Dr Jinx

I can kind of understand the agent wanting to milk this one for all it’s worth, in 2/3 seasons we’re up there with the top teams so there may not be a move up for him, he may not want to go anywhere. So those agents fees for big moves might not be what he thought he was getting for this kid. Madrid will always be a draw but it really depends on what we’re playing for.

Sarr would be like when we signed Targett, slightly underwhelmed but then actually when you see him play, it all makes sense and he was vastly underrated.

We’ve had some great frenchies over the years but they do like a sulk. Throw entitlement into the mix and it spells trouble. At least the South Americans know what hard graft is all about.

At this point it’s very difficult to separate his agents behaviour with his own endorsement of it. I have absolutely zero interest in having any player at the club who thinks he’s above it. That sort of rotten attitude seeps into the whole setup, you make allowances for him etc and suddenly you have an unmotivated group. No ta, even if his agent buckled this evening and caved in to whatever our offer was. I really hope Ashworth and Howe are thinking along the same lines too.

For once I am in full agreement with Simon Jordan’s assessment of what we’ll do. Sensible, sustained investment. We won’t go overboard but what we’ll do is upgrade the squad in each window, it might take a few seasons but over the course of it, suddenly there will be no surprise when we’re there or thereabouts in the league table. It’s not crazy to think that if we continue in the same form as second half of the season, or better, that we’ll be in the top 6 and within a sniff of the top 4 like several teams who performed very poorly last season were.

31? Won’t happen even if they were going to spend those wages.

Early part of last season he looked great, but then towards end of season when they played us, Bruno had him in his pocket all game.. he was levels below him. We want to keep that standard in who we bring in, so jury is out about Gallagher as far as I’m concerned.

I think since Ashworth has come in, we’ve gotten way more coy when it comes to the psychology of the transfer side of the business. We openly showed an interest, we’re told not for sale or quoted a ridiculous price. The most recent brief is that we’re done for the moment and will assess the squad etc.. Que the story about Diaby coming out.. those clubs are getting worried we’d walk away because we actually would and they are realising now that the whole Newcastle tax thing is a myth.

Conte is sort of like Mourinho in that he can just put a title winning side together very quickly. I’m fully expecting them to overtake Liverpool this season, perhaps not City but they’ll be close.. and if they do have a slightly off season, they could do it, pains me to say.. They've bought very well.

?

Joelinton and Bruno aside, it’s square pegs and round holes

Rapid. And his agent is a great guy too!

Back on ?

The thing about Schär is that he quite often gets wound up yet doesn’t quite have the physicality to mix it in certain games and he’s definitely been guilty of ball watching on a number of occasions that has led to goals.. but his distribution is the best of what we had. With Botman in, that won’t be as much of a factor. If two left footed CB’s can work, just how formidable would Pope, Botman and Burn be? I think there’s going to be games when Schär should play, for example against weaker teams where we’ll be having most of the possession. But for the ones where we’re going to be up against it, I’d go with Burn every day. Going by quotes last season, attacking players hated playing against him.

3 goalkeepers and then for each position you want cover for each position. The defence is quite straight forward Trippier/Krafth Schär/Lascelles Botman/Burn Targett/Dummett (or Lewis) Midfield is not so straight forward because each one is very different. There’s essentially 2 replacements for 3 positions. Bruno, Joelinton, Shelvey / Willock, Longstaff Just get the feeling it’s square pegs in round holes in midfield, especially Willock. Up front ASM/Elliott Wilson/Wood Fraser/Almiron etc

So does that mean we’ll have only spent 30m of whatever our summer budget is? Could potentially have another 100m to spend on 2 positions.

Does he need a work permit? Brexit innit

It’s fairly straight forward. The medical was fine, he wouldn’t have been at SJP afterwards otherwise. Contract also done, that was Dan’s role in it. Eddie Howe will be up to give an interview on this one as it’s a significant signing.. a coup as you would. So they’ll make a bigger deal out of this one than the previous. Video team will have most of it put together and will be splicing in bits as we speak.

We’re not ready for top 4, even if we signed a few more top class players. We have a squad of maybe 11 or 12 mediocre players who need to be shipped on. Outgoings just as important as who we’re bringing in currently. I suspect the season we’re about to have will increase the value of some of them so that we actually make a bit of ££ when either January or next summer come along.

Well he didn’t state that’s what the contract was, he said that was the asking price. So there’s enough wiggle room to be vague ?

To be honest can’t say I’ve seen it heard of him before now, a quick Denis Wise scouting mission revealed that he has the most shite “amazing skills, assists & goals” clips I’ve seen all summer.

He reminds me of Kern from Highlander.. just has that sort of Neanderthal look about him ? He was definitely riding around on a horse beheading people in a past life.

Yes! I’ve been saying this for weeks! I don’t think he cares too much, it’s a piss take of an industry.. as Steve Bruce figured out, no matter what he does, there’ll always be some other fool willing to give him his next severance pay out. This kid doesn’t care because he’s got plenty of options but that just goes to show he doesn’t want to be here, or at least couldn’t be bothered either way. So, no thanks. But the club still seem to be interested, despite the current noises “all but dead..”, which I find more interesting.

He was all for the move before he saw that little creep hanging around outside