Mazzy

Stones is injured which rules out him and also Ake who I think would've been a no brainer otherwise. Rodon I would take for sure, on loan with an option to buy ideally.

Every club knows we need a CB desperately. They also know we have the money to spend. Unless we can find a player in the last 6 months of his contract or with a release clause (at a price that we are willing to pay) then I think alot of negotiations are going to be similar to this and the Botman scenario. We are trying to pry away players who are starting week in week out for their clubs, some of who are also doing pretty well in their league and are still in Europe. These selling clubs hold alot of the power right now and clearly aren't in any mood to play ball.

2 games that we need to win though. Meaning we need players in ASAP to have a chance of winning them. Ideally we win these 2 January games and then have 8 days in which we'll hopefully be out of the relegation zone to really push through a couple more signings.

YouTube compilations are always made to look the player look as good as possible. But the people who have touted him as a potential future star haven't done so off the back of videos, they've watched him live and had alot more to go on. Reims are playing Metz on Sunday, will be interesting to see if he plays in that and if so whether there's somehow to watch it over here.

I agree. If we were to sign this guy for £30m and somehow have him registered to play at the weekend, 100% would start him ahead of any one of our CB options.

The second one.

We'll struggle to get him in and registered for Watford even if he flies in tomorrow. He's also very young and can't imagine he speaks/understands English perfectly so would need time to settle in with the squad and coaching team.

Just over 100 Apps for a 20yr old is quite impressive. Clearly a consistent performer .

Seemingly this one has built up a bit of speed since Wood has all but been confirmed. Wouldn't be disappointed if Wood and Ekitike were the 2 strikers we bring in, not to say they would've been my first choice though.

Alot of CBs being heavily linked which is great and they all seem to be of a similar quality/playing style. Disappointing not to see many CMs genuinely linked though.

We all ready for another 8am reveal? I hope they make as much of an effort for this one as they did for Trippier, I'll feel bad for the bloke otherwise.

Which would suggest its just bollocks to notify everyone of that fact without actually coming out and saying it. The thing is, had we got him in 4/5 years ago I think he'd have been fairly decent and could probably still do a job. There is just so many other better options available.

£30m or so would be a decent price for this guy. In the prime age bracket, guaranteed starter for his club and has Champs/Europa League experience. Seems a no brainer, if only we weren't struggling at the foot of the table.

Fellani has been linked today! As much as we do need a midfielder I don't think a 34yr old whose been playing in China for however long is the answer. Don't see why anyone would bother starting such a ridiculous rumour though.

This topic has given me a thought about this and in fact all cases in which release clauses are paid. What choice did he have in the matter? We paid the fee to get him, Burnley seemingly had no choice but to accept it and let him go. If he'd wanted to stay, could he have? That would be an interesting question to find out the answer to. Ofcourse he has no reason to turn us down really, he'll be on double the wages I'd think, a new 2.5yr deal at a guess, plus a bigger crowd/stadium and a much nicer City to boot.

Strange you should mentioned Rashford but I saw the stats comparing Wood and Rashford and it's quite surprising how close Wood is in terms of Goals considering he's played for Burnley. Wood - 150 Apps - 50 Goals Rashford - 190 Apps - 57 Goals It surprised me that Rashford hadn't scored more although when I looked at assists Rashford has 38 and Wood has just 7 and ofcourse Rashford plays as wide midfielder/forward alot.

I think that would be a loan if we did and I can imagine Spurs would want to want until the last week of the window to see what unfolds before letting players leave on loan. But yes he would be a good addition.

I did also see that there was another player we were linked with (Bremer perhaps, it might not have been) that has the same agent as Trippier and Wood and that's what got me thinking about it. There's definitely reason to keep these agents on side.

I wonder how many other agents might "leak" some releases clauses to us with the hope of a big payday. Perhaps its something we should look into, if they aren't already. Could well be a few players out there at clubs unwilling to sell in the circumstances but might be forced to if we meet the release fee.

3 more players needed minimum I think CM is a must! Ideally a defensively aware one. CB obviously is top priority. LB is last on the list priority wise but definitely needed before 31st January. That's the bare requirements but we could also do with another Striker (especially if Gayle leaves) and also either another CB or CM depending on who we can kick out the door.

They bought mainly established Premier League players. They were also in a much better league position than we are currently in. Our options would increase hugely if we were 10 points better off. Also it's notable that 10+yrs ago £25 bought Tevez / Adebayor. Adebayor at that point scoring 1 in 2 for Arsenal give or take.

Sounds great, but in all honesty I've imagined this scenario many many times and it's always Joelinton that scores the goal to keep us up. The scenes would be unbelievable.

There's only 2 things that can really sour this signing tbh! 1st is if he doesn't score in a few games, especially these next 4/5. The 2nd thing is if Burnley use this 25m to go and buy a striker that we've had our eye on or just any striker actually that ends up being decent and scoring a load.

Not fussed about the price, that is what it is, we aren't penny pinching anymore. I'm not certain he'll do any better for us than he has for Burnley though, he'll have purple patches and barren spells like every striker. If he can get 6 goals before the seasons end then that'll be a decent return and he'll have done as is expected of him I think.

Might sound stupid but If we beat Watford and he scores, that's worth a few million on its own. It's buys us another week where we can get more players in and we'll look a much better proposition to possible signings.