Keegans Export

This is exactly the right way to think about FFP. Everton didn't have problems with FFP because they spent loads of money. They had problems with FFP because they spent loads of money on players who turned out to be crap (or paedophiles) and ended up needing to be replaced or sold at a loss. If we think Botman, Bruno, Isak is part of our spine for the next 5+ years then their annual FFP hit (which will be around £10-15m or so) is almost irrelevant. If you think Isak is your #1 CF in a season or twos time then great, you're just spending £60m now rather than £60m next season or the season after that. You're right about the Burn/Targett/Wood signings but it's no coincidence that Wood & Burn were given 2 1/2 year deals and Isak/Botman have been given 5 or 6.

Yeah exactly. They didn't want to spend £50m or whatever it would be on someone to play the position they want Bruno to play. Makes sense tbf. A quality DM would be amazing. Rules out Gallagher you'd assume?

Howe's press conference was at 9am...

For some reason I have 9.30am in my head

Isak's fcking magic, he wears a magic hat...

7 out of 10 so far. One Hamza Choudhry away from a 10/10.

I'd much rather have Pulisic + Paqueta (or whichever £30m or so CM) than Gallagher + £30m(ish) winger

I wonder if we've looked at Leicester, West Ham, Villa, Man Utd starting poorly and thought maybe we can take them this season?

He's in that tier below the true elite but clearly he has some pretty unique attributes that justify a price tag in that £40-60m range. When you look at what that sort of money buys you these days, we haven't had our pants pulled down here. He's also a statement signing. We could have gone a tier down in terms of price and quality but following Trippier, Bruno and Botman we have another signing that will make people (including current/future targets) sit up and take notice. It gives us credibility that our league position currently doesn't.

God help my poor penis...

Ah right. Well I assume they are either wild speculation or players that we've monitored for a while (eg Haidara)

You don't know that's what's happening though?

I'm not sure I understand, if we have or haven't made a bid then surely his club would know? Edit - or are you saying the agent has lured us into making a bid? That would make sense.

The latest bit on The Athletic names Amadou Haidara as a target. They say we want two signings but ideally three - versatile forward, winger and CM. Even assuming one of those is a loan that's probably another £50m+ for the three which doesn't match the reports about our limited remaining budget and only having about £20m left for up-front payments.

I think it's because you're only really paying attention to what we're doing. Unless you're trawling Twitter/message boards for a load of other clubs of course, which I assume you don't (like most normal people!)

I think there was the basis of a verbal agreement (hence Fab's Tweet) which is now being formalised and the intricacies being ironed out.

I'm convinced they're just signing as many good players as they can to make sure the next manager has something to work with.

It's easy to forget with the PIF being involved now, but she's the one who pushed for this. She was very publicly labelled a time waster by Ashley and instead of just sloping back into the shadows she came back with one of the wealthiest sovereign wealth funds in the world. I think she's class and will hopefully be seen in the same light as the Magpie Group founders in the years ahead.

Henry? He was mainly played out wide though. Drogba took a while to mature but that was mostly down to injury etc.

That's pretty much how it goes for most clubs though isn't it? It's the domino effect - one player gets sold/bought, that frees up a space at one club and maybe frees up a player at another one. Everyone is waiting to see if one of their top targets becomes available later in the window, or for a better price.

Presumably that's what he means by "Watford will decide soon", maybe they'll sell one or the other but not both?

He even manages to contradict himself within the article - says we are confined by FFP but will also spend £70m on Paqueta and Pedro.

Two things I'm going to enjoy if we ever crash the big 4/5/6 - getting favourable VAR decisions and being able to absolutely fleece other PL clubs for our cast-offs.

Same as the other replies - if we end up doing a deal for £25m+ for Pedro, I don't see us also finding £30m+ for Ramos. I've thought for a while that we will bring in two more, one purchase, one loan (maybe with an option/obligation, maybe not).

According to the latest Athletic podcast, Staveley and Boehly are friends going back quite a number of years. Obviously that doesn't help us convince the players themselves but I think at least once deal with Chelsea is quite likely.