Matt1892

Loaning Hall from Chelsea would be pretty small time from us.

The point was specifically about Anderson and Miley with one of them at least being of the level of being our sixth choice midfield. I wasn’t seriously putting forward the idea of closing the academy, I can’t quite believe that point needs explaining.

You’ve missed the point in the debate. If we have players that the club think have the ability to have a future here, then we have to have the faith to give them game time. Signing another midfielder who will either be sixth choice or a better player to push Longstaff further down the pecking order isn’t going to help players break through in to the first team. This isn’t about the quality of the players in the academy, it’s about being prepared to have faith in them to give them opportunities.

That isn’t the point I’m making. If you have players that you believe do have the potential then they should be given a chance when the time comes, which is the point with Anderson and Miley.

We might as well sack the academy off now if we are never going to have the faith in youngsters to give them any game time.

I thought we would sell ASM and go with Joelinton and Gordon down the left this season, that looks like being out of the window now with Barnes signing so I don’t see Big Joe getting any game time out there unless it’s tactical for a one off game.

I think we will look to go big if we can on someone like Chiesa, then possibly sell Almiron when the deal becomes permanent next summer.

But they would be sixth choice, the worst case you change the midfield slightly to play 4-2-3-1 if we have that many injuries. If we are not going to give Anderson and Miley a route to the first team even as sixth choice then youngsters will go to rivals instead.

I think a RW will come in on loan with an obligation to buy.

I don’t see us being short in the centre of midfield, in fact I can’t remember us ever having this much depth in that position.

I think Howe really likes the back line we played with last season and isn’t in a rush to change any of them, however he knows that age is going to catch up with most of them sooner rather than later. The sensible thing to do is what he is looking to do with Livramento, bring in a young player with potential that can gradually replace the current player in that position over a period of up to 2 years. I think he might look to do the same with CB and LB this summer too if he can.

Presuming Barnes and Livramento are done deals I think we will sign another three players after that.

I know he’s a decent passer of the ball but is he even an upgrade on Schar? I think we either need to sign a youngster who we can develop or if it is a player around Andersens age then they should be a significant upgrade.

The thing with a loan with an obligation to buy is that you are likely to be paying over the odds for the player as there is little incentive for the selling club to go for that deal.

Presuming Maxi out and Barnes coming in are done deals, how many other incoming players do people think will arrive and in what positions? I think we will look for a right forward but no idea about the defence, I went in to the summer seeing left back as one of the three priority positions but as the window goes on I think they might stick with Burn and Targett and instead spend on Livramento.

While I don’t believe a word Edwards says I have thought for a while that ASM was probably a lot happier under Bruce than Howe.

I don’t see it that way, just that they know any deal between parties both linked to Saudi will be scrutinised and complained about. In the same was as the shirt sponsor would have been. The issue we have is that we need to sell to free us from FFP and ASM is an expendable asset, the more worrying thing is even at a low price nobody else seems to want him, so we are selling him to a Saudi team to get the money in so we can move forward. Someone else said that the value of a player is what someone else is prepared to pay, if he was that undervalued then other clubs would be in for him and he would have other options than going to play out there.

Fabinho is also a big name Brazilian player who has won the Premier League and the Champions League, while he has had a disappointing season he will still be seen as a class act. It isn’t quite the same for ASM, being introduced as a former France under 21 player and goal of the month winners for October 2022.

£30 million is about right, although I understand the disappointment of those who thought Saudi Arabia were going to sign him to pump extra money in to the club.

Signed a seven year deal as well.

If we were selling him to a club in Spain or Italy we wouldn’t be getting much more than £30 million for him if we were lucky, unless there was a player coming the other way and we were over inflating both players fees for short term FFP. If he is going to Saudi then it will be a question of how much we can realistically sell him for without the complaints flying in.

I don’t think he would be coming in to be back up to Schar for long.

We did similar in January to be fair.

If ASM decides to leave then we will get Barnes but other than that I think we are done.