sushimonster85

I don't know that I would be thrilled. But then, all I really want out of this first full season of Ashley being gone is not to have to ever worry about relegation once during the season. Give me a nice, boring, mid-table finish to fully recover from the last 14 years, then maybe I will start to let my ambition run wild for the season after!

Jacobs suggesting Maddison is Howe driven.

I do get the feeling there may be one more bid to go in, likely after this weekends matches. But still don't think that will get it done.

Maybe wait till this evening before getting too comfortable. Wouldn't be shocked to see us (and anyone else interested) have our forced by this. Often see it with players with affordable release clauses. One side triggers it and a bunch of others jump in.

Seeing some stuff on twitter suggesting West Ham have activated Cornet's release clause. If we want him we will also need to make our move now.

Really don't understand the apathy people have towards Cornet. First season in the PL he scored 9 goals in 26 games in a shocking Burnley side. Broja... I get the apathy.

Think Harrison is a good shout. Basing that purely on thinking that eventually we decide we need to pay over our valuation for someone, and the "fuck it" figure for Harrison is way more manageable than the "fuck it" figure for someone like Maddison. Predicting Harrison at around £35m, and then some youngish striker/wide forward from the French league none of us have heard of yet.

Would likely be an Ekitike style one for future, but can play a role off the bench/as a rotation option in the short term as well.

At least if this turns out that he was using us to get a pay rise at Leicester I can go back to calling him a divey little prick.

Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal Fulham 0-4 Liverpool Bournemouth 0-2 Aston Villa Leeds 2-1 Wolves Newcastle 3-1 Notts Forest Spurs 3-0 Southampton Everton 0-2 Chelsea Leicester 1-1 Brentford Man United 2-1 Brighton West Ham 1-3 Man City Spurs for double points.

Big Dan after he sends though our 3rd offer with an extra £1m paid over 17 seasons.

to be honest, without having to deal with the extra European fixtures they likely don't really need to. Their squad should be good enough for top half.

Think the only thing different to this year compared to others is their apparent need to sell before they can bring anyone in.

Tend to agree. Think if we were going back in with a third bid that would have been reported by now.

Feel like the betting market it almost too optimistic. Most bookies I have checked have us at 7th. Essentially winning the 'without the top 6' market.

I imagine the fivethirtyeight supercomputer didn't really know what to do with us this year, given we spent the first half of last season as the worst team in the league, and the second half as one of the best.

It's an argument that make's no real sense either as, given you take that line of thinking to its logical conclusion, if you believe we have the money/are willing to over spend on players now then surely you also must believe we have the money to replace any player who decides they want to leave because we aren't moving quickly enough.

Yeah, was pleasantly surprised earlier this Summer to see some quotes from him (think it was from an interview when he was off with Brazil) essentially saying how we will need to build slowly, and it being a plan that will take a few years to bear fruit. Obviously who knows what he says if he has another blinder of a season and City come calling, but nice to hear!

I'm Paqueta

I actually think The Guardian don't run with this unless they have had it confirmed on both sides, and are pretty confident that's the end of it. Wouldn't be shocked to see another target emerge tomorrow. Or a renewed bid for an existing one.

I saw Dan Ashworth at the Sainsburys in Heaton earlier. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for an update on Maddison. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the checkout was very nice about it and professional, and was like “here, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

I wouldn't say a waste of time. If you think a deal can be done at £50m, but don't want to go quite so high its always worth entering into negotiations to see if there is a middle ground to be found. Especially with Leicester. Lots of potentially interesting quirks to a deal. Their need for a GK, which we have spare. The supposed £8m left of the Perez payments.

For whatever reason £40m does seem to be the magic number we are unwilling to go past for a single player in this window.