Matt1892

I don’t think Maddison is fully fit and hasn’t been since his knee injury away at the World Cup, kind of like Bruno with us that he is too important to leave out for Leicester. Rodger’s highlighted his ongoing knee issues in the months after the World Cup. When he is fully fit he is a class player, he was that good earlier in the season that Southgate was forced to pick him.

Tottenham and Newcastle United are amongst a number of clubs monitoring Wolves striker Hwang Hee-chan with manager Julen Lopetegui under pressure to trim his squad. The Spaniard who lifted the club out of the relegation zone was dismayed to learn that some players will have to be sold enabling Wolves to comply with financial fair play rules. Hwang who signed permanently for £14 million from RB Leipzig after a successful loan spell has impressed during the nervy run in to the end of the season. And that has brought the 27-year-old South Korean to the notice of Spurs who already have Hwang’s international team-mate Son Heung-min at the club. Newcastle looking to strengthen with extra games next season after qualifying for the Champions Leaguehave made an enquiry while Aston Villa and Jose Mourinho ’s Roma have also registered an interest in the forward who is nicknamed ‘Bull’. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/tottenham-premier-league-newcastle-transfer-30092635

I was listening to talksport last weekend and they had guest on the show that was advocating doing away with FFP and instead replacing it with a rich owner tax, so that those with deep pockets could spend what they wanted but a tax would be levied on that with all money raised going to lower league football. The latter part of that was something the government was onboard with previously. you would still have the issue of UEFAs version of FFP though.

I think it was Ashworth who said we wouldn’t keep a player that didn’t want to be here, so if Bruno was adamant that he wanted to go then I think the club would sell as long as they got what they thought was a fair deal. I can’t see Bruno wanting to leave this summer but I can see him signing a new deal with some sort of release clause in it for a later date.

I think it was the season before we signed Bowyer that Chelsea only signed De Lucas on a free transfer and went on to finish in the CL places. It was the season before Roman Abramovich came in so they spent big when we signed Bowyer.

I think he’s nailed on to be gone by the end of the transfer window unless he’s injured.

Twitter were saying that Man Utd had already sorted a house out for him a few days ago! I think we are likely being used to push the wages or agent fees up.

You can see why Howe would want him if he could get him playing like this every week. https://twitter.com/europaleague/status/1662104552131231744?s=46

Considering how light we are on the defensive side of midfield he would have been a sensible signing for us on a free transfer.

If you are looking for upgrades to the first team then Burn, Longstaff and Almiron are where we should be starting. That doesn’t mean that they won’t get a fair number of games between them this season but it’s where I can see us improving to try and maintain our place in the Champions League positions. I really like the Joelinton and Willock pairing down the left and I think it will only get better when Willock continues to improve and a new left back is added.

I was just reading an athletic article from the other day and they said a transfer kitty of £60-£80 million was expected which Howe will push for bigger now Champions League is confirmed. The club don’t want to go all out and have their hands tied in future windows. They still mention the desire of a LB, RCB, midfield x2 and attackers x2 but are concerned with squad harmony with so many changes.

https://www.balls.ie/amp/football/indykaila-investigate-twitters-famous-transfer-bullshitter-171689 Posts anything and everything by the looks of it.

https://twitter.com/indykaila/status/1662193862889074688?s=46 I’m not sure how trustworthy the account is but they have 300k followers.

This is the point I made the other day regarding the club selling ASM. If ASM was bought for £20 million over 6 years then he has an account value of about £6.6 million. Wilson would have an account value of about £5 million. Almiron would have an account value of about £3.8 million. Joelinton would have an account value of about £13.3 million. Schar would have an account value of £0. This isn’t saying we should sell our best players and the above is only a guide to their value after amortisation. However, if we want to manoeuvre in the transfer market then those who do not have a long term future at the club should be viewed as open to offers. The issue we do have is unlike the sky top six we do not have a reserve of players that have been here for a long period of time with any sort of resale value.

How many players are in the Champions League squad list? Each club must submit two lists of players to Uefa; List A and List B. In List A, no club can have more than 25 players. However, a club can register an unlimited number of players on List B, who are born on or after January 1, 2001. Moreover, since his 15th birthday, he must have played for the club for an uninterrupted period of two years, or a total of three consecutive years. He can have a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year. Each club must also have at least two goalkeepers on List A, and three after combining List A and B. How many homegrown players are needed in a Champions League squad? Out of the 25, eight places are reserved exclusively for "locally trained players" or homegrown players. Out of the eight, not more than four can be "association-trained players" and the rest must be "club-trained". It must be explicitly mentioned who qualifies as "locally trained", and also whether they are "club trained" or association trained". Which players are considered "locally trained"? As mentioned before, there are two categories of "locally trained players" players. "Club-trained" players are those who were on the club's books for at least three years between the age of 15 and 21. Whereas, he will be considered an "association-trained" player if he was on another club's books in the same association for three years between the ages of 15 and 21. It must be noted that only four players from this category will be counted among the eight local or homegrown players on List A. What happens if a team doesn't meet the homegrown quota? Uefa allows a club to have 25 players on List A, with eight of them reserved for locally trained players or homegrown talent. However, if a club fails to fulfill the quota of eight players, then the squad size must be reduced accordingly. For example, if a club has named only seven locally trained players then they are allowed to name only 24 players in List A.

