ponsaelius

Don't know how accurate this is. Hopefully if true some daft friendlies against local teams if so.

Yeah his game is totally different to when he came through. His season on loan at Blackpool he scored loads of long range goals, and when he first came into the team at NUFC there were some comparisons to Carrick because of his passing range. Now he plays like a workhorse cog in the system. Endless running, overlapping, short passing patterns on that side to allow Trippier and Bruno to be more expansive. That's fine. It's probably perfect for what we need him for as a squad player. The one thing that would be great is more goals in the box but I'm not sure his role in our system is ever going to require him to do much more expansive work because other players are better at it.

If we got high offers for either ASM or Miggy and they were open to going I think we'd sell them. I don't think we're going to actively shop them around, just like we weren't with Wood, but if above value offers are there for players then the club will act in a business like manner. They've already said on multiple occasions we will have to get used to unemotional player trading.

Think Milan would be asking for even more for Theo Hernandez than we've paid for Tonali. Can't see us going in that heavily on a left back. Also while Theo is a great player, he's very attacking. I think while I think we're wanting more from any new LB we'd be expecting more balance. It's why I'm not completely convinced by the Dimarco links either - a player who has never played much in a back four at club level.

The reffing in this game has been so bad

Home kit is superb

16 is a bit De Rossi, which works.

Yeah even if Italy go out in the group stages of this tournament I think he won't be in pre-season until we go to the US.

Have they not announced the PFA Team of the Year yet btw? Seems ridiculously late compared to usual - even acknowledging the later finish this year.

Tbf it's a bit like Sunderland being down at that level. Brescia are a quintessential biggish Serie B side with the odd spell in the top flight. Think it's only the second time they've played regional football.

Brescia are down in Serie C now. Decent financial boost for them getting 15%

Joachim Anderson makes sense in some ways because he's a very similar player to Schar. However he is slow and I was hoping we'd be looking to add more pace at the back.

Hutchison commentates on Serie A all the time and is genuinely reasonably knowledgeable about the league tbf.

Interesting to see Bernardo, Gundogan and Walker looking at new challenges after achieving all they can at City. You'd imagine it makes City far more active in the transfer market than previously expected.

Yeah there's a chance he does, but I'm not sure 100% In the school system of the German speaking cantons you will learn written Standard German (the native spoken language is Swiss German dialect), English and one other national language (so French or Italian). My ex was fluent in German and English with very high proficiency in French. However only spoke very minimal Italian phrases (not really much more than I know).

I think Krafth is probably the only one in the squad who speaks any Italian. Translator duties.

To be honest we're spending £60 million on an established player and by the sounds of it offering a huge financial deal in terms of wages. Obviously he's got age on his side but this is not unearthing some gem or developing a player. To me it feels far more like a Chelsea/Man Utd type signing than I expected us to make this summer. To be honest I think we're probably overpaying, too. It has the chance to be the first misstep we've made in the market IMO. But the club have obviously decided we need to seize the day and add elite level first choice players - which is probably the right move.

I think we're going big on two signings. 6/8 position and then an attacking midfielder/wide midfielder who could also play as an 8. That'll be pretty much all of the budget on two top level players. Then clear the decks in terms of outgoings and see if we can get a left back.

Big fee, hell of a signing on paper.

Septics would fill a 100k stadium to watch a game of High School Tiddlywinks tbf.

Hope to see some movement soon. By this week last year we had Pope and Targett done. By the week after we had Botman. Helped us a lot last season having Pope and Botman bedded in by pre-season.

Brazil have had far worse teams in recent memory than the current squad. The current squad with everybody available has far more quality and depth than the one on home soil in 2014 for example. I actually think on paper it's better than any squad they've had since 2006 (which although strong on paper, was full of aging stars from 2002). I don't think Joelinton should really start for this current side, though. But he's probably good enough to be in and around the squad just due to his versatility.

It's more that with both Barella and Tonali they are basically the 'emblem' players for both clubs. Both national team midfielders, boyhood fans of the clubs and with plenty miles left on the clock. Italian clubs are skint but even then there tends to be untouchable domestic players that they'll put a high price on even above the players actual value - particularly in cases where the players themselves I think would take some convincing to move and otherwise will happily keep signing new contracts. They're more likely to shuffle/recycle others out the door - wary of missing out on transfer fees when players' contracts run down. I think you'd be looking at closer to 70-80 million to get either club to sell. I can definitely see why we're testing the water with the bids rumoured but I'm just not convinced they're going to be doable in our budget unless we're happy to go silly.

Yeah, fair point. I didn't really comment on his time at Brescia because they had 1 season in Serie A when he was 20, were pretty hopeless, and went straight back down. Didn't think it was a great sample to judge on either way. I actually saw him play live in Brescia in 2020. 1-1 draw with Udinese just before they went behind closed doors for COVID. Remember being disappointed after the hype but like I say Brescia were poor.

Different players but definitely Barella. More of a complete package in both directions, more made for the PL, and more made for our current system. Also more established in the national team while Tonali has not really started many games. Only thing to say is however that Tonali is 3 years younger.