The Prophet

Given the fact I believe we operate on a 'if he's worth it sign him basis' as opposed to a 'this is our budget we can only spend this much money' basis I'm quite happy to add another player of quality to the squad. While central midfield isn't a priority we're still well short in that position. Tiote travels to the ACON in January and the back up is comprised of Gosling and several untested youngsters. From what I've seen of the lad (and admittedly it isn't a huge amount) he's a cracking footballer who posses a lot of ability on the ball. Against the less dangerous sides we could probably drop Tiote to the bench. As for those worrying about upsetting squad memebers, who cares? Competition is the sign of a healthy squad, you can never ever have too many quality players. Do you think Chelsea worried about unsettling Lampard, Essien or Ramires wen they signed Oscar? It stops players from becoming complacent and even more so allows us to compete on more than one front which is surely the aim this season?

Manager in giving player confidence boost shocker. Sounds like something Pardew would say.

Break out year: Sandro Will have a think about t'others.

Bottom line: Allen is a good signing.

They have overpaid a wee bit for Allen but he is a class act.

Herpes isn't as bad as HIV, can't say I'd want either though.

We've got plenty of depth on the right like, it's about the only place mind.

Thank you Prophet. Are the mists of the mind hiding the face and name of this player from your third eye, or can you reveal more to us? It could be Debuchy, and it's a possibility he'll sign for us.

A Lille player might leave the club this week.

We're well covered on the right like.

Nah it's not risky. You don't think? He has stacks of potential but I could easily see him struggling to fit in to the English way of life. As always it's also a worry Fergie will shoehorn him into a position he doesn't really want to play. I suppose even in the worst case scenario he has a great deal of sell on value. On the days he, Nani, Kagawa and Rooney click they will be absolutely devestating though.

Nah, Lucas Moura of Sao Paulo. Floaty attacking midfielder come winger with boat loads of potential.

Man United have apparently agreed a fee in the region of thirty million quid for Lucas. Risky stuff.

Of course it isn't ideal but it's hardly devastating going into the season with a side that finished fifth last time out. Simpson is a professional, I'm not naive enought to think it won't have any effect at all but it shouldn't deeply unsettle him, especially when you consider his contract situation has been rumbling on for a while.

Its beyond ridiculous now, its one thing being tough on negotiations but this time it seems to be backfiring. They are only the right player if they are cheap enough, its not always going to work that way, at times you are going to have to pay the asking price if you want the player. It only becomes ridiculous when the window shuts.

Should be looking at the Malaga fire sale. Monreal and Rondon would be excellent signings. The latter looks to be off to Rubin for peanuts.

We obviously value De Jong/Carroll more than we do Debuchy.

Do we actually know Lille's current valuation of the player? Do we know we're refusing to pay it or are we still negotiating? Do we know ourselves or Lille haven't moved the goal posts during negotiations? It's difficult to tell where this deal is at other than we've had a second bid rejected.

Absolutely spot on. We've had bids for Douglas and De Jong described as derisory? Back to the point, we've clearly had a lot of success bagging players on the cheap, it's not so much that sides are clicking on to our strategy but more to do the realisation that you're not going to conclude all your negotiations on the cheap, sometimes you have to pay the going rate. We're not talking an excessive fee here, but a fair price for a quality player. Without any form of knowledge of how negotiations have gone it's impossible to gauge if this is the second in a series of offers or if we're genuinely playing hardball with a final offer and we indeed consider Lille's price tag excessive. It'll also be interesting to see who we bid for as a plan B if there indeed is one. Personally while I'd be disappointed with missing out on this fella I've said all along I'd prefer to sign a left back as opposed to a right back, I feel we'd see even more from Santon in the latter position.

There's a lot of people in this thread who've been party to these negotiations, no wonder it's taking so long.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax (Don't Do It)

Still think we'll sign despite the histionics.

Patience, it's in the bag.

Chill, Alan Hutton is still available.

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