timeEd32

You could say it's: LW Isak Big Joe ASM Gordon CF Isak Wilson RW Miggy Gordon Murphy I'd like another option on the right for sure, but this seems a good time to once again tap the "Gordon may be a bigger part of plans than many think" sign.

Agreed, understand why we didn’t sign him in August but not sure why we stopped after that. It’s possible we felt Isak was just a better version of him or that Isak / Gordon made him redundant. Part of me thinks we might only add to the front three if a deal presents itself or with a young player who may not start for awhile.

That’s just the impression from afar. A lot of Liverpool fans are still annoyed they monitored the shit out of Bellingham all the way to Madrid.

The whole "frugal Ashley years won't be counted" thing is a bit of a misnomer. FFP is on a rolling three year basis, but we'll still be including players signed 4/5/6 years ago depending on their contract length. Almiron (because of the extension), Joelinton, Wilson, and Willock's transfer fees are still being counted, while the limited outgoings of players like Perez, Merino, etc. would have been fully booked in years that are no longer being looked at. In 2020/21 and 2021/22 we had one (1!) outgoing that produced income: Dan Berlaser - £236k That alone could explain how terrible of a position Ashley left us in. This is why selling Wood and Shelvey in January was an incredible piece of business. Without that and qualifying for the CL I'm honestly not sure what we'd be doing this summer. Our biggest issue on the cost side is the players we have that are just making up numbers in the squad have no resale value. Even worse is someone like Jamal Lewis, who we are likely still having to count £3m for his transfer fee and another £2m for wages. That's £5m for a player who will not play and who no one wants. If we can get Fraser, Dubravka/Darlow, Lewis, and/or Hayden off the books it should be celebrated the same as bringing in Tonali.

Sterling cost basically the same amount 8 years ago and then not that much less a year ago at age 27. He’s also on over £300k a week. There is a reasonable premium for a player who meets homegrown requirements and then teams accept an extra premium for the safety of a player who comes with less risk.

The deck is stacked against all the outsiders for sure. But we spent nearly two decades falling behind. It's going to take more than 18 months to catch back up.

I don't know why this is a bad thing. Professional athletes have a limited window of time to make money. It makes sense to want to maximize that. Although I think it's also reasonable to react differently to a player moving to the Premier League for money vs. the Saudi league. One is competing at the highest levels of the game. The other is ... not that.

I think Mount and Rice are both underrated on here. I expect both will do very well next season.

He’s been here for six months. Whatever he’s worth on paper today is irrelevant.

Tonali is yet another supremely talented, mercurial French winger so this thread is right on topic.

Not sure why everyone is so hung up on Ashby. I think there are three factors driving our recruitment strategy: 1) Talent obviously and specifically the ability to fit in our system 2) Age: Young with an ability to improve and maintain/increase in value 3) Opportunity: We are clearly hunting for deals at all price points. Relegated teams, injured players, clubs with financial problems, last year of contract, cheaper markets, players on low wages, or even a downturn in form, etc. I think Ashby was an opportunity as much as anything else and my guess is we’ll buy any £3m opportunity that ticks the other two boxes. Gordon and Pope are two clear examples of other opportunistic signings (you can disagree with the Gordon fee but I think we believed it was a deal). Many that have been linked follow this: Maddison (though it’s proven more expensive than I’m guessing we hoped), Chiesa, Livramento, Brazilians, all the players from this season’s relegated clubs, etc. Ashby likely wasn’t bought as a backup RB. He was bought as an asset.

It's on the site. I posted the link above.

https://theathletic.com/4641935/2023/06/26/tino-livramento-newcastle-southampton/

He can play on the left too, right? I wonder if we see him as an option on the left and as cover for Trippier. If we're also still in the market for a LB then I assume we'd be open to selling Targett if we get one.

There isn't a single benefit to the club in handing these out unless they are required to convince the player to join. If these players are very good they will demand a new deal anyway and if they are shit then you are burdened with some of these guys until 2030 and beyond. I'd love to know what their thought process is.

Terrified every time this thread is at the top that there are going to be Barcelona links or some shit. Instead he's ordering toon shirts on the internet in his spare time.

Doesn’t help that a bunch of seats are a few hundred dollars or more for a damn baseball game. But yeah, part of me died when the old stadium went.

My guess is this is just some gamesmanship in negotiations. I'd be surprised if Mount ends up anywhere else.

I assumed that was more about recent links to Barella, Nmecha. Maddison would be a pretty long con considering we’re into a third window of links. Very possibly he’s no longer a tier 1 target though.

I like all of these players so not knocking them, but City, Arsenal, Man United, and Chelsea fighting over the dealings of Rice, Mount, and Caicedo while we shuttle in an Italian international from AC Milan is very enjoyable.

Pretty sure he’s already said something along the lines of knowing the trajectory this club is on and what that might mean for him in the future, so he’s just enjoying the ride / dream come true.

Was going to say the same - Saka would have run riot if we left Burn alone in that game. Somehow the opinion in this thread ranges from selling Burn to him shutting down every RW he's played against.

I agree, this is more fun. Also if we were spending untold amounts on players funded entirely by PIF it could end in a moments notice. With the way the club is being built now even if PIF lose interest or want to cash in in a decade we will likely be an extremely strong club with significant revenues and spending capabilities.

Somewhat famous, but known for things he’s done after being a punter.

My impression is there’s only one person who’s still so mad about the Revolutionary War that he wouldn’t take a prime Messi if he came with an American passport.