Lotus

In the absence of meaningful games, transfer speculation becomes an emotive experience.

Tbf, we all have an incredibly limited perspective of actual goings on and we all like to entertain ourselves by filling the gaping holes of information by what we can only surmise and this is done largely dependent upon our mood at the time.

I really hope the more likely scenario is that we’ve bid around £35-40M as the initial payment with the rest spread out. Leicester have rejected the initial terms.

Hey, hope it all works out in a manageable way. All the best with it.

I don’t remotely believe that we’re bidding £35M in a structured deal as Hope says. Maybe £35M upfront and then rest spread out over a couple of years.

According to the Dortmund subreddit, Bild is absolute shite for transfer rumours. Not being a German speaker I can’t corroborate that by comparing them to other sources but Bild’s reputation on there is pretty poor. At least where Dortmund are concerned anyway. I tHink it’s the speculated price that makes me suspicious.

Comparing Brandt with Maddison is not a bad shout. Are you sure he’s available though? And for less than they paid for him? I’d be dubious about that…..

Yeah, if he was a player who could really sprint and relied on it this would be bad news.

Good post and I agree. Its fair for us to wonder, in case any of us can shed some light on it, why we pulled the money this way instead of that. So far though, none of us seems quite sure but at least some different ideas are being thrown about which is healthy.

I would think it’s perfectly legitimate to at least ask why, if we’re owned (in the majority) and one would think financed by PIF why we would be taking a bank loan for cash flow. I’m not saying it’s necessarily indicative of anything any of us propose but is at least worthy of discussion, is it not? And, just because our new owners have definitely talk the talk so far, let’s have our eyes open. I read lots and lots of posts saying the Saudis won’t settle for 2nd best, etc. That may be so but, let’s just temper our excitement with the actual evidence of what they do rather than our dreams of what they might do. From my own POV football has been horribly f**ked by sugar daddies but given that it is so, I hope we go mad with it. I really do. The game in total has been ruined anyway.

Is Bompeter making any particularly outrageous observations here? Reads a little like people are just trying to shout down a dissenting voice from an established narrative that we’re loaded now. Must fully admit to knowing nothing about accounting or money in general but it does seem like Bompeter has made some points here that are worthy of open minded discussion. ah wel…..npw….

If you took away his pace he isn’t much of a footballer imo. Hasn’t got a soft 1st touch which I think is detrimental to a forward’s game. Also rarely hits a ball cleanly in game situations. Personally, I watched loads of him when he was at Leipzig and wasn’t much impressed. That doesn’t make me a football oracle or owt, just my tuppence.

I’d really like us to have someone with a decent turn of pace and a great engine to protect the back 4. That aside, Shelley’s touch and passing range is absolute quality. If only he was a bit better tactically and really knew what space to occupy to deter the opposition he’d be very very useful indeed. I don’t think he’s slower than Fabinho and probably as strong, they might even have a similar range of passing but Fabinho just holds the position better. It’s the little movements I think. The steps here and there that actually put the opposition off from trying to pass through you. It’s probably too late in Shelvey’s career to learn that tbh. Still, you never know, he might have an epiphany and transform.

They should plow all the Zaha money into getting Almiron.

If the offer is good enough then I’m sure the club will let him go and put the funds elsewhere. He’s PL proven and a good age. £££

Ryan Fraser obvs…..

That’s a redundant thing to say because all of your players are always great all of the time ?

Kind of like some English attitudes due to our standing in the world some 100 years ago. ManU fans are damaged by a form of Sports Imperialism.

Tbf, I know a few ManU fans (doesn't make them indicative of a wider group but...) every one of their players are always nothing less than brilliant, can rise to excellent or literally the Best In The World but never less than brilliant and all of their managers are also outstanding. They are still (apparently) packed with players who would walk into any other team in the world and always have the absolute perfect manager for the upcoming season. I think it's a hangover from being so dominant unto 10 years ago.

Shelvey always looks guilty of something..

On the subject of Botman. If he’s that progressive of a passer perhaps he’ll start with Lascelles. He’s a better athlete than Schar, vastly inferior footballer but does he need to be that much better if Botman is the main distributor from the back?

We had some games last season during our run where the points accrued didn’t really reflect the game imo. Games like Leeds and Southampton to name just 2. If those were both draws no one would’ve complained. So we nicked a few points. I know we lost at Chelsea when perhaps a draw would’ve been fair but, I think we got away with a few more than got away from us. I wouldn’t expect that to continue. We have to treat this next season as it’s own thing and not a continuation of the he last. Other teams have strengthened and they’ve also had the opportunity to play us and understand us a little bit. I fully predict it will be harder next season. Hopefully we’ll improve the he squad some more and with a good preseason we’ll look to mitigate that. Right now we look like a mid table team to me. If we sign more quality starting players then that will creep up.

Didn't he a lot on the left wing for Leverkusen? I thought that's where he set up most of Havertz's goals from? Anyway, yes, probs best in a 3. No where good enough defensively to be in a midfield 2. Tbh, he's very much an "Arsenal' type player if you know what I mean. Can be great in games but won't necessarily influence the season.

If that's a genuine price then I would say yes. He certainly has his problems though. He has some great skill but also has some pretty serious brain farts. Is also (oddly) appalling at trying to control the ball if he's facing the pass (mostly if his back is to goal). If he's on the turn he's awesome.