McCormick

Please.

Hopefully us.

Maybe, but I know from experience that they won’t just hand their partners a blank checkbook for a project. Usual stuff; there will be a 5 year (or whatever) capital injection plan with (usually brutal) KPI targets etc. Doubt they’ll play it fast and loose like that but obviously this is a completely different venture.

Seems to be the case. If true, our owners either need to temper their ambitions or increase the budget as that’s mid-table outlay. Gradual improvement does seem sensible but obviously not as exciting. Or “it’s just a ploy to keep prices down”, which I’ve never really understood. Teams don’t just dole out discounts because you’re pretending to be skint.

Agree. I actually don’t mind Mings but he’d cost way more than than his ability warrants.

Those look great. Clean, simple and with an embroidered badge. Used to be impossible to get Newcastle kits in KSA, hopefully that’ll change as I really want one!

Unless things have changed massively for him in the last few months, he’s been pretty poor for ages. Another overpaid, overrated player that a faltering big team would love to dump on us so they can go ahead and buy the players we should actually be targeting.

Kamara is a dm or cb, Bissouma can play anywhere at cm.

I’m sure @Flip can testify (or indeed shit all over my opinion ) but he’s not the best defensively and is definitely more of an lwb/lm than an lb in a back 4. Absolutely slaughtered by Argentina in the Copa America; so much so that he needed psychologists because of how badly he was vilified by the Brazilian media. Bounced back very well tbf to him.

Apologies. I meant a league season

The guy has never managed more than 2 assists a season. Comparing him to Man City and Liverpool fullbacks is overrating Lodi massively.

He’s quick but very erratic and defensively quite suspect; also despite his superior speed, I don’t think he’s got enough about him physically to excel in the premier league.

I’d prefer Targett to Lodi tbh. Not convinced that Lodi could do a decent enough job defensively in a back 4. Honestly it’s a bold/ possibly foolish move not going for Targett at the prices being mentioned imo.

Horta is a lovely little player. Agree completely (especially if we are indeed hamstrung by FFP) this is a very sensible approach.

Agreed. Sooo underrated.

Would be a very astute signing; another unheralded player (which seems to be our approach), the guy has 15 goals and 9 assists in 70 games for a poor Leeds side.

Villa will look really good next season; they’ll spend more than us I imagine.

There goes the dream of getting Philips and Raphinha .

Wanted Leeds down. Annoying.

Hopefully not but I fear they may be right. They’ve gone to watch him a few times and were heavily linked in January iirc; could also offer the huge wages he was looking for.

As long it doesn’t affect his mobility in the final third, he can wear what he likes tbh.

Anyone who doesn’t say Shaolin Soccer is a disgrace. (no offense KI).

Yeah, most Benfica fans I’ve spoken to seem not to rate him all that highly (crazy when you look at his record). Gouriri is an interesting one; a departure from the target-man/ big lad strikers we’ve been linked to but he looks so silky. I’d be all for that.

Please. This guy is a special talent.

I’d be lying if I said I would prefer this to spending truckloads of cash on Europe’s elite prospects to drive us up the table asap. However I agree that this is by far the more sensible approach.