet spot.

It's worth baring in mind that we haven't signed him. I say that because perhaps the financials of it aren't worth it and therefore the club have moved away from him. But let's say we did sign him. The going rate for a good PL striker, who's 24, has room to grow and is looking like seeing out his contract is probably somewhere around 20/25m. In fact I'd argue that's a pretty good deal. We need someone who is useful and someone who our coaches can get their teeth stuck into. At 24, if I didn't work, we'd likely get the bulk of that fee back a couple of years down the line, just as we did with Chris Wood.

The problem is that we can't sign technical players who can't do the physical side. There's no world in which we actively go out to sign technical players who are just technical players because it would kill the team DNA. Quality players who can do both cost a fortune.

No he's not. He is/was the loan coordinator. In essence his job was to message the lads and check how they were getting on. He never chose where any player went. He's a liason between young players who are on loan and the club, and I very much suspect he doesn't do that anymore. If anyone believes Paul Mitchell or Eddie Howe are allowing shola to choose the next club for a potential multi million pound asset they want their heads checked.

Current transfer bath situation.

I know you know that's not Ameobis job but it still annoys me.

Goalkeeping has changed so much in 20 years. When I watch Shay Given footage now he seems far too far off his line and a dwarf in the goal. That aside he was absolutely class mind. Nowadays you've got to be a monster to play in goal.

Not only 3 days but it's a bullshit transfer window. I'd be looking at the end of this month and the PSR deadline for movement.

Seems like a no brainer to me.

At 30m euros, would we not look at Maignan from AC?

Hes an absolute sure thing in terms of risk but again it all comes back to whether we have the capacity to spend 70m or whatever on MGW and also have enough money to sign the other players we need.

Is a good shout. These are the sort of players we will target, ones who haven't been plucked by the "bigger" fish. Another player who's likely got his heart set on a move, is versatile and worth investing money in. What sort of fee has been rumoured?