Mattoon

I don't think the reports are suggesting the plan is to move him on, the plan is to remove the poison from our preparations until such a time as some kind of agreeable outcome has been reached, which includes either being sold for an acceptable price and replaced or a commitment from Isak for another season with an improved contract and a door out the club next summer. Liverpool can low ball us all they like, it will be another short, sharp, unequivocal NO.

After 2 years of keeping our powder dry, there's zero chance that the fee we paid for Elanga is our total PSR headroom, add to that the sales we've made and there's a lot more there to spend yet. I've said it a lot of times in this thread but Isak goes nowhere unless we get two strikers in and he doesn't get sold for anything less than our valuation. The silence around him right now speaks volumes, the club are working hard to bring him back into the fold.

Jackson is a pressing monster and perfect foil for Howe's brand of football, having said that he can't hit a barn door and what's the point in a striker that doesn't know where the net is? There's still better options out there for a similar price, Chelsea will have us over a barrel, it feels like a large chunk of PSR to go backwards.

We really need to pull something out the bag in the next 8 days or we're in for a long and painful slog of a season and an embarrassment on the European stage, Howe will have us competing to the best of our ability but without the bodies needed he can't create miracles. To see names such as McGinn, Thiaw and Jackson is a real anticlimax and feels like a backwards step, I know we need bodies but at the same time I feel like we're getting them for the sake of getting them and instead of kicking on we're treading water while the legacy clubs are all jumping on jet skis. What an utterly depressing and dispiriting off season this has turned out to be. We need a big win to lift spirits and we need one before the season starts.

I think we're looking at budget cover in CM and possibly CB because we want to go big on a striker and may need to consider getting two and we're looking to budget accordingly, plus its about raising the floor rather than the ceiling now we've gotten rid of some deadwood. We definitely don't need to sell to buy, certainly not this summer, I don't know how many times it has to be repeated, we can speculate now and recoup later.

I'm glad a lot of you aren't in charge of the squad, bin Isak off, he's burnt his bridges, don't want him here, just get rid?!? Why would we kibosh an entire season because of one player and a rival club? Madness. Idc what kind of mood he's in, we get 2 strikers in and he can go if we get a big enough fee, anything else he stays.

Just tragic

For the sake of my sanity and the drywall in my house we need to make some progress in the transfer window this week.

I don't think that's a fair assumption, I wasn't adamant it was happening but I had some confidence in it, whatever has gone on behind the scenes has clearly gazumped his own national press who were also under the impression he was coming here. So I'm not sure the gloating is any help.

But if he stays he will come back to the fold, yes we might have to start the season with Gordon and Osula but it's better than a whole season without a striker. But of course you're right it's not just about our options, we can't allow Liverpool to get what they want after the way they've acted, I'd even sell for less so they don't get him now.

If the Sesko deal goes predictably South I hope we go all in on Ramos or Samu, none of this Watkins or Jackson crap, they're a sticky plaster on a mains leak.

If the choices are unhappy striker or no striker at all is it even a choice? No amount of money or unhappiness can substitute going into a new season with 4 competitions and around 50 games with Osula as our only option, no one is that stupid.

I feel you, it has completely taken the shine off what was an epic season for us, dispiriting and depressing and I can only imagine how those in the club feel right now. We need a big win and a few to follow or it's going to be a tough watch.

You only have to watch that YouTube video that was posted a few days ago about how the pasta nonce runs his "empire" to realise there's no tin foil needed, he posts what he gets paid to post.

The sooner some obscure European, Saudi or US team snap up DCL, the better, I'm sick of seeing that crocks name, there's a reason he's still available on a free, he's relegation fodder.

Isak has made us pivot for sure, but let's not beat around the bush, we lurched from one failed transfer to the next before he threw his toys out the pram, I'd argue that our perceived impotence in the market was the touch paper for his actions. I don't blame the club entirely, however we've known about Eales and Mitchell for some time and failed to act before the transfer window opened and have left ourselves short in a department that requires skills that those who have stepped into position don't have. For me the ramifications of this failure have extremely long lasting effects and its not just about the current playing and coaching staff, uts about the gravitas of our "project" which will be a hard sell in future windows.

There's no price we could accept to be going into a new season with Osula, it's suicide.

This is it for me, there's a few at it, begrudgingly talking about us when it looks like we might be in charge of a situation, with a small footnote and then when the table turns they're incessantly posting about the cartel. Even when it was 50/50 we seemed to be a footnote to the main crux of the story.

Is it stupid to think all these reports are just "Manchester United believe" and nothing from the actual Sesko camp? We all know these reporters shill for the cartel. I just want a decision for this fiasco today. This has been a tumultuously draining and demoralising summer, we've been kegged in front of the world and the Saudis have been besmirched for all to see, quite the eye opener. The club needs to wake up as we're hurtling towards a difficult watch this season that could have ramifications beyond league finish. Questions will be asked by anyone with a modicum of self interest and ambition, players and indeed even Howe.

Maybe if they keep spending billions in about 5 years or so they could be I suppose.

Where's the off button on this thing? I've had enough now!

Sir Jimmy laying off kit men as we speak

100% Howe will believe he can rectify this situation and I fully trust his ability to do so if that's what he chooses, fwiw I think he will unless a crazy offer comes in. However, he always keeps his cards close to his chest and there's no way he'd let on he was done with him because that would weaken our hand immeasurably.

I'm still in the camp that he's going nowhere this summer, even if we do get Sesko

There's no way that pif allow this to happen under any terms but our own, their perceived image is the most important thing to them and this would be a massive show of weakness and essentially an admission of being less than. I still think Isak stays, I don't think the perpetual victims pony up the cash required to sign him and Eddie, Yasir and Jamie will talk Isak off the ledge with an improved contract and some kind of get out next summer if he still wants it. This is far from irreparable, we still hold all the cards and the Sesko deal is a statement if we pull it off. Maybe I'm delusional but I still see us bringing in another 2 or 3 behind Sesko and having a very competitive starting 11 with the best bench we've seen since pif took over.