alexf

Well this is likely to be another shit show. Just need to remember it's only pre-season when arsenal smash in their fifth.

Utterly ridiculous. Modern football can get in the bin. A fucking profit on Joao Felix after barely kicking a ball the last four years. Whole thing is a farce.

Not for me. I always think back to the eras where I enjoyed football the most and it's always when "lesser teams" have great, iconic players in their squad that raise the level of those around them. I hate this hoarding of players and having super squads that the big teams do. It's why I'd be partly ok with some kind of salary cap or whatever so that the best players get shared around the league and it makes the whole thing way more competitive.

Eddie has successfully shifted the blame if he is sold. Essentially saying he wants him to stay but it's out of his hands and the the owners will make the decision. Not that he needed to, that much should be obvious to everyone. Just hope we don't get screwed by PIF though if the rumours of the Al Hilal bid is correct. I just cannot imagine that to be the case. Surely they aren't flogging our best player to their other teams where we don't even get the full PSR benefit.

Just like with Ekitike, there is no scenario where we sign this guy AND keep Isak. Anything stated like that is purely negotiation tactic to avoid low ball bids for Isak. The whole thing is making me nauseous though. Just hating this whole summer window. Was really excited once we got CL aswell thinking it guaranteed one more year of Isak and hopefully significant investment elsewhere. So far it's looking like it will be the opposite.

Yeah that's bullshit about us moving too slow for him this summer if the clause is as they describe. By all accounts we did well to get a fee agreed down from £40m to £27m but it was always under the hope I guess that City didn't want him. I'm still surprised that they do but I guess to them the deal is only costing £13m or so. So even if he doesn't play for them they will know they can flip him for profit.

How galling would it be if City try to include Trafford in the deal . I mean obviously desperate he stays, but if Isak can have his head turned by the promise of higher wages and a "bigger" club with the prospect to win more medals. Then surely Tino being approached by them will be the exact same scenario. Can't be on massive wages having joined from relegated Southampton at the time. However Tino would be the last player that I'd imagine could throw his toys out the pram and "down tools" as everyone assumes Isak is going to do.

Actually thinking about it. I don't believe any or these reports. Basically the media have assumed we need a striker if Isak leaves, have picked him as the best striker available left and have manifested an invented negotiation played out in multiple tweets over the next however many days/weeks. It's win win for them because if we don't sign him they can just say talks broke down and if we do, they can report like they have been in the loop the entire time. Being a sports "journalist" must be such an easy job.

Are there still rumours of Chelsea taking Rogers from them? Would have a similar feeling of smaller clubs put in their place due to PSR although on a smaller financial side than the Isak deal ofcourse.

He didn't chase Ashworth out. By all accounts Ashworth was pushing Man U to go and get Howe to come to them, so hardly seems likely if he was being pushed out of here by Howe.

I was gonna say. I remember the term "slave" being used regularly around that time and he still stayed and won the league on his final year if I remember? So hardly impossible for a player to stay if they want a move. Especially if we think he's a good enough lad to get on with it. Yeah it might be awkward and maybe won't be fully fit for the first few weeks of the season but once the season gets going and we have CL games against a Real Madrid or someone under the lights etc. you telling me he wouldn't default to giving his best performance? I don't agree that it's impossible to keep him if he wants to go because Ronaldo and Suarez etc have set precedent that you can. We need to maximise the fee otherwise he stays simple as that. Absolutely no discount allowed for those scumbags just because they decided to tap up our player.

He was clearly carrying an injury. I'm just as annoyed with him as the next guy for engineering a move now but let's not reinvent history. He was playing injured since even before the cup final. If he had "checked out" then he wouldn't have even bothered playing in the remaining games instead of playing half fit. He would have just saved himself for his new club.

Not to be dramatic but our lineup goes from top 4/5 with Isak to top 10 range without and no replacement. He really is the difference between us and the rest of the pack of Fulham, Bournemouth Forest etc etc. We lose our talisman and aren't able to adequately strength across the rest of the team then we slip back into the pack and lose our status as one of the teams breaking the stranglehold at the top of the league. I have zero confidence we would be able to use whatever money we get to sufficiently recruit. Our current negotiating team have proven they are not up to it this summer.