Newcastle and Aston Villa keeping tabs on Swansea youngster Azeem Abdulai with the Scotland Under 21 midfielder's playing style drawing comparisons with Jude Bellingham Abdulai, 20, made his Swansea first-team debut against Oxford in Carabao Cup He received a first international call-up for Scotland Under 21s back in March Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen are another interested in the midfielder Newcastle United and Aston Villa are among the clubs keeping tabs on Swansea City youngster Azeem Abdulai - whose midfield style is being compared with Jude Bellingham. The Scotland Under 21 international made his first-team debut for the Swans in their Carabao Cup match against Oxford United earlier this season. His performances in the academy ranks were rewarded with outings in the March U21 internationals against Sweden and Wales. Newcastle and Villa have been keeping tabs on 20-year-old Abdulai's progress and Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen are also watching him closely. His stature, playing style and ability to dominate a midfield have drawn comparisons with England and Borussia Dortmund star Bellingham, 19, from some who have watched him in action. Abdulai was born in Glasgow to a Sierra Leonean father and Scottish mother, joining the Jimmy Johnstone Academy at the age of just six. Celtic spotted his talent and signed him into their academy at the age of nine but he was released aged 16 in April 2019. His father Abu was paralysed after breaking his back lifting weights in the gym in 2008 but defied doctors by learning to walk again. Abdulai moved to London by himself aged 16, living in an Airbnb room before he found the AG Football Academy run by agent Godfrey K Torto. After trials at Brentford and AFC Wimbledon, he eventually signed for Premier League club Leicester City after Kolo Toure, a first-team coach under Brendan Rodgers, remembered his talents from Celtic. In the end, Abdulai moved on to Swansea in 2021 and quickly established himself in midfield for the Welsh club's Under 23 side. Russell Martin called him into the Swansea first-team squad for their FA Cup third round tie against Southampton in January 2022 but he didn't get off the bench. However, Abdulai did make his senior debut in Swansea's Carabao Cup tie with Oxford at the Kassam Stadium back in September, a game they lost on penalties after a 2-2 draw. In March, he made his Scotland under-21 debut off the bench in a 3-2 defeat to Sweden at St Mirren Park, and then started the 3-0 loss to Wales a few days later. Abdulai showed potential in those games, and his Swansea U23 games, to attract a string of high profile admirers ahead of the summer. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12124673/Newcastle-Aston-Villa-keeping-tabs-Swansea-youngster-Azeem-Abdulai.html?ico=topics_pagination_desktop

McTominay is slightly better than Longstaff but if our ambition is to close the gap with Man City then we should be looking for a significant step up in this position in the summer, that or a youngster on that level now but with the ability to go on and be a top class player in the near future.

Back in March the Athletic had us having a three man shortlist for left back of Tierney from Arsenal, Lodi from Forest and Robinson from Fulham. There is a good Robinson compilation on YouTube but he has been linked with Man City sporadically since January, some of the footage will be from the Championship season but you get the idea of what a natural left back can offer.

Brighton won’t sell Ferguson yet, they will build the team around him for the next two years and then sell him when he’s an established Premier League striker for big money.

In theory we could but it doesn’t solve the issue of what we do if Bruno is injured, unless we pick up Lerma on a free too as a DM.

He plays as a wide attacking forward in a team that has qualified for the Champions League yet has only managed one goal all season. We need better if we want to push on.

I think a tweak to the formation might be needed next year to a 4-2-3-1 when we play the majority of the league teams as we offer very little through the middle in terms of attacking threat, we can always start with a 4-3-3 formation against the better teams if we want to keep it tight. This season has far exceeded expectations but I’m sure Howe will have an honest look at our weaknesses and look to rectify them over the summer. We need a left back who is comfortable going forward to being balance to the team, more pace at the back for when we are hit on the counter and preferably two midfielders with ball playing ability and creativity as a minimum.

I thought he had a decent game and did what was expected of him, I don’t think he was any better or worse than Longstaff who also had a decent game. The benefit Longstaff had is that he had Trippier and Almiron to the side of him who know their roles and have great interchanging link up play, you can put Bruno in to that too as when we are on possession he links up better down the right. Compare this to the left hand side which was all over the place, Burn doesn’t really get forward and even when he does he offers little, Isak is wasted out there and is rarely played in behind instead constantly having the ball to his feet at a standstill before he tries to run forward. It was predictable and the same over and over again. Watching Elliott last night I could see him potentially working well with Joelinton or Willock when they occupy the left side of the team and constantly rotate position, he was looking to go out wide left at times but Isak wasn’t moving in field meaning there was little space with the bus parked.

If Leicester were going to stage any sort of fight back against relegation they would have done it against Liverpool with the home fans behind them, yet they had a decent opening 10 minutes before completely wilting under the pressure. The atmosphere and occasion will hard for some of these players to take I would have thought, they could easily crumble if we get an early goal.

He would be a decent squad player, the issue is we have lots of squad players out wide but not that player with star ability, compared to Liverpool who have Salah and Diaz.