Conjo

Not that it really changes the point of your post, but at the time of his signing it was reported as a loan with obligation to buy, wasn't it? It was only once our injury situation started and he still wasn't getting a sniff that rabblerabblerabble emerged about it.

Joined us because he didn't get the game time he wanted at Dortmund. Don't blame him for leaving when he didn't get game time after coming back from his back(?) injury. Don't think he wanted to leave necessarily, but he wanted to play. Went on to bigger and better things so good choice.

He's really not. Just not as good as his initial record with Man Utd indicates. Don't think he would be able to get the team as it is now promoted, but he would still be a coup for Sunderland if they got him imo.

If he only misses Chelsea & Man City it's not a big issue. Probably do him good with a short period out to rest so he can better help us finish the season on a high. Tino with two motm performances coming up.

Maybe it's enough to put him in L7

Without reading it, I assume it's: 1. Buy young talent cheap 2. Loan out cheap young talent 3. Talent performs well at loaning club 4. Sell for big profit & FFP gains

I would much rather keep them both as LWs to have quality cover, and get a new RW in the summer. Both Gordon and Barnes thrives on cutting inside, which they won't be able to do nearly as good on their weaker foot.

Reasonable compromise from both sides if true, if the reports on where the club and Joelinton started off were correct.

Good luck getting any sort of fee for Fraser, Lewis & Hayden. Don't think we'd be able to get anything close to what we paid for Wilson and Targett either considering their injury record (and in Wilsons case age too) and wages.

Exactly. Further to that, it's incredibly naive to think he could do his job anywhere close to properly through sporadic "meet ups with a friend". It's a full time job.

Why do people assume this has anything to do with Ashworth not doing his job? I'd be more concerned if we just gave out contracts for the exact amount of money any agent asked for without challenging it. Joelintons stock is at an all time high, his contract is running out, our general injury problems this season has highlighted how important he is for us and FFP makes it very difficult to replace him - he sits with most of the bargaining tools, its only natural that the club eventually would have to move more towards his demands than their own valuation of Joelinton in order to retain him.

Kane Gordon Foden Saka Rice Bellingham Seems the obvious choice to me. But then I am massively biased. Wouldn't mind if Gordon wasn't picked for selfish reasons though.

It's like a mouse I think Bless

The more I see of Minteh the more I think he'd be a great fit to take over for Murphy or Almiron next season. A lot of the class wingers out there lack maybe the most important trait that is required of ours - work rate and pressing, which Minteh does great in addition to being athletic and good in front of goal. It would obviously also allow us to focus more on other positions that would be nice to strengthen. If it's too early for him, it seems, from the admittedly little I've seen, that Chiesa would be a great fit too. I don't see the likes of Diaby, Olise and Leao applying themselves the way Gordon, Almiron and Murphy does (too early to tell for Barnes). If Howe changes the system which allows one of our wingers more freedom and less defensive running it would be a different matter, but I don't see that happening in the immediate future.

We're only joint 5th together with Bournemouth, Brighton and Burnley in the injury table now. Howe out.

We don't know if Hall will be here next season. Livramento is a right back. Targett has been injured for a year.

In order to compete for the league title, a CL, EL, EC spot? I don't see us having 3 first team strikers on the books no matter what competitions we play next season. Not with Gordon capable of stepping in as a third choice. Unless we are able to sell Wilson in the summer I can't see us getting another striker full stop but agree it would be naive unless we're better at rotating them (and use Gordon rather than having one of Wilson or Isak playing 90+ minutes if the other is injured). With Tonali coming back from suspension I don't see us getting another midfielder either unless we sell first. I'd like us to challenge for a CL spot next season. Realistically with FFP and all that I'd like to see us: Buy a young big talent good enough to play now to rotate/cover/learn from Schar, preferrably quick. Try to sell Almiron or Murphy and get a top class RW in. A top class left back (or wide CB type like Burn - but a clear upgrade). Other than that, depending on outgoings, that we manage to replace them with better quality.

It would be great if you and others who constantly say we "need" this and that, to clarify what that actually means. We need it in order to achieve what?

9 men minimum behind the ball at all times, hope Garnacho & Rashford can nick a goal on the break. Master tactician ETH.

A blind horse has a better overview.

Opponents will have to start following his offensive runs now that he's shown two games in a row that he can put in dangerous crosses. Previously nobody bothered covering him as none of our players would pass to him even when he got into good positions to cross anyway. Good game yesterday. Neto was hoisting the white flag up from Burns back pocket by halftime and called it quits.

I know there were some on here, myself included, that wasn't overly keen on him at the time, but I do wonder what some of these people think about Gordon now

Haven't really paid attention to Sheffield United at all, so decided to look him up. Came from second division club Lommel SK in the summer. Turns out Lommel was bought by City Group (their ninth club). Lommel initially paid €2.5m for Souza (which I imagine is a hell of a lot of money for a Belgian second division club) only to immediately loan him out for 3 consecutive seasons before selling him for €12,5m. A bit of a deflection from the topic of your post, but how the hell is this allowed? City Group seemingly pumping money into 8 other clubs besides Man City for these clubs to buy talent all around the world, in many cases loaning them out and making profits off them while retaining the possibility to buy the best of these talents like Savio for small fees in order to work around FFP. An owner group or affiliated group should not be allowed to have a stake in another football team anywhere in the world. Full stop. Fifa also needs to do more drastic changes world wide to how loans work.

A full week for Isak, Willock, Anderson & Barnes to build their fitness further, a full week for Gordon and Bruno in particular to recover properly and a full week for Howe to prepare. We'll be able to field both a strong 11 and bench. Everything indicates we're in good shape to win. Please don't Newcastle this game Newcastle.

It looked a bit scrappy when it happened live, and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that the defenders didn't even get a small a touch on the ball for the goal