sushimonster85

I think their can be a difference in personal feelings of loyalty for a club, and recognising what may have been better for their careers. Gerrard, Totti, and Le Tissier all probably should've moved on if they thought with their head rather than their hearts. Gerrard should probably have gone to Chelsea when all that was brewing, Totti to Madrid.

Also a good point. Especially given he is 28. Harder to sell someone on a 5 year project at that age. He may be 32 by the time we are consistently challenging for the League/CL. If he is happy to take a pay cut he either stays where he is, or goes somewhere he can challenge for top prizes immediately. One of the Milan clubs maybe.

Think his wages would make that a non-starter.

Yeah, pretty sure it all came from Shearer joking around about the possibility after the match last night. That prompted someone to ask Eddie about it at the press conference and now it's somehow a story.

Obviously this would be the best case scenario. In terms of hosting panache he is by far and away the best in the business. Unfortunately he isn't a big enough name, or even in the BBC ecosystem for the MOTD gig. I also feels like he is more at home when he has fellow footy journalists as pundits alongside him, rather than ex-pro's. That BT goals show is the best way to watch the CL group stage games when there's no standout match.

I actually think he will get overlooked in favour of Alex Scott.

Eddie's an ITV man?? #HOWEOUT

I'm not so sure we'll get that this time round. Once Ashworth came in everything got locked down in terms of rumours. Look at the Summer, he came in as there was all the speculation re Botman, it then went dark for a couple weeks and the next thing we heard about it was he was about to fly in for his medical. Isak we were linked with early in the Summer, but when we actually made our move we didn't hear anything from journos till a couple days beforehand when they were suddenly like 'this is going to happen.'

At that price we should be all over that. A lot of others will be as well mind.

In January for sure. Can see him being more open to it in the Summer. But the fee will be huge and there will be no lack of bidders.

Does mention in the piece he is supposedly our target for the next 2 windows. More likely it happens in the Summer. But even then, the price tag is going to be huge.

This would be huge. Unfortunately I just don't see it, especially at that price and especially in Jan. Napoli have a huge shot at winning the league this year and he is one of the main reasons why.

Hate that all the players where Under Armor type thing under their shirt spelled the end for the long sleeve top. Used to love seeing them, and always tried to get the long-sleeved version of shirts back in the day.

Hey, in my defence it was early. Guess I will just have to (seaweed) roll with the punches.

Nah, he wouldn't justify the massive wages he would want. Don't get me wrong, legend in his prime, but asking him to play as part of an intense pressing system at this stage of his career would likely mean he'd need a lot of resting.

Yeah, feels like a bit of a waste seeing as we're not getting either, but I agree Rice is better than Phillips. That being said, I wouldn't rate Rice as one of the best in the world in his position. He's good, but not quite that level. Bruno for one is a far more accomplished/well rounded CM.

Where has all this Rice talk come from? Feels like it's been going on a few pages now without any real concrete link/source.

I feel like that £40m was the pre-world cup price. Surely it would be up closer to £60m now.

Yeah, I know they got compared a lot during Longstaff's breakthrough season under Rafa, and back then it may have been closer, but today Rice is a much better CM than Longstaff. I like Sean Longstaff. I'm pleased he has really kicked on under Eddie, and I think thanks to being from the academy he will likely be in the squad for a good while, but lets be realistic with his level. Rice would be a huge step up. Even Kalvin Philips who was linked to us before he went to City would be a decent step up.

No way, if he isn't going to sign a new deal, they're not going to pass up the chance at getting £80m+ for him, which they will only get in the Summer 2023 window. They shouldn't be letting him get anywhere close to the final 12 months.

I actually think he looked alright, it was more there was clearly no/very little cohesion built up with the rest of the side, which was understandable given how new he was. He had some really nice link up touches that others like Fraser & Almiron just weren't on the same page with.

Maybe this season, but not long term. That Waugh piece for The Athletic today suggests they didn't buy him with the idea of him being play out wide. Was always meant to challenge/be the long term successor to Wilson.

Aye, or if you want to get a little crazy it could also apply to Lautaro Martínez

Personally think a 2018 final rerun is now inevitable. Croatia find ways to win these big games, and I feel like France will be an upset too far for Morocco. Would love to see Croatia go on and win it, but it's hard to look past France, as dull as that will be.

ASM is a weird one. His style suggests he would be perfect impact sub, but any time he comes off the bench he always seems a little underwhelming. Feel like he is one of those players that needs to gradually grow into a game.