Viana

He's homegrown, he's probably a hard worker in training, and is likely on a pittance. As third choices go he's our Scott Carson.

It's kind of mad to me that people would question a player when you consider the other players that have absolutely flubbed at Man Utd since joining them. Man Utd have literally spent a billion pounds on talent without any consideration for how they interlock together. Sancho works in certain systems. People watched his highlight reels, saw a few good dribbles in open space, and assumed Man Utd had signed the English Neymar. Sancho's best work was never about mad dribbles through countless bodies. He doesn't have the speed for that. He was more like a playmaker that used quick one-twos or smart runs to create trouble. He has to sit narrow and be near the penalty area. In that sense he's like Eriksen at Spurs.

Easy the most satisfying win of that season.

The 8000+ retweets on the Telegraph account aren't overwhelming evidence, but they certainly point us in a direction. I agree with @ponsaelius though. The lad looks a wonderful player, but I don't think most Italian players look at the Premier League with the same fondness and if he's on fat money in Milan I can't see him swapping that to come here. There will always be exceptions to those rules, but it also sounds like Inter are looking to do a deal for Onana first and then Brozovic. Barella could easily be in their midfield for five years. Brozovic won't.

Haha. Couldn’t pay loan fees two seasons ago. Fucking hilarious.

Bruce left him out for not signing a new deal. Then still didn’t play him after he signed. Scum.

I wonder if we’ve mentioned Fraser to Leicester. Almost a Ritchie type signing to get them up.

They see a career in it. The second sky started inviting fans for debates it became accepted by the mainstream. It’s a cushy existence.

Think the Beeb did a nice story on him restarting his career after leaving us. It’s a shame that Heed can’t grow in line with the lad’s ambitions. Would love to have Gateshead back in the Football League.

The thought of Shola Ameobi suggesting Feyenoord has me in fits. Just cycling through good teams he’s played against. can’t wait until we send Garang to Dynamo Kyiv and try to loan Anderson to Juventus

Worth noting as well deals of this nature will facilitate some of the player trading out that Howe has discussed.

There's a maddening amount of daft sources these days.

I don't know if I'd say we're Chelsea or Man City. I think we're closer to Brighton. I mean if we're talking about the type of system Pons is outlining you're better highlighting Udinese or Benfica. Even then, the idea it 'circumvents FFP' is a misnomer because you can't keep losing money on these guys. They aren't tax write-offs.

In football terms he's quite happy to skim the top as a passive income with minimal involvement. That requires you to keep the club at a lull. Based on Wigan's potential you'd argue that's probably around the bottom half of the Championship.

After doing some googling on his social media posts - yikes. Mind, we aren't exactly owned by the 'come one, come all' brigade. It does seem certain we're in the market for an athletic number 8 to give more rotation to Jo, Joe and Longstaff, so he ticks that boxes.

It's bad for football and bad for the player, but as long as Moises Caicedo costs 70m you'll see teams taking 10 punts on a 7m player in the hope he's that guy. I think the thing is, we've always done this. Go back to Aaron Spear, Ben Tozer. The difference is the arms reach further than before. They cost more money, the prospects are more elite.

I'd argue the first proper crack was Abramovich. He drastically inflated prices and forced the arms race to be the best in the league. There was nothing strategic about his growth. He just kept putting money in. Fuck consequences. Now that's just a crack, that's where you can start to implement rules to stop dodgy characters coming in, or spending with little sustainability. The league didn't do that because they had the best show in town. The consequence of those actions allowed Man City to be bought by Shinawatra and then sold to a middle eastern royal/politican with deep deep pockets. There is always a bigger fish. Once that worked out for City you knew more would see the potential and possibility to do it. The league was already sectioned into have and have nots before Man City, and the difference with them is they've gone about trying to source ways to make it sustainable with a multi-club model. They've also industrialized the scouting process to where they rarely, if ever, have flops anymore. Gone are the days of Eliaquim Mangala for 42m. It's Brighton on a far bigger scale. The difference, however, is that the money is from a far away land that most people don't know about. They tried to apply the rules to Man City after the fact, and unsurprisingly, men with lots of money used lawyers to find loopholes. I don't know if there's a hard reset for football to be quite frank. My issue is only that it seems most journalists object to this stuff when it's tied to success. Mike Ashley plastering shite on the stadium was fine, but Sela putting money into the club (at market rate) is seen as a travesty. Either both are or neither are. They'll also happily show up for a media kick about at Old Trafford then wonder why people don't take them seriously. They live in the grey.

It also should be mildly concerning to hear Levy talk about a 'focus on youth' with Ange as I don't see a bevy of talent waiting to step in. Man City are the standard bearers in terms of just a mad level of young players making a significant impact both at first team level and on loan at a high level. I don't doubt Ange will throw himself into it, but when you look at the club's U21s there's two that I could say might be ready in Alfie Devine and Harvey White. Spence and Udogie are two I don't think get talked about enough as being potential breakouts next season, but they aren't Spurs academy players. For the rest it could be a baptism of fire. Dane Scarlett didn't record great numbers in League One, and Troy Parrot the same in the Championship. Romaine Mundle would have been in that group to step up, but he's opted to leave. Maybe Levy is talking about that bundle of first-team players like Skipp, Sessegnon, Papa Mate-Sara and Tanganga (pushing it a bit at 24). It may all be a ploy to get deals done cheaper, but I somehow doubt it with Levy. If he truly believes Postecoglu is his man, then he has to block out the noise. It's amusing to me how short-term we are in England with managers. Liverpool didn't challenge for the league properly until Klopp's third full season (and that's forgetting he had about 8-9 months prior to that to figure stuff out). If you look at that Champions League winning team, there was only two of the starting XI at the club when he joined and one of them was Trent. I don't say that to set the same bar for Postecoglu, because I don't see a trajectory where he makes 4th in his first full season, but I think with the Conference League now a thing he has other avenues to find success and take the club into a better position.

"We talking about socks."

Sky very ambiguously stating that we are 'leading the race'. https://www.skysports.com/football/live-blog/31771/12476234/transfer-centre-live-kone-sancho-onana-latest

Visage is an awful cunt.

It's honestly a case of what you're exposed to when you're dead young. I remember my first game on TV being Man Utd v Spurs at WHL on BBC. I asked my dad how to get a Man Utd shirt - can't have been older than five. Fast forward six months and I saw his Newcastle sweatshirt in the tumble dryer and asked what it was. Next birthday I had a toon top with Ferdinand, and the rest is history.

Won't hear a bad word said about Oviedo. Laid the ground work for Jewison to leave Costa Rica.

I don't think losing Jeremain Lens helped either.

I read the other day he still needs to complete his military service. I imagine he’ll be offered a shorter spell like Son, but it could still be an issue.