sushimonster85

I miss being a kid in the 90's. Lack of proper internet and, y'kna, being 9-12 meant that one day I just woke up and we had signed Ginola or Ferdinand. Lived in blissful ignorance till it was actually done. Feel like the first transfer 'saga' I vaguely remember being aware of was Shearer.

I do think it's been eye-opening seeing how Italian (but especially Milan based) media essentially acts as propaganda for it's clubs when it comes to transfer battles like these.

I'm sure they will brute force the CL eventually, but they're the perfect example of how not to do it.

To be fair to City, if you discount those early days when they went a bit mental (comparatively), they have been pretty shrewd in recent times. Before Grelish their transfer record was the £68m they spend on De Bruyne back in 2015. Grelish aside, they have always tended to operate in the £50-£70m range for players, and usually for players on the up, rather than at the top ready to start declining. It's PSG that pull the truly mental shit.

It may inadvertently buy Milan a little more time.

I mean, that would £100m+ on two players. We aren't there just yet.

He does look a little like hippy Darlow, aye. Hope there's something in that link, he is massively underrated and likely wouldn't break the bank given his age.

I don't think you will see us make a signing exactly like that. At least not for a few years. Instead they're likely going to look to bring in players like Bruno. Not already established, but technically very sound, with a huge amount of potential to become that next level superstar while they're here. Hence chasing the likes of Ekitike and Botman.

Professor or Logan Roy??

Yeah. Have the same feelings towards Botman and Ekitike. They need to take time to do whatever is best for them. That being said, if I don't see them both down in Pop World necking on with 46 year old housewives at 1am on Saturday I am going to FUCKING LIVID.

Yeah, but the striker is Haaland from the most recent FM game and he is basically a cheat code anyway.

He will likely not be involved in direct negotiations, but there won't be anything in his contract saying we can't sign players from Brighton or vise versa.

Yeah, think this is a negotiating position for Milan as much as anything now that Botman has tipped his hand that they're his preferred destination. And if anything it only seems to have woken up Spurs and Man U to the situation. You have to imagine (that for this window at least) they'd both be ahead of us in his thinking. Especially Spurs.

I still think these early couple seasons will see Ekitike get more time out wide, and that we will be looking to sign an out and out upper table level striker this summer.

Agreed, although there is a case to be made for him not needing to be great going forward when he is on the same side as ASM. Far more important to be solid defensively, which he absolutely is.

Got a DHgate special for last season

Not only do they still have him, they still all remained absolutely convinced he is the greatest manager in the history of football, despite scant evidence to show he is more than just a guy who did well in a 2 team league and has just lost the guy who does all his tactical work for him.

Just pre-ordered. First (non-dodgy) Newcastle kit I have bought in years. Want to say the last official one I have has Virgin Money on it. Regardless of the sponsor, figure this will be a top that carries good memories.

We also still have Jamaal Lewis, who (if he can stay fit and have a good pre-season) I remain convinced is someone Howe can improve drastically. He already looked better in the couple of games he played before getting injured.

Yeah, the man is a bit of a workaholic.

Great signing. Obviously heads get turned with the mention of the likes of Lodi, but Targett is solid, and has a huge amount of PL experience. Was always going to cause issues trying to play and ultra high, attacking full back on the same side of the pitch as ASM.

Looks good. It's not hard to do a nice Newcastle top, despite Puma's best efforts over the years.

Can we not all lose our shit when it's Fun88. In the grand scheme of things it really isn't the end of the world

Don't get me wrong, I think Diaby is special, but we can get Sarr for likely around 25m and spread the budget elsewhere.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think we will win the Nunez race, but I don't think its that outlandish that we're in the race. I think the owners (PIF specifically) have already shown with Bruno that, whilst there may be a set conservative budget, they will spend big if the right player becomes available.