Keegans Export

The only potential outcomes you might be able to call a "win" are selling him for his worth (£150m or more) and bringing in a striker & a midfielder or he stays and is productive. In reality we'll have lost either way because of the disruption caused during the summer and these first three games but these would be the only acceptable outcomes imo.

My thoughts exactly. It's not a coincidence everything went quiet and now it's ramping up again with a consistent theme - namely, Liverpool’s valuation.

He could watch today's game if he's struggling to sleep

Was Isak organising the training sessions all along?

I'm much happier knowing it seems to be a plan rather than something enforced by injuries to Barnes/Elanga

If they don't intend to pay "anywhere near £130m" that doesn't suggest an offer any higher than the £110m they started with

If it's £130m guaranteed with £15-20m add-ons that's around the fee I'd have taken for him anyway, although I assumed it'd be next summer. If we use that money to bring in Wissa and another midfielder then the squad as a whole looks stronger than any time I can remember.

Leverkusen away before the derby

Would tie in with @Paully info about Murphy

No, you're right on that but we'd still have a potential cliff-edge that we have to sell before, whether that's 1st Sept or 30th June it still puts us in a weak position. I suppose waiting means we could end up with more than one club interested which would help.

The other question is when do we move for the 2nd striker? Do it before the Isak deal and there's a chance Liverpool low-ball again, knowing we probably need to cash in. Do it after and whoever we go for is going to have £20m added to their asking price with at most a day or two to get the deal done.

The key point is that being a shit doesn't make us budge from our demands - if that is £150m and two strikers in then we have to stick to that.

Was/is the Kelly fee before or after the PSR deadline? We've also sold Miggy prior to this spending spree.

Even if he isn't "ready" to start, just having him on the bench at Leeds would be a massive boost

Opta has it as the 5th hardest set of opponents but I'm not sure how they work it out

If we end up selling Isak I'd like to think we'll see both a second striker and a midfielder come in

Not that much difference between £60m+£5m and £77m including add-ons (rough conversion)

Our best player had a stormer last night

The bullish-ness from our side is mostly from Edwards who seems to be getting his info from Jamie Reuben. The problem is that nobody (at least none of the local or national press) have a direct line to Yasir so anything that will ultimately be decided by him - the CEO, the stadium and by all accounts the situation with Isak - is unknown. It may be that Reuben is dead set against selling unless they get a ludicrous offer, but if Yasir decides to cut ties then that's what will happen. Personally I'd be happier he stays and we have to deal with integrating him back into the squad and all that entails than see us cave into the cuntish behaviour from everyone on the other side of the deal. Neither are a great option.

There's nobody outside of Pot 1 I wouldn't back us to beat at home. Two wins from Pot 4, win the home games against Pots 2 & 3 a point at home against Pot 1 gets us a play-off at least.

Current state of play with the qualifiers. Brugge & Bodo nailed on you would assume.

It's not quite as simple as "rotation option" though. It might end up that way depending on what happens with Isak but if he doesn't integrate into the squad then SL is automatically the #1 striker. Plus, whoever we bring in this summer will hopefully end up as Isak's replacement next summer. And, if you think about it, if a Wilson replacement was going to be £35m or so then this is only costing us an extra £5m on this years books (assuming £60m on 5 year deal).

The argument that some clubs would be able to massively outspend others is such garbage. Firstly, as you say, that has been the case throughout football history. Yes the PIF are considerably more wealthy than the Moores' or SJH but an elite player also costs more than a million quid these days. Secondly, that's literally what we have now. The only difference is that gap in spending power is based on historical success rather than ownership ambition.

I don't know how to search my post history but I said a while back that the ideal retort from the club would be Yasir sitting Isak & his agent down and saying "We don't want to, but if we have to pay you to play for the U21s for three years, we're willing to do it" It takes away his only negotiating position - give me what I want or I'll refuse to train/play. Ok, you do that and we'll see who will want to give a player who hasn't played first team football for three years £300k/week. Obviously it's imperative we sign a good enough striker that the on-field performances aren't too negatively impacted, otherwise we're in a position that we need him more than he needs us.