timeEd32

To those who are unhappy is there anyone we could have gotten where you'd think "well, that's that - not a single chance we don't finish top 4 now." From my perspective no. There are two things going on here: 1) Players we want aren't available right now 2) You're taking a risk either way - one approach, which is what we're likely doing, is to stick mostly to the plan, risk good health and continued form, plus hope Gordon makes an impact. The other risk is you overpay for 1-2 players (who may or may not be our #1 targets) by bringing future money forward and then you're still hoping for good health and some of the struggling teams to continue struggling. The second approach has far worse long term impacts if we were to finish 5th and I don't think it measurably increases the odds on the upside outcome.

This is another reason why it's ridiculous to give this window something like a 3/10. The people in charge would agree with everyone that we'd like to have another CM, but we're not going to spend more than we want on a player we don't really want just in case we hit some bad luck in the next few months. We sold Shelvey because we'd be fools not to given the situation and it may be less than ideal for half a season, but this isn't a case of not wanting to spend money or being blind to the problem. It's being committed to a sustainable (and exciting) way to build up a club that was a pile of scraps 15 months ago.

That has almost nothing to do with baseball's problems (or "problems" considering revenue of almost $11B last year). Also the issue in your last sentence is not the Yankees, but the cheap team. If the Premier League didn't have relegation then that would have been Mike Ashley's play.

Getting real 'we tried' vibes out of Everton. The fact they needed the £40m from us up front says a lot about their current situation.

According to Bailey it's still on the table he could leave this week, which I don't really believe for one second. https://www.90min.com/posts/allan-saint-maximin-milan-middle-eastern-clubs-monitoring-newcastle-situation

In practice I doubt few would disagree, including Ashworth and Howe. But we're not going to have a perfect squad overnight. It's honestly a fucking miracle we shipped out Wood and Shelvey. Fraser would be another big win, but even then we'd still have a handful of players we'd prefer to not have.

Comments like this make me kind of dread how unrealistic and hard to please fans will be within the next couple years.

If he goes there I look forward to us making a lowball offer in July when Everton's finances are even more fucked after getting relegated.

I assume we're not even going to that number and loaning him to us is probably Chelsea's last choice.

I'm becoming increasingly confident this is going to work out very well mainly because I think Eddie is very, very happy.

That's probably it on Gallagher:

We paid a few hundred thousand for him. Not sure why anyone has any expectations.

From September:

He was solid at times for us but honestly even if we can’t get a replacement in it’s a move we must make. The biggest obstacle to really progressing forward is getting all of the limited players off the books.

Would be very happy with Gallagher as long as we can buy him at season’s end.

Yes, wouldn’t be able to replace him and they are in a great spot for promotion. Liverpool and Chelsea linked earlier this month.

It's a minor amount in this case, but anyone know if contract extensions can reduce the fee for FFP purposes?

This assumes we wouldn't be able to sell a 23-24-25-26 year old English forward to anyone. Do you know how bad he would have to be for that to happen?

It's almost certainly going to be banned in the summer, which is why we should be doing it. And they didn't start doing it 5 days ago - they've been doing it all month. Possible we don't think it's worth the risk for £3m/year.

Don't really understand why. He's 21 and this is the last chance to copy Chelsea before they change the rules.

I've thought for awhile that the only chance he stays is if we qualify for the CL. Otherwise I think he's first on the list to sell to help fund improvements elsewhere.

Serious question - is there any reason why we wouldn't put him on an 8 year deal?

Everton fans are mad at the world right now and have made him one of the primary scapegoats. I bet this kid arrives with some serious motivation to prove everyone wrong.

We are more than set across the front line in terms of depth and while the downgrades are significant along the back four we do have players that can fill in. But we are seriously playing with fire in the midfield. One more please.