sushimonster85

We absolutely aren't signing both of them, I used their names as examples of players we've been linked too regularly. The only way that happens is if we qualify for the CL, but I've already said I believe if that happens the money spent will likely get close to 200m. Or if we manage to receive a large fee for ASM.

That part isn't my job lol. I was just making the point that, yes, it would be hard/impossible to sign 6 good players for that kind of money, but I don't think that is exactly the plan. I think they will likely be looking at 3 first team additions (LB, CM, Forward), and then 2/3 players who may not be ready to play 38 games of a PL season, but that can be developed over the course of a year or 2 to get to that point. We need a CB, but the pressure to bring in a CB who can instantly come into the starting 11 v a LB who can isn't the same. I expect some signings we have heard plenty about (Maddison, Diaby etc) and some Brighton style ones who we (and most others) have never heard of. And a maybe a free transfer or two.

Easier if its 3/4 good players. One (Maddison) likely at a reduced rate due to their contract situation. And 2/3 high potential kids from South America.

As far as I understand it, the length of the contracts recently at Chelsea are purely an accounting trick used for amortising the transfer fee over as long of a period as possible. Which wouldn't be relevant with Mount as it's a renewal rather than a new signing.

Think the only way we get close to 200m is if we qualify for the CL, as then the squad will need both quality and quantity. Europa on Conference League wouldn't require quite such drastic action.

All about that amortisation baby.

Yep, pretty sure it was based on him making 3 appearances or something daft.

I actually think it could end up being the opposite, and playing for a coach who does everything he can to get the absolute best out of him he will come on leaps and bounds.

The numbers don't lie, and they spell disaster for Man Utd at Sacrifice St James'

What if you add Kurt Angle to the mix??

Not to piss too much on peoples chips, but this article is based off info from the mailbag article from Caulkin and Waugh from a couple days ago.

We're getting to the stage where agents are just cutting out the journo middle men and putting rumours our themselves.

He is 25 now (26 in August), even if we do qualify for the CL this season we're still likely 2/3 seasons away from consistently competing for titles/European trophies. He may think he doesn't want to wait till he is 28/29 to be in that position.

Howe is great at this and does it all the time. Remember the Isak concussion? This would have been cut and dry once his concussion was diagnosed there would be no way he'd make the next match. Howe managed to never really confirm or deny anything and people were guessing right up till KO.

It's really not. That was an owner changing the colour of the clubs home shirt. Honestly couldn't really give a fuck what colour our 3rd kit is. Actually kind of annoyed about the automatic Saudi link this season alternative kit, and the rumoured one for next season get because I think they're pretty smart. Granted, having a lot of the family on one side as Celtic fans probably means I'm more partial to green and white than most.

I honestly thought the '6 weeks' line from Howe could be to throw people off. Just seemed weird to me the club or Almiron would tell the international manager a figure that was so off what Howe was claiming the be the timeframe.

Yep. Coaching is covered by the UEFA Pro licences. Fab's eyeing up a role like DoF, or head of youth development etc.

There is absolutely 0% chance the home kit gets changed. Craziest thing I could potentially see happening is some Juve type experimenting with the stripes, which has led to some horrific designs.

Yeah, Bruno will likely remain the ceiling after Summer, but a new contract for him will likely open the door the higher p/w offers than we have currently been making.

They may end up making a half-arsed attempt to make it look like they did further investigation, but absolutely nothing will come from it. The only reason it was blocked in the first place was the piracy issue, the whole 'who owns the club' thing was just a handy line they could spout. There's a reason the PL opposition to it dropped as soon as the Saudi's cracked down on BeoutQ. Remember, as much as other PL clubs may twist, its in the PL's interest to have another side able to compete at the very top. More exciting title races makes for even bigger domestic and foreign TV deals.

Without wanting to get into the pros and cons (for the record I don't think he'd be a great signing but I also don't think we will sign him) of Scott McTominay, it's totally normal for the opposition forward to block off the passing lane to the deeper CM to prevent a team transitioning through the centre. If you look in that video you can see the attacker glance over his shoulder at times to check where McTominay is. This happens to Bruno constantly. Watch when the ball is with Botman or Schar. Bruno is either totally cut off, or has a guy right on his arse anticipating the ball coming into him. Should McTominay's movement be better to try and make himself available to receive the ball? Yep, but I'm pretty sure that's more down to him being a bit shit rather than him actually 'hiding'.

I do wonder if there are plans to attempt to negotiate a buy-out once we have our commercial side up to snuff and could justify the expense. It does seem odd Adidas reps being at the Leicester cup game whilst we still have so long left with our current manufacturer. Obviously Castore are nailed on for next season, but I do wonder if we start to hear things about a potential buy-out during the course of the next 12 months.

Yeah, will be interesting to see. You'd like to imagine a lot of these contracts have provisions in place for massive wage drops and very attainable minimum fee release clauses in place just in case. Agree on the three as well. As much as that is the boring option. Would love an Everton or West Ham in there, proper box office watching someone like that go down. Guess this is how other fans felt about us being in and around the bottom 3 so much these past few years.

We appear to be in a situation now where the financial upside of staying in the PL is so vast that teams calculating a players importance in keeping them in the division v potentially losing them on a free are taking the PL survival figure into account and still slapping prohibitive fees on their best players. Obviously this applies more to well run sides without financial/FFP issues than maybe a team that play in blue who have a certain attack minded midfielder we may be after....

The Athletic Football Podcast really has come on leaps and bounds over the past 12 months, at least for me. Was worried when they switched to a daily format that it would just be more inane shite, but they generally have cover really interesting stuff, even when its based specifically on other clubs. Rarely over an hour. Of course it helps having Mark Chapman hosting most of them, going between him and Taylor on PotT really highlights how important a proper presenter can be.