kingxlnc

They genuinely have a midtable XI now. Could push for top 10 next year as the team gels etc.

It's a shame as Neves would be a great purchase for us instead of Alvarez

I do think we need two 'big' players. The lack of depth is alamrming and Howe's all-action style will have injuries. Right now, we have no Joelinton replacement, no Bruno replacement, and no real Pope replacement (if Dubravka goes). And Almiron/Fraser needs upgrading. So a Haidara/Sangare quality mid, alongside a Pulisic level RW is the minimum requirement. A Joao Pedro / Kone pair of 20 year olds who can be called on would be great too and would pad out the squad nicely.

I'd add Lewis to that in the sense I don't mind when I see his name in the starting XI - I know he is decent enough and young enough to still contribute. I'd also now add Anderson and Willock. Lascelles is 'ok' too, for now. That's 21 out of the 25 man squad. So we're four short of having quality depth. One high quality ST, one RW, one CM and one GK would change the game for us and give us the strength in depth to achieve our goals.

I didn't mean you personally, I meant in general the wider furore that Saudi (and previously UAE) had gotten for oil and "sportswashing" whereas Chelsea never got anything of the sort even though it's proven with Abramovich selling the club his ties to Putin's (also murderous) regime (and he is linked to Israel, too who have horrible human rights issues). The US have got a despicable record with human rights, ditto China. Man City were previously owned by the Thai PM who also has huge controversies. These things never come up - I do understand PIF being linked to the national government whereas the others are private owners but no private owner becomes wealthy in those countries without links to high ranking officials / governement / royalty etc. Basically, it's all corrupt so it's selective outrage. You can find something to be offended at for anything if you look at it deep enough. Why are we not offended at the porn barons owning West Ham for how this corrupts morality and has eroded the fabric of society?

I saw a good thing on Twitter, showing PSG having a brown and white away kit in the colours of Qatar, Chelsea having a Russian colours away kit, Leicester having a Thailand flag away kit. It's pretty standard stuff - can't help but think it's based on racism, to be honest. Commercially it absolutely makes sense, it's not that big a deal and we've actually had those colours in an away kit before so it's not exactly breaking precedent.

It's because of exactly this why everyone has been begging for Paqueta. The versatility would have been perfect for our thin on quality squad. With Bruno out he would have been the 'door opener'. With Wilson out, he could play as false 9 instead of Wood so ASM and Miggy have more movement around them. And when Bruno / Isak / Wilson are back he could play with Bruno and Joe in an amazingly high quality midfield threading through chances for Isak and Wilson to finish. Everyone could see it, that's why there was so much clamour and thought porn. I can't think of one single attainable player that could have 'completed' this team's gaps as much as him.

Forest do look like they have some depth though, the subs they can call upon are all decent. I think there’s defo three weaker teams for sure

With Barca issues and registrations etc could they bring in Dest on loan as cover? As he’s 21 he won’t need to be registered either? And good for him to learn from Trippier

Worrying.

Naturally with an improving team that is getting rid of the mediocrity it’s a sliding scale, so he’s now in Clark and Gayle territory whereas he was passable this time last year as there were bigger priorities. Him, Ritchie, Dummett, Darlow and Shortstaff are the next on the chopping block.

Imagine if Isak becomes an Henry type in terms of how he adapts to the PL, it would be our Aguero. Bruno is Silva. Botman is Kompany. Pope is Hart. Trippier is Zabaleta. Now we just need our Toure to have the foundations in place for a period of success.

As PSV got knocked out of CL - could go for Sangare, or even Gakpo for RW. Maybe they'd be open to it now.

This is their Payet replacement. Worth the wait, to be fair. We signed our Bellamy, now we need the Robert (Diaby / Maddison) please.

Let’s hope this is Demba Ba part 2, West Ham get relegated and we sign him on a free.

Have to say I had hope til the very end for this one. Probably the most painful one we’ve missed out on, especially given how transformative he would be to our play and the fact he’s gone to West Ham so was very attainable.

Someone @ Yasir please asap for a last minute hijack

Mehrdad is in London today, interestingly... As are Paqueta's representatives...

I think Paqueta will turn them down he's waiting to see if one of the big boys come in. He was disappointed with Lyon finishing 8th last season apparently so he wants to play at a higher level. West Ham I can't see them going past their ceiling of the past few years. Might be last season they play in Europe for a while. I can see Spurs or Liverpool coming in, maybe even Man City. I do hold out hope that we'll come in last minute though. Honest question - if the choice was only two teams, would he choose us over West Ham, given the two teams' recent past vs potential?

Pardew-esque only signing 6 ft 3 or above

Henderson's had a great start at Forest, looks like a very good keeper tbh but not the best team player, would expect to be no.1 wherever he goes

Lascelles is least of our worries. I was more shocked Dummett is still around and he started ahead of Fernandez. Lascelles is as good a 4th choice as you can get at PL level. Plus his mentality is great for the group, he deserves to be part of a winning group. What has happened to Fede - can't even remember the last time he played now?

Nottingham Forest linked with Paqueta now

Ledley King