sushimonster85

If course we wait for the first day of my holiday for that mystical "the next player we sign we won't hear about till it's nearly done" signing. Been refreshing Twitter on spotty hotel WiFi all afternoon here. Just wanted to say this is mental. The lad is a huge talent.

Do Everton actually do any scouting of their own, or just try to hijack other bids at the 11th hour. Tried this same trick with Gibbs-White.

Aye, he also showed a, frankly stunning given the game he makes every year, complete ignorance of how FFP actually works.

If Romano went full "here we go" 30+ mins ago and hasn't walked things back it's happening. Remember, unlike local, or even national journos, on this transfer in particular he has sources on the actual Watford ownership side over in Italy.

"I shall call him..... Mini Me" Ben White... probably.

Agree. Been saying since that report came out, if £33m is the actual price then loads of teams would have been in for him by now.

Always felt like CHO was the most realistic of the Chelsea options.

This is what happens when I post during a work meeting

Aye, but Everton weren't starting the season already in top 6/7 form from the season before. It is still early, but if it's a flash in the pan then it's one that has been going on since the end of Jan.

Think he suddenly remembered he plays a system with no wingers?

Can you point to exactly where Joe Willock was responsible for any of their goals? Like, Paqueta is a much better player, but let's not be like that.

Yeah, seems very much like it was a Saturday evening panic bid after being well beaten by Villa. Most people reporting it suggest personal terms haven't even been discussed yet. We seem to be sounding people out first to establish they're interested, get the basics of personal terms in place, then putting in a bid.

If he was actually available for that price he would have been gone by now.

No one knows for sure, but from the outside looking in it seems like the club decided to pursue Pedro over Ramos.

Yeah, this worries me as well. Feel like if we get to next week and Chelsea do make him available he isn't going to be short of offers. For some reason I think he is going to end up at one of the big Italian clubs on loan. He'd get into any of them, and Americans all have some daft fascination with Italy. Been to Rome and Sorrento and you can't go anywhere without being surrounded by them.

Man U bidding for Antony, and supposedly now moving onto Gakpo they have been rejected hopefully suggests they're no long looking closely at Pulisic.

I think the issue with Shelvey hasn't been his ability to play those sorts of balls, I think if you stuck a target 50+ yards Shelvey would be able to hit it more consistently than most in the league, its knowing when and where to play those balls. He has gotten a lot better since Howe came in, but for most of his career he tendedd to try these long cross field Hollywood passes at inopportune times without much regard for who he was passing to, or what the team needed in that particular moment.

If we are going back in I'm pretty confident this gets done. If we get the total fee up into the £27-28m range it's going to be really hard for Watford to reject now Pedro has made it clear he wants to leave.

Don't think we were ever within 5m of the Maddison valuation?

Think the actual key point in his tweet is it's now pretty much confirmed that Pedro wants the move. Likely explains why it's not a huge increase. Gaming it out, I'd say this bid gets rejected, Pedro's agent rocks the boat a little, then the next bid with a small increase (maybe around 24m + 3m add one) gets accepted. I reckon we will see him holding a shirt by the middle of next week.

It's certainly the riskier Chelsea option when compared to Pulisic. I just don't think we have a realistic shot at Pulisic, and I'm still working on the assumption that right sided forward/winger is higher up the priority list than a CM (Gallagher).

To b fair, I'm sure I remember Pedro also being linked with Arsenal not too long ago.

He would only comment on it if asked directly, and so far no actual journalist are picking it up. There won't be much about him this window. Next Summer will be a whole other story...

My prediction is Pedro for £30m and CHO on loan (with option to buy next Summer).

Generally easy to get a hold of a ticket if you're ready to go before 10am. Getting a hold of two together can be a challenge if you're further down the queue. Was number 4000 odd this morning, got in round 10:30am, and there were barely any sections left with two seats together.