Kid Icarus

Aye him . Just woken up.

Speaking Aouar and more broadly N-O rated 'we should be all over that' players, how's Fofana been at Villa? I watched a little bit of Villa vs Everton but can't say I really noticed him.

Nothing makes sense, wasn't our rejected bid more than that? I can't keep track

The Watford lads on that Loaded Mag channel were waxing lyrical about him like. Couldn't have gushed more about him than they did tbh. One thing's for sure though, he's not a striker, at least not at the moment. From 17 minutes https://youtu.be/Q4tiG-WQC4Q

One thing we've got wrong about him though is that he isn't really played as a striker. Watford have apparently been playing him out wide and transfermarkt isn't accurate

I get the comparison but Ekitike was our first choice for a reason. He had 16 goal involvements in 26 games and Borussia Dortmund and PSG were after him. He also just looked much better from watching his highlights and was reportedly cheaper than João Pedro, who had 5 goal involvements in 30 and no one else is in for. There's quite a big gap in what their potential looks like at the moment. Hopefully it's meaningless and João Pedro is class though because he does look good. Still an interesting thread though and obviously my post isn't aimed at anything you've said.

Sure! https://youtu.be/5aALX-BTuEw

Just been watching a Watford podcast. One of them said they'd be gutted if he went for less than £40m, the other £50m. Interestingly though they were questioning whether he'd get in our team 'ahead of Saint-Maximin or alongside Guimaraes' Sounds like he's more of a LW/8/roaming 10 than a CF for them.

It's always funny to read opposition fan forums and see that both sets of fans think they're being ripped off

That link is literally just the same Time article from earlier today

He's not wrong like.

His game was barely based on pace at all, that's what makes his fall from grace so hard to work out. It's a lot easier to work out why it's happened when it is (Owen, Dyer, Walcott etc)

I see you've reverted back into 'vote KaKa' territory

I'm all for laughing at the bedwetters, but there's some nonsense conflation going on here.

Don't think that's something that anyone needs to grasp though is it? Seems like a bit of a strawman to me. If he's a backup, then £30-£35m plus for a back up striker is an obvious risk and pretty normal stance to take, regardless of potential and particularly when his potential (at least to me) isn't as immediately apparent by watching him in the way that it has been with other players we've been linked with.

I do, but having watched him last night, his record in the PL, the fee that's being touted, and the reported fees of the other players we've been linked with who looked better, it's on the cusp like.

I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that getting close to £35m for a player who's already played in the premier league and not really caught the eye is eye-watering like. Bruno cost that, Ekitike who's gone to PSG was a lower fee. Unless they rate him very highly it's an obvious risk for a player that, at least to the eye of the layman, doesn't look as much of a prospect as other players we've looked at.

I mean in terms of letting everyone else know as well. Liverpool did the same thing for a couple of years and walked away when clubs tried to get them to pay daft amounts.

You have to wonder how much of this is us trying to get a player we want and how much of it is showing off and hammering home that we won't go beyond our valuation of a player.

Definitely wouldn't go anywhere near that far. Very good first half and second half he wasn't great, then picked up a bit, then missed a decent chance. Where he's picking up the ball looks like the problem, but he looks like a very good dribbler. He didn't look like he was playing at CF at all, more LW and then RW.

That skied shot wasn't great like. Tbf to him, he's having to pick up the ball just over the halfway line and is having to drive forward himself, at which point he's passing it to someone who then wastes it.

He's been shite second half

Kleberson maybe? The big thing for me was when they started rating players who were clearly a step or two down from what was needed.

He's just taken on 3 players then got a through ball through to the striker again

He's just played a lovely little through ball for what should have been a goal.