christ

I know it’s cliche to point this out, but if he was called Antonio Gordinho, we’d signed him for the same fee from abroad and he’d just won the Player of the Tournament at the U21 Euros our fans would be cock in hand that we’ve got one of the top prospects in world football.

Barnes has a lower expected hard-ons for people who like stepovers.

Al-Rumayyan swapping between his NUFC and Al-Ahli blazers while emailing himself.

People will cry arse about the transfer fee, but it’s pretty inconsequential. We’re not skint. This is basically an accounting manoeuvre by PIF to keep us within a set of arbitrary financial parameters.

There are people who have explained in detail in this thread how it improves our FFP position though.

I was fine with my club being used for sports washing but apparently this is what has pushed me over the edge.

“Expected assists”. Modern football needs nuking from orbit.

The sooner people make their peace with the fact we need to turn over players the better. At some point in the next few years we’ll shift a really important name for the greater good of the club. It’s the reality of the modern, FFP-led game. The blessing is that unlike in previous years we know there’s a wider plan in place to keep us moving forward.

I love the lad and it will be a shame to see him leave, but because of his injury record he is to all intents and purposes a fringe player. If we can get a big fee for him then I don’t see the problem.

Related to that Monaco CB?

Is it possible for a thread to have a gas leak?

Who were we playing during pre-season a few years ago when it got rained off at HT?

Sounds painful.

Know absolutely bot all about the women’s game. Assume these lasses are canny upgrades? Pulling power of being fully professional now must be pretty big, even if they are Div 3.

Or when Dummett starts a match.

I think I preferred it when football was more vibes based, rather than every cunt fancying themselves as Jonathan Wilson because they’ve spent five mins on Transfermarkt.

He’s a senior pro at the club doing senior pro stuff. I don’t think the captain has to have a monopoly on offering to help new signings.

Lads, it’s a video clip. Let’s not read too much into it.

There’s a degree of pragmatism with our business, in no small part due to FFP but also because we’re way ahead of expectations on the field. I get the impression we’d much rather do the deal that works for us - even if it’s not necessarily one of the ‘problem’ positions - than buy someone we’re not convinced about to plug a gap. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t get a CB or a LB this window, just because there might not be a deal to be done that makes sense. We’ll just have to wait and see.

No point getting worked up about something which might happen. Even if we do sell him, you can guarantee we’ll get the best possible deal and it’ll be reinvested.

I know I’ve contributed to it somewhat, but the ASM/Barnes debate is a bit odd. Different in-game circumstances are going to require different abilities. There’s a place for both of them in the squad. Why don’t we all just chill the fuck out?

It got Miggy scoring. I expect Barnes to post Haaland-like numbers.

And Barnes scored the same number of goals last season as ASM has in his entire NUFC career. Depends what you value I suppose.

We need more of a goal threat from our wide areas. It’s a no brainer.

Barnes at that price would be a great pick up, and a very astute one considering his strengths and our relative lack of goals from out wide (Miggy’s once in a lifetime run aside).