Dr Jinx

I suspect the fee will be higher. They’ll announce it as an undisclosed sum along with a few other departures and this will muddy the waters in terms of FFP.

I think there’s a place to love the player but also acknowledge that he could be frustrating for the majority of the time. The frustration is because we know what he could do and we have a high expectation of him.. well more wanting him to have that for himself. Ultimately I think he’s a very good footballer trapped in the body of a rugby league player. The work rate expected of him is going to continually lead to injuries, for that reason he’s not reliable.. an average season for him is 25 games. In terms of end product we have most definitely upgraded but I’m still sad to see him go.

30m is not great business for someone of his talent. But I don’t think the club are being straight up about FFP.. I just don’t think Howe rates him for the style he wants us to play and can use it as an excuse to flog. So Maxi for Barnes is a straight swap pretty much. Not too happy about this one.. love Maxi

deranged behaviour.

Not a place for those of thin skin ?

How many skunkers alumni post on here? Half them must be one foot in the grave at this point.

Vlahovic please

Go on YouTube and click English subtitles.. he goes on to say that last season was good.. but the aim is to try and win something this year. He was just complimentary about Man City which is fair enough. Also singles out Eddie Howe for changing up Joelinton’s fortunes after Schär got sent off. He says the way it was handled and how he was coached into the role was the best thing that ever happened to him. He loves it here, even made reference to the fat lads with nufc tattooed on the bellies ?

I know he’s highly rated but can’t say I’ve paid that much attention to him.. I remember us being interested last summer. I think Eddie Howe has probably made a decision to upgrade on Maxi quite some time ago.. whether he stays on or not is very much up in the air. Just watched his YouTube compilation.. the lad can finish! Now that on its own creates a whole host of options.. with Maxi he’s going to miss 80% of the time (I’m sure someone has his shots to goals conversion %?) .. he’s just got that wild card element. Barnes is a genuine goal threat which means he’ll be taking attention off Wilson or Isak.. and he’s far more likely to play a key pass than Maxi. Its a sensible transfer if it happens.

Bonucci has looked after himself. Be a great signing short term, especially for CL.

Bruno and Tonali are going to destroy teams this season.. pure intelligent break up of play and the skill and speed of thought to just do whatever they want

Congrats to him, but yeah in terms of our club, we need to let that one go. Deep breath and just lock this thread. Anyone disagree?

Am starting to think we may well be done in terms of major signings. In attack we were great last season, at the back even better and we were pretty good in midfield too.. that’s now been elevated which is going to have a knock on effect of raising the game of everyone on the pitch. Why dismantle and change up a side that have gelled pretty well up front. If ASM is staying, we need backup for him, not someone new to take his place. For what it’s worth, I think we start Tonali, Bruno & Longstaff in midfield and play Joelinton forward left. Gordon/Miggy forward right and Isak and Wilson to battle it out for the starting spot. They could get 20 goals each potentially. We’re in bloody good shape like.

If we aren’t in for a player and he goes somewhere else, how can we even be remotely invested in it. Something like that kid that went to PSG, that’s different as was a snub. We’re far too easily led by journos.

You have to be pragmatic about what we actually need. We had the best defence in the league, no reason to think it’s been found out. We needed some extra bite in midfield and someone other than Bruno that could read the game well and break up play, pick the simple pass etc. We’ve done that. Tonali gives us extra control there. Isak, Wilson, Gordon, Miggy, ASM, and Murphy will get enough goals. It’s not super important to buy in this area but if we do, we need to buy a clear upgrade.

Whoever said he’s this years Paqueta is right.. but it was same last summer as well, we weren’t in for him either. We all just ran with a rumour. I have full faith in the clubs strategy.

You think any modern player would turn down champions league? Nah, we were never in for him this summer. At any price.

Really not disappointed at all about this, I’m all for replacing current members of our starting 11 with players who can do all of what they do and more. Maddison was not that. He’s a luxury player and yeah he’ll get some assists and goals but any midfield he plays in imho, there’s a weakness exposed and I’m glad it’s not going to be at our expense.

My preference would be to relocate temporarily while SJP is demolished and rebuilt. I have an image of it in my head.. an exterior made of stone, something that will be there for centuries, not unlike the colosseum, with a modern interior. Go slightly into Leazes Park to protect the Terrace Go big with capacity.. 80k, we’d sell the seats no bother. More chance of getting Jennifer Lawrence into my bed than a new season ticket currently.

Did you watch any of their last few games? He was shockingly poor. His form brought him nicely up to the World Cup and then he just gave up on the cause. I won’t be told any different.

He’s far better than Shelvey, I’d have said before that he had a good attitude but he really did fuck all to drag his team to better things last season. He was as culpable as any of the others.. I’m not sure I want that.. great when things are good but goes missing when facing adversity etc. I think he’d need a full season to reach the fitness levels required for our squad, bit like Gordon (except he’s a much better athlete)

Ah he comes across like a decent dude. I’m sure he’s getting a contract he can’t turn down there. Be very surprised if he was loaned back to anyone. They want those players over there.

Honestly think if we wanted him he’d be signed up already. He’s a backup plan in case something else doesn’t come off. He’ll end up going for less than 35m (wherever he ends up) but Leicester holding out for more gives us more time to haggle for primary targets.

I'm not singling out anyone that needs to be dropped, i'm more basing it off every time we start to think Longstaff is a weak link in the midfield, he'll miss a game and then we really see some holes in the setup. Underestimate him at your peril. The way I see it now, i think it's more likely that Bruno was stretched doing defensive work and also being kicked from pillar to post all year. Tonali coming in will help massively there. We're going to see better from several players. Not sure what the plan for Anderson is but he may struggle to get game time, at least in early part of season.

I think it's going to be Tonali, Bruno and Longstaff - with Big Joe left forward if we play 4-3-3.