Thiago

I'd also flag the idea of 'don't want to sell'. Carlos looks a very good player, but the market for a soon to be 29-year-old won't be half as much come the summer. Botman, I think that one holds because he's young, but some of these clubs know that this is going to be a one time chance for some of these deals.

If you listen to him especially when it comes to PSG and the like he's at all the big parties and stuff. He was a player himself but got injured (I think he was at Clairefontaine) but he absolutely works on the player side as well as being a talking head for Ligue 1.

Somewhat related - I always find it awkward watching Julien Laurens discussing this stuff. He seems a nice enough guy, but it's beyond obvious he works with agents and is involved in deals, making his subjectivity non-existent.

Something smells fishy about this whole thing. This lad is going to be 20 this summer and had a solid not spectacular spell in Denmark to go alongside a brief involvement with the French youth teams. No argument he's in good form right now, but it seems odd to me we weren't hearing glowing appraisals prior to January. This 100% feels like a team testing our desperation. EDIT: Ah scratch that I assumed it was a more straight bid. I also can't blame us for back ending the deal. He's done nothing in the game.

Mate, I know you're frustrated, but they sanctioned the second most expensive deal in club history about a week ago.

You have to be careful though. We're only getting so many through the door and if you start just jumping at the first deal we may get to February 1 with a bunch of bad deals on our hands. Right now, I've set the clock on my judgement of the club's business as September 1. That might sound ridiculous to many of you reading this, but the reason I say that is because we have two transfer windows at that point. The first, clearly truncated, presents a lot of moving parts and obstacles to navigate - least of all the ongoing games and results changing our needs in the market. That's incredibly difficult and why most successful teams don't do much incoming business in January but for a sprinkle of something extra. Come the summer we'll know our fate, and we'll have several months to enact true sweeping changes including those at the top of the tree. We'll know who wants to stay, who wants to go, and we'll have no games to contend with. I also anticipate the market will have settled somewhat and most top players will want moves sorted early with a World Cup in mind that Christmas. That's not to say I don't anticipate mistakes, but if come September 1 we're still bemoaning squad frailties then I can start to question the decision makers.

I can't believe he's agreed to play for them. Not the show of loyalty to Eddie and the lads I expected.

*Pretends to be shocked*

Just give him a release clause if we go down.

Sevilla throwing the pans, the pots, and the sink to try and get the fee they want. I think they want to do the deal after crashing out of the Champions League, but they also don't want to feel like they undersold a player with a hefty release clause to a club that has more money than anyone else in the world. I do hope in time our business becomes a bit more clandestine in nature, but for now I sense every conversation will be done via megaphone.

Yes.

That's a response to the transfer request - 100%. A very brash attempt to tell us they won't be bullied during negotiations.

Not that hard playing for Benfica though is it?

Good signing for them tbf. Wonder if they still want Richie Rich out.

I can't imagine his wage in Spain is much. Even 60-70k is likely double if not triple is money.

I think he tried it against Brentford and was scared off because we didn't win. The problem with that conclusion is that it negates the fact Darlow threw one in and we were just incredibly unlucky. I think if you put Fernandez, Lascelles and Schar in a back three it would be fine.

I'm by no means a fan of Edwards, but he did break the Chris Wood stuff.

Ha, as I said, if their end goal is 40m they should be fine barring some outrageous fall from grace between now and June. I think what we're seeing it with almost every deal we're trying to do is clubs sensing a chance to put a tax on things. If this was the summer you might see the same, but less pronounced. Sure, we can pay the 70m twice over and not blink, but thankfully we have a group that don't want tot get mugged off.

I'll say this again - Fabi Schar is only suited to a back three in a top league. He might get away with a back two for Switzerland and when he was at Basel, but the lad has too many weaknesses to be consistent in that set up. He's not an exceptional athlete relative to the standard (hence why he's crap in the air) and he is prone to the odd brain fart. Rafa knew both of these things, but also saw a player that can pass through the lines and is very comfortable driving out of the back. A back three is perfect because it allows him to go on those forays and also make some mistakes without totally exposing the defence. The way we played him meant the pitch was wide because of the wingbacks and created lanes fro him to drive through (see Cardiff at home). He's not perfect, but knowing he has a quite limited CB behind him in Lascelles to clean up the messes also gives him confidence to play the way he wants. I know Eddie is set on this 4-2-3-1 but I'd be far more comfortable going to a back 3 with a front 3. That way we get our wingbacks in attacking areas to supply crosses for Chris Wood and we don't give any real responsibilities to the midfield because let's be frank, they're shite.

He was also a nightmare against us on the field. There aren't many Sunderland players I respect as both pros and people but he is absolutely one.

I'm not convinced Botman is as good as they're making out. He's slow and looks prone to a bout of diving in. You put him in a high line and before you know it he's the Dutch Michael Keane. If they believe they can get 40m Euros come the summer then they've made the right decision for the club, but no way is anyone paying above that. But the second we talk about 70m bids you're pitching him as the same level as Ruben Dias. I'm just not seeing it. Ibrahim Konate went for about 40m Euros and he had a far better pedigree than this lad. If he'd shown any kind of consistency when playing for the Dutch U21s I might be ok with it, but too many red flags for me.

But don't be shocked if he dips out after the WC. The current crop is drifting towards retirement and the next wave isn't half as good. It's the worst time to take a national team.

The idea of 'being everyone's second team' is a misnomer. What that basically means is, that team is fun to watch, I don't mind if they win this game I have no stake in. We were a fun watch under Keegan and then Sir Bobby, plus we were also going up against more established sides so it was fun to see the relative underdog win. Look at Ken Early's piece on Man City, they have become so dominant that now people find them boring to watch and actively root against them. As for the vitriol we face now, that's to be expected. We were taken over by a middle eastern state fund. Sure, some of the disdain is envy that we are supposedly on a rocket to the moon in terms of investment, but there's also a lot of anger because it's a seemingly insurmountable foe. We can outbid any club in the world right now. I'm not for a moment saying we will, but that's a kind of power that will instigate hate. I also believe there are legitimate folk that dislike our ties to PIF because of Khashoggi and what Saudi Arabia represents. I get that, it's entirely valid, and why I won't twirl around a Saudi flag or hail them as saviours. I will say, when Man City were taken over, I didn't give much thought to the geo-political undertones of it all. I was far more irked by their ability to jump up the table and now bid for any player they fancied, (including Shay Given). It was pure envy. I will now get a litmus test for my thoughts back then about it becoming soulless. My point is, we were never as loved as you think. As for now, forgive me if I don't weep at losing Rod Liddle's respect. The man has done some reprehensible things, both behind a keyboard and to those he supposedly loves. The fact Sunderland fans would clamour to clap him shows how some of that lot will cheer anyone that plays the hits for them.

Right, but he's had a few months of Howe and we've seen no change.

This is the modern dilemma. You can't harmonise a fan base. Even the notion of a fan group spokesperson won't represent everyone. We already had a few fan channels sprouting up with varying degrees of embarrassing. Even then, most aren't any different to your average pub dweller. They don't have much of a background in the game other than watching. Every donkey will tell the horse how he'd win the Grand National, doesn't mean he's right. The notion of being a 'celebrity fan' seems odd to me.