brummie

Sorry for the late reply. Very likely. He was superb last season, and Emery clearly loves him.

I think the room for mistakes at the top end of the table is very, very limited, and it doesn't take much for a couple of missteps for a club to start sinking and someone else to take their place. West Ham could easily do that. Lopetegui is a good manager, but he's a pretty dour one, as Wolves found out last season. I wonder how they'll like his style, what with their vomit inducing 'Academy of Football' or whatever it is they call themselves

Nah, preseason innit, all about fitness. Nobody cares about the result. Plus Martinez, Konsa, Watkins and, errr, Duran, not out there. Played our third choice keeper in one of the games. Diego Carlos still looks shit, is my main learning.

Honestly as if we would sell Watkins and buy Lukaku.

Chiesa is fucked since his injury.

See my post in that Other Clubs' Transfers thread. You really need to start generating home grown players for profit, that is where you get options.

Rumours you have outbid West Ham for Jhon Duran. Although he's been social media posting photos of himself doing that wanky West Ham crossed arms / hammers thing tonight. The guy is such an utter bell end.

The reason we are managing to live within the fiscal controls is because we've employed people behind the scenes who absolutely know exactly what they are doing. Monchi is one of the best in Europe at this. Not infallible, nobody is, but they have put a triangle of Emery, Monchi and Vidagany to work together as the football brains of the club - they're very tight knit, both with each other and also with Sawiris, the most involved of our two owners. Under Lerner or - shudder - Tony Xia, we'd have walked straight off a cliff with PSR rules, they were clueless, but this lot absolutely know what they are doing. re buying back young players, we've only actually done that with Philogene. With Cameron Archer, that article in the Telegraph is wrong, we sold him but with a clause they pay 9m up front, but if they get relegated they sent him back gratis and didn't have to pay the rest. We then negotiated his salary with his agent should he come back to us, which is what has happened - all set up to cover every eventuality. So we've trousered 9m for a one season loan. But it wasn't us triggering the move, it was all in his contract and automatic if they went down. People go on about our spending but usually overlook things like us raising lots of money on homegrown players. 100m Grealish, 20m Chukwemeka, 19m Kellyman, 14m Aaron Ramsey, 9m Iroegbunam in the last few years. Grealish was a big hole to fill, yes, but Iroegbunam and Kellyman was almost 30m for two players who had played a couple of hours first team football between them. We've also done a deal to move Luiz on (prob the least impactful of all the valuable players if we had to sell one of them) for a decent chunk of money PLUS two players in positions where we could do with options. We've just sold Diaby (inconsistent all season) and probably Duran too. Those three players will fetch close to 110 million (plus Iling Jr and Barrenechea coming to us) in total. Again, Duran a player who is clearly a nutter, but a 25m profit in 12 months. Annoys me reading amateur accountants on twitter going on about us risklng breaking the rules when all they've done is point at Onana and say "how come they can afford him?" - because we also sell a lot of players too. We've understood that no matter how much money you have, there are rules to live within, and you have to horse trade to get the best you can for the squad within the existing rules.

There's a reason we are happy to sell him despite him actually doing well last season. He's a problem in the dressing room. John McGinn suggested this in an interview, and Emery has also hinted at it. I posted this here before but apparently, prior to leaving the house he was renting, he threw a party there and literally trashed the place - holes kick in walls, light fittings ripped out. Honestly, to a man our fans will be glad to see him go. Emery is not open to any fucking about of that type at all. Paying £14m for him and getting a decent 20m plus profit sounds like a no-brainer.

adds *checks post* M-E-N-A-C-E to list of the doomed.

First time I've seen that. Absolutely spot on. Good old Ozzy and Geezer.

Disclaimer: I only ever buy vintage shirts, because I am a man of a certain age and, well, that's the way I choose to live my life. However, that new home shirt is properly lovely. Shade of claret (often wrong), bang on. Blue, bang on. Unfussy. You think that sounds like no big deal, you wear two colours, black and white. You can't get those wrong. Other colours, you can, and a lot of our kits have done. It is the best one we've had in years, since the Nike early days. Considering the Adidas deal was done late, too, I'm impressed. Happy the kids get what they want for their fortnight in Malia, and we've left the Lonsdale / Slazenger bargain bin days of Castore and *gags* Macron behind.

The phrase "head is turned" is so fucking patronising.

Right back plus another option up front (assuming Duran goes, which tbh, I hope he does)

Bailey having such an insanely good season at RW last year (see my previous posts on here about how Bailey was the only player Emery hadn't improved - how wrong is it possible to be) is a big part of why we are ok with Diaby leaving. It meant that Diaby had to play more centrally, and he struggled in that role. We couldn't make Bailey and Diaby in the same side work, which massively influences the decision re Diaby.

I was hugely surprised when we sold Philogene last summer, he had such a great pre-season. Good to see we're not too proud to go and buy him back again through the clause in his contract (and exploiting the 30% sell-on fee, with it being to ourselves to lower the fee). Impressed Emery has no problem admitting they were wrong.

Random observation, because it isn't a transfer, but it is 'other club', and let's revisit this post in May, but I am calling it now, Morgan Rogers is going to have a fucking insanely good season.

none at all. i think there’s zero chance we’d sell him.

He was pretty average last season. it was also hard to have him in the same side as Bailey. if he wants to go to Saudi, that says a lot about where his head is. bought for 35 plus add ons, sold a year later for 25 profit. I’d take the money. Duran is a promising kid but he’s clearly trouble off the pitch hence Emery and Monchi moving him on. That will be at least 20m profit again. We shifted two kids with a couple of hours first team experience between them for almost £30m. Kellyman we bought from Derby’s academy for 600k two years ago and sold to Chelsea for 19m Our business this summer has been spectacular. I am so impressed by the joined up thinking, we have strengthened and massively improved our PSR position. We are all over the raising funds side. More strength, more depth, PSR problems gone, money in the bank and it’s only the middle of July.

I thought the days of top flight managers leaving club jobs to take the England job were over.

They are, and I don't know about Liverpool and Arsenal, but re Guardiola, City have an enormous, slick off-pitch management organisation in place to support their manager. Even they, with literally unending money, saw the importance of building a big structure to support the team. One of the first things their new owners did was go out and take chunks of Barcelona's management structure and build around it.

Can’t see that happening. For a start, he’s got a broken foot which was bolted together again, lasted two matches and then broke again.

Thinking of keepers in long trousers has fucking triggered me.

That is him. Absolute clownshoe, looked like he sleeps in bushes, like he was wearing the stuff he wears when he's emulsioning or something. I think that Lee Clamp was even worse. Grealish rolled one in past him from 20 yards at The Sty, and it was genuinely the slowest shot I've ever seen, barely reached the goal line but Clamp - in his fucking jogging bottoms - took about 12 minutes from diving to hitting the ground, nowhere near it.

I understand why people use them, but I think the easy interest free route may lead some people, particularly the young, into dangerous levels of debt. Oh, no, hang on.