Minhosa

He seems happy to sacrifice himself for the benefit of NUFC's negotiating position every time

They've done well to get that much back for him in fairness.

Didn't they originally sign him for quite a bit more than that?

Haven't followed the thread at all tbh. If you've been saying the same then yes, apologies for repeating.

Is there anyone keeping a rough and ready tracker on PSR position?

Aye - it's the wider window spend I'd be interested in with Elanga, Thiaw etc. Would be great if the profit on Isak covered the vast majority of our window but that's wishful thinking perhaps...

That will come I think.

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it but he looked much wider across the shoulders on Monday night - looks like he's been hitting the gym a bit in pre-season. His long throws seem a new asset too. What a great buy this guy has been.

I'd be interested to know where we stand if we sell him for circa £140m. I'm sure I read somewhere that, after amortisation, Sociedads sell-on fee etc we'd clear something like £80m profit from that sort of fee. Not sure how far that £80m profit would go towards our PSR compliance with the money we've already spent plus A.N Other forward to come in as well as JSL or Wissa.

He didn't. He was effectively dismissed. I was told by someone very close to his family that he lost the power battle with Howe and there was no love lost between them. His only supporter at NUFC was Eales. The person who knows his family had very little positive to say about them and him in particular.

I've not been following the PSR side of things at all this summer so forgive me, but if we do end up signing JSL for circa £60m, whats our current PSR position looking like? Surely, we'd not be far off having to sell an Isak or a fellow purple to balance the books in future windows, if not now?

IF we keep him fit, Eddie gets him in the England squad.

Wonder if Sevilla end up wanting to keep him, whether we can 'PSR' him again for the purposes of a new signing from them?

@Froggywho’s gonna be your pen taker this season?

Brighton supporting mate of mine said he’s better than Caicedo was for them.

Certainly can't argue with that and it's perhaps more the standard of player we're employing these days as well. Most of the signings we've made, Burn aside, have probably known they were going to have a highly succesful career in football since they were teenagers and there's a self-assurance that they have a pre-defined career path in many ways to the top. I look at the likes of Isak, Botman, Hall, livra and most of the others and think they'll have known they were going to play at a high level from the off, injuries aside. Mikel Merino was one of the first players that really made it hit home for me. A career pro willing to go wherever would help him on his way to the top.

I think that Guiu fella will be a really good loan signing for them. Huge presence, mobile and with a point to prove. He's their best pick up imho, even more so than a declining Xhaka.

Just on this player attachment thing. I think players have wised up quite a bit over the last few years in how they conduct themselves. For every Bruno and Joelinton (who are fairly open with their appreciation of the club/area/fans) you've got a Botman, Tino or Isak. Even Tonali pleaded the fifth when asked whether he preferred the San Siro or SJP last week. Historically, says ten years ago, I think the player would've played the popularity card nine times out of ten. I do feel we've got plenty of players who are very obviously going through the motions of doing their best for their current employer before moving on to their next (they'll hope, better paying..). Perhaps it's just me being cynical or getting older and seeing it for what it actually is but it would be nice to have a few players who are 'all in' old school style. That's probably impossible though given its very much a two way street and clubs will happily pump off players who'd sign their lives away to stay local - see the Longstaffs and Elliott Anderson for recent examples.

I also suggested Dibling ages ago too as I think he fits the purchasing model perfectly. I presume they preferred Elanga.

Yep - same with the much-heralded Champions League qualification. Because, you can bet your bottom dollar, that if we'd narrowly missed out on the CL, the whole fucking world would have been saying 'Isak wants to play CL' or 'They're not playing at the top level euro competition, so they were always going to struggle to attract top players' and everyone would have swallowed it. All this summer has proven is that players will go where the money is. Full stop. Nothing else matters.

The only sympathy I have for him is that we've made it clear for a while that we value him at circa £150m levels which is superstar money. Yet we haven't been paying him superstar wages. I'm not sure you can have one without the other and I suspect thats what him and his agent were talking to the club about before Mitchell arrived and shitcanned any goodwill into the long grass. His behaviour since that rebuttal from the baldy bouncer has been fucking diabolical though so my sympathy starts to run out pretty quickly. It does raise the wider question of our model of buying from that tier below elite level; What happens when they get really fucking good and we can't afford to pay them what the Legacy 6 will? I presume, at that point, we needed to have been proactive during the players upward curve in performances and try to offer them as good as possible terms with ambitious release clauses - something which would have resolved this Isak thing last year in all likelihood.

I think we might go for Mainoo. Not ITK at all but he ticks all of our previous transfer philosophy's boxes. Young, huge potential, big financial upside potentially and a motivated seller.

The club clearly didn't allow for the Isak shitshow this summer and are therefore on the back foot in many respects. If the profit from Isak ends up being circa £85m, I'd be gutted to spaff much of that away on the likes of Jackson, Watkins or the likes. I can totally see how each have their merits, PL ready, CL ready, internationals with a guarantee of goals etc but this would be so reactionary and the total opposite of our purchasing model since the takeover. Ever since the takeover, the transfer policy has been to buy players who are currently just below that elite tier and look to develop them. Isak being a perfect example but there are plenty of others. This, coupled with the opportunistic targetting of 'high ceiling' younger players, such as Hall, Tino and Gordon has been a real recipe for success when you add in the brilliant coaching and development staff in place under Eddie. Whilst I can see they're clearly wanting a few 'oven ready' players given the PL & CL demands of this coming season, I'd hate to throw the baby out with the bathwater in response to Isak chucking his toys out of the pram. For me, given we've pretty much blown out this summer in trying to apply the normal methodology for a replacement forward, with the likes of Ekitike, Sesko etc, I would seek to protect the profit from the Isak deal and do the following: - Sell Isak (purely because I think that ship has sailed and he's now beyond toxic) Buy - Guehi @ £45m - Wissa @ £40m - Mainoo @ £50m - DCL @ £0m When you then add in Elanga @ £55m and Ramsdale @ £4m you come up with a total spend of £190m less the money received for Longstaff (£12m) and Dubravka (£2m) and the sales of Kelly (£20m) and Miggy (£8m) from January, the net spend lands at £152m. We've then essentially banked the Isak profit for the next few windows where, almost certainly, we'll have better options for that striker market and we can invest using our normal methodology rather than panic buy a depreciating asset like Watkins. DCL, on say a 2 year deal, and Wissa would both be considered 'out of model' or 'out the normal criteria range' but they buy us the thinking time and allow a new Sporting Director to settle into his role where he'll have a very healthy budget to spend in the coming windows. Mainoo, I think, will be a target as he ticks every box of our usual buying style and, the closer we get the window closing, the more desperate Man Utd will be to do a deal given they've not banked much and probably spent more than they'd like on both Mbeumo and Sesko. He could be one to watch imho. I'd caveat all of this by saying that if a striking target becomes available who is either just below that elite tier with potential, or a young player with a high ceiling then my approach would change but, in the long term interests of the club, I think they should stick rigidly to the previously successful model rather than react to the Isak strop with a short term fix which brings medium term problems. Come the close of the window, we'd be a much more balanced and improved squad but, importantly, with major potential to kick on in future windows: Ramsdale > Dubravka Guehi > Kelly Mainoo > Longstaff Elanga > Miggy Wissa < Isak DCL = Wilson If we end up with Thiaw instead of Guehi then that net spend figure ends up closer to £137m which is roughly what I was anticipating pre-window anyway.

Yep

I think he’d do a cracking job in the media when his career is over. Really intelligent and articulate lad.