Shadow Puppets

Not many players do, though, do they?

You what? Just watched the video... hardly foaming like. He was laughing and smiling for most of it 🤷‍♂️

Why wouldn’t we want a 19 goal PL striker to replace Wilson? Makes perfect sense to me.

I still think there’s merit in thinking we’ve played Liverpool here, to be honest. I’ve said consistently that the Ekitike link didn’t seem to make sense, and coupled with the agent I mentioned a couple of days ago mentioning that he thought we were trying to take Isak off the table, it makes sense to me. Hey, maybe we’ve been the ones to leak the Ekitike story to Romano etc, do a bit of negotiating, because we know that Liverpool wanted him or Isak (and are probably the only team who can afford Isak right now), and we wanted to force their hand and take them out of equation? Maybe we’re smarter than we’re given credit for.

Fair enough. What I’m getting at is that ever since the Ekitike story started to break last week, whether we did bid for him or not, the people I speak to have been pretty consistent in believing that it was never going to happen and that the media were being used to flush out another club (Liverpool in this case).

Yeah, fair. They didn’t really say whether they’d think we’d bid. They were just very dubious about why Romano was pushing it so hard, knowing what they know about how he’s used by certain clubs to try to force through deals / flush out interest.

So, it’s looking like my sources were pretty much bang on re: Elanga (thankfully) and Ekitike (sadly). Let’s see if the Guehi thing happens before the end of the window to make it 3/3 😬😁

I must admit like, I think Wissa would be an excellent addition… great backup / rotation player. Good character by all accounts too.

What we need to do is sign Ekitike asap, and then in the announcement video, Isak does a long drawn out emotional farewell… … to his number 14 shirt… … passing it over to Hugo… … only for it to be revealed when the camera pans out that Alex is in the number 9 shirt. Number 9 and Number 14 stand next to each other… … dramatic music… … They both turn to camera, smile… … and say in unison “You Never Walk Alone”… Cut to black. And scene! Really shove it down Liverpools throat.

How does that affect PSR?

I agree, it does. But so do a lot of the stories I hear from people in football about what goes on behind closed doors. Either way, I (and the people I’ve been speaking to) don’t believe this Ekitike transfer will happen and never have. The consensus seems to be it’s been leaked to flush out Liverpool… whether that’s his agent or Frankfurt doing it to bring Liverpool to the table, or us doing it for different reasons. Doesn’t mean we haven’t tried for him… just means that for whatever reason, the interests of the parties involved have been leaked to suit an agenda, as is often the case when you see daily / hourly updates about a transfer like this, especially from Romano. I’d love us to sign him though (and keep Isak). Just can’t see it happening.

I don’t know 🤷‍♂️ I guess there’s a chance that we have been feeling out the Ekitike deal in the knowledge that Liverpool want him, and that if we get him, great, but if we don’t it will draw Liverpool away from Isak. Win win.

Possibly not. But this whole thing has been fishy to me since it started to rumble last week. Something doesn’t add up.

Heard an interesting take on this tonight via a WhatsApp group I’m in with a few people who work in football. One of the comments was, “In my opinion, NUFC have leaked the Ekitike bid to draw Liverpool’s attention away from Isak”. By that, they mean that we don’t really want / can’t afford Ekitike, we just want to take all of Isak’s suitors off the table (in this case by scaring Liverpool into making their move for Ekitike). Interesting viewpoint, not sure if anyone has thought / shared that concept in here yet. No idea if it’s true, but it does make some sense.

I have never been convinced about this transfer happening (for all the reasons I mentioned last week), but I really hope to be proved wrong.

I still find this one very hard to fully believe... although I'd love it to happen. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, one of the sources I was speaking to seriously doubted this story, but his qualms were mainly with how Romano is used as a pawn (potentially paid) by selling clubs to flush out interest. I hope that's not what's happening here, but it all feels a bit wrong to me somehow.

Liam Kennedy ranting about the ownership and their lack of movement off the pitch in his latest Geordie Journos video, I see. Find that guy intolerable to be honest, even if he makes one or two half-decent points, but overall the ownership have done far more than we could have imagined possible a few years ago. If a little bit of patience is required to get to the next step (training ground, stadium, getting over our PSR issues), then so be it.

🤣 For the record, I didn’t say he won’t leave… just that he doesn’t want away. He loves it here.

Barnes 1000000% does not want away. I can tell you that with as near certainty as you can get.

Does anyone have the full article?

Can someone post the full article. Finding this one really difficult to believe.

Aye, Rachel 👍🏻

For what it’s worth (not much), I also expect him to go to Liverpool, but as always, just passing on some info I’ve been told 🤷‍♂️

I’m not sure. I guess, potentially, the lower income that Palace will get might mean they need to sell more and be willing to accept a lower price, but I don’t know.