Adam P

Does it not? Oh. I assumed that the research on their cognitive abilities was about their cognition.

Elite footballers are above average intelligence https://www.psych.ox.ac.uk/news/elite-football-players-have-higher-levels-of-cognitive-abilities-compared-to-the-general-population-new-study

We signed Elanga and failed with a bid for Pedro 10m below his selling price. We are only 'flailing' if you believe we made bids for Mbeumo and Cunha. We arent doing very well but the noise and rumours is exaggerating our perceived level of interest and intent on lots of players making it appear like we are now sending emails to receptionists asking for an appointment to meet the DoF. Everything is over amplified by the social media rumour mill. Agree on the first part obviously.

36 in a 100 games for Jackson, 25 in 95 for Nunez. I'd take Jackson as Wilson's replacement for 40m.

It might be his cancer diagnosis too. No idea what stage its at but thats not an easy one to work with at the top of a profession. Chronic blood cancers cause extreme fatigue.

True, maybe we wont get one of the other positions in. At this rate, filling all 5 positions we need to strengthen doesnt look likely.

That Telegraph article makes it look like we bid for Mbeumo, Cunha and Pedro. Is that true? I thought that unreliable sources had said we were interested in the former two but did we at least propose a price? My take so far is that we have failed to get Pedro. I dont think we were serious about Ekitike, i think it was designed to flush out Liverpool by forcing their hand. Trafford could still come and Elanga signed. If we keep Isak, get Trafford and 2 others then its not a disaster. Sela cup to seal the Gallagher deal and one of them Italian defenders late in the window. Would take that right now.

Signing elite players who can start for us absolutely improves our bench. The new player starts and the weakest of the starting 11 goes to the bench. The starting 11 is good enough for 5th and a Caraboa cup so that weakest player is great squad depth.

If we had more money would it make a difference? I reckon it might help.

SSN transfer show earlier said no bid from Liverpool yet.

We are an elite club competing in the elite competition of Europe. The pool of players who can improve us is small. Every other elite club in Europe is competing for the very small pool of elite players who are available to buy. Eddie said this very clearly. We are also in the unfortunate position of being in the grey zone of total revenue and spending power that exists between the elite clubs and the rest of the pack. Whilst frustrating, this is a fact of life. We don’t just want good players, we want the very best who will help us win things. This is going to be frustrating when we are 100-200m behind in revenue with clubs who are also looking to improve. Our lists of targets will absolutely overlap with everyone else’s.

I'm not convinced by the powerplay/saga narrative. I think all of us raised eyebrows at spending 70m+ on a striker when we have Isak and only need to replace Wilson. Most people's instinctive reaction was, oh shit we're selling Isak. If we are a. constrained by PSR b. determined to keep Isak, then that bid was definitely odd. Our priorities for this window are numerous but i would say the number 1 priority by some distance is keeping Isak. There are two ways to do this, give him more money and fend off suitors. As of July 14th, the feasible suitors list in the Premier legue were Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool. If (my assumption) we were made aware that Slot's targets to fill his 'number 1 priority' were Isak and then Ekitike, it puts our bid in a different perspective. Liverpool know we wont sell, suddenly that club is bidding for our number 2 target. Maybe we wanted to see Liverpool's hand? I know it pure black and white specs but if you were trainig someone on the transfer market, one insight we all share is the 'domino effect' in the market and movement down the chain created by movements of the biggest spenders. If Liverpool had bid for Ekitike, then i doubt i would think this. Probably bollocks to be fair.

Have Liverpool submitted a bid yet or not? Cant find confirmation of the results of their powerplay masterclass in the transfer market.

When the scousers sing his name they will water the pitch.

Liverpool's power move wasnt very good. If we walk away and they sign him, fair enough but the deal will always look weird because of them saying they want Isak. I guess they can spin it as warding off our interest in him.

Not pointing, just trying to work out whats happening. If Liverpool have been encouraged and thats true, it can only come from a limited list. Nothing about the transfer market suggests to me that agents only place anonymous encouragement to clubs with the express permission of the player. I liked your summary anyway.

The candidate list for 'who encouraged' cant be very long?

Just trying to get a handle on whats happening. Is this right? We bid 70m on Monday, Eintracht want 86m. Since then no more bids from us and Liverpool are flirting with a bid possibly at 86m but not confirmed. Meanwhile Isak's agent has let Liverpool know that a bid could be interesting becaue the agent wants to strengthen contract discussions. Liverpool happy to play along as a higher salary for Isak increases the chances of us being willing to sell in the next 12 months.

Yes, we tried twice two windows in a row. Second time he went to PSG.

Looks like Private Pyle with a lobotomy

I know he mentioned some stuggles he had in the past so this must have taken a lot of maturity on his part to accept the move and be clear he would do it now so we got some cash for him. I think he has another good phase of his career ahead of him, certainly wish him the very best at Leeds, who are a quality club (even if their fans tend to be radge as fuck). I also hope the addons are for appearances not staying up.

I blame the bin dippers, they've divided us.

We're playing 4D scrabble, the plan is to sell Isak and buy young french starlet Quincampoix.

I love Alice but her doing that video from the toilet seat and talking about 'something large cooking' put me right off me beans on toast.

Hot dog, jumping frog, Ekitike. North east connection and calls him a frog for mildly racist undertones.