Memphis

INTERVIEWER: "Well, Lewis, you must be buzzing to be in Newcastle, and I know you're a supporter of Newcastle United, so it must be nice to be back in Newcastle and playing for Newcastle United, the club that, as I mentioned, you support." HALL: "Uh, yeah." INTERVIEWER: "But how do you feel about coming back to Newcastle to play for your beloved Newcastle United?" HALL: "As you'd probably guess, it feels great." INTERVIEWER: "Are you excited about coming back to Newcastle to play for Newcastle United?" HALL (to cameraperson): "Is my mic working?" INTERVIEWER: "Your excitement must be truly exciting, Lewis. It's such an exciting time. Are you buzzing?" HALL: "Did you have a stroke, mate?"

You're right, but I purposefully ignored it b/c ultimately I don't think it played a huge role for us in targeting him - don't get me wrong, it's nice to have, though.

This is another example of our club being well-aligned. We had clearly identified Hall as a possibility one way or the other and have seemingly played it very well to get this opportunity. From the boardroom perspective, a young English player who can grow with the club and who helps us with UEFA roster requirements is hugely important. And on the pitch, he seems to fit the mold of our type of player perfectly - we value versatility (virtually all of our players can play in multiple positions), we value energy, and we value technical ability. Youth and nationality are bonuses. There aren't many players who can tick all those boxes so we are jumping when we can sign someone who does. I love to see signings that are well thought-out. All of ours seem to be. It's jarring compared with the old days.

If we plan on being a European mainstay, and I'm quite sure we do, then having young players who will qualify as "club-trained" for the purposes of European squads is worth a lot. You have to have 8 locally-trained players in your 25-man squad. 4 can be "association-trained", meaning 3 years with an English club between 15-21. The others have to be from your own club for those 3 years. We have Anderson and Miley potentially and Hall would be, too. That's enormously helpful and worth a fair bit of cash in and of itself.

I just wanted to add that it is such a pleasure to watch this man at the center of what has become an exceptionally well-run club. His tactics are typically excellent, his ability to motivate and get the best out of players - Gordon admitting last season that he was not fit enough to play the way we wanted to play, now he's looking like a new player - his commitment to the basics of hard work and intensity, he's just a spectacular manager. And I love the fact that he and the scouting staff are aligned not only in the on-field type of player we sign, but the off-field attitude and commitment. The mentality of our signings has been sensational. It may not work perfectly all the time, but there is a very evident plan in place that is being carried out, and as a supporter, that's so reassuring.

Oh my goodness he was something else, what a debut that was. With the greatest respect to our young Geordie lads who impressed in preseason, that was a performance on a completely different level than they're capable of. His composure, his thought, I just don't remember us having a player like this before.

Absolutely erotic that was

As if the dreadful questions and bone-dry demeanor weren't bad enough, I'd also like to point out that this interview has been up for 9 hours now and still has our newest signing's name misspelled in the title.

He's here I guess He doesn't sound impressed Tino

"You mentioned interacting with the fans there, you were in attendance at St James' Park for the Sela Cup. How was that and did you have any good memories of that?" Journalism at its very best.

I think based on preseason it would be difficult not to have Anderson in the starting XI. He's been consistently excellent, shows a lot of desire, plenty of creativity and vision, energy for days. I actually think the front 3 is going to be these three for Villa - Gordon, Isak, Almirón. All full of running, obviously Gordon missed two great chances but his link play was good, he was covering a lot of ground. I would say Tonali is probably going to start on the bench. Patchy play. Very composed, as you'd expect, and some moments of brilliance, but still figuring out how to play in this style. My guess for Villa is: Pope Trippier Schar Botman Burn Bruno Joe Anderson Gordon Almirón Isak Very strong bench as well.

I completely understand why he is being sold and yet I do hate to lose a true *character*. They are rarer and rarer in these days of milquetoast footballers, he was different, he was a brilliant guy off the pitch and truly seemed to fall in love with the club, the fans, and the area. There is always more to the story and I'm sure it wasn't all perfect in the changing room, but from a fan's perspective, what a beautiful footballer and there's no doubt he will be missed. Lots of players have left clubs they've been at for decades and haven't put together a goodbye like his. Special guy.

Looks as good a prospect as we've produced in quite a while. Composed well beyond his years. He seems to have an extra half-second on the ball, that's the mark of a class player. He's going to push for minutes all season long and that's going to do nothing but make our squad stronger.

I certainly think the Ruben Neves deal gives us all the cover we need. ASM should be worth at least as much as him given age and potential. Once again, the PL clubs are all fart and no shit when it comes to dealing with these issues. It's going through just fine.

This is exactly what I was talking about several days ago. We will have to publicly take a bit less than maximum value because everyone is shitting themselves. But I suspect that the terms.of the deal privately will be just fine for us.

We do love a good interminable wait to officially announce a signing, don't we?

There's no AI in the world that could come up with nonsense like that, I truly feel more human now than ever.

Personally I still think we need at least 20 more pages of debate about ASM vs Barnes. We haven't solved it yet but I bet we all agree by page 430.

If he's healthy - and presumably we have determined he is - he is talented enough to make this an incredible deal. You do not get the chance to buy 20 year olds of his ability very often. This could be a perfect situation for him to ease back into regular action. I have full confidence in our medical staff to maximise his capabilities. He could be worth 3x this amount in 2-3 years if he stays healthy, his ceiling is that high. I'll never be upset with taking a punt on a player of that quality.

this video sums it up really well for me - forget the clickbait title, the actual content is really well-thought out.

Few players have been as good in theory - yet quite a bit less so in reality - as Allan Saint-Maximin. The idealized ASM would be worth 150m. The actual one is not.

Regardless of whether you rate him or not (I'm kind of in-between, fwiw), he's signing. I don't really see the point in going on and on about how he's shit, we'll all find out soon enough. It is important to point out how Howe's coaching has consistently gotten the best out of a number of players, especially those with the profile of Barnes. Barnes likes a 1-2, keeps it simple, has a good finish on him, that's it. That will be perfect for the link play we like to execute on the wings. I think he'll do quite well. If he doesn't, he'll be gone. Hope he's a huge success.

It's totally understandable to be a bit upset that ASM is being sold. He's such a talented player, so much fun to watch. But there has to be a ruthlessness in terms of finding a group of 15-20 players that play exactly how you need them to play as a team. Look at Pep last year with Joao Cancelo - he was an undeniably huge talent at LB, but he wasn't playing the way Pep wanted. He let him go and replaced him with Nathan Ake (and sometimes the young Rico Lewis). That's a drop in skill level for sure, but it led to a better run of form and ultimately they won the treble. Sometimes you have to move past pure talent in search of a proper team fit. And on top of that, if his sale allows us to be more flexible in acquiring new players, all the better.

You can imagine Tonali and Bruno working together so well. So much tactical versatility because both can do so many things. Both love to pass and move, love to make themselves available, combine that with the physicality of Joelinton, there won't be many that can compete with us in the middle of the park.

We look incredible considering how early this is in preseason and who's not actually out there.