sushimonster85

Isn't this how most teams pay transfer fees? I seem to remember people saying we were a bit of an outlier in the Ashley days in that, what fees we did pay, we insisted in paying in full up front.

Honestly, whenever this Castore deal is up and (assuming things are going well) we have one of the big boys making our kits again, I am praying its Adidas rather than Nike. With Nike you either get the boring template if they don't consider you a big priority, or they give you some unique sort of abomination.

The problem/scary thing with this part is, I imagine that's exactly what Everton told themselves while they were spunking cash on big names. It assumes every 'top player' you sign is going to hit.

They're two entirely different types of players. And Scamacca represents more of a risk than Harrison. Sure, it goes well and £30m seems like a snip, but they'd be signing him off the back of one decent Serie A season. This isn't 90's Serie A either, where 15 goals in a season converted to 20+ in other leagues. Goals are much easier to come by in Serie A these days.

Yeah. Feels like this one is actually progressing past an initial inquiry/first bid. Will likely take a lot of haggling, but I can see a deal being done at around £30m. Whether that's the final figure, or an initial one with performance related bonuses that gets it closer to Leeds (supposed) desired £35m who knows.

Basing this on nothing other than my FM21 and 22 experience, but that game always has McNeil breakout spell and becomes an assist machine as soon as he leaves Burnley. Always tends to end up at Liverpool in FM22. As we all know FM22 is in fact real life.

This Ibanez story is likely Italian BS. That being said, it may be worth keeping in mind what Howe said the other day about looking at others areas if we can't bring in players in the positions we're currently looking at. Still can't see us signing another CB mind.

Think of it instead as spending £12.5m on Wood, and £12.5m on increasing Burnley's chances on going down instead of us.

It's not quite the same thing as doing a Leeds or Portsmouth. Those two teams literally nearly spent their way out of existence, which we know given the money behind the Saudi's is pretty much impossible to do while they're around. What is possible is 'doing an Everton' in falling foul of FFP, and being in a situation where, there may be money there to spend from the owners, but we can't without fully breaking FFP rules. A position Everton were in last Summer, and to a lesser extent this Summer. So whilst money may, in theory, be no object. Financial Fair Play rules, and the implications of breaking them, very much are. This should hopefully be addressed in the next year or so, I expect us to grow our commercial revenue significantly. But until we do, we can't go out spending huge sums every window.

If you value someone at £25m, that's the price you're ultimately happy to pay. Why would you make that your first bid?

Option 3: Use this (and last Jan window) as an opportunity to establish that, just because one part of our ownership has pretty much unlimited amounts of money, doesn't mean we are going to pay an extra £5-10m compared to what you're quoting other teams for the same player. FFP means the business has to be seen to running in a sustainable manner. This counts more so for us due to being owned by Saudi Arabia. Until we have our commercial ducks in a row we can't be seen to be spending stupid amounts anyway, so why not use this window to establish a reputation among other teams/agents as tough negotiators.

Think this would be the sensible compromise. £27m now. Realistic add-ons up to £30m.

I can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure I'm a Chelsea loanee they have forgotten about. Wide forward, 0 PL apps, will only cost you £30m (English you see).

Seems like Sesko fits the Isak profile. Big man who has good movement, and is good with the ball at his feet.

Pervert

Whether it's Sucic or Sesko, its potentially a pretty exciting development. Unless it turns out the agent has a geordie gran he is visiting...,

This is exactly right. Analytics are great for getting a general overview of a player. If you start to use them to directly compare one player with another you have to keep things in context. Look, ultimately I do think Diaby is a better player than Jack Harrison. That is pretty obvious. But Harrison spent the past two seasons playing in the same section of the league we have been in, and out produced all of out attacking players. Max included.

Missed out the bottom section. Yeah, his attacking stats don't look great on paper. Doesn't mean he isn't a massive upgrade on what we already have. Also, Leeds were rotten last season.

He can play either side. He played on the left for Leeds as Raphinha was always on the right.

I know people find it hard going from being linked with the likes of Diaby and Paqueta to Jack Harrison. But he absolutely would be significant upgrade on our current right sided options. Just about to enter his prime as well. His numbers last season would've made him our top scorer.

The ship has most definitely been shored up since Ashworth came in. Earlier on in the window it was pretty clear what was going on (Botman, Ekitike etc) now journos seem to be stabbing in the dark.

Aye. Especially when there's hardly any solid evidence we even want him.

If we stick with 4-3-3 I imagine both Longstaff and Willock will start the season ahead of Shelvey in the pecking order. Joe, Bruno, and another. Shelvey is more cover for Bruno than anything else now.

Mate, this first season I'd just take never once being stressed about relegation at any point. No drama, just a nice, standard mid-table finish. Run in a cup would be nice, but I just need a season to re-adjust after Ashley!