AyeDubbleYoo

Anyone got a pic from the first one?

Doesn't mean he didn't want to come though, just was basically in a win-win situation where if he didn't get a move now he'll get a slightly better one (for him personally) later.

Didn't our top brass try very hard to buy Guehi?

Gabriel and Saliba are the most similar statistically apparently.

I wouldn't expect any player to move for any reason other than they want to and it's a good deal for them. It's the job of the club to find that sale if they want a player out. That said, in American sports it seems like you just get told you're getting traded and you're moving from Miami to Detroit

Do you mean Phil Mitchell? FWIW I don't see Howe as a brown drinker either. Maybe a nice glass of wine.

I don’t think we’ve been prioritising a RW for that long TBH. We the fans have, but we the club have had other priorities for most of that time. Because RW is the position with the two Mike Ashley players it looks worse than it is.

This is what I thought we were doing with Guehi TBH. Complimenting some great moves to underrated or unusually available players (Bruno, Isak, Gordon) with a move for someone of proven quality in a position we really need. Felt like just a solid evolution of the plan, of course a shame that we didn’t get the deal done in the end. I think we’re suffering a bit with recency bias and concluding we’ve always spent too much on proven players, which IMO isn’t a fair assessment of the work done since the takeover.

Shock

While dropping the occasional massive fee on someone to add proven quality.

Literally never crossed my mind that we overpaid for Tonali or Gordon. Isak maybe, but then he’s now one of the best forwards in world. Out transfer business since the takeover has been excellent. I’d much rather buy those players and sell Anderson and Minteh. That’s what Minteh was signed for. Of course I want less of a panic in June.

Did I miss Eddie's prima donna outburst?

Wonder if he negotiated a clause that he doesn’t have to attend training.

I think the main problem is there's nowhere else for us to play, therefore only small extensions are feasible which won't be big enough to warrant the hassle.

We pulled Isak, Bruno, Botman and Tonali from somewhere. Even Gordon wasn’t really a proven PL player and was seriously undervalued. We’ve actually never really made a signing like Guehi, which is why I thought it was a solid plan for a position we needed to cover for a decade. Rather than reflection of our normal approach to signings.

I can’t be bothered to work that out but the point is we have made some brilliant signings from abroad.

But I mean, under Howe we have signed plenty from abroad. Did he not want Botman, Bruno and Isak?

What did he say? Didn’t see it.

Do we really believe that Howe is stupid enough to expect or demand a level of control that probably doesn’t exist at any top-level club? Surely he knows enough to work within a modern football setup, he’s a smart young manager.

I’m sure they will, that was always going to be needed.

Yeah, so many good attacks in that period would involve a raking pass from him. From what I remember anyway. Pragmatic rather than negative player I would say, didn't care about being fancy but did take advantage of opportunities when they came along.

Batty is underrated.

Seeing a half empty stadium for a CL game would be quite something. I wouldn’t have gone if Newcastle charged that.

I know he hasn’t been found guilty but surely it’s extremely risky to have someone playing who might be fixing things.

I wish we wouldn't do it, but it's in response to away fans. They sing 'no noise from the Saudi boys' and we reply with that. Still stupid like.