Holmesy

Are there any potential out-of-the-blue, blow your tits off striker signings we could make - names that haven't been mentioned yet and would be totally left field but would represent that 'i can't believe this is happening' feeling we got with Isak? Not totally unrealistic but 'this is really exciting'. At the moment, it seems like Watkins, Hojland, Strand Larsen, Jackson and Wissa are the only options, and they're all a bit underwhelming really. But there are thousands of teams out there, all of which have strikers. They can't all be shit can they?

And it's not like there's an abundance of alternatives around. I guess the lure of a £55m windfall could be the only incentive

He'd already signed by that point. He's hardly going to say 'this is shit'. I'm not suggesting we're not a draw, of course we are. But someone needs to sell the dream, and currently we have a second-hand car salesman trying to flog a used Toyota Camry. We need Jordan Belfort

Like someone pointed out before though, we're attractive if there's not loads of competition for players, and when there's someone of exceptional calibre selling the opportunity/project, which we clearly don't have now. I don't know how active Staveley/ Merhdad were in player negotiations but whoever was doing it then doesn't seem to be doing it now

Agreed, but everything you've said there confirms exactly what I said - something has either been neglected or poorly handled - naivity, overestimation of how attractive we are, not anticipating other clubs coming in for our targets, not spreading our net wider.

We've had 18 months to do the groundwork and it would appear we've done fuck all. Obviously we can't legislate for other clubs coming in for the players we've targeted but our transfer window suggests none of the pre-work has been done. That could be down to the DoF situation but we should have learned our lesson from the last one that seemed to derail an important transfer window. Whatever it is, something has been neglected or poorly handled and I don't think that can be denied

It's a net improvement but when you look at what we could've had - Elanga, Trafford, Guehi, Sesko, Ramsey, you could also say we're not as strong as we could've been if we'd convinced better players to come. Thiaw is an unknown quantity and whatever we get striker-wise will be from our backup list rather than the primary list

We signed Bruno, Isak, Botman, Gordon, Tonali - someone convinced them we were an attractive option. Whatever is being pitched to the players we have targeted hasn't been anywhere near as convincing or powerful, evidently.

Sorry, could you clarify what you mean?

We're going into the last 2 weeks of the transfer window needing 2 strikers, with a tiny list of targets and a recruitment team that has proven itself to be a bit sub-par. Regardless of who we get, we're going to get bent over

It would mean we need to sign another CM as a high priority if that happens though. I'd rather give Osula a chance personally but Eddie doesn't seem to rate him

Shittest idea i've ever heard.

Can we close this thread forever now please?

He's said he wants the best striker we can possibly get and has referenced the fact we've lost Isak and Wilson, so i think there could be another potential big money signing after those two. It's probably conditional on Isak leaving but maybe we want to mitigate his lack of involvement and go for it anyway

Have any of them actually succeeded in the PL? Going all the way back to Kezman, they all seem to flop

is there actually a concrete link to this guy?

I'm definitely not criticising Ramsey as a target. I actually think it's quite an exciting link. My point is more in reference to us not being able to attract the next level of player, which points to a bigger issue in the capabilities of our recruitment team. Whatever Mitchell was referring to when he said 'not fit for purpose', whether it was the right team not in place or the identification of targets, his comment seems to have some weight. If we get Wissa, the lad from Leicester, Ramsey and another decent striker, you'd have to call that a decent window, but when we could potentially have had Ekitike, Pedro, Trafford, Sesko and possibly Guehi, it highlights that we're now shopping at the tier below. Regardless, something needs addressing and I imagine it will be addressed. We can't do anything about it now but we need to ensure we don't have another window like this one going forward.

It is if you make the assumption that markets always stay the same, which they don't. Our profile and position is different, the market dynamics are different, the pool of players is different. Nickson could have found his sweet spot in bringing lesser-coveted players to a new project under Staveley, but in this current market and with the project (always hesitant to use that word) maturing and changing, and us playing at the top table, he could be struggling. Most people have a sweetspot where their capabilities match the situation, but if you don't adapt when things change, you can quickly find yourself obsolete/out of your depth. Whether that's true here we don't know but the signs point to someone or multiple people not being able to operate effectively at this level.

I know. I should have replied to the comment you replied to, but what's done is done. Glad we're on the same page - it's important to me

Willock literally has no end product, zero. If Ramsey can score, create and not let the ball bounce off his shin into touch consistently, he's an upgrade

why do we keep doing this to ourselves?!

That went well!

Isak is basically the last top striker 'available'. Everyone else has moved clubs. Unless one of the cartel get relegated or some new Haaland-style wonderkid emerges, he's the top option for anyone looking

still monitoring. Apparently it takes a while

How about you talk to your bin-dipping scouse pals and tell them to stump up the cash, Alex, you fucking melt. Otherwise you can rot in the reserves for a season