Village Idiot

Apparently Mina to Everton will be official tomorrow or the day after that. Very advanced talks and a purported €32m fee.

We've also bought Moussa Wague, Senegal's RB in the WC. Although it seems he'll hop between our senior and B squad. All in all we've bought a lot of decent players for decent prices, which is very unlike us, and I really look forward a full season of Coutinho. But after missing on Rabiot and Griezmann we've signed no big names, and we've lost Iniesta. That said, it doesn't seem that Madrid will sign anybody big this window either. It looks like the belts are beginning to tighten down here. Spain's streak in Europe might start to wane.

Still has a 2-3 years at top level, and Kovacic really can't take over him. He's technically great, but doesn't have Modric's football brain. That said, I think this will end with Modric signing a new contract.

Looks like Modric to Inter is getting traction. What a coup for Serie A if they managed to attract both Ronaldo and Modric.

All this has got to be a joke, like an overtly elaborate Truman Show setup designed to torture the people of Newcastle for all the world to laugh at them, and every season they need to come up with something to twist the knife. I'm in Barcelona, but have you tried to sail off the mouth of the Tyne?

It seems pretty legit. Valverde wasn't happy with the sale of Paulinho and wants a similar profile in midfield. I know Vidal has had some serious injury problems, but if he's recovered well he should still have a couple good seasons in him.

Rubiales literally said "a letter" but it doesn't necessarily mean via post. Even if Rubiales might be fudging the details, I don't doubt there was some contact.

Most people I know believe Rubiales has made that up because "no club would ever do that". Poor innocent souls.

Digne has always been decent when coming on for us. His problem is that there's just no way to dislodge Alba. He'll do fine at Everton. This leaves us a bit thin at that position though. No senior backup available unless we use Lenglet or Umtiti. And we should never, never, never, take Umtiti off the center of the defence.

Congratulations! You must be one proud dad

Our rags report that ManU want Mina.

We were linked with him a couple seasons ago IIRC, when were going through centrebacks like a NY cop goes through doughnuts. I haven't watched much of Depor this season, but by all accounts he seems to have done well. He's a ballplaying CB.

Oh fuck, I said "we" again.

He is not a striker. Fair enough, all my knowledge on him comes from his whoscored page. Is he an outside forward? A second striker? Yea basically like that, just like Ayoze, a No.10. Of course you can stick him to play upfront but his natural position is a wide / second striker. A good signing imo. We badly need someone to play No.10 when Ayoze is in bad form. Call me nitpicker, but I think we need someone that improves on the dudes that play badly no matter their form! I just want to look at NUFC's squad and be able to say "yeah, this guy will do 10+ a season". Not 15, just 10...

He is not a striker. Fair enough, all my knowledge on him comes from his whoscored page. Is he an outside forward? A second striker? Have we timewarped back to the 50's? I just never know what to call in English a forward that plays on the left or right of the attack, what we call an "extremo".

He is not a striker. Fair enough, all my knowledge on him comes from his whoscored page who have him as a striker. Is he an outside forward? A second striker?

Scoring record isn't particularly awe-inspiring for a striker, and he's moving to a higher level now. Ah well, always had a soft spot for Japanese players, I was a huge Captain Tsubasa fan as a kid.

Coutinho has just got a Portuguese passport. So right now we'd have Arthur, Mina and Malcolm. Max is 3, and Mina might still leave.

Looks like Malcolm to us is done. €38m with addons. Didn't see that coming, which is a welcome change for us. Our signings are year long transfer sagas usually.

Yeah, the Richarlison transfer is a total head-scratcher to me, at that price. But I gave up on trying to make sense of transfer prices.

10m on a player from a relegation favorite in La Liga. The PL is mad. Although he's probably Leganés' best player after Pires, truth be said.

Also, I suppose we could do far worse things than watching what Monchi (former Sevilla DOF, now at Roma) wants to buy and just hijack it.

I'm glad we missed out on Willian, tbf. I mean, he can be class but he's 30 in a couple weeks, was always going to be a stopgap and a really expensive one. Slightly worried that we're so obsessed on buying another winger, given what we spent on Dembelé.

Iker Casillas just claimed on twitter that the Moon landings were staged by the NASA. Honestly didn't pin him as a conspiracy nutter

Dunno about Madrid buying Hazard. He's a great player, but I look at Madrid's squad after Ronaldo leaving and "we really need to spend massively on another attacking midfielder" is not what jumps to my mind. A lot will hinge on Bale staying fit and on form.