Yeah I am absolutely dreading any kind of "deal agreed for £120/£130m" I think we would be absolutely robbed for that. The whole narrative going into this summer was that we hold all the power and that if would take a huge bid north of £150m atleast to get to the table and even then was unlikely. I hate that just because he is asking to leave suddenly we would be expected to bend over and take what we can get. Nah as others said I don't get how much power the player now has, if he wants to play, in a world cup year, he gets his head down and still plays. Whether we see a slight drop off in performance or not it would be worth it we were gonna get screwed on the fee anyway. Teams would still pay £120m next summer even if he spent the year sulking and not playing to his best.

If he opted to be 2nd choice at Man City for a few extra pennies a week instead of first choice here for the next 10 years then I don't want him here. Think he will struggle there and there were question marks about him last time he was in the prem so wait and see if the pressure of being at a Man City and dropping a clanger in a title clash against Liverpool doesn't swallow him up. City will be buying him just to flip him to another club in a year. Probably go to a mid table team on loan with a buy option by 26-27. No I'm not bitter

Don't do it to yourself mate. The sooner you accept the worst case the easier to process it will be when it happens On Sesko, I don't think he is going to be worth what he will cost and it's really annoying if we had to pay over the odds out of desperation. Gives me Hoijlund and Nunez vibes more than going on to be an Isak level. Premier league is pretty brutal for exposing if you aren't up to the level required.

You know for a fact this now hands the initiative to Liverpool to low ball some offers.

it sucks that he effectively can force a move against our will. Because if we turned down all offers and said "no you are staying". He could phone in his performances and absolutely tank his sale value and I am sure the club know they just cannot afford to lose so much potential asset value. It effectively makes contracts pointless in a lot of ways. I never thought he would force a move this summer, it's pretty douche move from him. Wonder how Ekitike is gonna feel, sat on the bench all year.

Looks like he plays with his head down a lot. Get the feeling he would get found out a little in the premier league. Certainly not sufficient to keep us in the hunt for CL spots. Decent shot on him but would probably be asking for £80m+ aren't they? Hate that we're being forced into selling our best player and needing to scramble around to see what's left around Europe now that the big clubs already had their picks.

He had the chance to be a legend here and even leave fairly amicable if he went next year when we had time to be more prepared for it and allow the club to get best value and ideally sell him abroad to like PSG or someone else. But the timing of doing it now just leaves a horrible sour taste and will mean he's not remembered as fondly as he would have been and worse, could be hated if he does go to Liverpool for a cut price deal because he forced the move and everyone has to see him every week.

I think PIF and the Reubens need to take the blame for the lack of Eales replacement. It was stated he would be stepping down wasn't it? and everyone can completely understand in his condition if he can't do his role duties. But why is a (now estimated) £1 Billion valued club being allowed to be directionless with no CEO for almost a year. Especially after winning a cup and qualifying for Champions league. Not to mention the face of the sporting director role has become for us. I am getting concerned that PIF have been far to hands off and have not progressed anything since that Adidas sponsorship deal really. That should have just been the start of the growth but it seems there's been very little since.

From Isak to Nunez? Christ.

Leaving ourselves exposed to being overtaken in the league by the likes of Villa, Spurs dare I say Man U. Isak was our equaliser and despite our lack of squad, helped pull us up to top 5 levels. This will set us back badly this year but hopefully not long term if the money was reinvested wisely. However with the prices of average players these days, fear that money would get used up quickly and leave us miles behind the top 4 clubs.

Well fuck you Alex. Couldn't even give us another year to get shit in order, you decide to screw us when there is no top strikers left to sign and now ensure we won't get top price for you as there aren't many clubs left to bid.

Just seen this. Isn't this half of what they wanted? I mean there's bidding low and there's potentially pissing clubs off by bidding really low. Hope they were given some encouragement and it's not that far off the real figure they want and not the public £50m they said.