rebelrouser

70% chance of (a) happening and then probably another 75% chance that (b) happens with City or Man U winning the FA cup and finish top six. I like our chances to get at least Europa Conference.

Only one source actually said £100k and some others ran with it. Someone previously questioned whether that was true, and I am starting to believe it was not. Just does not make sense generally and given the other players' wages.

Lloyd Kelly would be a quality backup at lcb and lb and he was bought by Bournemouth under Howe, but we have so many bodies there already (Botman, Burn, Targett, Hall, Livramento?) that it may not be a priority unless we can move someone on.

What will be our starting eleven?

Murphy is 29 and Miggy is 30. RW should be first priority. Getting someone who can cover CF would be very nice. I'm not sure i believe the articles about Matt Targett getting £100,000-a-week but, if true, no one is going to want him. His worth has halved since he signed with Newcastle. Most of our outgoing business won't result in big fees unless we move Isak, Bruno or Trippier.

Or Burn.

Chronicle

At what point do you discount bad luck and start to look at training/conditioning. This amount of constant injuries is really odd.

He is slightly larger than Trippier on the right so I don't think it is size holding him back. I think we bought him as a project and Eddie Howe is famously taking it slow with getting a new player time on the field. Also he only had nine appearances (658') in 22/23 with Chelsea. He has eight (104') with us. What he is not getting is U21 games that he had at Chelsea and more game minutes but it was probably worth it to get the 45' in the Champions League.

Yep. He is good because he is tall is basically all that said. I can't see us spending big for midfield unless Joe or Bruno leave, and I don't think that will happen.

RW Johan Bakayoko from PSV. Has 3 years left on his contract. He turned down Brentford over the summer. There would be some competition for him. £40M cost i would guess.

Rumor is £175,000 but even if it is less, it is likely to be prohibitive. I loved him at Brighton. Not sure why he didn't work out. Eddie says we are keeping Lewis Hall but then why doesn't he play? Chelsea are in real FFP trouble. Do we help them out with £28million Hall price tag? Our number 1 priority should be RW (expensive) and then back up for Schar (not too expensive). LB and CM needs will be determined by Lewis Hall, Joelinton, and Bruno retention. Someone mentioned the idea of Trippier on the left and Tino on the right, which would be an interesting solution.

19 of his 23 starts (Football Statistics)were at left midfield and he is right footed. Not sure he would be ideal as a rw.

Would he displace Burn and be a better option than Targett and Hall? Are we obligated to buy Hall?

Who is going to buy Matt Targett on £100,000 a week salary?

No. 1 priority should be RW. Michael Olise is young (22), reasonably cheap (£60M), PL proven, and on £100,000 per week. Diaby would have been nice last summer if we had not spent so much on the back line. Olise/Gordon would serve as back up CF too. Next would be back up for Schar and we need not break the bank for that. That would mean gross spend of about £90M and hopefully some sales.

And basically only playing Dan Burn. Frustrating wondering what the rest could possibly do with playing time.

He would be perfect but we would be fighting Arsenal for over £60

Moussa Diaby 47M £.

LB: Dan Burn January 31, 2022, Matt Targett July 1, 2022, Tino Livramento (more of a rb tbf) August 8, 2023, Lewis Hall August 22, 2023.

I find them to be consistently low.

Are we good with Schar/Lascelles RCB? I seem to recall the idea of bringing in someone younger to back up Schar. A quality RW that can score and provide cover for Isak/Wilson would be nice.

Good point. I read an article (SportsBible) that said we were not, but it was probably wrong.

I thought he wasn't being paid.

I remember reading an article that said we got him cheap but a little research suggests that was the market. I would think private investigators might go around asking about players and doing some digging in the future.