ponsaelius

Not yet. Think it's still up in the air whether he'll sign or not like Zaha.

Nelson will actually be a great pick up on a free for somebody. Agree that he's perhaps not the level we're looking at to seriously upgrade that position though.

Feel like shit just want Tonali announcement

Emery will have to get fatty Tielemans doing some laps in pre season

It'll be interesting to see if we can't get an 'elite' right winger/attacking midfielder whether we go for a more moneyball option and then instead spend bigger money on improving the defence.

Tbf, we've all but signed a £50 million midfielder already in a position we definitely needed to strengthen. I agree we still need to do a fair bit more, but far from time to panic yet.

Don't care about weird colours and reduced identity on away kits tbh. That's the point of away kits. I wish they were as wild and weird as possibly personally.

Toon meltdoon

We already had 3 signings confirmed by this time last year (although Botman didn't officially go through until 1st July, we'd already announced it). No wonder we're starting to get a bit thirsty.

He's literally stitched an entire narrative together to make it seem like he wasn't wrong I don't even think Luke is out of the loop completely, he obviously gets some decent information and inside track from the club. But equally he will get stuff that's rubbish or will miss out on other info. That's fine and is the nature of journalism - he doesn't need to be spinning these yarns to cover his own back and protect his ego. It amazes me that an article like that is allowed to get past an editor

Chelsea need to sell players and clear deadwood - but in Havertz, Mount and Kovacic they've sold 3 high quality players to teams above them in the league. Losing Kante too and that is a huge clearing of midfield talent. All a bit chaotic to me.

Mount to Man Utd done deal according to Orny

Annoying isn't it. We've got quite a bit of wriggle room in terms of FFP spending simply because he didn't spend money on anything, which gets misinterpreted as leaving us in a strong financial position. But our lack of revenue and comparatively high wagebill (a lot of which on valueless shite) has been a massive issue.

Villa have brought in £120 million of pure profit from Grealish and Chukwuemeka over last two seasons. That kind of academy development gives so much breathing room in terms of FFP. Look at their squad now and they have Ramsey who could potentially be a Grealish type sale in a couple of years if they wanted to - and the likes of Archer who even if he doesn't make it should still bring in decent money when sold. We need to sort out academy out as soon as we can.

Can you imagine how depressing supporting NUFC would be right now if we didn't get taken over. Doesn't bare thinking about really.

I was always of the opinion that defensive midfielders and CBs should never go for crazy money because they just aren't difference makers at that price point. However Van Dijk proved me wrong at CB, so maybe Rice will prove me wrong too.

I've checked transfermarkt just to make sure I wasn't losing the plot, but he's only played on the wing 19 times out of 141 in his entire career. Admittedly the majority of those were for Ajax - but he's still predominantly played centre mid, attacking mid and this season as a CF (in all the games in the CL he played CF). I agree he's a bit unrefined/chaotic and not sure he's what we're looking for, but I don't think he's anything like what you're describing. From what I saw he was a lot closer to the kind of roaming attacking midfielder/forward African countries used to produce like Okocha, Abedi Pele. Obviously nowhere near that level.

He's nothing like Almiron and Murphy I don't think. I'm not even sure he's a winger (although I don't doubt he could play there)? He's played centre mid/attacking midfield and as a centre forward in all of the games I've seen. Definitely a bit unrefined, does some things well and some things badly, but loads of natural technical ability. Great dribbling and shot power.

He said we were going to sign Minteh way back in January. No idea where he gets his info from but it's weirdly accurate.

That includes all games including youth etc. Since moving to Leipzig he's played most of his football on the right hand side either right wing or RM - with a the rest of the time mostly as a central AM. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/dominik-szoboszlai/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/451276 Personally I think a player like that who can play wide or attacking midfield is exactly what we need.

Shame. Hope we've got another strong option lined up for attacking midfield/winger.

There's a lot of misunderstanding about student blocks and a bit of a negative attitude across many cities to the proliferation of them in urban centres - as if it is coming in at the expense of delivering wider housing targets. But in the anglophone world many people/families don't want to live in apartment blocks if they can afford not to. Purpose built student accomodation is a way to deliver high density accomodation in brownfield urban areas that will be desirable to the target market and in the process free up other housing stock. So in general it is a good thing. The problem comes with the quality of that housing and it's convertibility if there is ever a significant drop in student population.

For what it's worth the reason Heaton and Jesmond are winding down in terms of student populations is the result of a concerted effort by the council to move student accomodation from the suburbs into purpose built blocks in the city centre. This is largely because of the negative externalities that overfilled HMOs and slum landlords have on existing areas and in terms of taking up supply of family homes. All housing supply is interlinked - the more students are moved into the city the more family homes are freed up. And generally students are more willing to live in central urban areas so it is a logical use of housing stock. Boring bit alert but from a planning perspective that was partly implemented through the introduction of restricted areas which remove permitted development rights regarding HMOs. Usually this is a permitted change that doesn't need planning permission - but now it does in those specific areas. And when the use as a HMO lapses (as happened a lot during COVID) many existing HMOs had to reapply (and in a lot of cases were not able to get permission). This is why you see so many former HMOs now for sale as houses again. In terms of student population accomodation in the city centre there is not an oversubscription yet and general policy is in favour of providing it. That said I would say taking LT out of residential use is a certainly nota complete no go if it could be justified as part of a wider public benefit. The same is also true of the heritage considerations (generally it is preferred to keep listed buildings in their original use). If the club did want a much bigger East Stand then buying LT and incorporating it into a wider scheme (I don't mean actually connecting to it - that wouldn't be a goer) would go a long way to removing the residential amenity barriers.

64 in all comps actually.

Played CB for us 17 times. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/emil-krafth/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/184528 Mostly in a back 3. Occasions in a back four have mostly been cup matches against lower league opposition.