LRD

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.

Lewis injured, Manquillo suspended, Dummett just back from injury. So yeah, although I am unsure if he played LB before.

So two CBs and one forward the priorities. Peeps happy if we get in Botman, Carlos, and a striker in addition to Trippier and conclude our transfers?

They keep moving the goalposts. If no intention to sell whatsoever, look at other targets instead of getting no one in after all the delay.

By all accounts, he's been extremely professional and despite being open to a move, has never pushed for one.

Which other strikers have we been linked with besides Wood? Martial looks unlikely and for 17m, I would think there are options that we can look at from France or the Championship.

Hatem 1987 ASM 1997 Hatem is years ahead of ASM.

Could be that he was disappointed with his performance and the result, so wanted some time to himself. People work differently, and I would be worried if he was smiling and laughing instead.

Give them Gayle in return.