Viana

Exactly. Whether he's taken a pragmatic approach (more first team opportunities) or an emotional one (I'm happy here, I feel valued) he's made the right call.

The thing is; I hear the odd story via a mate of my brother's who works at the club. It's interesting to hear, but the thought of being 'ITK' is so painful.

I actually remember reading many thought he’d be found out here due to a perceived lack of pace.

Yeah I have the program downloaded on my laptop.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I tried there (set to England Manchester) and it still spotted me as being a dirty forrin. Is my cookies/cache giving me away?

The more I think on Maddison the less excited I am by him.

The slight issue with wrong footed CBs is similar to full backs really. Their weak foot being inverted (a lefty playing on the right for example) forces them inside.

"I no longer wish to eat pizza tonight, bring me a tumble dryer."

The beauty of born has always been his adaptability. You can switch to a three in possession to stretch the pitch, move him centrally if there's an injury, or just play him as a fullback that will take the ball and try to get forward. He doesn't excel in attack, but he's willing to get forward and overlap.

It's not the worst outcome if he goes there; he knows the place, performed well at that level. As with any young player, however, you typically want them playing at a higher standard each time. The Premier League would be a challenge for him now, and it would also test how well he adapts when the team isn't built around him like it was there.

Basically broke even on Havertz and pocketed 20m for Mount. It's not a terrible outcome. I do feel like they've mis-managed Mount. Havertz I'm less convinced by, personally, but given he made a name for himself as a 10/winger seems a bit daft to use him as a false 9. Interesting. I find it telling we didn't go back. The fee appeared to be around that 40-50m mark and on paper he's a standard number six that can also drop into defense if needs be.

AC Milan must be pig sick of us now. Snared Botman last year, rolled up to take their golden boy this year.

I don't disagree. There's little pros and cons like Mount being younger but Maddison coming off a better season. I think the key is always not to build your budgets on the backs of what others are doing. Market rate plays a factor, undeniably, but we do have Szoboszlai in reserve there who again is younger, which can even help with FFP.

I have Nord at present - is it the best on the market or nah? (Apologies mods if this is not allowable chat feel free to edit).

No dice sadly.

So daft you can't watch this in the US.

Berlusconi must be looking like a rotisserie chicken right now, spinning in his grave.

I'll never understand why he doesn't wait, but then perhaps the comedy of him getting the numbers wrong is the appeal.

I think increasingly it boils down to this; Maddison is proven in the Premier League, Szoboszlai is the more long-term option given he's younger.

He said 'I don't like it, but I'll have to go along with it'.

Soz Milanista, you seem sound.

This stinks of Spurs trying to pressure Brentford into lowering their demand for Raya. Can’t see it myself.

Remember that wet wipe 'journalist' who was saying Botman would never choose us over Milan? What's he saying?

See, it's funny, I felt like I didn't see Smith's legs had gone properly until year three when we were back up. Prior to that he was relatively mobile, he just couldn't read the play effectively enough to get there. Mind you, I don't know if it says more for the Championship of that era or the team we had that fucking Alan Smith could play central midfield and a team still get promoted.

Sky basically ditching traditional journalism in favour of “personalities” and one time fees for Ornstein and the like on their panel shows. Horrible for those cut loose, but not a huge surprise.