timeEd32

We're destined to never have good things if people can't understand the circumstances he's started in and why he can't just wave a magic wand around to fix everything in 2 months.

Quite obviously meant the last few days. I'm not even saying it's bad. Everyone is so on edge

The most incredible thing about the last few days is there is literally no news. Tapsoba and then maybe back in for Trafford. Has anyone else even been mentioned?

I agree with this, except that I think PSR has made it difficult to judge transfer windows in isolation. You need to zoom out because if you are unhappy with the lack of activity this summer or having to sell Minteh then you can pretty directly trace that to overspending, spending inefficiently, or poor planning in 2023 (you can also be annoyed by PSR, the league, and having to talk about this but that's a different topic).

First of all, we don't even know that we have £60m to spend (or, more accurately, approx. £18-20m in costs to add) without growing revenue or reducing costs later. But if we assume we do have that much to spend with no strings attached then we have until June 30, 2025 to spend it so that just feels like a bad faith argument. I can understand wanting it to be used to improve the team for this season and the associated frustration, but "won't spend" harkens back to Ashley and it's quite clear that's not what's going on here.

We have spent basically every last penny we're allowed to spend since the takeover happened.

Three of our next four games are winnable, but potentially tricky away games (Forest in the cup, Wolves, and Fulham). We'll have Tonali for all of them, Schar for the latter two, and hopefully a new signing. I think that will tell us a lot about where this season is heading because it's going to be difficult to qualify for the Champions League without better performances away from home. In 2022/23 we were third in away form. Last season we were 11th (-12 points from the year before), while our home form was basically identical. We had some pretty fortunate away draws in 2022/23, but even if you take those away we still could have squeezed 4th and we were still 2-3 wins better off than last season.

I made a comment the other day about how I wish we had still gotten Joao Pedro, but we maxed out our spend on Isak and then Gordon. Brighton had him signed before that financial year closed (it was reported in April or May if I remember correctly and then completed in June), so I'm not sure if we'd have been interested but we never really had a chance to go back. Obviously they took advantage of our PSR situation to get Minteh. This got me wondering if there's a pattern to their business. Not counting loans or free transfers they have signed 26 players since 2022 (this includes some academy/youth signings). 10 of those players were signed in January and another 5 in June, so almost 60% of their recent signings have occurred outside of the July/August period. More than a third of their business done in the winter window. There could be a number of reasons for this -- take advantage of club's needing to move players on, possibly as a means of avoiding competition, circumstances somewhat -- but it seems like more than coincidence. Why this thread? We never want to repeat what happened in June again, but in the future I'd love for us to be operating from a position of strength in January and June. There are advantageous deals to be done.

If we do this it’s also clear we rate him far higher than most on here.

Agree with this. It’s different from every transfer we’ve done.

I think I'd have to laugh if Liverpool ended the window with Giorgi, Chiesa, and Guehi.

His current wages are reported as anywhere from £4.2m to £8m per year. He wanted an increase, but it seems to be consistently reported that he's accepted that likely isn't happening. Let's say £5m wages and £12m fee on a three year deal, so at least £9m per year for his age 27, 28, and 29 seasons.

I'm kind of confused why anyone is focusing on him for the transfer window. He should and will be judged on the efficacy of his appointments (leadership positions), revenue growth, cost management (with PSR compliance wrapped in these last two), infrastructure planning (stadium, training ground), and the development of the club's brand.

I'm not sure how anyone could grab hold of a theory and just run with it as fact because I could sit here and come up with a bunch of different ones in a matter of minutes: We don't have a lot of money to spend without outgoings We expected it to be much easier to shift a few players but the transfer window is dead, especially for the type of player we're trying to sell We think CB is the #1 most important position to fill and we're at an impasse / waiting for Parish to fold The Guehi deal hinges on an outgoing for us and/or an incoming for them and we're confident of that happening In the past we may have already thrown in the extra £5m or whatever to clinch the Guehi deal, but Mitchell/Eales don't want a repeat of June so we're being stingier (maybe this is a "schism") We have some money to spend and a few different paths in progress; possibly some debate (healthy or otherwise) on the right priorities (see: "schism") There's actually a ton happening and many irons in the fire, but it just doesn't seem that way because Guehi (thanks to Palace) is the only thing we've really heard about We're waiting for some dominoes to fall to kickstart things, led by Chelsea and Barcelona's shenanigans That's before getting into the more negative or conspiratorial ideas (I was going to make up some ridiculous things, but all you need to do is scroll up to get an idea).

Honestly amazed that anyone is confused by or opposed to the idea of another GK. I'd rather watch Miggy and Murphy play RW than ever see Dubs in goal again for us. I have no idea if Trafford is the answer - just have to trust the club's scouting on that.

If it wasn't for all the noise about Guehi I'd just assume that without outgoings we don't have much money to do anything. I still think that's basically the case, but the Guehi saga raises all sorts of questions.

I know, it’s odd. But we didn’t sell them to unlock funds for this window. Like if this week we sign Guehi, Madeuke, a CM, and Trafford there will be a party in here. But it would look much different if we then sell Isak in June to pay for it.

Minteh and Anderson should be part of grading our summer 2023 business.

I'm hoping, in the absence of a new RW, that he makes the whole right side more competent.

Surprised this is the first post mentioning the Bournemouth connection.

I have a feeling the players are far more upbeat about our team than visitors of the transfer thread.

That number includes all staff, though common estimates put 1st team players / coaches at roughly 80% of that. But £187m is before Tonali / Barnes / Tino, plus Bruno and Joelinton increases. We’re probably around £200m now.

I’ve been disappointed by this since he went to Brighton. Isak and then Gordon pushed us to the limit so we never really had a chance, but I wish we had been able to get Pedro also. If we had had a chance to spend the Barnes money on him instead I think we’d have a lot better balance / fluidity / options up front.

Isn’t Liverpool after him? Someone who can also play RB would be perfect.

It’s a mackems wet dream for this to not end well and this is basically the first stretch of negativity since the takeover.