Stottie

50M!! Christ on a bike! Great stat about Sigurdsson by the way, the chances from set pieces one. Knocking a dead ball in for Llorente is going to be much easier than trying to hit Rooney (or Jamie Vardy).

When we reportedly refused to pay the sweeteners to the assorted family and hangers-on Tammy Abraham wanted, there wasn't much disagreement on here with the club's decision. However, it was "only" a million and maybe clubs just have to suck that up now. Presumably Swansea went and paid it, and I guess we'll have to put up with similar demands if we want to get other deals done. Look at the huge fees that accompanied the Pogba and Lukaku transfers.

Reina seems like an experienced leader and we definitely need experience and leadership. Our "buy young and cheap" policy means like we are unlikely to stumble upon them. This cranks up the value of getting Reina in. It would be worth paying more than we want to for Samaris and arguably even McCarthy for the same reason. We'll have to have some players out there prepared to dig in and motivate others to deal with all the circumstances and momentum shifts you get in games. Against much stronger teams we'll face this season, the lack of experience and leadership in our squad could cost us much more this time.

With the Rooney bit factored in and add-ons, apparently Lukaku is over 100M. He's a great striker for sure, the real deal, but that's just so much money.

When are tickets for the first games likely to start going on sale?

We need a DM like McCarthy regardless of whether we get Cairney.

Really sad to hear this. RIP big Cheick. He did score another screamer, I reckon a better one, but the Man City players moaned enough for it to be disallowed.

Of the players who've been linked, Josh King could play #10. I suspect Cairney would be played there too, if the idea is to play Shelvey because we'd definitely need a DM on the pitch. With Perez and Diame, Rafa has already spent a season alternating the #10 between a second striker and a midfielder.

Probably worth mentioning they scored the same number of league goals despite Gayle not having pens and playing 1300 fewer minutes. I do hope we sign him as our backup but if you're expecting him to be a more physical upgrade on Gayle as our main striker you'll be disappointed. In time he'll be an absolute f***ing beast of player, mind. Gayle also did well in the chances he got in the Prem, especially under Pulis, and there is a big "what if" around what would have happened had the next two Palace managers not been Holloway and Pardew.

I never knew Eric Dier had been on loan at Everton when Moyes was there. Dier was U18 at the time. That scouting report and Bruno's comments sound all right. CH who can play DM, get him in.

Rossi had not banged in a ton of goals over a full season at the next-lower level of English football. Some loans of strikers with English football experience between PL clubs have been very successful. See Sturridge at Bolton, Lukaku at West Brom, and Welbeck at the mackems. We need so many players that getting a potentially very good striker who can play (for the time being) in Rafa's system for nothing is a clever move. We cannot fill every position we need with Prem-proven starters in one window. The main thing is to get the improvements in (i.e., spend the money) at the positions where we are most lacking.

I didn't see Hull play much, but Grosicki is down as having played left wing most of the time.

I've only seen the 26 goals video but he looks like a ball magnet in the box and is a cool finisher. 190cm tall but slim and clearly hasn't had a PFM in his ear telling him to bulk up, so he is lithe and fast. This could be very good indeed.

Darlow is young and English, so he should bring decent money in when sold.

Bou-de-bouz! Ah-ha! Take it now or leave it. Now it's all we get. Ah-ha Nothing promised, no regrets.

Selling Darlow might pay the Reina transfer fee, leaving funds for elsewhere in the team. Blob as provisionally #2 also opens the door for Woodman, who may be the ultimate long-term plan after learning from Reina.

Probably Giggs, but Skybet has Huddersfield at 8/13 for relegation. It's very likely, but 8/13 ?!?! btw, we're sixth favourites at 7/2.

Just another case of Pardewing I suspect. Under Pardew 1 goal 2 assists in 1183 minutes Under Allardyce 2 goals 4 assists in 1343 minutes Ritchie involved in 10-12 goals on one side and Townsend or someone else involved in 10-12 on the other and we should be comfortably mid table.

I think that's fair, honestly Terry was nothing special at all, just consistent inside a quality team, far easier to be a CB in a team that dominates games than one in a team that is on the back foot all the time. All the players you mention where better CB's than him. I'd imagine playing centre half is a lot easier with the likes of Makelele/Essien/Kante sitting in front of you. I find it tough to judge Terry impartially though given he's an utter c***. He was definitely outside his comfort zone against Germany in 1-4 at the 2010 WC. He wasn't alone, but it was about as bad as you'll see from any good player.

Streaky? He scored in 22 games this season. Harry Kane scored in 20. His record against top 6 clubs isn't too good apparently. If you're Chelsea you have to consider that. Very few strikers do have a good record against the top 6 - http://www.football365.com/news/the-nonsense-of-the-flat-track-bully-criticism Pertinent section (correct as of mid-April): The fact that every elite striker in the Premier League this season has endured such criticism at one time or another is enough to deem the accusation itself as nonsense, but let’s prove it so anyway. Judging the six top-scoring strikers in the country on the number of non-penalty goals scored in starts against the top six produces the following results (non-penalty goals is the only fair way of comparing penalty takers against non-penalty takers: Lukaku – 3 non-penalty goals in 9 starts Ibrahimovic – 2 in 5 Aguero – 2 in 6 Costa – 2 in 8 Defoe – 1 in 9 Kane – 0 in 7 Great article Hughesy, thanks for the link. I think Lukaku is class and will score for any top team. My impression of games between top four teams is that they are frequently dour and often won by a defender heading in a set piece.

Didn't Terry get "Dad of the Year" or some other BS award just before the Wayne Bridge thing broke? Great player, but so full of himself, and an example of the entitlement that turns many English people off the England team. That's if the Oompah band, "10 German bombers", and the general ineptitude of the FA don't do it already.

For this plan to work, it might be an idea to first sign a #10 who can also play as a lone striker, Josh King being the name put forward. For the same reason, I like the idea of Cairney since he could play in the two or fill in as AM.

I guess Everton having Schneiderlin and McCarthy being injured most of this season mean he'll be available and not as expensive in relative terms as a season ago. It doesn't sound like he's on crazy wages either. Whether him or not, a big upgrade at DM is essential, especially if the idea is to proceed with Shelvey.

The league is basically 6 good sides, Everton, and then a 12 team relegation battle, none of them are up to much. Those 12 teams include ones who aren't relegation candidates but play like them once 40 points are reached. Stoke, WBA, and Southampton. Meanwhile, Leicester and Palace started like relegation candidates, but have finished the season with new managers and better form than Man U over the last 12 games, suggesting that they are not fundamentally weak. However, you're definitely right in that 9-10th is not a big achievement and is not too much to hope for for a promoted side who starts well and doesn't hit the beach in March.

Cheers Parsley Just off numbers, but Cairney has 70 goals and assists in 180 games' worth of minutes in the Championship. His biggest production was in this past season. 20M does not strike me as unfair, because he is a proven top 10 Championship player. While the Championship is not a strong league, you'd think 10 players at least out of the 500 or so could make the step up (!) I suppose we'll be playing 4-2-3-1 again with the bias on keeping it tight against better opposition, so the "3" will all have to contribute.