Nine

When people make these calls like top 6 next year or the season after they are forgetting that everyone else is spending money to.

That’s a huge assumption mind, I agree he’s a good player but there is a lot that could go wrong there.

I agree with everything you just said, my only point is the CM we sign doesnt necessarily have to be Paqueta especially if we plan to spend big on a RW and/or a ST.

I think the point he was making was that Joe has made the NEED for a CM far less that it was before Clark got sent off vs Norwich, we have other positions of priority now that should be addressed before we splash massive money on a CM.. I agree with do need another DM/CM (depends on where Howe plays Bruno imo) but that player doesnt have to be 50m+ Paqueta. He is obviously better than Joe.

This is about where I am at to. I'd love to have him here, I think we all would really. However we have other priority positions that need to be addressed to make the the squad stronger as a whole, it would be easy for me to say 'Hes a talented player, he'd probably come here so fuck it lets just chuck the 50m or whatever they want at it and get it done' but the reality is its alot more complicated than that.

Same as Villa fans, they are feeling insecure about us now so anytime they sign someone we were linked with its 'they choose us/beat you to him' etc. We better get used to it.

Looks good in black and white

Paqueta would obviously ‘fit’, he’d be a huge asset to this side.. I still do have reservations about the particular midfield 3 combination of Bruno, Joe and Paqueta though. That being said I can’t see us signing him this window at least.

Worth noting that during Jan they really did well to keep things under wraps as I don’t think we were linked with Wood at all until the deal was almost done, Bruno also came out of the blue pretty much. We could be in for a couple of complete surprises.

Personally I think it was mostly down to him not having any prior PL experience

Seeing how slowly Bruno was eased into the side there’s no way Anderson ends up being second choice to ASM who is known to pick up injuries, the new sub rule might be key to him playing a part this season but its probably more likely he’ll go out on loan again tbh.

I think chances for Eriksen are very, very slim. Pains me to say it but man united move is a no brainier if the options are us, Brentford or them. We will be priced out on wages by them, I’m sure they will be offering him 150k+

Only shirt I’ve bought in recent times was the 17/18 black third shirt, nicest shirt we’ve had in years still imo

Nah its defo off like, its been decided that we are resigning the pacier Cacapa instead

RTG levels of meltdown if it falls through

It was a nice idea but realistically it was never gonna happen

You've been on a fair wind up on here today like

Point being it depends on how long we want to keep up the 'budget' game

Thing is if we do splash the cash at the end of the window on a couple of big players then in the next window clubs will know the deal and just try and rinse us.

He'd probably be eased into the side over a season depending on how well he would take to the PL/our style. CM/AM who tore apart the Austrian league last season, meant to be highly rated by alot of top clubs and has been linked to Liverpool.

He would cost north of £30m

On the surface he fits the bill of what Howe would be looking for, interesting link

I agree with you. I was pretty surprised with how poor he is at holding up the ball and linking up, coming from a Burnley team and for a player of his size/build those attributes should be his bread and butter really. I've got faith that Howe will utilise him better with some more time with the team and especially with more quality around him, like you say one of the front 2 of the midfield pushing up to him when he has possession would probably make the difference.. he was heavily isolated at times which didnt help his case.

No doubt he'll have faith in Wood, I know alot of fans have shit on him and some of it is warranted. I do feel that he hard time adjusting to our style of play though, its not like we were providing a striker of his style with great service although I know he did blow a few of the good chances he did have.. looked like a player feeling the pressure a bit and of low confidence. We might see the best out of him yet.