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8/10 - Evolution not revolution which is pretty much what we got. Bit of an anticlimax last day tbh but pulling off the most ambitious signing since Alan Shearer is about as big a statement as our owners could possibly have made and that gets me stupidly excited for the future.

Ross Barkley is this decades Andy Carroll, minus the injuries; rated throughout his entire career without actuslly doing anything of note outside his boyhood club.

Anyone notice him bust his bollocks off to get back for Wolves disallowed goal? The Howe affect.

Out for "several months" according to his IG

The FFP restrictions are all about future expenditure and how what we spend now impacts us in the future, so with that in mind, I'd imagine FFP is only a consideration for the club when they're signing players for the short to medium term, players like Trippier, Targett and Pope who will all need replacing at some point in the future for a variety of reasons and will therefore mean future expenditure for the club. The other side to this though is that the club is probably more than happy to spend large amounts now on players who they don't beleive will need replacing long term and therefore don't have to envisage a future expenditure for the position.

Chelsea fans rate him highly Brighton after him apparently which is another decent indicator fwiw

ok

Billy Gilmour is training with the Chelsea reserves, he must be available for decent price and would be unreal for depth.

Just read someone say there's shades of Thierry Henry with him and now I cant stop seeing it and am stupidly excited about it.

Aye but love the idea of us low balling them as a fuck you Npdickhead

Agreed but that's if Howe wants to be like that and from what I've seen of Shelvey and Bruno is that they tend to sit and don't break forward that much, Bruno certainly hasn't been finding himself in the box the past couple of games he's played that role and it doesn't really look like Howe wants the role to be played that way. Same with Shelvey when he plays there. All points to Howe wanting that number 6 to play a certain way rather than bring interchangeable like you say.l they could be.

Bit of a shame to push Bruno back when he was so influential in the final 3rd with the freedom he got last season as a number 8.

I aware of his versatility and I'm also of how good he is but I can't quite buy into buying a player who probably won't play in his best position or does at the expense on another player. Every iteration of formations or tactical discussion re: him seems to have him either playing in a position that's either not his best position or one that puts another player in a position that's not his best (e.g Bruno) or even a change of formation. All seems a bit haphazard. Edit: to be clear, happy if he signs, but would be nonplussed if he didn't.

Well I've been telt. So he's a replacement for Longstaff yeh?

Would rather see us get a DM so we can push Bruno up and get the best out of him.

Just me who's not that arsed if he doesn't sign?

Don't understand why we're not linked with more right wingers, Diaby aside we've been linked almost exclusively with wingers who play pre dominantly on the left.

Yeh seen a few people nail down number 10 as his best role - wonder what we've got in mind for him.

Seen a few Watford fans say his best position is a number 10, seem quite emphatic with that too.

Means they may or may not sell him to us

Yeh I think its one of the thing that frustrates me most about ASM actually, world class on the ball, average off it, could add another layer to his game if he was willing to make the same kind of runs as Miggy.

Miggy could score 10 this season. His acceleration, movement and off the ball running will get him into dangerous positions every single game, it's no coincidence that he often finds himself with the best chances. Another midfielder with Bruno's vision and I'd go higher than 10.

Imagine if we could have brought on a Diaby and an Ekitike instead of Wood and Murphy.

He's starting to get noticed by fans of other clubs too. Seriosuly hope he gets to the WC, he was excellent today.

Phenomenal today, brillaint workrate too. He's just perfectly suited to a counter attacking team.