TheBrownBottle

Likewise. Man City’s still does two decades later. Tax-payer funded freebie

They’ve finished top half more than we have in the last decade tbf, won a major trophy last season after reaching the UEFA Cup SF the year before, and are a London club with an average gate 10k above ours. Not sure we can thumb our noses at them just yet.

None of them top Fumaca

I think they’d have a different view if he was playing for them. He’s a hard player not to love, but the real razor sharp edge of quality isn’t quite there. He’s not a Liverpool-level player. He’s important for us at the moment though, so hopefully a new deal which is good for both parties will get signed - and if not, we’ll need to sell in the summer.

I’m going to be facetious, but we haven’t won one with him for quite some time

Rice is English - and the passport attracts a premium.

He’s not worth that amount tbf

Yep, and hopefully the same next season I’m a massive fan of the lad, wouldn’t want to see him go

I love Joe Willock, but the more the injury problems mount the more I wonder if the lad will ever manage to stay fit. I wouldn’t contemplate letting him go if he can stay fit for most of the season, but if this continues then it might be a case of seeing if anyone will take the risk

Hardly. I don’t think ‘he may have played his last game for the club’ is anything but ridiculous hyperbole. But I also don’t think ‘he loves the club he’d never leave’ is how grown-ups think, either

Still went for the money. Didn’t like it, did an about-turn. But ultimately he took it.

Ho’way man I hear this stuff all the time, but they’re professional footballers. Being happy playing for a club or liking an area isn’t likely to cut it when it comes down to cold hard cash.

Yep, they did so to amortise over that period. That loophole is now closed, but it actually fucks them for years, with a load of overpaid players on the books whose transfer fees are hamstringing them going forwards

Its still a bit on the high side, and there’s not a lot of blank chequebooks out there these days.

Those Caicedo and Enzo transfers were just Chelsea going crackers. They aren’t a benchmark for Bruno’s value - those players wouldn’t go for close to that now.

No argument from me on that front I also suspect that Todd Boehly has achieved nothing but an FFP straitjacket for himself

No-one is going to shell out £100m for Bruno. We’re as safe as houses on that front.

Chelsea bid £60m for him in 2022

A 60+ card @Alan Pardew? Who’s the fucking old cunt now, then?

I know, but they never mention the other part. That selling an Almiron brings the same profit as selling a Longstaff or a Miley. I said it in the summer, but I was genuinely surprised that we didn’t try and cash in on the likes of Almiron for an FFP boost. He’ll never have the same value again.

As unfit for purpose as FFP is, I’m getting increasingly narked at the shite that local football hacks put out about it, which feeds more misinfo in the fan base. The current one is ‘the best players to sell are academy products because they’re 100% FFP profit’. Total and utter bollocks. At this point Almiron’s transfer fee isn’t being amortised - he’d also be 100% profit in FFP terms. I just wish they’d stop the half-baked shite.

Yeah, he has. But I don’t think Tonali looked particularly great when he played. I don’t doubt that his potential levels are higher, though.

Tonali didn’t exactly pull up trees when he did play tbh. In terms of what we’ve actually seen, the midfield still looked better with Longstaff

Berwick Rangers are a warning from history on that front

Yep, I remember we had this discussion at the time - I felt that I’d rather play reserves in league match to increase chances of cup success, you held the opposite view - but we were both agreed that a complete swap out was necessary