Tribesman

That’s about 1 competent PL player per window. To be fair nobody really spends money anymore in January unless clubs are in danger of relegation. Its still a small amount to spend though over 2 seasons. Did we not spend around £40 million in the summer after promotion yet the budget only goes up by £10 million after 2 years in the Premier League?

Bye Rondon.

That seems to be what he was saying looking at his quotes in the papers yesterday. I can't blame him he has been managed by the likes of Pardew and McClaren and now finally has a manager in Benitez that has taken his game to another level. He will only go backwards if he stays next season without Benitez. I think other key players like Lascelles, Dubravka, Schar and Rondon will feel the same way if Benitez leaves and will look for a move in the summer. With many squad players expected to leave as well and likely having to find Benitez's replacement its going to be brilliant watching it all once again blow up in the clubs face as they will be overwhelmed by all these problems in the summer. As for where Perez could go. I can see him back to Spain to someone like Valencia or Sevilla although I think he would fit in well at Arsenal under Emery if they were interested.

I heard that. He said it wasn't a problem, i.e. he's happy with his current level of control over transfers. It's the budgets and other issues he is concerned with. I'm surprised by that I thought he was more concerned with control over transfers rather than the amount of money he has to work with. It makes more likely he will leave if that's the case.

He's a good player and 15m is standard fair for an English player in the premiership. Where as 15m for Rafa could go a long way. It won't go a long though because it would be paid in instalments and we all know the club only spend what they have in the bank.

Apparently we want £15 million for Hayden. If a Premier League club comes in for him I can see at Brighton or Crystal Palace next season though it wouldn't surprise me if Fulham paid £30 million for both Hayden and Gayle.

I think we will lose 1-0, but I would really like to beat Brighton because we seem to always lose to them.

Dummett is not as bad as people make him out to be.

Is that Perez's first hat trick for us?

Bring on Diame.

We are all going to die.

He shouldn't be out for long.

It would be nice to win comfortably for once.

We will lose 2-3 now.

They will beat us next week.

It probably means he got one of the academy jobs.

I still think they will drop points from their remaining fixtures, but I expect Liverpool to drop points as well. I personally can't see it, remember that City have lost once since January (to us ) and Liverpool's schedule is very easy. Today was the game for them to drop points if there were going to be any. I kind of expect both to win out the rest of the way now. It wouldn't surprise me if Liverpool and Man City all their remaining matches, but Man City have already lost to Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Leicester so its impossible they drop points away to some team like Burnley.

It will be broken by a player that doesn't exist yet.

From what I read it seems he wants to know what budget he has to work with and have transfers done quicker which is reasonable, but he wants to spend the money as he sees fit and if that means spending it all on players over 30 years old then he feels his decisions shouldn't be questioned. Ashley is probably the extreme case, but not many owners will give managers that sort of control these days. I do think the club has to compromise though to allow some experienced players be signed and getting Rondon makes sense as he has proven to be quality this season. I agree with a lot of the demands Benitez has asked from the club, but its just not realistic to expect Ashley or even other clubs to give the kind of control he wants from transfers even managers at Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea have to work under directors of football or transfer committees.

I still think they will drop points from their remaining fixtures, but I expect Liverpool to drop points as well.

totally misses the f***ing point imo, which is that £55m and "money from player sales" is a massive con as rafa will not get who he wants when he wants them if rafa turned round and said i'll sign tomorrow if you go and sign player x for £50m, i'll wheel and deal for the rest nothing would happen I think the length of time it takes us to sign one player is what drives Benitez mad the most especially with a shorter transfer window. Wasn't it something like two months to get LeJeune even though he had a release clause? He had a release clause of £8 million, but the club wanted to pay in instalments to maximise Benitez's transfer budget whatever the f*** that means. I read yesterday in an article from Lee Ryder that the club felt Benitez wasted resources on the likes of Joselu and Maquillo yet were not prepared to pay £8 million for Lejeune or Tagliofico last summer.

totally misses the f***ing point imo, which is that £55m and "money from player sales" is a massive con as rafa will not get who he wants when he wants them if rafa turned round and said i'll sign tomorrow if you go and sign player x for £50m, i'll wheel and deal for the rest nothing would happen I think the length of time it takes us to sign one player is what drives Benitez mad the most especially with a shorter transfer window.

Spot on. Benitez should have all the Mitrovic money, but this summer he will only have another £5 million from that sale to spend and it will be same if we sell Hayden and Shelvey in the summer. Selling players is kind of pointless for the club when it adds next to nothing to the managers budget.

I do think this guy makes a good point that the days of managers like Benitez having complete control of how the club operates are over. That's not to say I agree with how the club is run, but hard for Benitez to find a club at the highest level where the manager have this control. https://twitter.com/davidpick1987/status/1119501653315657728

I don't really know what Benitez is to blame for. https://twitter.com/LukeEdwardsTele/status/1119511005854302208