LRD

Aye, play the same game that we are forced to play. "Everyone knows Newcastle paid 25m for the release clause. Now pay us that or no deal."

By midday the day before the next round of games. Brighton plays Palace on Friday.

Quite surprising that we haven't been strongly linked with generic French African midfielders.

He's at ACON? Edit: Haidara

Yea. Also good that this is settled early so that we can move on to other targets.

Villa playing 27m euros for him.

Come on.

He's the type of striker we are missing even if he is not a big name, and offers a physical presence up front. There were times when Wilson is isolated by himself. Signing him gives us options and different game plans for opponents.

Championship, good level. Hope he gets games and does well.

Man City were a stable upper mid-table team. We have to get to the same before we can attract better players, hopefully within the next couple of years. Relegation will add a few more years to that.

Manquillo is suspended...

Sell-on clause after wanting so much upfront and loan back is ridiculous. We need bodies now. Plus if we loan him back, what if he gets injured? Impossible terms.

Page 4 before I could find his thread. Time for his agent to find him another club. Wood and possibly Ekitike (U21, does not need squad registration) means we have to clear a slot. Took us out from the Championship but another player whom we kept for far too long. Non-entity for the past few years.

Also, Wilson had been poor before his injury. Wood is only a shoo-in for the weeks that Wilson is out for. We will get some competition in that position after that. Ideally we also conclude the Ekitike deal so we have a good mix of experienced and promising strikers.

Getting around to this: He's just turned 30 last Dec so he is closer to 30 than he is to 31. If his fair value is circa 15m, we are paying 5-10m as a premium. (suspect currency at play here) 5-10m weakens one of our relegation rivals, gives them about two weeks to find a replacement. Even better if this caught them by surprise and they had no plans to bring in one. January transfer is notoriously hard to deal in. Give Burnley the headache instead. Gives us a focal point in our attack and frees up ASM to his best position in the left wing. Trippier is a good crosser and this suits Wood's game. We have crucial matches coming up and need to win. Getting him relatively early gives us more time to bed him in. And he knows the league. 5-10m is peanuts if this helps us avoid relegation (TV money etc).

Do not need to deregister anyone until end of the window-ish when we have to finalise our squad. 20m. Wilson was injured two weeks ago and we desperately need a striker to come in for the Watford game. Either our scouts must be useless for us not to find viable alternatives at this price point and Howe is adamant about this signing.

What's an informal offer?

Undecided if the Shrewsbury lion or this mascot is worse.

Training (especially if you are unwanted by parent club so can fly in earlier) and actually playing in games are different. What is the typical time frame for a WP to be granted? Doubt it will be in time for Watford where we need a striker. That is possibly why Wood is an option if he has a release clause. Not bargaining, pay up, sign someone familiar with the league and he's available in the next game.

We need to register players by Friday if they are to play in this game? Beginning to accept that we will not sign anyone in time.

They still have to play Arsenal before Mane and Salah are back so what benefit to them for postponing the game?

Born in 2022? Prodigy, once every millennium. Get him signed up!

Either way, one of our relegation rivals is going to pick up points.

Get Carlos and another CB in, then try for Botman after Lille exits the CL or in the summer. Our whole central defence needs replacing anyway.

Manquillo is suspended.