Nine

For a deal that could be worth around £30m it’s not unusual for an agent to fly out for preliminary talks

It’s best for his development to go and play every game somewhere else even if we can make use of him for cup games and some sub appearances. He’s shown he’s to good for league 1 so they will be looking at a much higher standard than that.

Looks a similar build and style to Ekitike

Harrison does move the club forward, look at his return in the PL compared to Murphy and Almiron. Our transfer record under this ownership suggests the strategy is to move forward in stages and improve position by position and the squad as a whole rather than jumping in for a £60m Diaby or whoever and be left with Murphy as his backup. Instead it’ll be Harrison, then another reasonable winger probably 3 or 4 windows down the line to give us new winger/Harrison.

Must be the summer holidays

I to would love that, but unfortunately that’s all the Paqueta boys can fathom. It’s really going to break hearts if he goes elsewhere. All for a few links in January and some insta posts by Bruno, it’s kind of embarrassing at this point.

I literally don’t know how to explain again for you in a way that you will actually understand. The argument wasn’t ‘we haven’t signed a CM’ it was ‘sign Paqueta to drop Shelvey’ which my response was ‘any CM we sign will drop Shelvey because it leaves Bruno to start in his natural position given our stronger midfield with a new CM’. Holy fuck.

We are to light in CM not to sign one, what is so hard for some people to get is it doesn’t matter who that CM is (within reason) it will mean Bruno can start most matches in his natural position. CM and RW are the most likely signings now I think, ST third.

Nah you just can’t wrap your head around the fact that Bruno’s a no.6 and Shelvey wouldn’t start over him there anyway Like we are gonna re vamp the squad during a summer window signing a new CM just to still push Bruno up and start Shelvey. Amazing. We NeEd PaQuEtA sO ShElVeY DoEsNT sTaRt

There’s a reason that he’s still here after the Ashley/Bruce era, had any decent side come in with a reasonable bid they would have got him. I don’t see that he’s suited to being a part of a top side, but does he work for the likes of us right now? Of course.

We need him so Shelvey doesn’t play though right?

Same.. he’s become just the answer to everything. Need a striker or RW? Paqueta. Let’s play him out of his natural position just to have him.

If we only sign 2 more to the end of the window and they arnt £30m+ players then a big bonus from that will be to temper some fans expectations. It’s always more, more, more, now, now, now.. any other club would be the same as with a lot of fans it’s just natural human emotion taking control so I’m not saying it’s specific to us.

Some of us are already wetting the bed I see, can you imagine if someone else signs Paqueta before the end of the window

Could be that PIF is in cahoots with Ashley and we’ll now re sign Colback and Carroll

I think this is where the confusion between us is coming from, I 100% see Bruno taking up his natural defensive role. Others dont and thats fine. For me Shelvey will be second choice next season regardless of who we sign in CM. My only point being, whoever we sign going forward Shelvey retains his spot as second choice DM - Paqueta or whoever you like, it doesnt upgrade Shelvey. It will be Bruno/Shelvey in that role.

We 100% sign a CM, just to light there going into a new season which is why we played Bruno out of his natural position during our run it. (Not saying he cant play there he was great, just that is real position is where Shelvey plays). Point being to the 'Shelvey is a weak link' posters is that signing a new CM still means that Shelvey will keep his position of second choice going forward, it doesnt matter if he started last season or not.

Yes exactly. Bruno played out of his natural position because we were light in midfield, he was the better option to push forward while Shelvey remained at DLP. This season we will have a new CM which means Bruno can play in his natural spot meaning Shelvey is still second choice. That was my only point. Signing Paqueta over any other CM still means Shelvey is a big part of our midfield.

Which was my original point - 'weak link' Shelvey is still second choice Holy shit man

Because we are so light in CM we played Bruno out of his natural position. Its really not hard to understand.

Read my last reply to you, not sure its worth going over again.

Abolutely we sign a CM I think although its of a lower priority than RW. We are so light in CM otherwise, one injury and a suspension and we can barely put together a midfield let alone have options on the bench.

Brunos natural positon is Shelveys position, he wont be playing part of the front 2 of midfield after the summer. Shelvey remains as second choice there. I'm amazed this needs explaining or is at all a confusing concept.

Bruno/ Shelvey Willock/ Joe Longstaff 'Shelvey is a weak link so lets sign Paqueta!!'

But Shelvey is still second choice to Bruno who would be starting there anyway? Bruno wont be starting as one of the front 2 while Joe and Willock are fit.