Dr Jinx

Easily one of our worst signings in recent years. Just had nothing about him. No drive, no backbone, completely unable to improve enough to gain trust.

But he’s not getting in ahead of Isak, so at 60m or whatever the fee is, what’s the point?

I don’t think we sign both Elanga and JP.. it’s one player for that right side. Osula will be trusted to be Isak’s cover. If we can keep Joelinton, Bruno and Tonali fit all season we should dominate most teams in the middle, however, it may not be a bad idea to freshen things up with the other midfielders. Willock and Longstaff could do with a fresh start maybe. I think we need an all out defensive midfielder who can come on and close out games, someone with pace that won’t let teams run right at us etc, give some added protection to the back line. An upgrade at CB is long overdue. Although you can’t fault Burn or Schär, it’s just the pace bit that raises concerns. A goalkeeper who can distribute and not just limply kick the ball straight to the other team will transform us more than any other player we’ll sign imho.

Please be true.

Scalvini played 6 of 38 games last season. Massive risk

Agreed on Trafford. Besides all that potential, he seems to be a good egg so no worries about him mixing with the squad. A goalkeeper who can pass will massively enhance our style of play.

Really not arsed about this one. That armband craic this season was poor.. good player or not, there’s a huge question mark over whether he’d be a good fit or not. If we did sign him you can guarantee that question will get asked of the manager at the next press conference.

He can’t be everywhere at once, there’s been games that we’ve been overrun in midfield when he’s played. He has pace but the others around him don’t seem to have that quick acceleration from standstill, it’s something we should be looking at, even if it’s just cover for games where we just need that sort of energy.. We’re already a good team and it’s just minor tweaks to the starting 11 that will bring us to the next level. JP is a good signing if it happens. If we can get a ball playing dominant RCB, a goalkeeper who can save as well as Pope but who can keep possession through distribution and a bit more reliable cover for midfield, I reckon we’ll kick on again next season. The extra games are going to take a toll so we need more bodies for the smaller games, if we play all our best players week in week out and with CL.. we’ll be fucked by December.

Something just doesn’t seem quite right about paying more than double for a player who has pretty much stayed around the same level as his previous club. Not saying he’s a bad player or anything, just the fee seems all wrong. Has he done anything since his move to Brighton to warrant doubling in price?

Seems we’re waiting for July 1st to start doing business. We’re going to miss out on quite a few decent players if the likes of Liverpool are throwing money about now. Not totally convinced by him, as what I’ve seen at club level has been patchy, he looked great for England at the last tourno though. Does he lose a lot of headers because of the lack of height?

The Stack announcement would certainly point to SJP continuing for a few more years as is while a new stadium is built, if that’s the intention. No reason to doubt that yet. Am guessing any new stadium would negate the need for the stack after that but you can’t deny it’s been a massive success, would be hard to replicate that inside a new stadium.

Overall Howe did an excellent job last season although with the same consistency issues. Saying that, between Ashworth and Mitchell, Howe has appeared to use whatever sway to limit the input by both, seeing them off essentially. You can argue that he’s earned that veto but it’s not a good look for anyone coming in that he just won’t work with them.

Every club has that blueprint now that Chelsea have set out, i can only imagine that we're not going that route because of legal council we've had. OR.. the owners are dead set on turning us into a force gradually and tiny step by tiny step. We won't get that consistency until we start making the right appointments to support the manager.

When he's on the pitch you can tell the difference between what he brings and other "captains". Even Bruno looks to him for guidance as you can see after we won the cup final. The flip side of that is that he's been massively out of sorts this year and last over his family situation. Whether his own doing or not, i can synpathise. He's also reaching that age where things will just slow down, but he's far from done yet. Would be happy if he stayed another year.

Maignan Is 29, while not old for a goalkeeper it doesn’t reduce the squad age like what was an objective. Trafford is the one if we’re going domestic.