AyeDubbleYoo

According to The Times, Chelsea are looking to loan Scott Parker to cover for the loss of Essien.

We better not sell Cheik like. :-[

He's good IMO, not brilliant but sound enough and young enough to improve. He already has improved significantly. Continuity of the back four will also benefit us.

If he plays well, and got noticed by the top clubs, being offered a lucrative contract, why would he stay here? If he doesn't play well, he could still join those clubs by asking for lower wages. That's why in my opinion 'he's absolutely set on leaving no matter what", and we should sell him ASAP --- but unfortunately we can't find a buyer and he may not agree to move. Yes, very true, I thought that as I was posting actually. I guess one possibility is that he becomes genuinely attached to his new better teammates and wants to carry on the NUFC project. I know that's unlikely in modern football. If he gets a Spain call up then maybe the bigger club thing won't be so important. Again, a big assumption.

Possibly, I guess we also have some dodgy cover for RB as well in the form of the Taylor twins, but I wouldn't want to be seeing them play there much.

I hope not, but I can see that happening. No backup at LB or RB would be terrifying like.

That said, I think the top clubs are kinda correct that they didn't rate Jose's defensive abilities and passing skills. His 1 on 1 defending is excellent but his positioning and awareness are quite poor imo. For me everything about his defending is absolutely fine, if not brilliant, except when he gets square on to his man and can't turn nimbly enough. When people try to beat him for pace he devours them, but there were a few cases last season when a tricky player skinned him just by dropping the shoulder and changing direction.

True enough Dave, I still don't think most of the rest of the world realise how good he is. If we have to, I would accept him playing out the final year of his deal TBH. If he does really well, maybe gets a Spain call up, and we get into the Europa League (a lot of maybes I know) then he might even decide to stick around. Obviously if a massively successful club comes for him then he will go rather than resign, but they haven't so far. The only thing is if he's absolutely set on leaving no matter what, in which case we should sell him ASAP.

Oh aye, all the power is in his hands basically, that's what happens when a quality player reaches this point in their contract. TBF to him he has worked hard, played well, and earned himself this position.

That tweet doesn't seem like he's whinging to me, he's just mocking the excessive amounts of links with other clubs.

You don't need a visa for a holiday though do you? There's that visa waiver programme for UK citizens. I guess to go and play football you need to be able to 'work' in the country. Dunno like.

Just got the QPR email newsletter... they describe Boothroyd as an "england ace".

As much as I would hate to see him go, it looks like we should be actively looking to peddle him ASAP to maximise his value and get a replacement in.

Agree SM as well, though I would rather loan Ranger (chuckle) and keep Lua Lua.

1 is clearly the hottest.

Man, will this fire sale never end?

He recently signed a 5 year contract, he can't move move for another 5 years at least Tooshay.

Ah right, kind of a fair point I suppose.

I don't understand, how is this anything to do with the club?

There's no indication we're even thinking about selling Tiote. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

I've thought exactly the same thing, thanks for being brave enough to speak out.

It's only meaningless if Spurs can't resist the money. If they can the power is all theirs.

Kitbag still only have the French away kit in kid's sizes, weird.

I thought the same, he was on a decent bit of form at that time.