McCormick

This is where I’m at as well. Seems wishful thinking/ flying in the face of what all the noises coming out the club are saying to expect that we’ll be going ‘mental’ this summer.

Does pleading poverty keep prices down though? Clubs will have attached a value to their players anyway and then it’s down to negotiation and demand. I can understand this possibly working in January (as we were desperate) but not with a full summer window.

Of course not but what he is doing is curtailing expectations of doing just that.

Love Howe but his recent quotes regarding the summer window and upcoming season aren’t exactly inspirational. - Not a huge war-chest; have to be creative with who we can buy. - Improving bit by bit - Hopeful of a good cup run. - Premier League is very difficult, just want to improve - Need to get new revenue streams All sensible stuff tbf, but I guess I was more looking for kind of an ambitious statement of intent/ battle cry for the new season. Spending about 100m or less- which he seems to be intimating is the case- won’t see us making any significant progress imo.

He’d cost around 25 max imo.

Probably Nunes and maybe Bellingham if he isn’t Liverpool-bound. I really hope they don’t go for Philips, as I’ve got my heart set on him signing for us.

Guy gets knocked out cold and it’s barely worth a mention by var and the comms team

Lascelles on. Goodbye possession football.

Why would he choose our bench over Villa’s though?

I know Lodi is the more sexy option I actually hope we sign Targett. So solid.

Ref doing his best to kill the game, slow it down and quieten the crowd.

Philips would be a genuinely transformational signing and absolutely perfect for what we need. It’s weird that there are people on here that aren’t celebrating the prospect of possibly him and DCL playing for us. When we were linked with Ward-Prowse there were a few saying he wasn’t good enough for us as well(!). Different opinions and all that but I do find it quite bizarre.

Doubt we’ll sign Paqueta and Philips… as amazing as that would be.

I’d love it but don’t see it unfortunately.

@MrRaspberryJam

Played further up the field in his younger days and does look comfortable on the ball especially for a such an aerially dominant cb? Anyway, I feel like I’ve batted for Tarkowski enough.

He’s very comfortable on the ball and a classy defender, not some low-block lump; are people confusing him with Grant Hanley?

He’s better than Burn, Lascelles and there isn’t much between him and Schar. I’d argue he’s had more good seasons in the Prem than Schar has.

Think a lot of people are really underrating Tarkowski here. He’s a very decent player.

Why not? He’s as good if not better than both of our current starters.

Tarkowski on a free would be a very sensible move.

I really dislike Aston Villa but I feel bad that our takeover has taken the shine off them slightly; they have really rich and ambitious owners who have been making impressive moves in the transfer market. They look like a team (hopefully like ourselves) that will at least try to challenge the ‘big 6’.

I believe the whole “x foreign fans will buy a shirt because it’s y colour” is absolutely nonsense. International fans (if they’re already into football) already have their teams locked in and in many cases it’s a combination of teams’ success/ recognizable superstar players/ number of players from their nation that tend to drive shirt sales abroad.

Oh yeah? Pray tell who these 3 ‘much better players’ are for 50m (16m a player) .