ponsaelius

It's a stretch too because the characters are only called kanji in Japanese. All for unnecessary insults against fellow NO members though.

Any of Shawcross, Maguire, Gibson or Keane would be reasonable shouts at CB. But I think Keane will have better suitors.

Yes please! Make it happen Rafa.. This reads like you're absolutely desperate to see the back of Grant Hanley, which is quite humorous.

this is the other smart thing about the players rafa signed last summer which has been overlooked to a degree; pretty much all of them can be sold on for the same or similar fees to championship teams if rafa wants to move them on I said similar about Diame. We would have no trouble getting our money back there I reckon. He's one of those players who will never be worth much more, but at that level he's got some useful attributes. Probably better suited to a more direct team tbh. Nah. Diame is problematic in that no Championship club will match his wages, and indeed he will not want to go to a Championship club. He only came to us because we gave him a payrise and a 3 year deal. However we would also have difficulty selling him to a PL club based on how clearly his legs have gone in the last 18 months. Other than perhaps by giving him to Villa (they wanted him last season, Bruce is a fan, probably only Champ club who could pay him what we do) I think we will be stuck needing to use him in our squad next year. think you're being overly pessimistic, besides the fees we paid for all of the players we might want to ship now (murphy, hanley, diame, lazaar...miss anyone?) were absolutely nothing weren't they, all around the £5m max afaik...we can afford to lose on those deals to make space in the squad Oh I definitely think we'd shift them. Just that it might involve making small losses and perhaps subsiding wages.

Nolito would definitely be somebody to look at if at all possible.

this is the other smart thing about the players rafa signed last summer which has been overlooked to a degree; pretty much all of them can be sold on for the same or similar fees to championship teams if rafa wants to move them on I said similar about Diame. We would have no trouble getting our money back there I reckon. He's one of those players who will never be worth much more, but at that level he's got some useful attributes. Probably better suited to a more direct team tbh. Nah. Diame is problematic in that no Championship club will match his wages, and indeed he will not want to go to a Championship club. He only came to us because we gave him a payrise and a 3 year deal. However we would also have difficulty selling him to a PL club based on how clearly his legs have gone in the last 18 months. Other than perhaps by giving him to Villa (they wanted him last season, Bruce is a fan, probably only Champ club who could pay him what we do) I think we will be stuck needing to use him in our squad next year.

this is the other smart thing about the players rafa signed last summer which has been overlooked to a degree; pretty much all of them can be sold on for the same or similar fees to championship teams if rafa wants to move them on Hanley yes. Lazaar we could get near our money back from a Serie A club. I don't think we will get the same money back for Diame, Murphy or Sels.

Mahrez is bigger like. A fair bit taller and stronger, and Mahrez is a slight fella too.

£5 million for Sandro is an absolute no brainer, but other clubs will be in for him.

Around £5 million.

He's a dorty Lebanese brought up on hummus and flatbreads rather than bratwurst and Pilsener and as such can't be trusted to uphold national stereotypes.

Exactly what I thought watching him yesterday. The sheer infectiousness and intensity of that Ajax side helped him. Plenty of times he managed to wriggle away from a situation, or they quickly won it back in the next play through somebody else's pressing - where I just think in the PL he (and the team) would have lost it and then our fans would have groaned.

He's 5 ft 6, which as far as I'm aware would make him the smallest player in the Premier League. Lennon, Sanchez and Pedro off the top of my head might be around that height. But all have (or at least had in their careers) strong physical attributes to compensate. Younes is extremely slight, and while he's not slow he's not a speed merchant. More about drop of the shoulder and close control. He looks great in this Ajax team, but then they all do, as they play in a system that allows players to thrive and he constantly has passes and runners available when found in a tight corner. Certainly don't think he's a wide player for a Benitez team anyway, as much as I've found him extremely entertaining to watch the last few games.

Younes was the player I've been most impressed with from that Ajax side, but also the one I'd least recommend a PL team to sign probably. Take him out of that Ajax system and throw his tiny little frame in a random PL match and it wouldn't be the same player.

We had some absolutely horrific showings during that season despite finishing 5th. The 4-2 at Norwich, 5-0 at Spurs, 5-2 at Fulham, 4-0 at Wigan, the final day at Everton. Shows how precarious it was, the narrow wins and horrendously embarrassing defeats that became typical of the following 4 seasons were already apparent even then.

Ranocchia is hopeless. He may have played well for Hull but i wouldn't touch the soft cunt with a bargepole. In Italy he always had spells of looking ok before having massive disasterous drops in form.

Because they are the current Scudetto holders. See: Milan 2011/12 Inter 2010/11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scudetto

Sneijder or Iniesta in 2010, Ribery in 2013. Suarez would have got close in 2014 if he didn't bite Chiellini.

To be fair the award was far more about performances and trophy success at that time when it was decided by just journalists than the popularity contest that it became under the FIFA stewardship. I do believe there are a few years when Messi and Ronaldo perhaps didn't deserve to win but did by default.

Top 5 were Owen, Raul, Kahn, Beckham and Totti. Poor year.

Aye that's a very strange analysis to say he's poor in the air.

David Healy was topscorer in Euro qualifying one year

10, very easy.

So basically a version of Gouffran? Errr no He'll be playing in the Champions League final for Juventus for a start. And banged in goals for Bayern Munich ffs.

He generally gets praised by commentators. You think he's been as important to Tottenham's season as Kane, Eriksen or Alli? That's certainly not true. He's not as important as Alderweireld or Dembele either. And I'm a fan of him.