Thiago

Bloody Rafa, wasting our money again.

Should have won a penalty. I will totally understand this in non-VAR games, but the idiots have a chance to rewatch it.

There's a reason we're after a left-back. The lad is coming back after eons out, so I want to cut him some slack, but he's always just been a serviceable defensive fullback.

Their owner can't/won't say how much of the club he owns. We may be a mess right now, but the path to a solution is clear and has everyone involved moving in that direction. Sunderland are miles from being near that.

Hear hear. We've got out of worse binds than this, and we fucking prayed for new owners for almost the entire 14 years we had under Ashley. Whether we like it or not, it's Howe until the end of the season and the same with most of these players. I'd rather roar them on than start picking fights. The teams that stick together are the ones that survive this.

Eh? We've put in multiple bids that would be just below a club record and if had come off would be our biggest investment in years. Mental take this.

Is Alli not just a rich man's Joe Willock?

Couldn't have found him a goalie top. Another mark against Ashley.

lol, he's such a sensitive little prick.

He seems a lovely lad, but the start to this video had me in fits. Genuinely sounded like he was meeting Patrick Roberts.

Surely if the lad has done the bone tests he can just show that to Porto or submit again for testing?

Aren't Marseille in a tiny bit of bother money wise? I'd take Caleta-Car no bother. Similar profile to Diego Carlos and the type of grab it by the horns type we need.

He was some player at Fulham and Celtic. He was like watching one of those slalom skiers bobbing and weaving through players. Obviously something has gone wrong if he's signing a six month deal at a League One club, but basically a combination of injuries and stalled momentum. I read reports of his spells abroad as being underwhelming, so this is the very definition of a punt from them. I'd imagine they're looking to replace Broadhead in terms of speed and mobility, so I'll be curious to see how he handles the bruising nature of League One, especially if he' lost a yard due to the hamstring issues. I find it more curious what's happening with Defoe. Every fan I know wants him back and yet Johnson seems unconvinced.

Genuinely, always been a cunt. Snide as fuck.

It is true. We've technically only paid money for two central midfielders since we got promoted. One is at Real Sociedad, and the other is Joe Willock. For all people on the outside talk about Joelinton and 'giving Bruce £100m', he did that because he sensed a profit with the former, and knew the latter couldn't get the same tune out of a Championship squad like Rafa Benitez. It was forced investment. We'll never know who of our signings were Rafa's preferred options, but if you look at a lot of the business under him it was largely from fellow strugglers or lads totally on the fringes. Whether it was Ciaran Clark, Fabian Schar, Javier Manquillo, DeAndre Yedlin, or Joselu, they all came here 'with a point to prove' which is fine if you're a team just getting promoted. We relied really heavily on Rafa's ability to judge a player, and we had very little margin for error. That meant we ended up with some very good players like Mikel Merino, Florian Lejeune, or Martin Dubravka, but also some that were clear punts like Christian Atsu and Emil Krafth. Honestly every time we took a step forward I was just waiting for Ashley to yank us back two. I'd never wish death upon anyone, because we all have families, but knowing he had no say in our club was a joyous moment.

Re: Bernd Leno, worth noting that Arsenal are in talks with New England Revolution for their goalkeeper Matt Turner. That makes me think it could be a goer.

It doesn't hurt.

Worth remembering with the way our academy has been handled we are pretty much one in one out right now. I assume if Leno was to come in then two of Woodman, Gillespie, Darlow are either sold or loaned out (failing that we just don't register them). I say that because when we're discussing Matt Targett I don't know if there's much sense in signing a lad who offers no different skillset to what we already have unless you're wanting to ditch Ritchie and backing Lewis to play further up.

They've exploited people for money. I've worked in similar circles to the owner, Robbie, and for all his talk of giving fans a voice it fast became about making a buck. He's afforded his main players no protection whatsoever, and it contributed to the death of one of them in Claude. DT and Troopz did well to spin off their own careers, but the problem with these types of ventures is always the same. If your schtick is 'he rants, he raves, it's funny' then how do you top that? Troopz has said some awful stuff about women and now this with DT. There's no way Robbie didn't know, and the bloke just feigns ignorance, like when he took a media deal with The Sun and pissed off Liverpool fans. The whole thing is abhorrent and should really shut tomorrow.

I think you're missing the key problem with reporting on transfers - those doing so aren't in the room. It's better to think of them as like waiters with two fussy eaters. Edwards will have been told by someone, 'There's a bid gone in, and I'll have the steak'. He scurries back to the kitchen and informs the chef. As he brings out the starters he's told 'That bid isn't happening, and I want fish now'. He scurries back again to inform the chef of the change. If you've bought a car or a house, you'll know there's pretty ample negotiation about costs, surveys, deals, etc. We're getting a much more blow by blow account than usual.

I assume the only difference between a loan and a transfer for Man Utd is the fee?

It's one of those deals where it won't be mediocrity.

He's clearly a very good footballer. The fact he can't get ahead of the likes of Sancho/Fernandes distorts his ability for that reason. I think this either goes swimmingly and he totally thrives under the pressure for us or it tanks.

Again, no fan of Luke, but he did break the Chris Wood stuff. I'm not one for pitting these lads against each other, but I think he clearly has some lines of communication.